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

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* VŨ THỊ THUỲ 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 SKILL AND SOLUTIONS (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG T.H.P.T NHỊ CHIỂU, HUYỆN HINH MÔN, TỈNH HẢI DƯƠNG TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CÙNG BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* VŨ THỊ THUỲ 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 SKILL AND SOLUTIONS (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG T.H.P.T NHỊ CHIỂU, HUYỆN HINH MÔN, TỈNH HẢI DƯƠNG TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CÙNG BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof Nguyễn Văn Độ HANOI - 2014 DECLARATION I hereby state that I, Vu Thi Thuy, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts (TEFL), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of M.A Thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis Hanoi, October 2014 Vũ Thị Thuỳ i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof Nguyen Van Do, my supervisor, for thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable suggestions, various sources of reference and precious corrections on my writing Furthermore, I am grateful to his close guidance and generous help, which have been great encouragement to me during the process of writing up the thesis I, hereby, would like to express my sincere thanks to lecturers of Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized I also owe my sincere thanks to teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary who have enthusiastically participated in my study Finally, my heart-felt thanks go to my beloved family who have encouraged and supported me in every stage of this study ii ABSTRACT Speaking is considered one of the most important skills which language learners should master During the process of acquiring English language in the light of communicative approach, speaking English fluently, accurately and naturally seems to be the most challenging and difficult for teachers and learners at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school The present study primarily investigated the difficulties of teaching and learning English speaking skills at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school Data was collected via survey questionnaire for 100 school pupils and for teachers of English The findings revealed that both teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school are facing the problems in teaching and learning speaking skills From the findings, some suggestions were given with the hope that they might be a reliable source of reference for teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school to improve their teaching skills iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Some major trends and approaches of language teaching CLT approach Speaking skills 3.1 Nature of language skills and oral communication 3.2 Types of speaking skills 11 3.3 Characteristics of speaking 12 Teaching and learning English speaking skills 13 4.1 The role and status of speaking in language teaching and learning 13 4.2 Stages of teaching and learning English speaking skills 14 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Research context 18 2.1.1 Textbook 18 2.1.2 Students 20 2.2 Method of the study 21 2.3 Data collection procedures 22 2.4 Data analysis 23 iv CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS 24 3.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire 24 3.2 data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire 32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 42 4.1 Finding 42 4.1.1 Difficulties of teachers 42 4.1.2 Difficulties of students 43 4.1.3 Typical causes 44 4.2 Suggested solutions 45 4.2.1 Providing more intersting topic to encourage students’ participation 45 4.2.2 Building a habit of speaking English for students in the class 45 4.2.3 Equipping teaching facilities 46 PART III: CONCLUSION 48 Conclusion 48 Limitations and suggestions for further research 49 REFERENCES 50 APPENDIX A I v LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Difficulties of teachers 42 Chart 2: Difficulties of students 43 Chart 3: Typical causes of the problems 44 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Description of teachers’ experience in teaching English 24 Table 2: Teachers’ attitudes towards speaking skills 24 Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background 25 Table Teachers’ perception of CLT 26 Table Number of teachers applying CLT in teaching speaking skills 27 Table Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skills 28 Table Teachers’ attitudes towards reluctant speakers 29 Table Techniques to minimize the difficulties 30 Table Methods applied in teaching speaking 31 Table 10 Students’ reasons for learning English 33 Table 11 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills 34 Table 12 Students’ opinions on speaking topics 35 Table 13 Factors that make students reluctant to speak 36 Table 14 Teachers’ reaction to students’ mistakes 38 Table 15 Students’ opportunities to speak English outside classroom 39 Table 16 Teachers’ current techniques to encourage students to speak 40 vi PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays it is not daring to say that the ability to speak at least one foreign language is a necessity “Language is arguably the defining characteristic of the human species and knowledge of language in general, as well as ability to use one’s first and, at least one other language, should be one of the defining characteristics of the educated individual” (Nunan, 1999: 71) Learning English is becoming a need that most students are aware of and that the society demands, especially in the process of industrialization and modernization in connection to the open door policy of Viet Nam We are living in the time of immense technological inventions where communication among people has expanded way beyond their local speech communities Therefore learning a second language has become a means of keeping up with the pace of the rapidly changing world Speaking seems to be the most important skill that should be paid attention to in the process of teaching and learning It is true for the students at Nhi Chieu High School where learners are future citizens who learn English in order to be able to communicate with the foreigners and to work as a good worker or staff But in fact there are a large number of students who find it difficult to speak in English When most of the students are required to talk in English, they often stand speechless or they have to think for a long time about what they intend to say This has given me the desire to conduct “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” Aims of the study The study is conducted to find out the most typical difficulties faced by teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School in teaching and learning English speaking skills and some recommendations including coping strategies and classroom techniques and activities for them to minimize those difficulties Specifically, this research tries to investigate the potential sources causing the difficulties in teaching the skill of speaking and simultaneously identify the specific problems of those sources respectively Furthermore, some recommendations are made with the anticipation of helping English Language teachers improve the quality of their teaching the speaking skill Research questions The above aims can be realized through the following research questions: What are the difficulties of the teachers and students in teaching and learning English speaking skills at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School? What are the most typical causes of these problems? What should be done to help teachers and students at Nhi Chieu upper Secondary School to overcome the problems? Scope of the study Though problems in teaching speaking exist in the four macro-skills, the researcher has chosen to focus on difficulties in teaching speaking skill to students at for the fact that mastering speaking is so central to language learning that when we refer to speaking a language, we often mean knowing a language In addition, some recommendations for the teachers of English at the school to decrease those difficulties are also proposed The study of difficulties, recommendations of other skills to ameliorate the quality of teaching English skills would be beyond the scope of the study Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow-scaled study, this study only involves the students and five teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School Design of the study The study consists of three parts: centeredness is rarely applied in their teaching English in general and teaching speaking in particular According to them there are many reasons for this, however, the biggest obstacle is that they have been deeply affected by prior dominated teaching method They bear in mind that they should apply CLT in their teaching but they cannot find the appropriate techniques to carry out activities, so they just use to the old ones Furthermore, the ways of error correction applied by most of the teachers prevent students from speaking in class (Q.11 for students) Students are interrupted during their performance and this is certainly an obstacle for their teaching For many students, interrupting them for error correction may make them embarrassed, and more seriously, make them think of losing face in front of their peers 4.1.2 Difficulties of students Difficulties related to the students are categorized into: Low English proficiency, limited motivation in learning, use of Vietnamese during pair work or group, passive style of learning and students’ not participating in class 100% 100% 80% 100% Students’ low motivation 85.7% 71.4% Students’ use of Vietnamese during pair work or group work Students’ passive learning styles 60% 40% 20% Students’ not participating in class 14.3% Students’ low English proficiency 0% Chart 2: Difficulties from the students As present in chart 1, only 14.3% of the teachers referred their difficulties to students’ not participating in class whereas all of the respondents confirmed that the students’ low English proficiency was a constrain for them Another problem arising 43 from the students was limited motivation in learning Many of respondents (85.7%) accepted that their students’ lack of motivation was a trouble to them The students’ use of Vietnamese during pair work or group work was a hindrance to their teaching as well All of the subjects affirmed this problem Lastly, the students’ passive learning style was a constraint The fact that, students’ traditional learning style influenced their speaking skill Students seem to depend on the teacher and use Vietnamese a great deal during their task due to their low English proficiency Consequently, the aim to enhance the students to be a fluent communicator can not be reached In brief, the four problems arising from the students as low English proficiency, low motivation in learning, use of Vietnamese during pair work and group work and passive learning style created one of the barriers to the teachers in teaching speaking 4.1.3 Typical causes of the problems 98% 100% The requirements from 90% 80% 75% the textbook is difficult 70% English is not one of the main subjects 60% 50% 43% for the university entrance exam 40% 30% 20% Speaking skills are not tested 10% In the final examinations 0% Chart Typical causes of the problems Regarding hindrances from the educational system reported by the teachers gave us an interesting fact that 43% of the teachers complained difficult requirements from the text book were real obstacles to their teaching while 98% found it hard to teach 44 speaking while it is not included in the final examinations Additionally, the majority of the subjects (75%) assumed that multi-level classes prevented them from implementing speaking task and activities In my opinion, above are some typical causes that make teacher and learners find it hard to master English speaking skills in teaching and learning process 4.2 Suggested solutions To solve the problems the writer also suggest some ways to help herself and teachers at Nhi Chieu high school overcome the difficulties during teaching process 4.2.1 Providing more interesting topics to encourage students’ participation In order to encourage students to participate in English speaking lessons, the teachers should provide some interesting topics The topics can be in the textbook or outside the text-book It will be better if the topics are related to the lessons to create a feeling of security that the students are learning something in the lessons but not something outside Besides, the teachers can adapt the topics in the textbook to make them more suitable, interesting and familiar to the students Sometimes, it is advisable to let students choose the topics they like to talk about For example, in a discussion activity the students have to talk about type of competitions and contests in the world, the teachers can choose the similar ones in Vietnam because the students may have more information about them such as: “Dancing with the stars?” - The Vietnamese version of the British game show or the singing contest named “ The Voice” because these programmes are very popular to the high school students so they will find it easier to talk about 4.2.2 Building a habit of speaking English for students in the class In order to enhance the students’ speaking interest and better motivate the students to speak, it is important for the teachers to help the students to form a habit of using English The teachers should set a good example for the students, which means they 45 have to use English almost during the lessons but the English used should be easy for students to understand otherwise they will lose interest in the lessons It is also important to encourage the students to use English not only when learning speaking skills but also other skills In addition, the teachers should let the students have more chance to practise listening to get acquainted to native speakers’ voice Having had a habit of speaking English in the class, students will participate more often in classroom speaking activities For example, to make students have the habit of using English in the class, teachers should use classroom English which is short and clear and easy to speak such as : Who is on duty to day? What date is today? Close the door! Open your book! What are you going to in Task 1? … Students will find it more comfortable to use short answers in English 4.2.3 Equipping teaching facilities To improve the quality of teaching and learning English speaking skills, an adequate attention should be paid to the aspect of classroom facilities Besides the existing teaching facilities such as: board, chalk, cassette player, course book; it is necessary to equip classroom with modern equipment like computers, projectors, and TV for students to watch English programs, films, VCD, etc Equip the library with various reference books Add English magazines, novels, newspapers in the library In a word, one can enjoy English at any time and any place Students must involve themselves in these situations and cherish every chance to practice English The library is not only useful for students but also for the teachers as they can read in free time, improve their specialized knowledge as well as English language These devices would be of great importance in making the lectures more effective as the teachers can explain the subject matter lively and efficiently and save a lot of time in writing down everything on board as usual This also would change the atmosphere of classroom dramatically and make students more eager in learning 46 As mentioned above, the classes are big size Inside the classroom, students sit in long rows with students being in one row, thus becoming very immobile for communicative activities while the teachers are under pressure to cover the allocated syllabus in the time allowed From this problem, classroom must be larger than now and decorated suitably for communicative activities Chairs and tables should be arranged in a way that students can move around conveniently to join with their classmates to accomplish the tasks With such facilities, the process of teaching and learning will be more effective 47 PART III CONCLUSION Conclusion This study aims at investigating some difficulties faced by the teachers and students in teaching and learning speaking skill Based on the instrumentation as two questionnaires, this study has discovered the significant findings with the purpose of helping teachers to foresee the problems and find out ways to solve them in order to improve the students’ speaking skill The findings are divided into groups as difficulties and solutions In order to help the reader easily grasp the main findings each difficulty is displayed and followed by its solutions Another very important part of this chapter is the suggested activities which help overcome the major difficulties as well as improve quality of teaching and learning speaking skill at Nhi Chieu high school The findings, to some extent, reflect the situation of teaching and learning at Nhi Chieu high school It is conclusive that difficulties and solutions focused on in this chapter have answered the research questions It can be seen that the answers for three research questions have been found out It is indicated in the study that the students and teachers at Nhi Chieu high School are facing with some problems in teaching and learning English speaking skills In terms of teachers, they have to deal with the problems of multi-level class, students’ preference of using Vietnamese and the requirement of testing English speaking skills is not included in the final exam Besides, students also find it not easy to master English speaking skills They not have motivation during the lessons, they are familiar with passive learning style The researcher has found out some typical causes of the difficulties such as: high requirement from the text book The tasks from the textbook are sometimes too difficult for students to carry out their speaking activities Another cause is that, English is not one of the main subjects that students take in for the university entrance exam such as Math, Physics or Chemistry so they not spend their time on practicing English One more important cause is that English speaking skills are 48 not tested in the final exam so student think that it is not necessary for them to study to get good marks Through the research, the researcher also raise some solutions to the problems to help teachers and students overcome their difficulties In summary, it is hoped that the teachers of English at Nhi Chieu high school can benefit from the findings and suggestions to improve themselves and the students in teaching and learning speaking skill Limitation of the study and suggestions for further studies Although the researcher has made effort toward conducting this thesis, there undoubtedly exists some limitations First, due to small group of teachers and students involved in the study, the conclusions drawn were tentative a study with a large number of teachers and students to investigate their difficulties and solutions would certainly have more valid and reliable data Therefore, further studies with larger population should be carried out to show more convincing results Second, this study suggests some activities for students which help them improve their speaking skill As a result, an action research on the effectiveness of suggested activities mentioned in this research calls for further studies 49 REFERENCES Nunan, D ( 1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge: OUP Nunan, D ( 1990) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Sydney: MUP Nunan, D ( 1991) Language Teaching Methodology New Jersey: Prentice Hall International Nunan, D ( 1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinl and Heinl Publishers Down, M (2000) Increasing Student Motivation Teacher’s Edition, 4, 8-13 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman Jonhson, K & Morrow, K (1981) Communication in the classroom Essex: Longman Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge University Press Hymes, D H ( 1972) In Richards J C ,and Rodgers, T S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP Jack C Richards and Theodore S Rodgers ( 1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge :OUP Kayi, H ( 2006) Teaching Speaking The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XII, No11, November Larsen- Freeman, D ( 1986) Techniques and Principles on Language Teaching Oxford: OUP Long, M , and Crookes, G ( 1992) Three Approaches to Task- based Syllabus Design TESOL Quaterly Mc Carthy, M ( 1993) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers Cambridge : OUP 50 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into the difficulties in teaching English Speaking Skills to the students at Nhi Chieu High School Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Did you learn English before High School? yes no If yes : How long did you learn English before? ………………….years Why you want to learn English? to pass examinations to be a compulsory subject in curriculum to get a good job in the future to speak English to foreigners to listen to songs, read books, magazines in English others:…………………………………………………… How important is the speaking skills to you? very important rather important little important not important at all Why you like learning English speaking? to improve the knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and phonology to communicate with foreigners to get a chance to have a university place or a work place in a foreign company after finishing school I to get good marks speaking skill is very interesting How you feel about speaking English? easy difficult normal very difficult Are you afraid of speaking English in class? usually rarely sometimes never What you think about speaking topics in the textbook “ English”? interesting boring all right not suitable Are you willing to speak English in class? yes, I like speaking very much sometimes rarely never except when asked by the teacher What factors make you afraid of speaking English in class? being afraid of losing face not getting used to speaking English not paying much attention to speaking skills boring teaching others:……………………………………………………… 10 What you think often prevent you from speaking English in class? unable to find words or structures unable to find ideas not enough time for preparation too much teachers’ talking time others:……………………………………………………… 11 If you make mistakes while performing your tasks, your teachers often……… II get angry and interrupt you to correct remain self- control but interrupt you mistake correction wait until you finish your task, poin out your mistakes then correct them for you wait until you finish your task, poin out your mistakes then encourage you and your classmates to correct them 12 Do you have opportunities to speak English outside your class? usually sometimes rarely never 13 After giving topics what does your teacher often do? provide new words and structures relating to the topics provide main ideas of the topics elicit ideas from students give some tasks ask you to discuss the topics immediately 14 What does your teacher often to encourage you to speak English in class? give marks suggest interesting topics for discussion give you some suggested questions create some interesting games and activities others:……………………………………………………… 15 In order to improve your speaking skills, How should your teacher do? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………… Thank you for taking time to complete this questionnaire III SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Before answering the questions, please fill in some information: * Gender : Male/ Female * Your age : * How long have you been teaching English? (0-3 years; 4-5 years; 6-8 years; more than 10 years) Please circle the appropriate answers for the following questions You may choose more than one option Which of these four following English language skills you think the most difficult for your students? A Listening C Reading B Speaking D Writing What is your idea about teaching and learning English Speaking to the students at your school? A Very essential C Not very essential B Essential D Not essential at all What you think of your students’ Speaking competence at the school? A Really bad B Bad C Quite good D Good E Really good What you think of the materials used for teaching and learning Speaking to the students at the school? A Difficult and boring C Interesting and stimulating B Difficult but interesting D Easy and boring IV What are your difficulties in teaching Speaking skills to the students at your school? A Students’ low motivation E Large and heterogeneous class B Students’ low level of English proficiency F Inappropriate materials C Time limitation G Poor teaching equipments D Students’ laziness H Others (please specify) Does your school have enough modern equipments (such as radio, TV, computer, video, projector etc.) for teaching English Speaking skills? A Yes B No C Some of the equipments (please name) What you always before a Speaking task? A Do nothing and go straight to the task B Only instruct students how to the task C Give students some background knowledge about the topic D Provide some necessary vocabulary and structures related to the topic E Discuss with students to lead them to the topic F Brainstorm the topic G Others (please specify) What you while students practice Speaking? A Help students with useful vocabulary and structures B Go around the class to monitor C Stay at your seat and relax D Take time to other things V E Others ( please specify)……………… What you when students show low motivation in Speaking activities? A Carry out on-going assessments (giving students marks for participation) B Let them choose their favorite partners C Give them some more support about vocabulary, structures and ideas D Encourage students to willingly take part in the activities E Ignore them F Others ( please specify)……………… 10 What you when students keep making mistakes? A Keep silent and encourage them to continue B Keep silent but not encourage them to continue C Interrupt them and correct the mistake every time they make D Wait until students finish and correct all mistakes they made E Get angry and ask them to stop F Others ( please specify)……………… 11 How you deal with students’ low level of spoken English? A Select and organize simple communicative activities B Give students chances in different Speaking activities C Translate instructions into Vietnamese D Give them the English equivalents from their ideas in Vietnamese E Criticize them for their low level F Neglect them G Others ( please specify)……………… VI 12 What you to encourage your students to speak? A Suggest interesting topics for discussion B Give students some useful suggestions related to the topic C Let students choose topics themselves to discuss D Use other authentic materials (visual aids, stories, songs, video clips, movies, etc.) E Involve students in the real English Speaking environment F Carry out on-going assessments (giving students marks for participation) G Do nothing H Others ( please specify)……………… 13 What you to improve your students’ Speaking skills? A Ask students to learn by heart all learnt vocabulary and structures B Ask students to practice English everyday C Ask students try to speak as much English as possible D Advise students try to communicate with native speakers E Suggest students taking an English course in Foreign VII ... 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? ?? Aims of the study The. .. 12 Teaching and learning English speaking skills 13 4.1 The role and status of speaking in language teaching and learning 13 4.2 Stages of teaching and learning English speaking skills. .. emerged from an examination of the data and information than pre-determined and imposed on the data and information The information from the interviews was transcribed and major themes were identified