A study on english language teachers’ reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skills at van xuan high school, hoai duc, ha noi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** TRỊNH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ REASONING FOR THE STRATEGIES THEY USE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS AT VAN XUAN HIGH SCHOOL, HOAI DUC, HA NOI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LÝ GIẢI CHO VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VẠN XUÂN, HOÀI ĐỨC, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** TRỊNH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ REASONING FOR THE STRATEGIES THEY USE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS AT VAN XUAN HIGH SCHOOL, HOAI DUC, HA NOI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LÝ GIẢI CHO VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VẠN XUÂN, HOÀI ĐỨC, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Nguyễn Văn Độ, Assoc Prof Dr HANOI – 2015 DECLARATION I, Trịnh Thị Nhung, certify that the thesis entitled “A study on English language teachers’ reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skills at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, Ha noi.” reports the result of the study conducted by myself The minor thesis is submitted to Department of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for Degree of Master in TESOL It has not been published anywhere Hanoi, 2015 Trinh Thi Nhung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ, for his valuable guidance, helpful advice, recommendation, as well as his encouragement during the time I tried to complete this minor thesis Without his supervision, this work would never have been possible I am also indebted to all the professors of Post-Graduate Department for their encouragement and their valuable lectures while I was taking the M.A course in English Language Teaching Methodology at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University (VNU) Their constructive ideas, assistance and advice helped me much during various stages of learning and writing my M.A thesis My deepest thanks also go to my colleagues and my students at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, in Ha Noi who have helped me to collect data for the study Finally, I would like to express my biggest love and thanks to my family for their unconditional contributions during the time I conducted my research It was my parents and my husband who gave me the will to complete this challenging work ii ABSTRACT This research investigates the strategies applied in teaching speaking skills with the new English textbooks for students at Van Xuan High School in Hoai Duc, and explains the question why they used these strategies The thesis is divided into main parts: Part A presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scopes, research methods and the design the study Part B includes chapters: Chapter presents definitions of major terms used in this study, including overview on speaking skills, definition of speaking, theories of teaching speaking skills and strategies in teaching speaking skills; Chapter describes the methodology of the thesis Specifically, the data for this research was collected in the forms of class observation, survey questionnaires and interviews The participants of the interview were English teachers and the participants of the survey questionnaires were 270 grade - 11 - students; Chapter analyses and discusses the results from the class observation, survey questionnaires and interviews; Chapter mentions some findings and recommendations Finally, Part C gives the conclusions of this paper, some limitations and recommendations for further study iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.2a: Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking Table 3.2b: Teacher’s solutions to the problems Table 3.2c: Teacher’s reasons for using speaking techniques and activities Table 3.3a: Students’ reasons for learning English Table 3.3b: Frequency of employed activities Table 3.3c: Student’s attitude towards teacher’s teaching speaking activities Table 3.3d: Student’s expectation from teacher Table 3.3e: Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons Table 3.3f: Student’s achievements from speaking teaching strategies Figure 3.3.1: Student’s opinions on speaking topic in the textbooks Figure3.3.2: Frequency of student’s speaking participation Figure 3.3.3: Student’s opinions about the frequency of teacher’s English speaking Figure 3.3.4: Frequency of student’s English speaking Figure 3.3.5: Student’s progress after applied speaking teaching strategies iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS C.L.T: Communicative Language Teaching No.: Number %: Percentage ST: Story telling IG: Information gap Q&A exchanges: Question and answer exchanges RP: Role play PD: Picture description CS: Class survey 10 PS in groups: Problem solving in groups v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Research Aims of the Research Research Questions Scope of the Research Research Instruments Design of the Research PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Overview on speaking skills 1.1.1 Speaking skills 1.1.2 Theories of teaching speaking skills 1.1.2.1 Functions of spoken language 1.1.2.2 The role of speaking skills in communication approach 1.2 Strategies in teaching speaking skills 1.2.1 Brainstorming 1.2.2 Debates 1.2.3 Discussion 1.2.4 Group work 1.2.5 Simulations 1.2.6 Communicative activities 1.3 Factors affecting the outcomes of learning speaking skills 10 vi 1.3.1 Learners’ aptitude 10 1.3.2 Learners’ attitude 11 1.3.3 Learning strategies 11 1.3.4 Psychological factors 12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 An overview of the research site 13 2.2 Subjects 14 2.3 Instruments of data collection 15 2.3.1 Observation 15 2.3.2 Interview for teachers 16 2.3.3 Questionnaire for students 16 2.4 Data analysis methods 17 2.5 Research procedure 18 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Results from class observation 19 3.2 Results from teachers’ interview 21 3.3 Results from students’ questionnaire 25 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Findings 30 4.1.1 The students and teachers’ difficulties in speaking lessons 30 4.1.2 The teachers’ teaching strategies used in speaking lessons 32 4.1.3 The outcomes from the teachers’ teaching strategies in speaking lessons 32 4.1.4 The students’ expectations towards their teachers 33 4.2 Recommendations 33 4.2.1 A careful plan of the speaking lesson 34 4.2.2 The change in students’ speaking habit and opportunity for students to use English in real life 36 PART C: CONCLUSIONS Summary, major finding and implications on teaching 38 vii a Summary and major findings 38 b Implications on teaching 38 Limitations of the study 39 Suggestions for further studies 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: CLASS OBSERVATION SHEET I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS ……………… II APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS …………… III APPENDIX 4: CLASS OBSERVATION SHEET VI APPENDIX 5: TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………… XXXIV viii While – speaking (20 minutes) Post – speaking (10 minutes) Homework (2 minutes) Class: 11D5 Date: 28/03/2014 UNIT 13 HOBBIES SPEAKING Aims: By the end of the lesson, student will be able to : Teaching aids: - talk about a hobby - talk about collections handouts, colored chalk PROCEDURE Stages/ Activities Interactions timing Warm- Miming game XXIX up mins 3mins Prespeaking mins What you call a f newpapers ? classify (v) (gap- f They stamps into d mins landscape (n) ( gu Hue is a very famous as the Huong river, N Checking Slap the board game T draws two faces tw coversation Now, what are their n While- Lan and Huong Right They are talking about their speaking mins What does Huong say to ask what Lan's hobby is ? What question does Huong make to ask about Lan's ways to collect books ? What does Huong say to ask about the place Lan bought her books ? What question does Hoa put to ask about Lan's way of organizing books ? What does Huong say to ask about Huong's plan for XXXI 10 mins the future Expected answ What's your hobby ? Could you tell me how to collect your books ? Where you byu your books ? How you organize your collection ? What you plan to next ? Activity : Role- play Now that you have five questions This time you are going to play the roles of Nam and Nga, who are talking about stamps collections You can use those five questions to ask about your friend's hobby and you can use the following information as help Hobby: stamps Post- How to collect stamps: buy from post office, get speaking 10 mins What is your hobby? How much time/ money you spend on your hobby ? Do you collect anything as a hobby? Where you get them and where you keep them ? Do you think anyone who keeps animals as a hobby ? Do you think good friends should have the same hobbies ? T ask Ss to make a report on their friend's hobbies, using the result of the questionnaire in activity Examples Everyone in our group has different hobbies Two out Homework of five spend much time on their hobby every day mins XXXIII APPENDIX 5: TABLES AND FIGURES A RESULTS FROM INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Question 3: What difficulties you encounter most when holding a speaking lesson? Opinions Large –sized class Learners’ low English proficiency Not enough time Learner’s reluctance Multi-level class/ Mixed ability class Learners’ lack of motivation Learners’ shyness Learners’ use of mother tongue during group work/ pair work Difficult and boring speaking topics Learners’ uneven participation in class activities Table 3.2a: Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking Question no.4: What are your solutions to these difficulties? Problems Mixedability class XXXIV Low motivation and participation Large- sized class use mother tongue Table 3.2b: Question 5+6: Option IG ST XXXV Q & A Exchanges PD RP Games Interview/ CS Discussion PS in groups Table 3.2c: Teacher’s reasons for using speaking techniques and activities B RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Student’s reasons for learning English Reasons for learning English Self- interest A compulsory subject For entertainment An international language (to widen the social culture and language knowledge) Better job opportunities To communicate with the foreigners The most means of communication Table 3.3a: Students’ reasons for learning English XXXVI Student’s opinions on speaking topics in the 60 50 40 30 20 10 Interesting Boring Difficult Suitable Easy Figure 3.3.1: Student’s opinions on speaking topic in the textbooks Frequency of student’s speaking participation 10.9 10.1 30 49 Always Figure3.3.2: Frequency of student’s speaking participation XXXVII textbooks Student’s opinions on the frequency of teacher’s English speaking 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Always Often Sometimes Never Figure 3.3.3: Student’s opinions about the frequency of teacher’s English speaking Frequency of student’s English speaking 60 50 40 30 20 10 Less than 25% of a speaking lesson From 25% to 50% of a From 50% to 75% of a speaking lesson speaking lesson Figure 3.3.4: Frequency of student’s English speaking XXXVIII More than 75% of a speaking lesson Student’ attitudes towards teacher’s employed activities of teaching English speaking Techniques IG ST Q&A exchanges PD RP Games Interview/CS Discussion PS in groups Table 3.3b: Frequency of employed activities Student’s opinion about the outside topics and activities used by teacher Activities IG ST Q&A exchanges PD RP Games Interview/CS Discussion PS in groups Table 3.3c: Student’s attitude towards teacher’s teaching speaking activities XXXIX Student’s expectation from teacher Options Interrupt and correct immediately Get angry and interrupt you to correct Wait until you finish, point out the mistakes and mistakes Wait until you finish, point out the mistakes and whole class Table 3.3d: Student’s expectation from teacher Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons Options Lack of vocabularies, grammar structures and pronunciation competence Lack of expression skill Lack of ideas and social knowledge Shy to speak in front of the whole class Afraid of making mistakes Lack of speaking opportunities Table 3.3e: Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons Student’s progress after applied speaking teacher strategies XL 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Strongly Fairly Slightly Not at all Figure 3.3.5: Student’s progress after applied speaking teaching strategies Student’s achiev ements from speaking teaching strategies Options Public speaking skill Confidence in any speaking situations Language skills im provement including: vocabularies and so o n Problem solving Working as group me mbers Critical thinking Table 3.3f: Stude nt’s achievements from speaking teachin g strategies XLI ... certify that the thesis entitled ? ?A study on English language teachers’ reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skills at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, Ha noi. ” reports the result... investigates the strategies applied in teaching speaking skills with the new English textbooks for students at Van Xuan High School in Hoai Duc, and explains the question why they used these strategies. .. definitions of major terms used in this study, including overview on speaking skills, definition of speaking, theories of teaching speaking skills and strategies in teaching speaking skills; Chapter