An investigation into the applicability of critical strategy in group work to the teaching of speaking skills for the second year students at english department of hong duc university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG HẠNH M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE APPLICABILITY OF CRITICAL STRATEGY IN GROUP WORK TO THE TEACHING OF SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF HONG DUC UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu khả ứng dụng chiến lược phản biện theo nhóm vào giảng dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tiếng Anh trường Đại Học Hồng Đức tỉnh Thanh Hoá ) Field : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 HA NOI - 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG HẠNH M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE APPLICABILITY OF CRITICAL STRATEGY IN GROUP WORK TO THE TEACHING OF SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF HONG DUC UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu khả ứng dụng chiến lược phản biện theo nhóm vào giảng dạy kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ hai khoa Tiếng Anh trường Đại Học Hồng Đức tỉnh Thanh Hoá ) Field : English Language Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10 Supervisor : Nguyễn Bàng, M.A HA NOI - 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the Study Aims of the Study Research Questions of the Study Scope of the Study Methods of the Study Design of the Study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Introduction 1.2 An Overview of Speaking 1.2.1 Definitions of Speaking 1.2.2 The Importance of Speaking in Language Teaching and Learning 1.2.3 The Principles for Teaching Speaking 1.2.4 The Communicative Approach to Teaching Speaking 1.2.4.1 CLT and Teaching Speaking in the Classroom Context 1.2.4.2 Speaking Activities 1.2.4.3 Problems with Speaking Activities 1.3 The Critical Strategy (CS) in Teaching Speaking 1.3.1 What is the Critical Strategy ? 1.3.2 The Importance of CS to the Development of Students' Speaking Skills 1.3.3 Teaching Critical Strategies Used in the Speaking Lessons 11 v 1.3.3.1 Oral Presentation 11 1.3.3.2 Group Discussion 12 1.3.3.3 Seminar 13 1.3.4 Factors Affecting CS Application in Group Work 13 1.3.4.1 Student Variables 14 1.3.4.2 Teacher Variables 15 1.3.4.3 Language Environment and Course Book 16 1.3.4.4 Tests and Evaluations 16 1.4 Summary 16 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 17 2.1 Introduction 17 2.2 The Context of the Study 17 2.3 The Research Methodology 18 2.3.1 Selecting Population 18 2.3.2 The Instrumentation 19 2.3.2.1 The Questionnaires 19 2.3.2.2 The Classroom Observations 20 2.4 Data Analysis 20 2.4.1 Data Analysis of the Survey Questionnaires 20 2.4.1.1 Data Analysis of the Teachers' Survey Questionnaire 20 2.4.1.2 Data Analysis of the Students' Survey Questionnaire 27 2.4.2 Data Analysis of the Class Observations 36 2.5 Summary 37 CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 3.1 Introduction 38 3.2 The Teachers' and Students' Beliefs and Attitudes 38 towards CS Application in Group Work 3.3 The Teachers' Situation of Applying CS in Group 38 Work in the Speaking Lessons 3.4 The Challenges when Applying CS in Teaching Speaking Skills 39 3.5 The Modifications for Applying CS in Group Work Possible 40 vi 3.6 Summary 41 PART C: CONCLUSION 42 Conclusion 42 Limitations of the Study 43 Recommendations for Further Study 43 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire for Teachers I Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire for Students V Appendix 3: Classroom Observation Sheet X vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CA: Communicative Approach CLT: Communicative Language Teaching CS: Critical Strategy DLSD: Division of Language Skills Development FLD: Foreign Language Department HDU: Hong Duc University No: Number of responses SLA: Second Language Acquisition viii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES CHARTS Chart 1: Teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards the role of CS in group work to the students' speaking skills development Chart 2: The teachers' beliefs and attitudes of the topics in the current course books to CS application in group work Chart 3: The teachers' techniques used most Chart 4: The students' beliefs and attitudes towards speaking skills Chart 5: The students' beliefs and attitudes towards CS in group work Chart 6: The students' preferences for speaking topics TABLES Table 1: Teachers' ideas of CS Table 2: The teachers' beliefs and attitudes of the students' English proficiency CS application in group work Table 3: The teachers' frequency of applying CS in group work Table 4: Types of techniques and activities used by the teachers Table 5: The difficulties affirmed by teachers Table 6: Solutions suggested by teachers Table 7: The students' beliefs about their English proficiency Table 8: The students' profits gained from CS in group work Table 9: The students' preferences for the techniques the teachers used Table 10: The students' difficulties in preparing the contents of the topics or the tasks Table 11: The students' difficulties in delivering presentations Table 12: The students' suggestions for their difficulties Table 13: The students' suggestions for teachers to PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study It is recognized that in recent years, in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), researchers have been more interested in studying the learning process than the learning product and in the development of communicative competence than that of linguistic competence ( Chen, 1990) For this tendency, the present study is intended to investigate into the applicability of critical strategy in groups in the speaking lessons for Englishmajor students at Hong Duc University based on the following reasons: Firstly, there is an urgent need to improve students' communicative competence in addition to lexical and grammatical knowledge In fact, we are living in the twenty-first century with the dominance of English all over the world in such important areas as aviation, business, commerce, technology, science, international relations and diplomacy In accordance with the open policies to integrate into the world community, the large number of companies from different countries investing into several fields in Vietnam Therefore, the necessity for English has been increasing very rapidly, in particular English speaking skills has become a common requirement for jobs, and is considered to be a "ladder" to a successful career Being aware of that, in the past years, the teaching staff of English at Hong Duc University (HDU) has been trying hard to define suitable methods and to compile appropriate materials for language teaching and learning in which speaking skills is treated as the most important of the four language skills but has not been successful in producing sufficient, fluent foreign language speakers One of the main reasons is the lack of frequent practice from students To enhance students' speaking skills development, teachers need to create more opportunities for the students to practice and learn from their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their peers' weaknesses and strengths Among suggested solutions, CS in groups can be of great help because it is the interaction in the classroom among students to express their opinions on the topics Moreover, through these activities students will learn the way to co-operate in the group or team that is very important in the real world and positive social relation in the community Secondly, opponent strategy in groups is one of the teaching techniques designed in the communicative approach which emerges as the latest development because of its superiority In the view of this approach, the learner is considered the center of the learning process, the teacher servers as a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own learning Breen, M and Candlin, C.N (1980) stated that learners should be active in groups as well as in classroom activities to enhance their interactive learning to be communicatively competent However, there is a fact that not all learners are participants in the speaking lessons because of shyness, lacking motivation or poor knowledge of pronunciation and vocabulary Thus, in order to involve all learners in class activities, it is the teachers' business to design and apply techniques to increase students' participation in class activities and makes them more active CS in groups is one of the feasible methods to motivate students to participate heartily in speaking activities in the class Finally, the paper is implemented to investigate the effectiveness of applying this technique and from that discovering its strong and weak points to set up the most relevant ones in terms of contents The results obtained based on the theoretical background and the present use of it at the Foreign Language Department, HDU would help students to raise their speaking skills as well as improve teachers' teaching methodologies in relation with the process of renovation for teaching at the Foreign Language Department, HDU currently Aims of the Study The research focuses on investigating the practice of the critical strategy used by the teachers at English Department of Hong Duc University and giving some suggestions for applying CS to enhance the students' speaking skills The specific aims of the research are as follows: - To investigate the teachers' and the students' beliefs and attitudes towards the application of the critical strategy in groups in the speaking lessons - To find out the reality of teaching and learning CS in groups in the speaking lessons - To find out the teachers' challenges when applying the critical strategy in groups in the speaking lessons - To give some possible suggestions for using the critical strategy in groups to enhance students' speaking skills 3 Research questions of the Study Regarding to the aims of the research, , the following research questions are put forward: What are the teachers' and students' beliefs and attitudes towards the application of the critical strategy in groups in the speaking lessons ? How is Critical Strategy applied in the speaking lessons? What are the challenges underlying the application of the critical strategy in teaching speaking to the English second year students? What modifications are necessary to make the critical strategy possible ? Scope of the Study There has existed a variety of strategies to the teaching of speaking skills at English Department of HDU, but the study only focuses on investigating the applicability of the CS in groups to the teaching of speaking skills for the second-year students there Methods of the Study The major method used in this study was survey Firstly, two survey questionnaires were administered to the teachers and the students Secondly, based on the obtained results from the questionnaires, the class observations were carried out in class k12 These were to find out the reality of applying CS in groups in the speaking lessons including the techniques and activities used, the atmosphere of the classroom, the students' attitudes to the lessons and their interactions during the lessons Design of the Study The study is divided into three parts: Part is the introduction including the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope and methods of the study; Part is the development, which consists of three chapters: chapter is the literature on knowledge of speaking skills, of the Critical Strategy (CS) and offactors affecting the application of CS in the teaching of speaking; Chapter is the study, which presents the actual procedure of the study including the setting, subjects, sample, instrumentation, data collection and data analysis; chapter is the major findings and discussion.; Part is the conclusion, which contains the main points discussed in the paper, some limitations of the study and future research will be presented 43 Limitations of the study Because of the limitation of time, knowledge and ability, the following challenges and limitations are unavoidable First of all, the number of the students participating in the study was limited to the secondyear students Second, the researcher had a certain constraint of academic language proficiency and experience in carrying out the study Finally, the author's practical experience in teaching to the second-year students of English and the knowledge of the subject matter are limited Therefore, this study can be offered as a basis for further research Recommendations for further research As no single research design in all-inclusive and complete, this study can not cover everything in its fields of study Many untouched issues would be interesting topics for further research such as: - Further investigation into the most effective techniques and activities for CS application in group work - Further investigation into the topics the students prefer working on CS in group work - Further investigation into the students' benefits gained from CS in group work - Further investigation into the ways to be self-confident when delivering presentation 44 REFERENCES Bailey, M (2005) Practical English Language Teaching : Speaking New York: McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT Breen, M.P., & Candlin, C.N (1980) 'The Essentials of a Communicative Curriculum in Language Teaching' Applied Linguistics, Vol 1, No Oxford Journals Brown, H.D.(1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language pedagogy New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Brumfit, C.J (1984) Communicative Methodology in Language Teaching CUP Burns, A., and Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research Bygate, M.( 1987) Speaking Oxford University Press Byrne, D (1991) Teaching Oral English Longman Canale, M, & Swain, M (1980) Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing Applied Linguistics Oxford Journals Chen, Si-Qing (1990) A Study of Communication Strategies in Interlanguage Production by Chinese EFL Learners In Language Learning 40:2, June Edward, M.Glaser (1941) An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher’s College, Columbia University Emden, J, & Becker, L (2004) Presentation Skills for Students Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A Furneaux et al (1991) Talking Heads and Shifting Bottoms: The Ethnography of Academic Seminars (196) London: Modern English Publications Hammer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman 45 http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/define_critical_thinking.cfm http: // www.cs.wisc.edu/%7Emarkhill/conference-talk.html Keefe, J.W (1979) Learning Style: An Overview In J.W Keefe (Ed.) Student Learning Styles: Diagnosing and Prescribing Programs Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals Larsen-Freeman, D (1986) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching CUP Littlewood, W.T (1981) Communicative Language Teaching CUP Richards, J.C & Schmidt, R (2002) Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman Pearson Education McDonough, Jo., and Christopher Shaw 1993 Materials and methods in ELT: A Teacher's Guide Oxford, England: Blackwell Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology UK: Prentice- Hall International Pattison, P (1987) Developing Communication Skills CUP Richards, J.C & Lockhart, C (1996) Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms New York: CUP Richards, J.C., and Rodgers, T.S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Pattison P (1992) Developing Communication Skills Cambridge University Press Savignon, S.J (1991) Communicative Language Teaching: State of the Art TESOL Q uarterly, 25, 261-277 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory CUP Wilkins, D.A (1976) Notional syllabuses Oxford: Oxford University Press I APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS The questionnaire aims at gathering the information for my project of the investigation into the applicability of critical strategy (CS) in group work to the teaching of speaking skills for the second year students at English Department of Hong Duc University I would like you to help me by choosing the letter that accurately expresses your idea towards each statement Please give your answers sincerely as this will make great contribution to the success of my investigation Thank you very much for your cooperation Please complete your personal profile Name of university: Which of the following courses have you taught most of your time (choose one option) English for General Purpose as a major English for General Purpose as a minor English for Specific Purposes Others (please specify) How many students (on average) in one class? How many lessons per week you teach ? How many years have you been a teacher of English? years Instruction: Please choose the letter that represents your real idea or tick what you think is correct (you may tick more than one option) In your viewpoint, CS: is student-centered and only used for teaching speaking not for the other skills is student-centered and used for four skills mainly focuses on developing critical thinking for students enhances students to think clearly and systematically in analyzing an issue always emphasizes fluency over accuracy II work on both fluency and accuracy at the same time often emphasizes language function over forms creates a lot of opportunities for students to communicate creates a secure, non-threatening atmosphere in the classroom is often used in pair work, group work reduces teacher's work uses authentic materials Others: Please list here: How important you think CS in group work is to the development of students' speaking skills? A Very important B Important C Not important D Not important at all How suitable you think the topics in current course book are to CS application in group work? A Very suitable B Suitable C Not suitable D Not suitable at all How feasible you think the second year students' English proficiency is to CS application in group work? A Very feasible B Feasible C Not feasible D Not feasible at all How often you use CS in group work in the speaking lessons? A Very often B Often C Not very often D Never III Please tick kind of classroom techniques you often use to CS in group work Oral presentation Role-play Group discussion Seminar Others Please list here: Please tick kind of classroom techniques can help you most to bring about effective CS application in group work Oral presentation Role-play Group discussion Seminar Others Please list here: Please tick kind of classroom tasks you often use to CS in group work Opinion exchange Games Drama Project Interviewing brainstorming Information gap Problem-solving Decision making Short survey Others Please list here: Please tick the difficulties that you have experienced when applying CS in group work to the teaching of speaking to the second year students at English Department at the University The difficulties on the part of teachers Misconception about CS Negative attitudes to CS application Deficiency in strategic and sociolinguistic competence in English Limited time for teaching speaking IV Others Please list here: The difficulties on the part of students Irrelevant English proficiency to CS application Students' anxiety when preparing the contents of the topics or the tasks given by teacher Students' anxiety when presenting a particular topic Students' passive learning styles Use Vietnamese in group work Resistance to class participation Low interest to the topics in course book Others Please list here: 10 Please tick the suggestions that are necessary, in your viewpoint, to make the CS application possible The suggestions for the difficulties of teacher Organize seminars with the help of experienced teachers or organize micro-teachings or peer observations to avoid misunderstanding in the application of CS Self-study through magazines, newspapers, or materials on the internet, etc to improve the knowledge of CS as well as strategic and sociolinguistic competence in English Allotted time for each group, and for every activity to a particular topic Others Please list here: The suggestions for the difficulties of students Adapt the course book relevant to students' English proficiency Provide materials or suggest reference sources referring to the contents of the topic or provide students with the strategies for a successful oral presentation Suggest interesting topics for communication Use authentic materials (songs, films, games, television, etc) Create a variety of communicative activities Build cooperative atmosphere in the class and in each individual Make students change attitude toward mistakes Make teachers' roles and students' roles clear to prevent students from depending so much on the teachers Base assessment and evaluation on goals and objectives which are clear to students V Carry out on-going assessment (i.e give students marks, grades for class participation or in- class work) Carry out small and funny punishments for students who not participate or use Vietnamese Adapt the topics in the current course books to the students' interest Others Please list here: Thank you very much for your cooperation! VI APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is intended for my project of the investigation into the applicability of critical strategy (CS) in group work to the teaching of speaking skills for the second year students at English Department of Hong Duc University I would like you to help me by choosing the letter that accurately expresses your idea towards each statement Please give your answers sincerely as this will make great contribution to the success of my investigation Thank you very much for your cooperation Please complete your personal profile Name: Class: Age: Sex: Instruction: Please choose the letter that represents your real idea or tick what you think is correct (you may tick more than one option) How long have you learnt English? A years B years C years D Above years How often you communicate with a foreigner in English? A Very often B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never How important are speaking skills to English learning? A Very important B Important C Not important D Not important at all VII Do you think CS in group work help improve your speaking skills ? A Yes B No C Not at all Please tick what you have gained through CS in group work I learnt more English language skills than I would have learned in a regular way I think CS in group work has enhanced my communicative skills I think CS in group work has improved my presentation skills I have become a better problem-solver I got value experiences from working in groups I feel more confident in speaking English Others Please list here: How you find the techniques the teacher used? A Very useful B Useful C Not useful D Not useful at all In the following techniques, what would you like to best? A Oral presentation B Group discussion C Seminar D Role-play How you find the topics or the tasks the teacher performed? A Very interesting B Interesting C Not interesting D Not interesting at all Please tick difficulties you have encountered in preparing the contents of the topic or the tasks given by teacher Dividing workload among group members Selecting an appropriate topic among a wide range of topics Searching for relevant materials among available materials VIII Selecting adequate information Selecting adequate vocabulary Organizing selected information Selecting visual aids Lack of time to rehearse Others Please list here: 10 Please tick difficulties you have encountered in delivering presentations Technical problems Lack of confidence Fear of looking foolish Fear of speaking in public Difficulties with grammar Difficulties with vocabulary Difficulties with pronunciation Lack presentation skills Forgetting the contents of the presentation Lack of concentration Limited time to present Fear of teacher evaluations Fear of peer evaluations Worry about questions to be asked Others Please list here: 11 What you think students should to have confidence in presenting or expressing their ideas in English? A Read a lot to enrich their vocabulary, structure and social knowledge B Be well-prepared for their oral presentations C Learn from their presentations and from the peers D Others: Please list here: 12 What you think your teacher should to help you prepare well the contents of the topic or the tasks? A Provide materials or suggest reference sources B Highlight the key contents of the topics or the tasks C The time for preparing should be longer IX D Others: Please list here: 13 What you think your teacher should to help you believe in presenting or expressing your ideas in English? A Provide the strategies for successful oral presentation B Provide the strategies for responses C Provide the strategies for negotiation D Provide the strategies for interrupting E Others Please list here: Thank you very much for your cooperation! X APPENDIX 3: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Name of the observed: .Class: Observer’s name: Date: Summary of the result of observations in E: G: NI: N: four lessons Excellent Good Needing Not Improving used A Teachers' techniques Lesson Lesson Lesson Lesson The teacher got students to work in pairs N G N N The teacher organized group work G N N G The teacher asked students to make oral N N G N The teacher organized seminar N N N N The teacher got students to work N N N N Opinion exchange G G G G Playing games N G N N Drama G N N N Project G N G N Interviewing brainstorming N G N N Information gap N N N N Problem-solving G N N G Decision making N N N N Short survey N G G G 10 Asking questions NI NI G NI 11 Answering questions NI NI G NI 12 Debating G G G G presentation individually B Activities in classroom XI C Teachers' use of group work The teacher introduced the technique with brief N N N N The teacher formed group properly G G G G The teacher gave clear instructions and students G G G G The teacher modeled the technique N N N N The teacher checked for clarification G G G G The teacher set the tasks in motion N N N N The teacher moved around the classroom and G G G G G G G G Teacher is a facilitator G G G G Students are communicators G G G G Teacher encourages students and assures full G G G G The students are attentive and involved G G G G The students are active G G G G Teacher organizes effective individual, pair and G G G G G N G G N N N N The teacher was friendly and supportive G G G G The students were involved and attentive G G G G The teacher and the students were equally active N N N N The students felt comfortable and free to express G G G G G G G G explanation could carry out the tasks gave help during group work The teacher gave comments after the presentation of each group D Teacher/ Student interaction group work The students are encouraged to ask questions, to disagree, or to express their own ideas Teacher controls and directs the class E Classroom atmosphere their ideas Good students helped less able students XII ... to the teaching of speaking skills at English Department of HDU, but the study only focuses on investigating the applicability of the CS in groups to the teaching of speaking skills for the second- year. .. concerning the topic of the study The prominent definitions of speaking skills are introduced according to outstanding scholars, and then the aspects relating to principles for teaching speaking and... for the following final conclusions The application of CS in group work into the teaching of speaking skills to the second- year students of FLD in HDU was feasible Most of the teachers and the students