An action research on developing speaking skill throught oral presentations with reference to the coursebook talk time for the second year non major students at hanoi university of industry

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ TÂM AN ACTION RESEARCH ON DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH ORAL PRESENTATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE COURSEBOOK “TALK TIME” FOR THE SECOND YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NĨI THƠNG QUA THUYẾT TRÌNH THEO CUỐN SÁCH “TALK TIME” CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ TÂM AN ACTION RESEARCH ON DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH ORAL PRESENTATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE COURSEBOOK “TALK TIME” FOR THE SECOND YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NĨI THƠNG QUA THUYẾT TRÌNH THEO CUỐN SÁCH “TALK TIME” CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI) MINOR PROGRAM THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: ĐINH HẢI YẾN, M.A HANOI – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv List of Abbreviations .vii List of Tables, Charts and Figure viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 The rationales of the study The scope and significance of the study The aims of the study Methods of the study The design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speaking skill 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 1.1.2 Approaches to speaking 1.1.3 Differences between spoken and written language 1.1.4 The importance of teaching speaking skill 1.1.5 Types of classroom speaking performance 1.2 Oral presentations 1.2.1 Definitions and characteristics of oral presentations 1.2.2 The importance of oral presentation skills 1.2.3 Types of oral presentations 10 1.2.4 Procedure for using oral presentations as a class activity 11 1.3 Sub-conclusion .12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .13 2.1 Action research .13 2.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of action research 13 2.1.2 Why action research? 13 2.1.3 Phases in action research 14 2.2 The current situation of teaching and learning English at HaUI 16 2.3 The coursebook “Talk time” and the syllabus .18 2.4 Participants .19 2.5 Data collection instruments 19 2.6 Data collection procedures .20 2.7 Data analysis 20 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 21 3.1 Results from the questionnaire .21 3.1.1 Students’ attitudes toward the use of oral presentations in English lessons 21 3.1.2 Students’ suggestions to increase the effectiveness of oral presentations in English lessons 24 3.2 Results from the students’ journals 27 3.2.1 Students’ overall performance during oral presentations 27 3.2.2 Students’ suggestions to make a better presentation 29 3.3 Results from the observation sheet 31 CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 35 4.1 For students 35 4.1.1 Planning, preparing, rehearsing and presenting 35 4.1.2 Setting up a good mood for the presentation 37 4.2 For the teacher (s) 38 4.2.1 Establishing a supportive and low-threat learning environment 38 4.2.2 Improving students’ non-verbal skills 38 4.2.3 Improving students’ verbal skills 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 41 Summary of the findings 41 Limitations and suggestions for further study 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIXES .I Appendix I Appendix V Appendix VII Appendix VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching 10 LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURE Tables: No Title Page English curriculum at HaUI 17 Syllabus for teaching the course book “Talk time” 18 Students’ general beliefs in the usefulness of oral presentation 21 Students’ general belief about their own ability to oral 23 presentation Students’ general attitudes towards oral presentations 24 Result of the first observation of students’ presentations 31 Result of the second observation of students’ presentations 32 Charts: No Title Page Aspects of the presentations students want their teacher to give 24 more feedback Things teacher should to help students make better 25 presentations Things students should to make good presentations 26 Figure: No Title Figure 1: Action research phases Page 14 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION The rationales of the study Obviously, English is one of the most important and powerful languages in the world No language, ancient or modern, can be compared with English in respect of its international status It is interesting to note that about half of mankind has chosen it as a means of communication with those who not share the same language as them It is means of international communication in the sense that it helps in interlinking the people living in other countries of the world In Vietnam, Ministry of Education and Training has put more emphasis on teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English than ever before It is explicitly stated in the project entitled “Teaching and Learning Foreign Language in national education system, period 2008-2020” that “by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youths whoever graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities are capable of using a foreign language independently and confidently in communicating, studying and working in an environment of integration, multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism, making foreign languages the strength of Vietnamese people to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country” (Ministry of Education and Training, 2008, Decision No 1400/QD-TTg) To this aim, speaking as a communicative skill deserves more attention in teaching a foreign language With the recognition of the importance of developing speaking skill for students, Hanoi University of Industry has implemented a new program which lasts four semesters and focuses on teaching English extensively for communication The coursebook “Talk time” has been used for the fourth semester to help students master their speaking and listening skills Experiencing one term teaching this book last year, the researcher encountered quite a few problems in terms of the syllabus and the low English proficiency of the students In addition, after making reference to the other teachers who also teach this coursebook, the author found out that all of classes still applied teacher-centred approach to the teaching and learning of English As a result, teacher talking time was much greater than student talking time in class Consequently, students’ speaking ability is not good enough To solve her own problems and give the students a chance to work independently and practise their English speaking skill, the author would like to a small research on “An action research on developing speaking skill through oral presentations with 12 reference to the coursebook “Talk time” for the second-year non-major students at Hanoi University of Industry” The scope and significance of the study This study mainly focuses on the impacts of oral presentations on the second year students’ performance in English lessons Besides, their attitudes towards making oral presentations in class are also one of the concerns of the study After that, some suggestions to help students improve the effectiveness of their presentations and speaking skills are offered The study involves the participation of 42 second year non English-majored students of Faculty of Accounting at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) They have experienced four semesters studying English at this university Conducting this study in a very specific context, I hope that, to some extent, the effective integration of oral presentations will make my students’ speaking and presentation skills much better and the current situation of teaching and learning English with the coursebook “Talk time” at HaUI will be generally improved The aims of the study This study is designed to bring a new air into English classes for the second-year students at HaUI In general, it has three purposes Firstly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral presentations on the students’ performance in English lessons Secondly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the use of oral presentations in the classroom Finally, it is to provide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use of oral presentations in their teaching with a view to better their students’ speaking skill Methods of the study The theoretical background of the study is based on the theories and ideas presented in many books and articles published by various writers on language teaching in general and oral presentations in particular This study employs three data collection instruments including questionnaire, students’ journals and observation sheet By administering a questionnaire to a group of people, a huge amount of information can be collected in a limited amount of time It is also proved to be cost-effective and time-saving In addition, students’ journals provide extensive data 13 for the study Furthermore, teacher’s observation sheet is used to reflect students’ improvement in speaking and presentation skills The design of the study The study consists of parts: Part A, introduction, briefly states the rationales, the aims, the scope and significance, methods and design of the study Part B, development, includes chapters:  Chapter 1, literature review, presents the theoretical background related to speaking skills and oral presentations in English  Chapter 2, methodology, presents an overview on current situation of teaching and learning English in general and the coursebook “talk time” in particular Furthermore, a description of syllabus and the coursebook is clearly presented The justification of the use of data collection instruments is also included in this chapter  Chapter 3, results and discussion, is devoted to the data analysis and discussion of the findings  Chapter 4, implications and suggestions, offers some pedagogical suggestions for the students and teachers of English at HaUI Part C, conclusion, summarizes the key points and the limitations of the study 50 Thirdly, it’s advisable for him/her to ask his/her students to record their own voices They can be told to record a listening tapescript again, a reading text or a role play they have already performed in class Then, he/she asks them to try to find their own mistakes At first, they may not be able to hear many mistakes With practice, however, their ears will become more sensitive to the sounds of English To sum up, the teacher plays a very important role in guiding his/her students in their learning He/she needs to improve their verbal skills as well as non-verbal skills Also, he/she needs to help the students to build their confidence in speaking English 51 PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the findings The study aims to find out: (1) students’ attitudes toward the use of oral presentations in their English lessons; (2) the impacts of using oral presentations on students’ performance; (3) students’ suggestions so that oral presentations could be effectively applied at HaUI Results from instruments namely questionnaire, students’ journal and observation sheet have allowed the author to arrive at the major findings of the study as follows: - Firstly, the students were actually highly positive in their beliefs about benefits and usefulness of doing oral presentations as a learning activity - Secondly, they demonstrated some improvements in using presentation skills especially eye contact, facial expression, gesture, and in speaking skills such as fluency and accuracy especially pronunciation and grammar - Thirdly, they offered some suggestions on how to apply oral presentations in class more effectively In terms of themselves, they thought that they should make a clear outline of their presentation Before delivering it in class, they should practise a lot at home Phonetic spellings should be paid more attention Finally, they believed that they should establish a good mood to be confident when speaking in front of the whole class In terms of the teacher, they suggested that she should give more guidance on how to a presentation successfully and on language models used in a presentation In addition, they wanted her to give more feedback especially on their pronunciation and grammar, encourage and compliment them more on their presentation Clearly, the study has given the answers to all research questions and achieved its aims From these findings, some conclusions can be drawn out First, oral presentations are very useful for students’ English learning This activity can be applied to the students of preintermediate level to help them improve their speaking and presentation skills Second, careful guidance and constructive feedback from the teacher plays a very important role in helping the students perform the task successfully Again, “practice makes perfect”, so it is essential for them to practise speaking a lot both at home and in class Student-talking time in class should also be increased 52 Obviously, what has been discussed in this study might be beneficial to both teachers and students in teaching and learning English in general and speaking skill and oral presentations in particular because it helps them to identify their strengths and weaknesses and develop ways to improve their weaknesses and boost their strengths Limitations and suggestions for further study Within the scope of a minor thesis, limitations are inevitable Firstly, some changes introduced during the semester were only applicable to the author’s own class, so it could be too generalized to adopt these changes without adaptation in other classes with different students In addition, observation was made by the teacher only; as a result, its result might be quite subjective Finally, the researcher’ practical experience and knowledge of this field is limited, the given pedagogical implications are therefore likely to be subjective and incomplete Due to time constraint, the suggestions are the author’s subjective opinions without being applied yet Hopefully, these ones will be applied in the future research to see how effectively they work 53 REFERENCES Bailey, K M (2005) Speaking New York, NY: McGraw Hill Bassey M (1998) Action Research for Improving Educational Practice, In: Halsall R (ed), Teacher Research and School Improvement, Open University Press pp.167-178 Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New Jersey: Prentice Hall Brown, H.D (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Burns, A & Joyce, H (2002) Focus on Speaking Sydney: National Centre for English language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University Clark, D Big Dog’s Leadership Page-Presentation Skills Retrieved on 10 August 2010 at http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html Costello, P.J.M (2003) Action research New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Dwyer, J (2000) The Bussiness Communication Handbook New Jersey: Prentice Hall Emden, J & Becker, L (2004) Presentation Skills for Students New York: Palgrave Macmillan Florez, M A C (1999) Improving adult English language learners’ speaking skills Washington, DC: Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education Gerald I Susman, “Action Research: A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective,” ed G Morgan (London: Sage Publications, 1983) p.102 54 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Oral Communication Skills: Teaching Tips of the Week, Teaching Today Retrieved from the www on October 15th 2011 at http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/weeklytips.phtml/88 http://vanban.moet.gov.vn/?page=1.15&script=viewdoc&view=708&opt=brpage Iftimie, N.M & Chang, A.W (n.d) Academic Study Skills: An Introduction Taiwan: Shih Chien University Press Mertler, C.A (2006) Action research: teachers as researchers in the classroom USA: Sage Publication, Inc Ministry of Education and Training (2008) Quyết định việc phê duyệt đề án “Dạy học ngoại ngữ hệ thống giáo dục quốc dân giai đoạn 2008-2020” Retrieved from the www on October 15th 2011 at Nickols, F 2003 Effective Presentations Retrieved from the www on October 15th 2011 at www.nickols.us/presentations.pdf Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press O'Brien, R (2001) An Overview of the Methodological Approach of Action Research Retrieved from the www on December 2011 at http://www.web.ca/~robrien/papers/arfinal.html Ohio Wesleyan University Guidelines for Oral Presentations Retrieved from the www on 10 August 2010 at http://go.owu.edu/~dapeople/ggpresnt.html Powell, M (2003) Presenting in English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Reinhart, S.M (2002) Giving Academic Presentations The University of Michigan Press Savignon, S (1991) Communicative Language Teaching: State of the Art TESOL quarterly No 25 Scarcella & Oxford (1992) The Tapestry of Language Learning: The Individual in the Communicative Class USA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 55 Scott, R (n.d) Speaking In Johnson, K & Morrow, K (1990) (Ed) Communication in the Classroom New York: Longman Stempleski, S (2007) Talk time (student book 3) Oxford: Oxford University Press Underhill, N (1987) Testing Spoken Language: a Handbook of Oral Testing Techniques Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 56 APPENDIXES APPENDIX THE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for my thesis on “An action research on developing speaking skill through oral presentations with reference to the coursebook “Talk time” for the second-year non-major students at Hanoi University of Industry” Your assistance in completing this questionnaire is highly appreciated You will be confident that you will not be identified in any cases Thank you for your cooperation! Section 1: Personal information (tick the appropriate box or write down the answer)  Gender: - Male □ - Female □  Age: ………………  Place where you have grown up: - Urban □ - Rural □  How long have you been learning English? (circle the correct answer) A ≤ years B More than years, but ≤ years C More than years, but ≤ 10 years D > 10 years  Have you ever made an oral presentation in English lessons? A Yes B No Section 2: Your attitudes toward the use of oral presentations in English lessons Put a tick () in the appropriate boxes below Statements Strongly disagree Disagree Don’t know Agree Strongly agree 57 General beliefs in the usefulness of oral presentations Making oral presentations helps me learn English better Oral presentation skills are important in English learning Listening to my classmates’ presentations is helpful for me in learning English Making oral presentations in class helps me practice my speaking skill Making oral presentations in class helps me to be more aware of my pronunciation Making oral presentations in class helps me widen my vocabulary I acquire a lot of new knowledge about the topics of presentations After doing presentations in English, I feel more confident in speaking English in class I am interested in searching for information and preparing for my presentations 10 Through reading many searching and materials, my reading skills are improved General belief about their own ability to oral presentations 11 Making English oral 58 presentations is easy to me 12 I am confident in doing oral presentations in English 13 I’m afraid of making oral presentations in English lessons General attitudes towards oral presentations 14 I am interested in making oral presentations in English lessons as a learning activity Section 3: Your suggestions to increase the effectiveness of oral presentations in English lessons (you can circle more than one choice) 15 What aspects of your presentations you like your teacher to give more feedback? A The content of presentations B The organization of presentations C Your grammar mistakes D Your pronunciation mistakes E Your intonation F Your body language, facial expressions, eye contact and gestures G Others: ……………………………………………………………………………… 16 What should the teacher to help you make oral presentations better? A Provide more instructions and guidance before the students their presentations B Encourage and compliment on the students’ presentations more C Give the list of topics which the students have to their presentations on D Let the students decide which topic they will their presentations on E Give the students more time to oral presentations F Ask the students to more than one presentation during the semester G.Others: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 59 17 What should the students before class to make good presentations and improve their speaking skill? A Make the outline of the presentation B Assign work among the students in a group C Search the information from many sources of materials D Prepare power-point slides carefully E Check the words’ phonetic spellings before making the presentations F Practise making their presentations at home G Others: ……………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your support! 60 APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET Class:…………… Date: ………………… Number of the lesson:……………… Topic of the lesson:……………………………… Group: ……………………………… Very good Overall impression - Confidence - Good preparation Presentation Techniques - Audibility/Loudness of voice - Eye contact - Facial expression - Gesture - Fluency - Pronunciation - Pace (fast or slow) - Intonation Organization - Introduction (announcing the topic/setting the scene to gain interest) - Body (details & explanations) - Conclusion (summary & closing statements) good satisfactory Need Other improvement comments 61 Content - Relevance to the topic - Clarity of ideas - Original & creative ideas Language - Complete sentences - Correct grammar - Choice of words, including connectives Question – answer (notice how many questions are asked and how they answer the questions) Other students’ comment (Note down comments students’ and give feedbacks) (Adapted from http://cd.emb.gov.hk/eng/consultation/download/Appendices.pdf) 62 APPENDIX PROMPTS FOR STUDENT JOURNALS What you think about the presentations today? (Are they good/ quite good/ very good/ bad/interesting/ boring…? And why?) What can you learn from today’s presentations? (About the knowledge, about the speaking skills, about the presentation skills… ) What needs improvement to make a better presentation? (About PPT slides, about the content of presentations, about classmates’ pronunciation, about presentation skills such as using body language, eye contact……) What you think the teacher should to help the students make oral presentations better? 63 APPENDIX SUGGESTED LANGUAGE USED IN AN ORAL PRESENTATION I Introduction I.1 Getting the audience's attention and signal the beginning Right Well OK Let's begin Can we start? Shall we start? Could I have your attention please? I.2 Greeting Good morning Good afternoon Good evening Hello I.3 Introducing the presenter(s) Let me introduce the members of my group…… There are members in my group…… My name is………… I.4 Introducing the topic Today I’d like to talk about…… The topic I will discuss today is……… The subject of my presentation is……… In this presentation I´m going to discuss ……… I.5 Introduce the main content My presentation will be divided into main parts……… I’ll be developing main points…… I have divided my presentation (up) into parts…… II Development II.1 Moving on other points Regarding My next point will be Now I will move on to talk about… That's all I would like to say about and now let us turn to Now that we've seen let us turn to… 64 II.2 Giving examples Now let's take an example To illustrate this…… Let's see this through an example For example,……… For instance,………… II.3 Checking understanding Is this clear? Is that Ok? You understand? Does this make sense? II.4 Linking ideas - To show an additional idea: moreover, therefore, in addition, besides, additionally, furthermore…… - To show an opposite idea: However, on the other hand, in spite of this, apart from this, although…… - To show a consequence: so, therefore, consequently, as a result…… - To show the order of ideas: first, at first, firstly, second, secondly, lastly, finally…… III Conclusion I´m going to end up by summarizing the most important points This brings me to the end of the presentation To sum up……… To conlude………… In conclusion……… IV Thanking and Inviting questions Thank you very much for your listening/ attention/ attendance……… If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me If you have any question, I’d be happy to answer them Do you have any questions?/ Any other questions? ... presentation Students? ?? general attitudes towards oral presentations 24 Result of the first observation of students? ?? presentations 31 Result of the second observation of students? ?? presentations 32... second- year non- major students at Hanoi University of Industry? ?? The scope and significance of the study This study mainly focuses on the impacts of oral presentations on the second year students? ??... speaking skill, the author would like to a small research on ? ?An action research on developing speaking skill through oral presentations with 12 reference to the coursebook ? ?Talk time? ?? for the second- year