A study on students’ attitudes towards learning to speak english and their classroom speaking practices at northern water resource college 001

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ CHÚC QUỲNH A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AND THEIR CLASSROOM SPEAKING PRACTICES AT NORTHERN WATER RESOURCE COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu thái độ sinh viên việc học nói tiếng Anh việc thực hành nói lớp họ trường Cao đẳng Thuỷ lợi Bắc Bộ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ CHÚC QUỲNH A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AND THEIR CLASSROOM SPEAKING PRACTICES AT NORTHERN WATER RESOURCE COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu thái độ sinh viên việc học nói tiếng Anh việc thực hành nói lớp họ trường Cao đẳng Thuỷ lợi Bắc Bộ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr Mai Thị Loan Hanoi, 2013 DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research, and that it has not been submitted for any other degree Ha Nam, September, 2013 Student‟s signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr Mai Thi Loan, for her invaluable guidance, criticism and encouragement in the process of completing this minor thesis I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Language and International Studies for their very useful lectures My profound thanks also go to the teachers and the students at Northern Water Resource College for their enthusiastic help and support Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my loving family and my special friends who always encouraged and helped me to complete this study ii ABSTRACT Attitude plays an important role in language acquisition and it helps explain linguistic behaviour Learners may have positive or negative attitudes towards learning a language Language attitude has great influence on language learning and acquisition as well as learners‟ choice and use of language Besides, speaking is considered the most important skill that almost all the language learners want to master However, not all language learners have positive attitude towards learning this skill This thesis was carried out to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices at Northern Water Resource College The data of the study were collected through a survey questionnaire which involved the participation of 100 randomly collected samples and four class observations The data collected then were analyzed and generalized The findings of the research revealed that the students hold a negative attitude towards learning to speak English From the findings, some suggestions were given with the hope that they might be useful for the teachers at Northern Water Resource College to improve their students‟ English speaking skill iii LIST OF ABBREAVIATIONS NWRC: Northern Water Resource College EFL: English as a foreign language ELT: English Language Teaching ESP English for Specific Purpose iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure Students‟ awareness of the importance of English speaking skill……… 19 Figure Students‟ assessment of their English speaking ability……………… 20 Figure Students‟ feelings of speaking English………………………………… 20 Figure Factors affecting students‟ learning to speak English………………… 22 Figure Students‟ preferences for practising English 24 Figure Frequency of students‟ speaking in English class…………………… 27 Figure Activities and methods teacher often uses in English speaking classes 29 Figure Things teachers often after giving speaking topics………………… 30 Table Students‟ attitudes towards learning English…………………………… 18 Table Students‟ willingness to speak English………………………………… 21 Table Students‟ solutions to overcome difficulties in speaking English in class 23 Table Students‟ ways to improve English speaking competence…………… 24 Table Students‟ expectations for learning to speak English………………… 25 Table The things that students often in English speaking classes………… 27 Table Students‟ ways to speak English in classroom………………………… 28 Table Teachers‟ mistake correction …………………………………………… 31 v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ……………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………… iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES………………………………………… v TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………… vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION……………………………………… 1 Rationale of the study…………………………………………… Aims of the study…………………………………………… Research questions ………………………………………………… Scope of the study ……………………………………………… Significance of the study…………………………………………… Methodology……………………………………………………… Design of the study……………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT…………………………………… CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………… 1.1 Attitudes …………………………………………………… 1.1.1 Definitions of attitudes………………………………………… 1.1.2 Components of attitudes……………………………………… 1.1.3 Functions of attitudes…… ……………………………… 1.1.4 Language attitudes………….…………………………………… 1.2 Speaking theory…………… ………………………………… 1.2.1 Definition of speaking…………… .………………………… 1.2.2 The role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning… 1.2.3 Problems with speaking skill…………………………………… 1.2.4 The techniques and activities in teaching speaking skills……… 10 1.2.4.1 The techniques in teaching speaking skills…………………… 10 vi 1.2.4.2 The activities in teaching speaking skills…………………… 11 1.3 Review of previous studies on attitude……………………… 13 1.4 Summary……………………………………………………… 14 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY…………………… 15 2.1 The setting of the study… ……………………………… 15 2.2 Participants……………………………………………… 15 2.3 Data collection instruments ……………………………… 16 2.4 Data analysis procedure……………………………………… 16 CHAPTER DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………… 18 3.1 Questionnaires for students….………………………………… 18 3.1.1 General attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning English… 18 3.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English……… 18 3.1.2.1 Students‟ awareness of the importance of speaking skill… 18 3.1.2.2 Students‟ assessment of their English speaking ability………… 19 3.1.2.3 Students‟ feelings of speaking English………… ………… 20 3.1.2.4 Factors affecting students‟ learning to speak English………… 22 3.1.2.5 Students‟ preferences for practising English 24 3.1.2.6 Students‟ expectations for learning to speak English…………… 25 3.1.3 Students’ classroom practices…………… …………………… 26 3.1.3.1 The frequency of students‟ speaking in English class ……… 27 3.1.3.2 The things that students often in English speaking classes… 27 3.1.3.3 Students‟ ways to speak English in classroom……………… 28 3.1.3.4 Teacher‟s teaching activities in English speaking classes…… 28 3.2 Classroom observations……………………………………… 31 3.2.1 Teacher‟s methods and speaking activities ………………… 35 3.2.2 Students‟ participation………………………………………… 37 PART III CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS…………………… 38 Summary of findings………………………………………………… 38 1.1 Students‟ attitudes towards English and learning to speak English…… 38 vii 1.2 Students‟ classroom speaking practices……………………………… 39 Implications for teachers……………………………………………… 39 Suggestions for further study………………………………………… 41 Conclusion…… ……………………………………………………… 42 REFERENCE………………………………………………………… APPENDIX Questionnaire for students ……………………………… 43 I APPENDIX Class observation sheets………… ………………………… XI viii C Giáo viên nên tạo nhiều chủ đề hấp dẫn phù hợp với sinh viên chủ đề khó giáo trình D Giáo viên chấp nhận nhiều câu trả lời khác E Giáo viên nên quan tâm đến tất sinh viên lớp F Giáo viên không nên ngắt lời sinh viên họ mắc lỗi G Giáo viên nên tạo khơng khí thoải mái học nói để khuyến khích sinh viên nói H Giáo viên khơng giỏi tiếng Anh mà cịn giỏi lĩnh vực khác văn hóa, xã hội, trị, lịch sử, v.v… I Giáo viên nên nhiệt tình, thân thiện, giúp đỡ sinh viên J Giáo viên sử dụng trị chơi mang tính giao tiếp học nói K Mong muốn khác:……………… 13 Em thường nói tiếng Anh học nói nào? A Luôn B Thường xuyên C Thỉnh thoảng D Hiếm E Không 14 Em thường làm học nói (Em chọn nhiều đáp án) A Chú ý lắng nghe giáo viên giải thích B Nhiệt tình tham gia hoạt động nói C Thảo luận chủ đề theo cặp, nhóm tiếng Việt D Thảo luận chủ đề theo cặp, nhóm tiếng Anh E Khơng tham gia hoạt động nói, làm việc khác F Ý kiến khác:…………………………………………………… 15 Em thường nói tiếng Anh nào? A Em cố gắng tránh dịch từ B Khi học nói, trước hết em xếp ý tiếng Việt, sau dịch sang tiếng Anh IX C Em nói từ xuất đầu, không quan tâm đến ngữ pháp 16 Trong học nói giáo viên thường sử dụng hoạt động để khuyến khích sinh viên tham gia nói? (Em chọn nhiều đáp án) A Hoạt động nhóm E Đặt câu hỏi B Phỏng vấn C Trò chơi F Các giáo cụ trực quan (tranh ảnh, đồ, nhạc, ) G Điền khuyết D Thảo luận tự H Đóng vai 17 Sau đưa chủ đề nói, giáo viên thường làm gì? (Em chọn nhiều đáp án) A Cung cấp từ vựng cấu trúc liên quan đến chủ đề nói B Cung cấp ý chủ đề nói D Giao nhiệm vụ C Thu thập ý kiến từ sinh viên E Yêu cầu em thảo luận 18 Nếu em mắc lỗi thực hành nói, giáo viên thường… A Tức giận ngắt lời em để sửa lỗi B Giữ bình tĩnh ngắt lời em để sửa lỗi C Đợi đến em hoàn thành bài, lỗi sai sửa D Đợi đến em hoàn thành bài, lỗi sai khuyến khích em bạn sửa lỗi sai X APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION SHEETS OBSERVATION SHEET Date: September 23rd ,2010 Observer: Nguyen Thi Chuc Quynh Teacher‟s name: Doan Thu Thuy Class: C5 TK2 Unit 10: Scared to death Number of students: 45 Textbook: New Headway Pre-Intermediate Period 3: Speaking: Talking about your childhood Time limit: 45 minutes Descriptive notes Unit 10: Scared to death Speaking: Talking about your childhood A Teacher’s activities Student’s activities Remark Warm-up: 10’ - Teacher greets the class - Show a timetable of a schoolboy and ask students to talk about it - Call some students to talk about the boy‟s timetable - Students listen to the teacher carefully - Look at the table and work in pairs to describe the table - Stand up and talk about the boy‟s - Ss are not very interested in the activity - About 60% of the students work; Some speak Vietnamese; Others nothing - Check and ask students to compare timetable with their daily activities - T‟s instructions are not very clear - The atmosphere is quite boring XI - Introduce the speaking topic: your childhood B New lesson: I Tasks: Task 1: Ask and answer about your day - Ss listen to T‟s instructions and read - Ss work with little enthusiasm now and your daily activities when you were a child (15’) - Ask Ss to work in pairs and make dialogues to ask the partner about his/her life now and his/her life as a child - Before doing this task, T asks Ss to look at the sample and practise it aloud A: What you at the weekend? B: I usually go shopping and the sample conversation carefully - Ss work with their partners to ask about their life now and life as a child - Ss practise speaking aloud - Ss come over the board and make dialogues A: What did you when you were a child? B: I used to play with my friends and - T goes round to help students who may have difficulty in expressing their ideas and correct all the mistakes the Ss may make - T calls some pairs to stand up and XII - Some Ss use Vietnamese - Six pairs volunteer to practise speaking - Ss‟ pronunciation is not very good - T acts a good instructor - T focuses too much on grammatical and pronunciation make dialogues - Give remark and correct common mistakes Task (10’) Story-telling - Give Ss a story about Jame‟s childhood in which sentences are not in correct - Ss work in groups to rearrange the - Some Ss are very interested in the orders - Ask Ss to work in group to rearrange the sentences to make a story - Go round the classroom to help Ss - Call students to give the answers story - The representative of each group stand up and give answers - Compare the answers - Ss listen to T‟s feedback and correct XIII task; some others are dependent on their friends to find the answer or just speak Vietnamese - T often goes round the class and help Ss when necessary - Check the answer, compare the mistakes if any answers between groups and give feedback, then correct the wrong answers - T often stops Ss to correct their pronunciation - Classroom atmosphere is quite good Task 3(8’) Talking about your childhood - Ask Ss to work individually to talk - Work individually to talk about their about things they used to when they childhood were small, using the story in task as a - Stand up and speak aloud sample - Go round the class to help Ss - Call some Ss to stand up and speak aloud - Correct Ss‟ mistakes - Ss not take part in the task eagerly - Some Ss not work - Many Ss are afraid of being called to speak aloud - Some Ss refuse to stand up and speak; They just keep silent or look away to avoid being called - The classroom atmostphere is not very exciting - Time for preparation is a bit short - T focuses too much on correcting grammatical mistakes C Wrap-up( 5’) - T summarizes the important content in the lesson - Ss remember what have been taught XIV and pronunciation - T assigns homework to Ss in the lesson - Ss write homework OBSERVATION SHEET Date: September 23rd ,2010 Observer: Nguyen Thi Chuc Quynh Teacher‟s name: Truong Minh Hue Class: C5 TK3 Number of students: 48 Unit 13 Earning a living Period 3: Speaking: What is a good job? Textbook: New Headway Pre-Intermediate Time limit: 45 minutes Descriptive notes Unit 13 Earning a living Period 7: Speaking: What is a good job? Teacher’s activities B Student’s activities Remark Warm-up: 10’ - Teacher greets the class - Students listen to the teacher - Ss are eager to speak aloud - Show some pictures of people and ask students to predict what they - Call some students to give the answer - Check and ask students what job they like best - Introduce the speaking topic: What‟s a good job? carefully - Look at the pictures and work individually to say the jobs - Stand up and talk about the job they like best XV - Good classroom atmosphere - Ss volunteer to speak - T translates the requirements into Vietnamese B New lesson: II - Some Ss take part in the task, some Tasks: Task (15’) Discussion: What are the best jobs? - Work in groups to discuss the are reluctant to the task Why? topic - Some still use Vietnamese - Ask Ss to work in groups to discuss the topic - Go round the classroom and help Ss - Correct mistakes Ss in each group may make - Call students in groups to give the answers - Give feedback and correct common mistakes Task 2: Talk about your future jobs (15’) - Ask Ss to work in pairs and make dialogues to ask the partner about his/her favourite job - Before doing this task, T gives Ss some guidelines - Give the answer and explain their choices - Ss listen to T‟s feedback and correct mistakes if any - Some groups have difficulty in expressing their ideas - T‟s and Ss‟ interaction is quite good - T focuses so much on grammatical mistakes - Ss listen to T‟s instructions - Some Ss take part in the task - Ss work with their partners to eagerly; some speak Vietnamese ask about their future jobs - Quite good speaking atmosphere - Ss practise speaking aloud - Six pairs volunteer A: What you want to in the future?/ What - Ss come over the board and - T pays much attention to good job you like best? B: I want to /I like A: Why you want ? make dialogues XVI pairs - T corrects so many pronunciation and grammatical mistakes B: Because - T goes round to help students who may have difficulty in expressing their ideas and correct all the mistakes the Ss may make - T calls some pairs to stand up and make dialogues - Give remark and correct common mistakes D Wrap-up( 5’) - T calls one S to stand up and restate what Ss - Ss remember what have been have learnt in the lesson taught in the lesson - T assigns homework to Ss - Ss write homework OBSERVATION SHEET rd Date: September 23 ,2010 Observer: Nguyen Thi Chuc Quynh Class: C5 TK1 Teacher‟s name: Pham Anh Tuyet Number of students: 44 Unit 13 Earning a living Textbook: New Headway Pre-Intermediate Period 3: Speaking: What is a good job? Time limit: 45 minutes Descriptive notes Unit 13 Earning a living Period 7: Speaking: What is a good job? XVII Teacher’s activities C III Student’s activities Remark - Students listen to the teacher Warm-up:(8’) - Teacher greets the class and ask the whole carefully class to work in groups to find words to match - Work in groups of three or four to the pictures predict the jobs - Ss are interested in the task and work eagerly - About 70% of the students raise their voice - Call some students to give the answer - Check and ask students to predict the topic of the speaking lesson - Introduce the speaking topic: What‟s a good job? - Some Ss keep silent or speak Vietnamese - Ss make some grammatical and pronunciation mistakes - Good warm-up activity - T translates the requirements into Vietnamese B New lesson: - Work in groups to discuss the topic Tasks: Task (15’) Discussion: What are the best - Give the answer and explain their jobs? Why? choices - Ask Ss to work in groups to discuss the topic - Ss listen to T‟s feedback and - Ss not speak English eagerly - Ss lack knowledge of jobs - Ss volunteer to speak, four of them are called - Ss make some grammatical and - Give some tips for a good job by collecting correct mistakes if any pronunciation mistakes ideas from Ss - Go round the classroom and help Ss - Correct mistakes Ss in each group may make - T is patient to listen to Ss and does not interrupt them to correct mistakes XVIII - Call students in groups to give the answers - Give feedback and correct the common mistakes - T corrects some common mistakes - Good interaction between T and Ss Task 2: Rearrange letters to make the right words of jobs (10’) - Ss listen to T‟s instructions - Many Ss are eager to the task; but some not anything or just - Ask Ss to work in groups and arrange the - Ss work in groups to the task letters given to make the right words of job - Ss stand up and write the answers - T goes round the class to see how Ss perform on the board the task - T calls the representative of each group to stand up and give the answer - Check and compare the answers, give remark and correct the wrong answers talk - Time for Ss to practise is enough - Group work is exploited quite effectively - Classroom atmosphere is exciting Task (10’): Prediction - Call Ss to come over the board and mime the -Work with the whole class action of some jobs; others predict what job - Say the name of jobs they - Only five Ss volunteer to mime the action - The whole class is very excited -Call Ss to say the name of jobs - Many Ss use Vietnamese - Check the answer E - Ss remember what have been Wrap-up( 3’) - T summarizes what Ss have learnt in the taught in the lesson XIX lesson - T assigns homework to Ss - Ss write homework OBSERVATION SHEET Date: September 23rd ,2010 Observer: Nguyen Thi Chuc Quynh Teacher‟s name: Hoang Duc Thanh Class: C5 TK4 Number of students: 44 Unit 11 Things that changed the world Period 6: Speaking: Chewing gum Textbook: New Headway Pre-Intermediate Time limit: 45 minutes Descriptive notes Unit 11 Things that changed the world Period 6: Speaking: Chewing gum Teacher’s activities D Student’s activities Remark Warm-up: 7’ - Teacher greets the class - Students listen to the - Ask Ss to fill in the gap to complete teacher carefully information about chewing gum - Work in groups of three or - About 60% of the students take part in the warm-up activity - Many students use Vietnamese; Some nothing - Call some students to give the answer - Ask Ss to guess the speaking topic - Introduce the speaking topic: Chewing gum - Five students volunteer to give answers - Ss lack vocabulary - Many Ss are unwilling to speak aloud; some refuse to give answer four to fill in the gaps - guess the speaking topic XX - Ss make some grammatical and pronunciation mistakes - Warm-up activity is not very effective B New lesson: IV Tasks: Task 1: Talk about the habit: chewing gum (15’) - Ask Ss to work in pairs and make dialogues to ask the partner about the habit of chewing gum - Before doing this task, T gives Ss some instructions and an sample A: Do you ever chew gums? B: Yes/No - T‟s instruction is clear - Some Ss are quite eager to the task - Ss listen to T‟s instructions - Ss work with their partners to practise asking and answering about chewing gum - Ss stand up and make dialogues A: Do you like chewing it? B: Yes/ No - Some pairs don‟t the task but just talk in Vietnamese; Some pairs work only when the teacher comes or asks them to - pairs volunteer to speak in front of the class three pairs are called to speak aloud - Ss make quite many mistakes - Not many students have chances to speak - T focuses too much on grammatical mistakes and often stops Ss to correct mistakes A: Why you like/ Why don’t you like chewing it? B: Because - T goes round to help students who may have difficulty in expressing their ideas and correct all the mistakes the Ss may make XXI - T calls some pairs to stand up and make dialogues - Give remark and correct common mistakes Task 2(20’): Discussion: Is chewing gum a - Clear instruction god or bad habit? Why? - Work in groups of four or - Exciting classroom atmosphere - Collect ideas from students five to discuss the topic - Many Ss use Vietnamese; some don‟t - Ask Ss to work in groups to discuss the topic - Give the answer and work - Go round the classroom and help Ss explain their choices - Ss still make common mistakes corrected - Correct mistakes Ss in each group may make - Ss listen to T‟s feedback by teacher - Call students in groups to give the answers and correct mistakes if any - Some Ss are afraid of being called to - Give feedback and correct the common speak aloud; Some refuse to speak mistakes - T pays much attention to better Ss - T tries to correct all mistakes; it‟s not good for practising speaking - T only uses groupwork for discussion; no other activities are applied XXII F Wrap-up( 5’) - Ss remember what have - T summarizes what Ss have learnt in the been taught in the lesson lesson - Ss write homework - T assigns homework to Ss XXIII ... thesis was carried out to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices at Northern Water Resource College The data of the study were... a questionnaire and class observations A questionnaire was employed as a measuring instrument to investigate students‟ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their actual classroom practices. .. Learners may have positive or negative attitudes towards learning a language Language attitude has great influence on language learning and acquisition as well as learners‟ choice and use of language