difficulties faced by lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in bien hoa city

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Đinh Thị Thùy Trang DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BIEN HOA CITY MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020 VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES \ Đinh Thị Thùy Trang DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BIEN HOA CITY Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020 DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “Difficulties faced by the lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city” has been written solely by myself and has not been submitted to this University or any other institutions in application for admission to a degree, diploma or other qualifications This master thesis has not been published before And if it is eventually proved that I am cheating, I am ready to take responsibility, including the revocation of my academic degree Author’s signature Đinh Thị Thùy Trang Approved by SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức Date:……………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support of many people First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Phạm Hữu Đức, my supervisor for his helpful comments, remarks and recommendations in completing this master’s thesis Second, I would like to send my thanks for the useful materials, guidance and enthusiasm for this study to all lectures and staff of the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Social Science, in Ho Chi Minh City In addition, my sincere gratitude goes to the teachers and students of the Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School who have willingly spent their precious time in the interview process Last but not least, many thanks to my beloved family and friends who are always beside me to support and encourage me to fulfill my study ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION BY AUTHOR i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the Study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Significance of the study .2 1.6 Research methods 1.7 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .4 2.1 The nature of speaking and speaking skills 2.1.1Definition of speaking 2.1.2The nature of speaking and speaking skills 2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching 2.3 Teaching and learning speaking skill 2.3.1Teaching speaking skill 2.3.2Learning speaking skill 2.4 Factors affecting learner’s speaking achievement 10 2.4.1Teacher’s factors 10 iii 2.4.2Learner’s factors 12 2.5 Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking skills 14 2.6 Previous study 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Research questions 17 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Data collection instrument 17 3.3.1Survey Questionnaires 18 3.3.2Interviews 19 3.4 Data collection procedures 19 3.5 Data analysis 20 3.6 Summary 20 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21 4.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire 21 4.2 Data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire 36 4.3 Data analysis of students and teachers’ survey interview 52 4.3.1Teachers’ interview 53 4.3.2Students’ interview 55 4.4 Discussions 56 4.4.1Difficulties from the students 57 4.4.2Difficulties from the teachers 59 4.4.3Problems from other factors 60 4.5 Summary 62 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 63 5.1 Recapitulation 63 5.2 Concluding remarks 64 5.3 Implications 64 iv 5.3.1Implications for students 64 5.3.2Implications for teachers 67 5.4 Limitations of the study 68 5.5 Suggestions for further studies 69 REFERENCES 70 Foreign Authors 70 Vietnamese Authors 72 APPENDIX i APPENDIX iv APPENDIX vii APPENDIX x APPENDIX .xi v ABSTRACT English speaking is an important skill and mostly used in daily life to express opinions, explain, and make arguments To get a better result in learning English and get a good job in the future, students have to speak English fluently The aim of this study was to explore some difficulties faced by students and teachers at Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School in learning and teaching English speaking skills and suggesting solutions to resolve those difficulties The study subjects were 104 students and 18 English teachers Research data were obtained from questionnaires, interviews, by both students and teachers The findings showed that the difficulties faced by students in learning English were low levels of English proficiency, lack of motivation and problems with the use of mother tongue Teachers' difficulties in teaching English-speaking skills were insufficient communication skills and inadequate methods Furthermore, large and multi-level classes, the current test system and lack of class time were additional difficulties in learning and teaching English speaking skills for students and teachers Some recommendations were made from these findings with the aim of improving Le Quang Dinh Lower Secondary School's teaching and learning of English, especially speaking skills vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Information about the teachers participated in the survey 21 Table 4.2 Teachers’ year of teaching English 21 Table 4.3 Information about students participating in the survey 36 Table 4.4 Students’ years of learning English 37 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Interesting of teachers in teaching speaking skill 22 Figure 4.2 Teacher’s opinions about other skills 22 Figure 4.3 Teacher’s opinion about the importance of English speaking skill 23 Figure 4.4 The current testing system 24 Figure 4.5 Large and multi-level classes 24 Figure 4.6 There are multi-level students in the class 25 Figure 4.7 The contents in textbook are difficult for student’s ability 26 Figure 4.8 My knowledge of speaking topics is restricted 26 Figure 4.9 There is limited time for large knowledge .27 Figure 4.10 Teachers’ teaching method 28 Figure 4.11 I find it difficult to create pleasant and comfortable atmosphere in English speaking lessons 29 Figure 4.12 I apply some techniques in teaching speaking skill (role-play, interview…) 30 Figure 4.13 Teacher’s instruction in speaking class 30 Figure 4.14 After giving speaking topics, I often provide new words and structures relating to the topics 31 Figure 4.15.It is difficult to find suitable activities 32 Figure 4.16 Limited time affects to student’s practice speaking skill .33 Figure 4.17 I rarely give activities involved in each speaking task 33 Figure 4.18 I give feedbacks for only few students because of the limited time 34 Figure 4.19 Students are passive in learning speaking skill 35 Figure 4.20 Lack of teaching and learning facilities 35 Figure 4.21 Students’ opinion about the learning speaking skill 37 viii beneficial to teaching LQDLSS students speaking skills, which may lead to students speaking 5.5 Suggestions for further studies This study focused only on teaching English-speaking skills to Grade students at LQDLSS Only a very small part of the issues related to teaching and learning speaking skills have been mentioned in the study Some suggestions for further investigations: A research on techniques and activities for students to help them improve their speaking skills A study on how to introduce students to current ways of learning speaking skills 69 REFERENCES Foreign Authors Brown, H D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching (Vol 4) New York: Longman Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents Second Edition: White Plains NY: Longman, forthcoming Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2109 Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford university press Chaney, A L., & Burk, T L (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Allyn and Bacon, Order Processing, PO Box 11071, Des Moines, IA 50336-1071 Chaudron, C (1988) Second language classrooms: Research on teaching and learning Cambridge University Press Cook, V (2008) Multi-competence: Black hole or wormhole for second language acquisition research Understanding second language process, 25, 16-26 Harmer, J (1991) The practice of English language teaching London/New York, 201 Horwitz, E K (2010) Foreign and second language anxiety Language Teaching, 43(2), 154-167 70 Littlewood, W., & William, L (1981) Communicative language teaching: An introduction Cambridge university press Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology (Vol 192) New York: prentice hall Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 7625 Empire Dr., Florence, KY 41042-2978 Pattison, P (1987) Developing Communication Skills: a practical handbook for language teachers, with examples in English, French and German Cambridge University Press Richards, J C (1983) Communicative needs in foreign language learning1 ELT journal, 37(2), 111-120 Richards, J C (2008) Teaching listening and speaking Cambridge, England: Cambridge university press Rivers, W M (2018) Teaching Foreign Language Skills Rev Ed University of Chicago Press Swain, M (2005) The output hypothesis: Theory and research In Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp 495-508) Routledge Ur, P (1981) Discussion that work: Task-centered Fleecy Practice Cambridge University Press Ur, P (2012) A course in English language teaching Cambridge University Press 71 Vietnamese Authors Lương Thị Huyền (2014) An exploratory study on teaching and learning speaking English at Binh Gia high school-Lang Son: Problems and solutions Unpublished MA thesis, ULIS-VNU Trần Thị Thảo (2012) Teaching speaking skills for the first-year students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Technology: problems and recommendations Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Languages and International Studies Vũ Thị Thùy (2014) A study on the problems faced by teachers and students at Nhi Chieu upper secondary school in Kinh Mon District, Hai Duong Province in teaching and learning English speaking skills and solutions Unpublished doctoral dissertation, ĐHNN 72 APPENDIX Questionnaire for Students (English version) Dear Student, The survey questionnaire is designed for my thesis “Difficulties faced by lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city” This questionnaire is conducted with a view to finding out difficulties from teachers and students when teaching and learning English speaking skill to students at secondary school in Bien Hoa city I really appreciate and would like to say thank you for your help to complete this questionnaire I ensure that all your reply will be only used for the study purpose and not  for any further purpose Please put a tick ( ) in the appropriate space provided to what extend you agree or disagree with each statement Sincerely, Part A: PERSONAL INFORMATON 1) Full name: 2) Which school are you currently studying? 3) Which grades are you studying? 4) How long have you been learning English? I Part B: Students’ difficulties in learning English speaking skills of students from lower secondary school Please rate how much you think these statements are true about you by ticking ( (1) Strongly disagree (2) Disagree (3) Neutral iv 1 I am interested in learning speaking skill Speaking skill is the most difficult among the four skills Speaking skill is very important I learn to communicate with English is to pass foreigners The aim of learning speaking examinations I am shy and feel nervous when speaking in front of other people because I am afraid of being wrong and lose face I have a poor vocabulary to express my ideas I am not good at pronunciation, stress and intonation I usually use Vietnamese during pair work and group work 10 My speaking’s ability is good 11 My partners are unwilling to practice speaking English with II ) (4) Agree (5) Strongly agree Statements English speaking skill  me 12 It is difficult to have chances to practice English with foreigners 13 I rarely have chances to practice English outside the class 14 Teachers’ instructions are ambiguous 15 Teachers often get angry and interrupt to correct when I make mistakes 16 Teachers’ knowledge is restricted 17 Teachers focus much on grammar 18 After giving speaking topics, teachers often ask to discuss the topics immediately 19 Some contents in textbook are difficult 20 The classroom lacks facilities (micro, projector, videos, Internet…) III APPENDIX Phiếu điều tra cho học sinh (Vietnamese version) Các em học sinh thân mến, Phiếu điều tra thiết kế nhằm thu thập thông tin cho luận văn “Những khó khăn mà giáo viên gặp phải giảng dạy kỹ nói trường trung học sở thành phố Biên Hòa” Bảng câu hỏi thực với mục đích tìm hiểu khó khăn từ giáo viên học sinh dạy học kỹ nói trường trung học sở thành phố Biên Hịa Tơi thật cảm kích chân thành cảm ơn giúp tơi hồn thành bảng câu hỏi Các liệu điều tra phục vụ cho nghiên cứu,  khơng mục đích khác Em đánh dấu ( ) vào ô tương ứng với câu trả lời em Xin chân thành cám ơn, Phần A: THÔNG TIN CÁ NHÂN 1) Họ tên: 2) Em học trường nào? 3) Em học lớp mấy? 4) Em học tiếng Anh rồi? IV Phần B: Em cho biết quan điểm em nhận định sau khó khăn học nói tiếng Anh Đánh dấu (  ) vào tương ứng với câu trả lời em (1) Hoàn tồn khơng đồng ý (2) Khơng đồng ý (3) Khơng có ý kiến (4) Đồng ý (5) Hồn tồn đồng ý iv Statements 1 Em thích học kỹ nói Kỹ nói kỹ khó bốn kỹ Kỹ nói quan trọng Em học kĩ nói để giao tiếp với người nước Mục đích việc học kỹ nói em để hoàn thành kỳ thi Em ngại cảm thấy lo lắng phải nói tiếng Anh trước nhiều người sợ sai bị mặt Vốn từ vựng em nên khơng đủ để thể ý kiến Phát âm, nhấn âm ngữ điệu tiếng Anh em không tốt Khi yêu cầu hoạt động theo cặp nhóm, em thường sử dụng tiếng Việt V 10 Khả nói em tốt 11 Các bạn nhóm khơng chịu dùng tiếng Anh hoạt động cặp hay nhóm với em 12 Em khơng có nhiều hội để luyện tập nói với người nước ngồi 13 Em có hội sử dụng tiếng Anh trừ lớp học 14 Sự hướng dẫn giáo viên lớp khơng rõ ràng, khó hiểu 15 Giáo viên thường tức giận ngắt lời để sửa lỗi em nói sai 16 Kiến thức giáo viên chủ đề đơi cịn hạn chế 17 Giáo viên trọng vào phần ngữ pháp 18 Giáo viên thường yêu cầu em thảo luận sau đưa chủ đề 19 Nhiều nội dung phần nói sách giáo khoa khó 20 Lớp học em không trang bị đủ sở vật chất (mi –cro, máy chiếu, vi-deo Internet…) VI APPENDIX Questionnaire for Teachers Dear Teacher, The survey questionnaire is designed for my thesis “Difficulties faced by lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city” This questionnaire is conducted with a view to finding out difficulties from teachers and students when teaching and learning English speaking skill to students at secondary school in Bien Hoa city I really appreciate and would like to say thank you for your help to complete this questionnaire I ensure that all your reply will be only used for the study purpose and not  for any further purpose Please put a tick ( ) in the appropriate space provided to what extend you agree or disagree with each statement Sincerely, Part A: PERSONAL INFORMATON 1) Full name: 2) Which school are you currently teaching? 3) Which grades are you teaching? 4) Highest degree: (Bachelor’s/ Master’s/ Doctorate/ Others ) 5) How long have you been teaching English in lower secondary school? 6) Email address: VII Part B: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skills to lower secondary school students Please rate how much you think these statements are true about you by ticking (  ) (1) Strongly disagree (2) Disagree (3) Neutral (4) Agree (5) Strongly agree iv Statements 1 I am interested in teaching speaking skill I focus on teaching grammar, vocabulary and reading writing tests Teaching speaking skill is very important There is no test on speaking skills The class size is too large There are multi-level students in the class The contents in textbook are difficult for student’s ability My knowledge of speaking topics is restricted There is limited time for large knowledge 10 My teaching method is passive, not creative and interesting 11 I find it difficult to create pleasant and comfortable atmosphere in English speaking lessons VIII – 12 I apply some techniques in teaching speaking skill (role-play, interview…) 13 I give instructions for speaking activities in Vietnamese only 14 After giving speaking topics, I often provide new words and structures relating to the topics 15 It is difficult to find suitable activities 16 Limited time affects to student’s practice speaking skill 17 I rarely give activities involved in each speaking task 18 I give feedbacks for only few students because of the limited time 19 Students are passive in learning speaking skill 20 The classroom lacks facilities (micro, projector, videos, Internet…) IX APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW (For teachers) Questions for teachers How often you speak English in your speaking lesson? What are the reasons for these? What are difficulties in teaching speaking skills? X APPENDIX QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW (For students) Questions for students How you feel about your learning English? (Em nhận thấy khả tiếng Anh em nào?) Are you interested in learning English speaking skills? Why / Why not? (Em có thích học nói khơng? Tại có / khơng?) XI ... HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020 DECLARATION BY AUTHOR I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled ? ?Difficulties faced by the lower secondary school teachers in teaching speaking skills in Bien Hoa city? ??... of speaking and speaking skills 2.1.1Definition of speaking 2.1.2The nature of speaking and speaking skills 2.2 The role of speaking in language teaching 2.3 Teaching. .. GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Đinh Thị Thùy Trang DIFFICULTIES FACED BY LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN BIEN HOA CITY Field: English Language Code: 8220201