Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of the first year non english major students at haiduong medical technical university and some possible solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o - NGUYỄN THANH THUỶ FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ( NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT Y TẾ HẢI DƯƠNG VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẢ THI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 0111 Hanoi, 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o - NGUYỄN THANH THUỶ FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS ( NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NĨI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHƠNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT Y TẾ HẢI DƯƠNG VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẢ THI) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 0111 SUPERVISOR: Dr TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN Hanoi, 2015 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study th Hanoi, August 20 2014 Signature Nguyen Thanh Thuy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completion of this thesis, first of all I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien for her experienced guidance, invaluable advice, and encouragement since the very beginning until the completion of the thesis I am indebted to all the lectures of Vietnam National University, Hanoi – Faculty of post-graduate studies for their valuable lectures which help me to orient the topic I also wish to acknowledge the great support and precious help with the data collection and analysis of my colleagues and students at Haiduong Medical Technical University Without them, I could not have completed my thesis Finally, I would like to thank my family, my dear friends from the master course who gave me support and encouragement during the time the study was carried out ii ABSTRACT The study was carried out in the hope of investigating some factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in speaking activities at Haiduong Medical Technical University The respondents were 12 English teachers and 165 first year non-English major students In this paper, the researcher used two data collection instruments: questionnaires and interviews for both teachers and students The findings showed that factors affecting students’ involvement originated from students, teachers, classroom and materials’ sides On the basis of the findings, the study also provides some possible solutions for the teaching and learning process of English concerning the effective factors to maximize the students’ involvement in speaking activities iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Significance of the study Structure of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.Speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 1.1.2 Characteristics of speaking 1.1.3 The roles of speaking in language teaching and learning 1.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking 1.3 CLT and teaching speaking 1.3.1 Concept of CLT 1.3.2 Characteristics of CLT 1.3.3 Conditions of Applying CLT 1.3.3.1 Authentic materials 1.3.3.2 Teachers 1.3 Student’s participation in oral activities 1.3.1 Concept of students’ participation 1.3.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 1.3.2.1 Students’ factors 1.3.2.2 Teacher’s factors 13 1.3.2.3 Classroom factors 15 1.4 Summary 17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Context of the study 18 2.2 Methodology 19 2.2.1 Participants 19 2.2.2 Data collection instruments 19 iv 2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaires 19 2.2.2.2 Interviews 20 2.2.4 Data collection procedures 20 2.3 Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 21 3.1 Data analysis 21 3.1.1 Results from students’ survey questionnaire and interview questions 21 3.1.1.1 Students’ assessment of their speaking ability 21 3.1.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 21 3.1.1.3 Students’ level of participation in speaking activities 22 3.1.1.4 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class 23 3.1.1.5 Students’ evaluation on learning speaking English 23 3.1.1.6 Students’ assessment of the topics in the textbook 26 3.1.1.7 Students’ evaluation on the teachers 26 3.1.1.8 Factors affecting students’ participation 28 3.1.1.9 Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation 28 3.1.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire and interview 29 3.1.2.1 Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill 29 3.1.2.2 Teachers’ assessment about students’ speaking ability 29 3.1.2.3 Teachers’ method and activities 30 3.1.2.4 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 31 3.1.2.4 Teachers’ suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities .32 3.2 Findings and discussion 33 3.2.1 Students’ level of participation in class speaking activities 33 3.2.2 Students’ factors 33 3.2.3 Teachers’ factors 34 3.2.4 Classroom factors 34 3.2.5 Material factors 35 3.3 Suggestions 35 3.3.1 The students 35 3.3.2 The teachers 36 3.3.3 The materials 37 3.3.4 The classroom 38 PART C: CONCLUSION 39 Summary of the study 39 Limitations of the study 40 Suggestions for further research 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EFL: English as a Foreign Language HMTU: Haiduong Medical Technical University M.A.: Master of Arts vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Chart 1: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability 21 Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 21 Chart 3: Students’ level of participation in speaking activities 22 Chart 4: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class 23 Chart 5: Students’ assessment of the topics in the textbook New Headway pre-intermediate- the third edition 26 Table 1: Students’ learning styles 23 Table 2: Students’ motivation 24 Table 3: Students’ anxiety 25 Table 4: Students’ opinion about teachers’ method and characteristic 26 Table 5: Teachers’ techniques to encourage students 27 Table 6: Factors affecting students’ participation 28 Table 7: Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation 28 Table 8: Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill 29 Table 9: Teachers’ assessment of students’ speaking ability 29 Table 10: Teachers’ method and activities 30 Table 11: Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 31 Table 12: Teachers’ suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities 32 vii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study These days, English is very popular in Vietnam English has become a crucial means of communication and it is widely used in different fields of the society such as international commerce, science & technology, education, medicine and so on That is why, English teaching and learning have become a great necessity for Vietnamese people Especially, learning speaking gains a great stature as the need of communication is paid much more attention However, in some places in Vietnam, English teaching has been strongly influenced by traditional methods Teachers as well as students pay too much attention to the grammar items Teachers mainly focus on explaining the grammatical rules and structures to students who are considered as passive recipients As a result, those students are often reluctant in speaking activities In recent years, English teachers have changed their teaching methods and focused on teaching speaking to the students One top concern of most teachers is students’ ineffective participation in speaking lessons The reasons for that are various Tsui (1996), after carrying a research in Hong Kong, lists five principle factors affecting the reluctance of students’ participation in classroom speaking lessons: students’ perceived low proficiency in English, student’s fear of making mistakes and derision, teachers’ intolerance of silence, uneven allocation of turns, and incomprehensible input (as cited in Nunan, 1999:234) Having been teaching English at Haiduong Medical Technical University (HMTU) for seven years, the author of this paper has realized that most of the students not often enjoy speaking periods, and they not actively contribute the speaking lessons They always keep quiet, passively take note, some listen to better students speaking but nothing while some other students even discuss in Vietnamese That is the reason why the topic “Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities for the first year non-English major students at Haiduong Medical Technical University and some possible solutions.” was chosen as an attempt to find out the reasons for the above problems, and propose some suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities Aims of the study The study investigates current teaching and learning of speaking skill for and of the first year non-English major students at HMTU to identify factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in speaking activities and from that gives some possible solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities - Show interest in each students as a person - Give feedback on each student’s progress - Openly solicit the students’ ideas and feelings - Laugh with the students and not at them - Value and respect what the students think and say - Work with the students as a team and not against them - Develop a genuine sense of vicarious joy when they learn something Next, teachers can make English speaking more fun A funny scene in a picture, a surprising story, an interesting video clip, and a humorous situation can all stimulate the students who are naturally expecting to learn to discover new things even the weak ones In a speaking class, the teacher should warm up by saying some words about the speaking topic before asking his/her students to begin discussing and thereby arouse passion for speaking To this, the teacher needs to prepare some materials to make his/her speaking lessons fun Providing familiar and easy speaking lessons is the first device to make them interesting Students, in the first place, should be handed simple tasks for even difficult speaking sections the level challenges will then reasonably be escalated Making English speaking interesting is not only necessary at pre-speaking but also at both while-speaking and post-speaking sections Some games can warm the class up, and therefore win the love for speaking from the students Gradually, students with tactful assistance from their teachers, arouse their own interest in every speaking lesson Last but not least, teachers should carry out regular tests or examination on speaking skill In fact, the tests and examinations not include speaking component Therefore, many students ignore this skill Most of them are interested in learning grammar rules, vocabulary, reading comprehension with the hope to pass the written exam Hence, the teachers should test the students’ speaking ability more often so that the students have to take responsibility and put more effort on learning this skill 3.3.3 The materials The textbook New Headway pre-intermediate third edition consists of 12 different topics, however, many students dislike talking about the topics in the book as some of them are boring and far from what they know Therefore, to ensure the success in activating students and improving their English speaking skills, attention should be paid to selecting speaking materials Materials should be chosen with care and guarantee the students’ interest Choosing materials must base on the criteria such as the level of difficulty, the relevance of the subject matter Topics chosen must be relevant to the students’ knowledge, to their needs, their interests or to the English speaking teaching and learning objectives 37 Because the current teaching materials are rather difficult and boring, teachers should continuously pay attention to the layout and content of the book and the feedback from the students Adaptations and adjustment should be considered to have more appealing teaching materials Teachers should also choose supplementary materials like visual aid, stories, songs, video clips, movies, and so on basing on students’ level and interest Besides, the researcher suggests that teachers should be very flexible in working with materials and try to add more “flavor” to the extra materials That means the reference materials should not be confined to the international and authentic materials When selecting extra materials, teachers can reduce the level of difficulty of the speaking task by changing the task requirements and adjusting other speaking activities so as to make the materials more suitable for the students’ level and to build up a sense of selfconfidence when speaking Gradually, students will be able to explore materials independently without the teachers’ guidance 3.3.4 The classroom Firstly, the Department of Training should divide large-size classes into smaller ones so that teachers can easily carry out various activities and take care of every student and every student can have opportunity to speak in class Number of students for a nonEnglish major class should be 25 Secondly, basing on the result of the placement test, the department should also divide students into three different levels: A class ( Elementary level of proficiency), B class ( Pre-intermediate level of proficiency), and C class ( Intermediate level of proficiency) The students whose placement test result is at beginning level of proficiency have to enroll in supporting classes Hence, depending on the results of a test students will be arranged in a proper class basing on their English competence So, teachers can easily choose suitable topics basing on students’ level and suitable teaching method and activities to interest students Thirdly, it should be better if the tables are movable The students would feel more comfortable and free to contact with each other It is also very convenient for pair works or group works Last but not least, the assessment method of the first semester should be redesigned to evaluate the students’ competence more precisely 38 PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the study The study aims to find out the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities for the first year non-English major students at Haiduong Medical Technical University and some possible solutions The research proposes two research questions and data analysis has shown that: The factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of the first year non-English major students at HMTU are: - For the students, the factors consisted of their learning styles, language levels, attitude and motivation and anxiety Low level of English proficiency was the most important factor Students’ anxiety such as fear of making mistakes or negative judgments prevented students from participating in oral activities Although students had good attitude towards speaking skill, they were unwilling to involve in the lesson due to lack of intrinsic motivation Passive learning style also added to students’ inhibition to speak English - For the teachers, the factors included teacher’s role, characteristics and methodology The low level of participation resulted from boring topics and activities organized in the class by the teachers They totally depended on the textbook, which prevented students from thinking creatively Pair work and group work were conducted in some classes, however, they were not effective Moreover, the teachers overused talking time violated students’ opportunities to practise speaking English The teachers had general understandings of CLT, however, the application of CLT in language teaching was still limited due to large classes - For the material, the students have positive attitudes towards speaking topics but they admit that the books are still difficult and boring These attitudes towards the present materials will increase students’ motivations and interest in learning to speak English - For the classroom, the cooperation among members in groups discouraged the students from working with each other In multi – level and large classes, uneven participation between the better and the lower students was also a distracter preventing them from participating in oral classroom activities 39 Based on the findings of this study, a number of suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities were given Those suggestions were the answer to the second question ”What arte the possible solutions to increasing students’ participation in speaking activities?” by using various communicative activities, creating a co-operative English learning environment, combining books with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaptation, designing appropriate speaking tasks to the learners’ abilities and conducting tests or exams on speaking, teachers can help students actively participate in oral activities Limitations of the study Although the study has a number of strengths, due to the limited time and ability weaknesses are unavoidable Firstly, the study was carried out with only 165 first year non-English major students which can not cover a larger scale of participants Secondly, the limitation lies on the academic year of students They are just the first year students, while affective factors is a common phenomenon among all students regardless of levels Thirdly, the study only focused on speaking skill, other skills are also needed studying Suggestions for further research The author carried the study in the hope of finding out if those factors affect the first year-students’ participation in speaking activities only The effects on other skills and other types of students should be considered in further studies, such as: - Factors affecting the second year-students’ participation in speaking activities at HMTU - Factors affecting the first year-students’ participation in reading activities at HMTU 40 REFERENCES Bailey, K M (1983) Competitiveness and Anxiety in Adult Second Language Learning: Looking at and through the Diary Studies in Seliger and Long (eds.) 1983 Bailey, K M (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking: McGraw – Hill Companies, Inc Barry, K (1993) Beginning Teaching (2 nd ed.) Wentworth Falls: Social Science Press Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Brown, H D (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents th Brown, H D (2007) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5 ed.) San Francisco: Pearson Longman Brumfit, C J (1984) Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brumfit, C J and Johnson, K (1979) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Burns, A & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research 10 Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press 11 Byrne, D (1986) Teaching Oral English: Longman 12 Chaney, A L B., & Burk, T L (1998) Teaching Oral Communication Boston: Allyn & Bacon 13 Dornyei, Z (2001) Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 14 Downs, M (2000) Increasing Student Motivation Teacher’s Edition, 4, 8-13 15 Ellis, R (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Oxford Universtiy Press 16 Ellis, R & M Rathbone (1987) The acquisition of German in a classroom context London: Ealing College of Hogher Education 17 Fisher, R (1990) Teaching Children to Think Basil Blackwell 41 18 Gardner, R.C & Smythe, P.C (1975) Motivation and second language acquisition Canadian Modern language Review 31, 218-230 19 Hayes, (1997) Helping Teachers to Cope with Large Classes Retrieved June from ELT Journal Volume 51/2 Oxford University Press 20 Harmer, J (1999) The Practice of English Language Teaching Malaysia: Longman 21 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman 22 Howard, J R., Short, L.B, & Clarks, S.M (1996) Students’ participation in the mixed-aged college classroom Teaching Sociology, 24 (1), 8-24 23 Hymes, D H (1972) On communicative competence In J B Pride & J Holmes (Eds.) Sociolinguistics (pp 269-293) Harmondsworth: Penguin 24 Larsen-Freeman, D (1986) Techniques and principles in language teaching Oxford, OUP 25 Le Van Canh (2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology National University Publishing House 26 Lightbown, P M., & Spada, N (1999) How Languages are Learned Oxford: Oxford University Press 27 Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 28 Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy (2008) Affective factors affecting student participation in the classroom speaking activities : a case study of the first year students of English at Tay Bac university Unpublished M.A Dissertation University of Languages and international studies – Vietnam National University 29 Nunan, D (1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge Universtity Press 30 Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 31 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 32 Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language Oxford: Heinemann 33 Oxford, R L., & Shearin, J (1994) Language Learning Motivation: Expanding the Theoretical Framework The Modern Language Journal, 78, 12-28 42 34 Pattison, P (1992) Developing Communication Skills Cambridge: CUP 35 Richards, J C., & Rodgers, T S (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 36 Rod, E (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press 37 Sass, E J (1989) Motivation in the College Classroom: What Students Tell Us Teaching of Psychology, 16(2), 86-88 38 Scovel, T (1978) The Effect of Affect on Foreign Languge Learning: A review of the Anxiety Research Language Learning, 27(1), 129-142 39 Spielberger, C (1983) Manual for the State – Trait Anxiety Palo Altro: Consulting Psychologists Press 40 Sylvelyn Jo A Almanzor, Judith Marianne S Daguman and Paulin Nicole T Tan (2009) Students’ Attitude Towards Participation During Class Time ( the assessment handbook Vol.2,2009) 41 Tsui, A (1996) Recitence and Anxiety in Second Language Learning In K Bailey & D Nunan (Eds.), Voices from the Language Classrooms (pp 145-167) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 42 Underwood, M (1987) Effective Class Management NewYork: Longman 43 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press 44 Zhang, X (2006) Speaking Skills and Anxiety CELEA, 29(1), 34-39 43 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of the first-years non-English major students at HMTU Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose Thank you! * Personal information - Age: - Class: - How long have you been studying English? How you evaluate your English speaking ability? A Very good B Good C So so D Bad E Very bad What you think about the importance of speaking skill? A Very important B Important C So so D Not very important E Not important How often you participate in speaking activities in the class? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never How you find speaking activities in the class? A Very interesting B Interesting C So so D Boring E Very boring I Tick your appropriate choice (Learning style, Motivation, Anxiety, Language level) Agree Disagree Learning style I prefer doing exercises to speaking in the classroom I enjoy practicing English at home by myself I always take every opportunity to speak English I only speak English when the teacher calls me I hate speaking English in front of other students and the teacher in my class I not often prepare the lesson before going to the class Speaking English well is important because it is useful for my career I participate in speaking activities because it helps me to get good marks I speak English as it helps me improve my fluency and pronunciation 10 I often participate in speaking activities in order to have good communication in the future 11 I think I can learn English well without speaking it 12 I enjoy speaking English more than anything else in the classroom 13 I would be very proud of myself if I could speak English well 14 I learn English speaking because it is a compulsory subject 15 I am afraid of making mistakes when speaking English 16 I often feel nervous when I have to speak in front of the class 17 I prefer sitting on the back row in the far corner in the classroom 18 I feel uncomfortable when the teacher asks me to speak in the classroom 19 Others ( please specify):……………… How you find the speaking topics in the textbook New Headway pre-intermediate- the third edition? A Very interesting B Interesting II C So so D Boring D Very boring What you think about your teacher’s teaching? ( You can choose more than one option) A My teacher behaves like a real person B My teacher is not friendly C My teacher does not create encouraging learning atmosphere in class D My teacher uses appropriate method E My teacher talks more than I F My teacher speaks so quickly that I cannot understand G My teacher does not carry out various speaking activities H Others (please specify)………………………………………………… How does your teacher encourage you to speak? ( You can choose more than one option) A Providing vocabulary B Expliciting ideas C Organizing funny games D Asking students to prepare the topic at home in advance E Using good comments F Giving high marks G: Others (please specify)……………………… 10 Which factors affecting your participation in speaking activities? ( You can choose more than one option) A I not have enough vocabulary and knowledge of the topic B I am afraid of making mistakes C I lack motivation D I am afraid of being laughed at by other students E Teacher uses inappropriate teaching methodology F Activities are boring G Topics are boring H My class is large III I Others (please specify)……………………… 11 What should teachers to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one option) A Using various communicative activities ( game, information gap, brainstorming ) B Creating a co-operative English learning environment (pair work, group work ) C Encouraging students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback, marks) D Combining the textbook with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption E Personalizing topics to be suitable for students’ interests F Personalizing tasks to be suitable for students’ interests G Others (please specify):………………………………………………………… THANK YOU! IV APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of the first-years non-English major students at HMTU Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose Thank you! * Personal information - Your age: - How long have you been teaching English? How important you think speaking skill is to your students? A Very important B Important C So so D Not very important E Not important How much you feel interested in teaching speaking skills to students? A Very interested B Interested C So so D Not very interested E Not interested How you evaluate your students’ speaking ability? A Very good B Good C So so D Bad E Very bad What teaching methods are currently being applied in your speaking lesson? A Grammar – Translation method B Audio – Lingual method C Communicative Approach D Combination of different methods What kinds of communicative activities you usually use? V (You can choose more than one option) Activities Questions and answers Discussion Games Interview Story telling Re – ordering Reporting Picture description Information gap 10 Brainstorming 11 Other:……………………… How often you use pair work and group work? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never What are the factors affecting your students’ participation in speaking activities? ( You can choose more than one option) A Students’ low English proficiency B Students’ laziness C Students’ low motivation D Students’ shyness or nervousness E Difficult or boring topics F Difficult or boring activities G Large class sizes H: Others ( please specify)………………………… What should teachers to increase students’ participation in oral lessons? (You can choose more than one option) A Using various communicative activities (game, information gap, brainstorming…) B Creating a co – operative English learning environment ( pair work, group work…) C Combining textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption D Encouraging students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) E Personalizing topics to be suitable for students’ interests F Personalizing tasks to be suitable for students’ interests and levels F Others (please specify):……………………………………………………………… THANK YOU! VI APPENDIX 3: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS (For teachers) In your opinion, what are the factors for the difficulties your students face in speaking activities? Which speaking activities you focus more on when encouraging students to speak in class? What should we to increase students’ participation when teaching speaking? VII APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS (For students) Why don’t you like to take part in speaking activities in class? What speaking activities you like your teachers to use most? Why? What should your teacher to increase students’ participation in speaking activities? VIII ... to increase students? ?? participation in speaking activities Aims of the study The study investigates current teaching and learning of speaking skill for and of the first year non- English major students. .. students at HMTU to identify factors affecting the first year non- English major students? ?? participation in speaking activities and from that gives some possible solutions to increase students? ?? participation. .. concentrates on investigating factors affecting the first year nonEnglish major students? ?? participation in oral activities and from that gives some possible suggestions to increase students? ?? participation