A critical discourse analysis of president barack h obama’s address on cuba detente policy

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *********************** TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF NON-MAJOR ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AT A TEACHER TRAINNING COLLEGE IN THE NORTHWESTERN AREA OF VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu chiến lược để phát triển kỹ nói Tiếng Anh sinh viên không chuyên người dân tộc thiểu số trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm vùng Tây Bắc Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *********************** TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF NON-MAJOR ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AT A TEACHER TRAINNING COLLEGE IN THE NORTHWESTERN AREA OF VIETNAM (Nghiên cứu chiến lược để phát triển kỹ nói Tiếng Anh sinh viên không chuyên người dân tộc thiểu số trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm vùng Tây Bắc Việt Nam) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn HANOI - 2017 DECLARATION I hereby certify the thesis entitle ‘an investigation into the strategies for developing English speaking skill of non-major ethnic minority students at a teacher training college in the Northwestern area of Vietnam’ is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Hanoi, September 2017 Tr n Th Ng i M i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan, who is willing to devote his time to offer me professional guidance and practical comments on my research If there is not his valuable suggestions, careful and detailed critical comments, this study will not be fulfilled Also, my deepest gratitude is extended to my parents as well as friends for their support and encouragement throughout my thesis Finally, this research could not have been conducted without the cooperation of the non-major ethnic minority students at Dien Bien teacher training college during the process of data collection ii ABSTRACT The present study is conducted in the hope of finding out: (1) the types of strategies non-major ethnic minority successful and unsuccessful learners at a teacher training college in the Northwestern area of Vietnam use to develop their speaking skill (henceforth referred to as speaking strategies) and (2) the relationship between their speaking learning strategies and their oral language proficiency In order to seek answers to the two research questions centering on these two issues, a descriptive survey method was applied A questionnaire and some interviews were utilized to collect the data The questionnaire which consisted of 28 items was built from Oxford‘s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) to elicit the ethnic minority students‘ use of str tegies for developing spe king skill The interviews onsisted of questions involving students‘ n me, attitudes, study methods, perceptions and study hours of interviewees to get more understanding of the re sons behind the students‘ le rning str tegies hoi es Thirty six students, who were classified as successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful took part in the survey and eight students were chosen to participate in the interviews after completing the questionnaire The findings of this study revealed that some strategies were more frequently used by learners than the others Moreover, there were similarities in choosing memory strategies, cognitive strategies and social strategies for improving the le rners‘ spe king skill nd significant differences in the frequency of the use of compensation strategies, metacognitive strategies and affective strategies among student groups Besides, successful and satisfactorily successful students used more strategies than unsuccessful students The results also presented some successful and unsuccessful students were reported using strategies not listed in the questionnaire The final finding is that language learning strategies are related to successful and unsuccessful non-major ethnic minority students‘ or l English proficiency to some extent iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objectives of the study Research questions .3 Methods of the study Scope of the study Significance of the study .4 Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Language learning strategies 1.1.1 Definitions of language learning strategies 1.1.2 Classifications of language learning strategies .6 1.1.3 The differences between language learning strategies and language use strategies .10 1.2 Speaking skill 12 1.2.1 Definition of speaking 12 1.2.2 Speaking strategies 13 1.2.3 Components of second language speaking competence 13 1.2.4 Speaking approaches 15 1.3 Relationship between language learning strategy use and language proficiency .17 1.4 Language Learning Strategies and English Majors 18 1.5 Previous studies 20 iv 1.5.1 Previous studies on language learning strategies .20 1.5.2 Previous studies on speaking strategies 21 1.6 Summary 24 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 25 2.1 Research questions 25 2.2 Research method: Survey .25 2.2.1 Introduction 26 2.2.2 Types of survey research: Descriptive survey 26 2.2.3 Survey research designs: Cross-sectional design .27 2.2.4 Steps in carrying out a survey: steps .28 2.2.5 Sampling 31 2.2.6 Pilot study 33 2.2.7 The outcomes of the pilot study .34 2.2.8 Summary .36 2.3 Setting of the study 37 2.4 Participants 37 2.5 Data collection instruments: Questionnaire & Interview .40 2.5.1 Questionnaire 40 2.5.2 Interview (for interview questions see Appendix 13) 43 2.6 Data collection procedure .45 2.7 Data analytical framework 46 2.8 Data analysis procedure 47 2.9 Summary 48 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 50 3.1 Introduction .50 3.2 Data analysis 50 3.2.1 Questionnaire data analysis (for investigating the types of speaking strategies used between successful, satisfactory successful and unsuccessful students) 50 3.2.2 Interview data analysis .58 v 3.2.3 Questionnaire data analysis (for finding out the relationship between l ngu ge le rning str tegies nd students‘ or l English profi ien y)………….62 3.3 Summary 68 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 69 4.1 Findings 69 4.1.1 Kinds of language learning strategies for developing English speaking skill used by successful and unsuccessful ethnic minority students 69 4.1.2 Rel tionship between l ngu ge le rning str tegies nd students‘ or l English proficiency 74 4.2 Discussion .75 PART C: CONCLUSION 79 Summary 79 Implications .82 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 82 REFERENCES 84 APPENDIX 1: I APPENDIX 2: I APPENDIX 3: II APPENDIX 4: II APPENDIX 5: III APPENDIX 6: IV APPENDIX 7: VII APPENDIX 8: X APPENDIX 9: XIII APPENDIX 10 XIV APPENDIX 11: XVII APPENDIX 12: XX APPENDIX 13: XXXII vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL: English as a second language LLS: Language learning strategy LLSs: Language learning strategies SD: Standard deviations SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Science SILL: Strategy Inventory for Language Learning vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Seven-stage survey research process 31 Table 2: Strategies for survey sampling 34 Table 3: Three sample size estimates 35 T ble 4: Summ rizes the entire result ronb h‘s lph 38 Table 5: Strengths and weaknesses of tape-recording and note-taking 45 Table 6: Speaking strategy at six categories of language learning strategy used between successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 52 Table 7: Memory strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 53 Table 8: Cognitive strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 53 Table 9: Compensation strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 54 Table 10: Metacognitive strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 55 Table 11: Affective strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 56 Table 12: Social strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students 56 Table 13: Overall speaking strategies between successful, satisfactorily successful and unsucessful students 57 Table 14: ANOVA results for the language learning strategies used by learners with different English proficiency 58 T ble 15: Students‘ s ores nd their le rning str tegy use t six tegories of LLSs 64 Table 16: Students‘ s ores nd their memory strategy use 64 Table 17: Students‘ s ores nd their ognitive str tegy use 65 Table 18: Students‘ s ores nd their ompens tion str tegy use 65 Table 19: Students‘ s ores nd their metacognitive strategy use 66 Table 20: Students‘ s ores nd their ffe tive str tegy use 67 Table 21: Students‘ s ores nd their so i l strategy use 67 viii I: Qua bảng khảo sát, thấy em áp dụng chiến lược vào việc h c nói tiếng Anh điểm thi em lại cao so với bạn khác lớp Em đư r lý do? S6: Thật may mắn, chủ đề thi nói quen thuộc với em Em thường xuyên luyện tập chủ đề với bạn bè Do em tự tin trả lời câu hỏi giáo viên I: Cảm ơn em th m gi vào uộc vấn ũng chia sẻ ý kiến em Phỏng vấn : Học sinh thành công (dân tộc Thái) I: Tên em ? S7: Em Vì th Trang I: Cơ hỏi em số câu hỏi liên qu n đến việc sử dụng chiến lược h c nói tiếng Anh em Em sẵn sàng trả lời ? S7: Vâng em sẵn sàng trả lời m i câu hỏi cô I: Kỹ nói tiếng Anh quan tr ng việc h c công việ tương l i em ? S7: kỹ nói quan tr ng cho việc h c em Với em, kỹ nói giúp em cải thiện điểm số kỹ nghe Nhờ kỹ nói, em ảm thấy tự tin em gi o tiếp với người xung quanh tiếng Anh I: Còn cơng việ tương l i em ? Kỹ nói tiếng Anh có quan tr ng khơng ? Tại ? S7: Sau tốt nghiệp, em muốn tìm cơng việc làm thêm tốt sinh sống thành phố nên em nghĩ nói tiếng Anh quan tr ng với công việ tương l i em Em kiếm nhiều tiền nhờ tìm cơng việc khách sạn nhà hàng nơi em có nhiều hội để gặp giao tiếp với nguoi nướ ngò i Hơn em kết bạn với h I: Em thường h c kỹ nói h c lớp ? XXIX S7: Trong h c tiếng Anh, em bạn em thương nói tiếng Anh cac hội thoại Chúng em chia sẻ ý kiến xây dựng mối quan hệ tốt qua hoạt động I: Em thường cải thiện việc nói tiếng Anh nhà ? S7: Ở m i nơi em em hú ý ghi nhớ từ tiếng Anh tên ửa hàng, bảng quảng cáo ghi xe buýt Ngoài em ghi từ vào giấy để tự kiểm tra từ vựng em E nghe hát tiếng Anh mà em thí h S u em nhắc lại cố gắng hát theo gi i điệu hát I: Em dành thời gi n ngày để h c nói tiếng Anh ? S7: Em giành nhieu thoi gian ôn luyện tieng anh khoảng tiếng rưỡi ngày I: Qua bảng khảo sát, thấy em áp dụng chiến lược vào việc h c nói tiếng Anh điểm thi em lại cao so với bạn khác lớp Em có the nói rõ điều ? S7: Việc áp dụng chien luoc phù hợp vao h c kỹ nói tieng nh m ng lai cho em hiệu cao việc cải thiện kỹ nói Tuy nhiên chiến luợc em áp dụng thường xuyên mứ độ cao khơng có bảng khảo sát I: Những chiến lượ gì? S7: Em thường viết tin nhắn ho bạn bè tiếng Anh Em hát theo hát tiếng Anh em thí h internet Bên ạnh đó, em nghe phòng s u húng em viết r từ ụm từ để h I: Cảm ơn ý kiến em Phỏng vấn 8: Học sinh thành công ( dân tộc Thái ) I: Tên em gì? S7: Em Lò th Thu Thuỷ XXX uộ hội thoại với bạn ùng thuộ lòng I: Cô hỏi em số câu hỏi liên qu n đến việc sử dụng chiến lược h c nói tiếng Anh em Em sẵn sàng trả lời ? S7: Vâng em sẵn sàng trả lời m i câu hỏi I: Kỹ nói tiếng Anh quan tr ng việc h c công việ tương l i em ? S8: Với việc h c em, kỹ nói kỹ qu n tr ng giúp em cải thiện vốn từ vựng, kỹ nghe ngữ pháp Ngoài ra, kỹ nói òn m ng lại cho em hội để xây dựng tự tin thông qua hoạt động nhóm I: Còn cơng việ tương l i em ? Kỹ nói tiếng Anh có quan tr ng không ? Tại ? S8: em giáo viên m n non tương l i Em dạy trẻ em trường m m non nơi mà tiếng Anh khơng đóng v i trò qu n tr ng q trình dạy Do tiếng Anh không c n thiết với công việ tương l i em I: Em thường h c kỹ nói h c lớp ? S8: Có nhiều hoạt động theo cặp ũng hoạt động nhóm để khuyến khích m i sinh viên nói tiếng Anh Em thích tham gia vào hoạt động đóng v i, thảo luận chủ đề kể chuyện Ngồi r em ũng trò ngôn ngữ với bạn lớp I: Em thường cải thiện việc nói tiếng Anh nhà ? S8: Em h c từ cách cố gắng tạo tranh nghĩ từ tâm trí em Em hát theo số hát tiếng Anh yêu thí h internet I: Em dành thời gian ngày để h c nói tiếng Anh ? S8: Em giành tiếng ngày để luyện nói tiếng Anh I: Qua bảng khảo sát, thấy em áp dụng chiến lược vào việc h c nói tiếng Anh điểm thi em lại cao so với bạn khác lớp Em giải thích ? XXXI S8: Vâng Những chiến lược mà áp dụng mứ độ cao bảng khảo sát Tuy nhiên nhờ có bảng khảo sát biết thêm nhiều chiến luoc khác nữ để lun nói tieng anh tơi thử dùng chúng I: Cho cô biết chiến lược em dùng gì? S8: Em thường tìm kiếm YouTube số nguồn tài liệu cho việc phát âm tiếng Anh để thự hành Ngồi r em thường xun ơn lại nói sách giáo khoa giống với tình sống Em h c từ cách vẽ tr nh để nhớ nghĩ từ I: Cảm ơn ý kiến em APPENDIX 13: TRANSCRIPTS OF STUDENTS INTERVIEWS (Extracted) I: Interviewer S: Student Interview 1: Unsuccessful student (Thai ethnic) I: What is your name? S1: My name is Lò Th Thương ( li s n me) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S1: Yes, I‘m re dy I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S1: I find that speaking is not as important to my study as reading and writing because writing and reading help me enhance vocabulary as well as grammar More importantly, writing and reading help to improve my scores in the tests as well as in the final exam I: In the final exam, the scores for four skills are the same Each skill accounts for 25% of the total score However, you say that speaking skill does not bring you high score Why? XXXII S1: While doing the reading and writing tests, I usually give answers for easy questions first Then, I difficult questions Thus, I can spend a lot of time finding out the difficult questions’ answers In terms of speaking test, I answer directly to the teacher's questions, so I have little time to think about the answers Furthermore, I often lose my self-control during the speaking test I: How about your future job? Is it important? S1: After graduation, I will become a kindergarten teacher in a mountainous school where there are many difficulties in terms of economic conditions as well as material facilities Therefore, I think English is not necessary for my future job I: How often you learn speaking in class? S1: In class-lessons, although my teacher designs a lot of useful and funny activities, I take part in some activities which I like most such as hangman, bingo and slap the board I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S1: I usually watch English cartoons with subtitles At first, I not look at the subtitles and I try to listen to what they are talking in the movies, then I look at the subtitle to check what I can listen right or wrong In addition, I also read English books for children ages because the content of these books are easy to understand and remember I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S1: About 30 minutes a day I: Through the questionnaire, I saw that you applied many speaking strategies into learning English but why was your score bad? S1: Yes, I not have a lot of vocabularies for the topic that I encounter in the test so I have no idea for the talk In other words, the speaking test is not familiar to me Besides, I only use simple sentences in my answers I: Thank you very much for attending this interview and for your interesting ideas XXXIII Interview 2: Satisfactorily successful students (Thai ethnic ) I: What is your name? S2: My n me is Lường Th Hoa (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S1: Yes, I‘m re dy to nswer your questions I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S2: Speaking skills are very important for my study because speaking helps me become more confident when I communicate with others I can expand relationships with my teachers and friends Furthermore, speaking helps me develop listening skills I: What about your future job? Is it important? Why? S2: After graduation, I will have little chances in order to contact foreigners so I believe English is not important to my future job I: How often you learn speaking in class? S2: I love learning English at school because I have opportunities to participate in activities that develop speaking skills such as role play or discussion on a topic I like I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S2: Using a textbook for vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar; playing word games; practicing English with classmate I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S2: I put a lot of time into my study About 2.5 hours a day I: Through the survey questionnaire, I found that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you make more clarification? XXXIV S2: I used many strategies when practicing speaking English However, a number of the strategies that I used did not appear in your questionnaire I: Ok What are the strategies? S2: At first, I speak English out loudly to record my voice Then, I listen to again to check the mistakes and correct them Besides, I try learning words by using dictionary I memorize new words by writing them again and again I often listen to my favourite English songs and I try to imitate the sound of native singers I: It‘s very interesting to t lk to you Thank you very much Interview 3: Satisfactorily successful students (Thai ethnic ) I: What is your name? S3: My name is Lò Th Hằng (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S3: Yes, I‘m re dy I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S3: For me, speaking is the most important skills There are reasons why I think so The first reason is that speaking helps me improve listening skills and vocabulary The second reason is that speaking helps me feel confident in communicating with people around me Besides, I can make new friends I: How about your future job? Is it important? S3: I was born and grew up in a poor family so I think that English will bring me various opportunities to change my life in the future Every year, on the holidays, there are many foreigners who come Dien Bien to visit and I will introduce this beautiful city to them I: How often you learn speaking in class? XXXV S3: During the lessons, I like to participate in group activities, to write situations based on the topics and to take part in role play activity and I participate well in these activities I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S3: Learning language in chunks; using mirror for pronunciation practice; doing a lot of homework and revision regularly I try to remember new vocabulary by connecting it with memorable something I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S3: I spent long hours in the self-study room About hours a day I: Based on the information obtained from the survey questionnaire, I found that you rarely applied strategies in learning English speaking, why were your scores high? S3: I always look for strategies that are suitable to my ability in learning English In the questionnaire, there are some strategies that I have never known and there are many strategies which I use but they not bring about effectiveness Consequently, the speaking strategies that I regularly use were included in your survey questionnaire I: What are those strategies? S3: I read aloud a small paragraph from my textbook for 10 minutes a day Besides, I use my smartphones to practice English whenever I have free time I use simple expressions when I share my ideas on topic discussion in English I: Thank you very much for sharing your ideas Interview 4: Satisfactorily successful students (Thai ethnic) I: What is your name? S4: My name is Lò Th Vàng (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S4: Yes, I‘m re dy XXXVI I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S4: I think that speaking is very important for my study because speaking teaches me how to work with my partner in group activities or pairs tasks Besides, speaking helps me to improve vocabulary and grammar I: How about your future job? Is it important? S4: According to me, I don’t need English for my future job because I will teach students whose ages are from to in the places where the economic conditions are difficult and there are few children who go to school to learn I: How often you learn speaking in class? S4: There are many funny and useful activities in speaking lesson such as: sentence arranging; role-play; challenging I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S4: Grouping new vocabulary items according to their similarity in meanings or spellings; writing down new language items in a notebook; I watch English movies and I try to imitate the sound of native English actors; I often talk about real situations in group Using a dictionary I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S4: About 2.5 hours a day I: Throug the survey questionnaire, I saw that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you give more explanation? S4: I agree that the suitable learning strategies will bring great results in learning English speaking There are many strategies that I employ not have in the survey questionnaire that you have given I: Can you tell the strategies? XXXVII S4: I often find out interesting internet sites that have speaking resources to practice English speaking Besides, whatever I hear in English I usually repeat and write down them in my notebook I use simple expressions when I speak English I: OK I have had enough information Thank you very much for your cooperation Interview 5: Satisfactorily successful students (Thai ethnic) I: What is your name? S5: My name is Lò Th Nga (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S5: Yes, I‘m re dy to nswer your questions I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S5: I think speaking is more important for my study than other skills Speaking not only helps to increase my vocabulary but also brings chances to improve communication skills I: How about your future job? Is it important? S5: Although I am a student at a teacher training college, I want to become a tour guide in the future I love travelling and I want to discover new things Therefore, I think that it is necessary for me to speak English well I: How often you learn speaking in class? S5: In English class, I often take part in some activities like discussion on some topics, role-play, short speeches I like role-play activity most because I speak in real life situations When I talk to my friends in English, I pay attention to grammar and word order during conversation and I try to speak clearly and loudly I: How often you improve spoken English at home? XXXVIII S5: I usually learn from my mistakes by speaking English out loud This helps me expose any gaps in my vocabulary and grammar Besides, I often go to historical places or hotels to look for opportunities to talk to foreigners They point out where I am wrong so I know what I need to improve Also, I use dictionary I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S5: About hours a day I: Through the survey questionnaire, I saw that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you explain more? S5: To be honest, learning strategies help me a lot in improving my scores However, there are a number of strategies which I use highly frequently not appear in your survey questionnaire I: What strategies you use? S5: I make friends with foreigners on facebook to chat about everything in life su h s f vourite foods, we ther, job…Besides, when I meet vocabulary or grammar structures that I feel difficult to remember, I often make sentence with them Also, I use dictionary to learn new words (pronunciation, stress, and examples) I: Thank you very much for your interesting ideas Interview 6: Satisfactorily successful students (Thai ethnic) I: What is your name? S6: My name is Lò Th Thái (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S6: Yes, I‘m re dy to nswer your questions I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? XXXIX S6: I see that speaking is important for my study because it helps me become more confident Besides, it helps to improve listening skill I: How about your future job? Is it important? S6: For me, it is not necessary for my future job After graduation, I will become a teacher in the kindergarten school in my hometown Living in my hometown remains difficult, lacks facilities and does not have internet Besides, people in the village mainly speak their ethnic languages so I not have any opportunities for using English I: How often you learn speaking in class? S6: I am interested in activities like story-telling, role-play and english-learning games because I can share and exchange my ideas with my classmate as well as teacher I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S6: I often write down new words on a piece of paper to memorize them; when I say an English sentence, I usually try to emphasize the subject and verb of the sentence Besides, I also pay attention to my pronunciation; I speak in English with my good friends and I ask them to help with grammar problems I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S6: About hours a day I: Through the survey questionnaire, I saw that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you give me the reason? S6: I am very lucky when the topic is quite familiar to me I always practice that topic with my friends Therefore, I m quite onfident in nswering the te her‘s questions I: Thank you very much for attending this interview and for your ideas Interview 7: successful students (Thai ethnic ) I: What is your name? S7: My name is Vì th Trang (alias name ) XL I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S7: Yes, I‘m re dy to nswer your questions I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S7: Speaking is very important for my study For me, speaking helps me improve my scores and listening skill Thanks to speaking, I feel more confident when I communicate with others in English I: What about your future job? Is it important? Why? S7: After graduation, I want to get a good part-time job and live in city so I think that speaking English is important for my future job I can earn a lot of money thanks to find a job in hotels or restaurants where I have chances to meet and communicate with many foreigners Besides, I can make friends with them I: How often you learn speaking in class? S7: In English class, my friends and I often speak English in dialogues We can share ideas together and build good relationships through this activity I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S7: Everywhere I go I always find English words such as shop names, advertisements and notices on buses to remember I write down words on paper to test myself I listen to English songs that I like Then repeat them to myself and try to sing with the music I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S7: I spent quite a lot of time practicing English About 2.5 hours a day I: Through the survey questionnaire, I saw that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you make more clarification? XLI S7: Applying appropriate strategies for learning English speaking brings me good results in improving my speaking skills However, highly frequent learning strategies I use were not given in your survey questionnaire I: What are the strategies? S7: I often write message for my friends in English I sing along to English songs what I like on the internet Besides, I listen to conversation with my roommates and then we write down new words and phrase words to learn by heart I: Thank you very much for your ideas Interview 8: successful students (Thai ethnic) I: What is your name? S8: My name is Lò th Thu Thuỷ (alias name ) I: I would like to ask you some questions relating to the use of your speaking strategies Are you ready to answer? S8: Yes, I‘m re dy to nswer your questions I: How important are speaking skills to your present study and future job? S8: For my study, speaking is the most important skill because it helps me improve vocabulary, listening and grammar Besides, speaking brings me opportunities to build confidence through activities groups I: What about your future job? Is it important? Why? S8: I will be a kindergarten teacher in the future I will teach my children in a preschool where English does not play an important role in teaching process Therefore, English is not essential for my future job I: How often you learn speaking in class? XLII S8: There are many pair as well as group activities to encourage every student speak English I am keen on participating in role-play, discussion on topics and storytelling Besides, I also play language games with my classmate I: How often you improve spoken English at home? S8: I learn new words by trying to create pictures for the meanings of the words in my mind I sing along to some favourite English songs on the internet I: How many hours a day you spend learning speaking English? S8: I spent 2.5 hours a day working on speaking I: Through the survey questionnaire, I saw that you rarely used strategies in learning English However, compared to your classmates, your scores were quite high Can you explain why? S8: Yes, of course The strategies which I use at high levels are not included in the survey questionnaire However, thanks to this survey I know more other learning strategies for practicing English speaking and I will try to use them I: Tell me, what strategies you use? S8: I often search on YouTube for some English pronunciation resources to practice I often review speaking tasks in my text book which are similar to the situations in real life I learn new words by drawing the pictures to remember the meaning of those words I: Thank you very much for your interesting ideas XLIII ... another idea about the weakness of this approach that ‗ lthough the traditional grammar teaching method helps improve the students‘ mastery of the grammatical rules, the students cannot use these rules... employing the language that learners have in their current interlanguage.‘ The author of this thesis sees that Cohen has 10 distinguished language learning strategies form language use one clearly and... strategies that they are guided by their teachers or rarely apply those strategies in their learning There goes an old proverb which states: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day Teach him how