STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT HAIPHONG SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL– PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  LÊ XUÂN HƯƠNG TRANG STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT HAIPHONG SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING Những chiến lược tăng cường tham gia học sinh học kỹ nói Trường Trung cấp Kỹ thuật - Nghiệp vụ Hải Phòng M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 HANOI, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  LÊ XUÂN HƯƠNG TRANG STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT HAIPHONG SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING Những chiến lược tăng cường tham gia học sinh học kỹ nói Trường Trung cấp Kỹ thuật - Nghiệp vụ Hải Phòng M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60.14.10.11 Supervisor: Dr Dương Thị Nụ HANOI, 2015 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “Strategies to encourage students to participate in English speaking activities at HaiPhong secondary vocational school of technical – Professional training" is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Hanoi, 2015 Lê Xuân Hương Trang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Duong Thi Nu, who has supported me thoughout my thesis with her patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge Without her support and active participation in every step of the process, this thesis may never have been completed I would like to thank the teachers of the Faculty of post – graduated studies for their interesting lectures who provided me with the strong inspired statation for this study This study would not have been possible without the corporation and support extended by teachers and students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training Their patience and willingness to respond to my survey questionnaires are very much appreciated I would also like to thank my colleagues who listened and discussed ideas about this thesis with me on many occasions Their informal support and encouragement has been indispensable Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family and friends for their encouragement and support during the course of my writing Without their support and assistance, it is impossible for me to finish this research ii ABSTRACT This research has been done in an attempt to encourage students to take part in oral presentations and improve their speaking skill at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training Specifically, the researcher puts focus on students’ attitude towards speaking skill, their degree of participation in classroom speaking activities, reasons that make them hesitant to participate in oral activities, current methods applied to teach speaking as well as teachers’ view of CLT, their attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers, their difficulties in teaching speaking and techniques and activities applied in teaching speaking The research was carried out among nine teachers and 100 students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training The data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, classroom observation It was firstly unveiled from the results that the level of students’ participation in speaking lessons is rather low Secondly, students’ talking time in speaking lessons is limited Thirdly, regarding to factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities, there were five main ones namely uninteresting speaking topics, poor background knowledge, lack of confidence, lack of motivation and passive learning style Fourthly, teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking was also highlighted Lastly, the current methods were shown that most of the students feel uncomfortable learning with the teachers’ teaching activities which lead to the inability, or the unwillingness of the students to express themselves through oral activities Basing on these findings, some implications are recommended for both the teachers and the students iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES List of Figures Figure 1: The importance of speaking Figure 2: Interest degree in speaking Figure 3: Opinion of speaking topics Figure 4: Degree of participation in oral activities Figure A, B: Current methods in speaking teaching Figure 6: Students’ exectation from their teachers Figure 7: Students’ expectation for speaking activities Figure 8: Applied teaching methods Figure 9: Teacher’s attitude towards oral activities Figure 10: Difficulties in speaking teaching Table 11: Activities to motivate students to participate more in oral activities List of Tables Table 1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill Table 2: Factors that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities Table 3: Teachers’ opinion of CLT Table A, B: Teachers’ reactions towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers Table 5: Techniques to make students more interested in speaking lessons Table 6: Time on-task, off-task for students in speaking activities iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale 2 Aims of the study 3 Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW Nature of speaking skill and principles in teaching speaking 1.1 Nature of speaking skill 1.2 Principles of teaching speaking 1.3 Teacher’s roles in teaching speaking Students’ participation in oral activities 2.1 Concept of students’ participation 2.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 12 Subjects of the study 12 Data collecting instrument 12 Data collection procedure 13 Data analysis procedure 14 CHAPTER THREE: STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 15 Results of questionnaires for students 15 1.1 Students’ attitude towards speaking skill 15 v 1.2 Students’ degrees of participation in classroom speaking activities 17 1.3 Reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities 17 1.4 Current methods applied to teach speaking 20 1.5 Students’ expectation from their teachers 21 Results of questionnaire for teachers 23 2.1 Teachers’ view of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 23 2.2 Teacher’s attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake maker 25 2.3 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking 26 2.4 Techniques and activities applied in teaching English speaking 27 Results of classroom observations 28 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 30 Findings 30 1.1 Levels of students’ participation in speaking lessons 30 1.2 Students’ talking time in speaking lessons 30 1.3 Learner’s factors affecting participation in oral activities 31 1.4 Teacher’s difficulties in teaching speaking 33 1.5 Current teaching methods 34 Recommendations from the study 35 2.1 Recommendations for the learners 35 2.2 Recommendation for the teachers 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 40 Recapitulation 40 Conclusions 40 Limitations and suggestions for further study 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIXES I vi PART A: INTRODUCTION This part, which includes rationale for the study, aims, research questions, scopes, methods and design of the study, would hopefully provide readers an overview of the whole research Rationale Speaking skill, the most important aspect of learning a second language, is still a challenge for most students at vocational schools in general, HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training in particular Many students not have a clear purpose of learning English in their mind and they are passively motivated to learn English basing on the textbooks and teachers’ method of delivery As a result, most of students consider English as a compulsory subjects at schools and find themselves unable to use English for day-to-day communication Many research has been done on English language teaching and learning at secondary vocational schools toward a greater emphasis on communication and student centeredness While efforts have been made to encourage the participation of students in writing, reading, listening, far less attention is paid to teach necessary techniques to develop good speaking skill Besides, numerous difficulties in teaching and leaning speaking such as error correction, overcoming nervousness, etc… helping students to develop their ability in communication has not been emphasized much yet In terms of my experiences of teaching English at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training, I found that most of my students are unwilling to participate in oral activities Reasons or this are various including teaching methods focus on grammar, teachers’opinion of English learning, student’s lack of idea or language devices, etc To bridge the gap, this research aims at exploring some real situations about English speaking teaching and learning at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training, and search for some reasons that affect the students’ participation in oral activities as well as to suggest some appropriate teaching strategies to stimulate learner’s involvement in oral activities Aims of the study This study is designed to bring a fresh atmosphere into English classes for the students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training In general, it has three purposes Firstly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral activities on the students’ performance in English speaking lessons Secondly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the participation in oral presentations in the classroom Finally, it is to provide both teachers and students with some suggestions to encourage students’ participation in speaking activities Research questions In order to reach the aims of the study, the research questions are as followed:  1 What are teachers and students’ attitudes towards speaking skill?  2 What are the factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities?  3 What should teachers to increase students’ participation in speaking activities? Scope of the study The research is conducted with view to current situation of teaching and learning speaking at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training and find out the reasons why the students are not ready to speak and suggest some strategies to attract their attention There are two groups of subjects in the study The first group contains 100 students who have learned English for years at lower secondary schools The second group includes teachers of English to help find out what teaching methods and techniques were currently exploited in their teaching 3 Limitations and suggestions for further study A complete research into the strategies to encourage students to participate in English speaking activities at Hai Phong Secondary Vocational School of TechnicalProfessional Training demands a lot of time, resources and the researcher’s ability Therefore, my thesis is only a partial contribution to the topic One of the limitations that this study has pointed out is the sampling of the research The number of students and teachers involved in the survey is rather limited in comparison with all students at Hai Phong Secondary Vocational School of TechnicalProfessional Training Therefore, it may not present for this large population Regarding contribution to the technique and method innovations on speaking teaching and learning effectiveness, it is hoped that further researches will focus on other elements involved, including listening, reading, writing skills in turn to help students to develop confidence in communication In other words, speaking skills should be developed along with the other skills, so that these integrated skills will enhance the students' ability to communicate effectively 42 REFERENCES Bridget K Hamre, Robert C Pianta, Jason T Downer, Megan W Stuhlman (2014) A Practitioner’s Guide to Conducting Classroom University of Virginia Brown, H.D (2001) Teaching by principle: an interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd ed.) New York, Longman Brown, H.D (2002) Strategies for success: A practical guide to learning English New York, Longman Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford: Oxford University Press Clydesdale G (2006), Creativity and Competition: The Beatles, Creativity Research Journal Dancer & Kamvounias, 2005 Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education (Sydney, Sydney University, School of Economics and Political Science) Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching (3rd ed.) Essex: Longman Keefe, J W (1979) Learning Style: An Overview, in J W Keefe (ed.), Student learning styles: Diagnosing and prescribing programs NASSP (1979) Leaver, B L., Ehrman, M and Shekhtman,B (2005) Achieving success in second language acquisition Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 10 Lite, W T Jan (2002) The Internet TESL Journal Vol VII No1 11 Nunan, David 1991 Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 12 Nunan, D (1999) Second language teaching and learning Boston, Heinle & Heinle 13 Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, 6th edition 14 Vanjendra, K.V & Mallick, G (1991) Researching education: Perspectivesand echniques Oxfords: Flamer Press 43 APPENDIXES APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS Dear all students This questionnaire is designed for my research into the reality of learning English, especially in speaking skill at Hai Phong Secondary Vocational School of Technical-Professional Training Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated You can be confident that the data collected are only for the study purpose Thank you very much for your cooperation: Guidelines: This questionnaire has four sections Tick (x) on the answer that is most appropriate for you Section 1: Your views of English speaking skills Why you learn speaking skill? You can tick more than one answer: A English speaking is compulsory at your school B You just want to pass the oral exam C Speaking is necessary for your future job D You are interested in the speaking skill E Other(s): Please specify How important is speaking skill to you? A very important B rather important C little important D not important at all How much you feel interested in speaking skill? A very interested B rather interested C little interested I D not interested at all What you think of the topic in textbooks? A very interesting B boring C difficult D easy Section 2: Factors affecting the participation of students in speaking activities How often you participate in speaking activities? A usually B often C sometimes D rarely E never What are the factors that cause the difficulties in speaking English? A feeling shy B not being accustomed to speaking in front of other people C boring teaching method D uninteresting lessons E learning goal is not to communicate F lack of students’ talking time How you practice speaking activities ? A practice with great interest B remain silent all the time C chat with other group members about other topics D speak Vietnamese F other(s): (Please specify) Which of the following affect you participation? A I not find correct words and sentence structure II B I not know anything about the speaking topics C I not have enough time to prepare D I not have good pronunciation E Teachers talk too much in class F I have low proficiency in English Section 3: The applied method in teaching speaking skills When your teacher introduces speaking topics, he (she) often A Provide necessary vocabulary and structures related to the topic B Suggest the ideas of the topic C Encourage to prepare outline for the topic D Require topic discussion E Other(s): (Please specify) 10 When you make mistakes, your teachers often……… A Feel very angry and ask to interrupt to you to correct mistakes when you are speaking B Only interrupt to correct mistakes when you are speaking C Wait until you've finished your work and correct your mistakes D Wait until you've finished your work and show your mistakes and encourage you correct them yourself E other(s): (Please specify) Section 4: The solution 11 What you think your teacher should to motivate students to participate more in oral activities? (You can choose more than one answer) A To give clear instructions B Not to interrupt to correct when you are speaking III C To provide necessary vocabulary, language, and suggest the ideas D To create a good language atmosphere E To minimize his/her talking time F To give feedback, praise and encouragement 12 How you like to practice speaking in class? (Please tick the appropriate column where the numbers indicate how you like to practice speaking in class: 1: very much, 2: not very much, 3: little, 4: not at all, 5: not care) A Individual working B Small groupworking C Games using D Role playing E Storytelling F Difference finding G Picture describing IV PHỤ LỤC PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO HỌC SINH Các em thân mến, Phiếu khảo sát nhằm mục đích tìm hiểu việc học tiếng Anh đặc biệt việc học kỹ nói học sinh Trường Trung cấp Kỹ thuật - Nghiệp vụ Hải Phịng Chính mong em trả lời trung thực câu hỏi phiếu Phiếu khảo sát không dùng vào mục đich đánh phục vụ cho mục đích nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn em Hướng dẫn trả lời: Phiếu khảo sát có phần Các em đánh dấu nhân chéo (x) vào câu trả lời mà em cho thích hợp PHẦN 1: Quan điểm em kỹ nói tiếng Anh Tại em học tiếng Anh? (Em chọn phương án trả lời) A Tiếng Anh môn học bắt buộc trường B Em muốn vượt qua thi kỹ nói C Tiếng Anh cần thiết cho nghề nghiệp tương lai em D Em thich nói tiếng Anh E Lý khác Kỹ nói tiếng Anh quan trọng với em? A Rất quan trọng B Khá quan trọng C Ít quan trọng D Khơng quan trọng Em thấy học nói thú vị nào? A Rất thú vị V B Khá thú vị C Ít thú vị D Khơng thú vị chút Em nghĩ chủ đề nói sách giáo khoa? A Rất hay B Nhàm chán C Khó D Dễ dàng PHẦN 2: Các yếu tố ảnh đến tham gia học sinh học nói Em đánh mức độ tham gia cua em học nói tiếng Anh? A Thường xuyên B Thường thường C Thỉnh thoảng D Hiếm E Không Theo em, yếu tố sau làm em cảm thấy khó khăn việc sử dụng tiếng Anh? A Em sợ xấu hổ B Em không quen nói tiếng Anh trước lớp C Phương pháp dạy nhàm chán D Nội dung học không thú vị E Mục đích học tiếng Anh em khơng phải để giao tiếp F Thiếu thời gian thực hành lớp VI Em tham gia hoạt động học nói nào? A Em thích B Em ln im lặng C Em chát với bạn nhóm chủ đề khác D Em nói tiếng Việt E Ý kiến khác Điều dây ảnh hưởng tới việc tham gia em học nói? A Khơng tìm từ cấu trúc câu B Khơng biết chủ đề nói C Khơng đủ thời gian để chuẩn bị D Khơng phát âm chuẩn E Giáo viên nói q nhiều lớp F Khơng có diễn đạt thơng thạo PHẦN 3: Các phương pháp ứng dụng việc dạy kỹ nói Sau đưa chủ đề nói, giáo viên em thường A Cung cấp cho em từ cấu trúc liên quan đến chủ đề nói B Cung cấp cho em ý chủ đề nói C Khuyến khích em lập dàn ý cho chủ đề nói D Yêu cầu em tự thảo luận chủ đề nói E Ý kiến khác 10 Trong thực hành nói, em mắc lỗi, giáo viên thường A Tức giận yêu cầu em dừng lại để chữa lỗi B Không bực yêu cầu em dừng lại để chữa lỗi C Đợi đến em thực hành xong lỗi sửa chúng cho em VII D Đợi đến em thực hành xong lỗi mà em mắc phải khuyến khích em tự sửa lỗi E Ý kiến khác PHẦN 4: Giải pháp khắc phục 11 Theo em giáo viên nên làm để tăng cường tham gia học sinh hoạt động nói (Em chọn phương án trả lời) A Đưa huớng dẫn rõ ràng, dễ hiểu B Không yêu cầu em dừng lại em mắc lỗi C Cung cấp từ vựng, gợi ý cần thiết D Tạo không khí thoải mái học E Giảm thời lượng nói F Nhận xét, khích lệ, khen ngợi học sinh 12 Ý kiến em mức độ nyêu thích hoạt động sử dụng nói (Đánh dấu vào cột mức độ ưa thích tương ứng với số sau: 1: Rất thích, 2: Khơng thích lắm, 3: Thích chút, 4: Khơng thích chút nào, 5: Khơng quan tâm) A Làm việc cá nhân B Làm việc nhóm C Sử dụng trị chơi D Đóng kịch E Kể chuyện F Tìm điểm khác biệt G Miêu tả tranh VIII APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR TEACHERS Dear All teachers at Hai Phong Secondary Vocational School of TechnicalProfessional Training This survey is designed in order to explore your student’s desire for learning English Therefore, as a researcher, I highly appreciate your assistance in completing this survey All the information is this survey is not used on the purpose of identifying; it is sole for the study purpose Thank you very much for your contribution (Please show your appropriate answer by putting a tick in the appropriate column) What you think about CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) (You can choose all statements if you think they are true) A.  Focus on meaningful tasks B.  Doesn’t focus on teaching grammar C.  Emphasize on fluency more than accuracy D.  Focus on the learners Have you been taught in CLT? A.  Yes, in English teaching-training courses B.  Yes, in English teaching workshops C.  No, I have never been taught in CLT D.  Others (Please specify): What teaching method is currently used in your teaching speaking? A.  CLT B.  Grammar translation C.  Audio-lingual IX D.  Others (Please specify): How you evaluate your students’ level of participation in the classroom speaking activities? A My students are very afraid of participating speaking activities B My students are quite afraid of participating speaking activities C They are very willing to speak D Others (Please specify): What you when your students are reluctant to speak? A get angry B get them to speak C encourage them to speak by asking easier questions D let them sit down and not ask them again E other(s) (Please specify): When your students keep making mistakes, you are……… A.  Irritated B.  Tolerant C.  Little tolerant D.  Very tolerant What are your difficulties in teaching speaking skill at your school? A.  Large-sized class B.  The student’s passive learning style C.  Students’ low English proficiency D.  Lack of time E.  Uninteresting topics X What you usually to make your students interested in their speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one option) A.  Minimize my talking time and give them more opportunities for exchanging ideas B.  Give them feedback, praise and encouragement C.  Let them choose topics to discuss D.  Design appropriate speaking tasks to the learners’ abilities How often you use the following activities to motivate your students to participate more in oral activities? (Please tick the appropriate column where the numbers indicate how often you use these activities in class: 1: Always, 2: Often, 3: Sometimes, 4: Rarely, 5: Never) A Individualy working B Small group working C Games using D Role playing E Storytelling F Difference finding G Picture describing XI APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET Unit 5: What you want to do? Textbook “New Headway pre - Intermediate student’s book” Speaking: What are your plans and ambitions? Being a teenager Class: K07 and X06 Time allowance: 90 minutes (45 minutes for each class) Date: April, 15th, 2014 Teacher’s activities 1 (10 ask the Task minutes): Students’ Students’ Students’ participation attitude toward talking in teacher’s teacher’s time activities activities students to discuss about their plans and ambitions Task (10 minutes): display the situation of the task, and then let students find out the solutions Task (15 minutes): ask the XII Remark students how they feel when they were teenagers then summarize the advantages and disadvantages of being a teenager Task (10 minutes): ask students to present about their future intensions XIII