How to maximize part-time students ’ involvement in English speaking lessons at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre

How to maximize part-time students ’ involvement in English speaking lessons at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre

Part one: Introduction1 Rationale of the study

It can not be denied that English is very important nowadays It is considered to be avery significant and necessary tool used in many fields such as science, technology,diplomacy and so on It is seen as a means to bridge the gap and promote mutualunderstanding and cooperation among countries in the world.

In Vietnam, at present, the role of English has been more and more increasinglycrucial because of the fact that Vietnam has succeeded in becoming an official member ofWTO since 2006.

Being aware of the great significance of English, more and more people desire tomaster it in hope of making English an useful means to serve their own purposes.

For the above mentioned reasons, English has been taught not only in Universities,Colleges but also at Foreign Languages Centres.

As a teacher of English at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre - Hai PhongUniversity where a great number of learners come to learn and hope to have a good commandof English As for them, the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are veryimportant but speaking skill is given the top priority among the four “Speaking in a second orforeign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills.” (Bailey,Kathleen M & Savage, Lance, 1994:vii) Bygate, Martin also shares the same opinion as ofBailey M & Savage Lance when he states “Speaking is, however, a skill with deserversattention every bit as much as literary skill, in both first and second languages.” (1987:vii).For the reason that speaking is the direct communication helping learners achieve their goalsof learning and working With students, they can pass oral examinations at Universities orFLC easily, and those who work with foreign partners wish to use English effectively tonegotiate and gain contracts as well as attract investment from foreign companies.

However, it is not as easy as that because to help students do what they need requiresteachers a great effort Unlike schools or universities, learners at HP FLC are all of ages andwalks of life They themselves are aware of importance of the four skills, especially speakingskill, however, not every time they can do as they expect In fact, there is a large number ofstudents who may be good at reading, writing but find it difficult to speak in English I oftenencourage my students to talk in English in class but they keep silent during the lessons Someexplain that they want to talk but they don’t know what to say Some are in poor participationin speaking activities in the classroom Perhaps, there is a variety of reasons for their poorparticipation, including large classes, lack of ideas and so on In the opinion of Bygate,Martin, one of the basic problems in foreign language teaching is to prepare learners to be

able to use the language How this preparation is done, and how successful it is depends verymuch on how we as teachers understand our aims (1987:3).

Being the importance of teaching speaking to students, the researcher wishes to do aresearch on “How to maximize part-time students’ involvement in English speaking lessons?”to help teachers and students better in their teaching and study.

2 Aims of the study

Also, in the opinion of Bygate, Martin (1987) development in language teaching mustdepend partly on our ability to understand the effects of our methodology.

However, it is not possible to understand all the consequences of everything that we asa teacher do in the classroom.

Therefore, the study was an attempt to:

- Investigate the current English speaking teaching and learning at HP FLC.- Identify learners’ difficulties in English oral activities in speaking lessons.- Find out appropriate solutions to making the speaking lesson more interesting

to the learners so that they can get involved better in classroom speakingactivities.

- Make some suggestions for the teachers at HP FLC in hope of assisting themwith improvement of their teaching speaking skills.

3 Scope of the study

With the purpose of helping learners at Intermediate level at HP FLC to critically andeffectively take part in speaking lessons, the researcher intends to give a brief overview ofcurrent English speaking teaching and learning situations at HP FLC, identify learners’problems in oral activities and find out appropriate solutions to the problems.

4 Methods of the study

The quantitative method is used in the study The data collected for the study is fromthe Intermediate-level learners and the teachers at HP FLC– HPU.

The former is from 80 non - major Intermediate learners at HP FLC – HPU (See theAppendix 1)

The latter is from 15 teachers teaching intermediate learners at the same centre (SeeAppendix 2)

Survey questionnaires are used to collect data and evidence for the study.

In order to make the study more reliable, the researcher also carried out an observationby attending some English speaking lessons at HP FLC.

5 Research Question

What should teachers do to maximize learners’ involvement in English speakinglessons?

6 Significance of the study

The study hopes to contribute a small part to help teachers improve their teachingspeaking skills so that they can give a great assistance to learners with better involvement inEnglish speaking lessons.

7 Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three parts:

Part one, Introduction, presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study, scope

of the study, methods of the study, research question, significance of the study and design ofthe study

Part two, Development, includes five following chapters.

Chapter 1, Literature Review, introduces Nature of language skills, Nature of speaking

skills and Teaching speaking skills.

Chapter 2, An overview of Teaching and Learning at HP FLC- HPU, provides

information, including teachers’ background, students’ background and resources andmaterials.

Chapter 3, Methodology, presents subject of the study, Instrument, Procedure and

Chapter 4, Data Analysis and Interpretation, focuses on analysis about, learners’

activities toward speaking skills, factors that make them reluctant to speak, current teachingmethods applied to teaching speaking Also at the same time, the chapter provides an analysison difficulties faced by teachers of teaching speaking lessons and their activities towardreluctant students in speaking lessons.

Chapter 5, Finding and Recommendation discover factors affecting both learners and

teachers during speaking lessons Basing on these factors, the researcher would like to makesome suggestions to help teachers maximize their learners’ involvement in speaking lessons.

Part three, Conclusion, summarizes the key issues of the study, and short comings

exposed during the process of completing the study.

Part two: DevelopmentChapter 1: Literature Review

1 Nature of Language Skills

It is known that language skills involve four macro inter-related skills (listening,speaking, reading and writing).

As for Nunan, David (1999) being able to claim knowledge of a second languagemeans being able to speak and write in that language Listening and reading are thereforesecondary skills and sometimes viewed as passive skills If listening is the Cinderella skill insecond language learning, then speaking is the bearing elder sister The ability to function inanother language is generally characterized in terms of being able to speak that language.

Whereas, in terms of skills, producing a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing isprobably the most difficult thing there is to do in language It is something most nativespeakers never master For second language learners the challenges are enormous.

As for Bygate M (1991), listening and reading are considered to be receptive skills,whereas speaking and writing are productive ones Of the four skills, speaking plays the mostimportant role, since it can identify who is competent or incompetent in using a language.

Also confirmed by Bygate M “speaking in many ways an undervalued skill Perhapsthis is because we can almost all speak, and so we take it too much for granted and consider itto be the most important skill of the four” (1987: vii).

Fiske (1990) makes the important point that “Communication is one of those humanactivities that everyone recognizes but few can define satisfactorily” (quoted from Thompson,Meil, 2003:9) Communication, however, can be seen such a well-integrated part of our day-to-day existence that we tend to take it for granted, rarely pausing to consider what it involvesor just how important it is to us.

He defines that communication is “social interaction through message”.Communication takes place in a social context and that context will often have a verysignificant being on the success and the very nature of that communication And it isimportant to recognize that communication involves transmitting not only from one person toanother, but also in communicating a relationship.

In the opinion of Widdowson H.G (quoted from Brumfit C.J & Johnson K:118),“Communication only take place when we make use of sentences to perform a variety ofdifferent acts of an essentially social nature.

Bygate, Martine (1991:9) supposes that “Oral communication is effective only whenthe learners are supplied with oral skills” The nature of oral communication is comprehendedas a two way process between the speaker and the listener.

However, Bygate Martine (1987:22) states that in spoken interaction, speaker andlistener do not merely have to be good processors of the difficult circumstances of spokencommunication It is also useful if they are good communicators, that is, good at saying whatthey want to say in a way which the listener find understandable.

2 Nature of Speaking Skills and Teaching Speaking Skills 2.1 Nature of Speaking Skills

In recent trends in ESL/ EFL curriculum design and pedagogy have stressed theimportance of teaching communicative strategies and the functional use of language of thefour skills, speaking and writing are the productive skills in the oral mode.

As mentioned- above, speaking is regarded as the most important skill of the four.However, it is necessary to get to know the nature of speaking skills.

2 1.1 Definition of Speaking Skills

Bygate, Martin (1987) believes that speaking is the skill by which they are mostfrequently judged and thought Learners often need to be able to speak with confidence.Speaking skill is regarded as the vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professionaladvancement and business It is also a medium through which much language is learnt”.

However, as for W F Mackey, oral skill “involves not only the use of the right soundsin the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections inthe right order to convey the right meaning.” (quoted from Bygate, M., 1987: 5)

In Brown and Yule’s point of view (1983) spoken language consists of short,fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciation There is often a great deal of repetitionand overlap between one speaker and another and speaker usually use non-specific references.They also point out that spoken language is made to feel less conceptual dense than othertypes such as prose by using the loosely organized syntax, and non-specific words and phrasesand fillers such as “well, “oh”.

Speaking is, however, a skill, which deserves attention as much as literary skills Ourlisteners often need to speak with confidence so as to carry out many of their most basictransaction Moreover, speaking is known with two main types of conversation namelydialogue and monologue

2.1.2 Characteristics of Speaking Skills

Bygate, M (1987) states that “in most speaking the person to whom we are speaking isin front of us and able to use right if we make mistakes” Unlike readers or writers, speaker

may need patience and imagination, too While talking, speakers need to take notice of theother and allows listeners chance to speak it

Brown (1983) and her colleagues point out that a listener helps speakers improve theirperformance as a speaker because being a listener gives learners models to utilize when actingas speaker Besides, being a hearer first helps appreciate the difficulties inherent in the task Itis clear that giving speakers experience in hearer’s role is more helpful than simple practice intasks in which a speaker is having real difficulties in appreciating what a particular taskrequired

Richards, Platt and Weber (1985) states that Communicative Competence includes:a) Knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language.

b) Knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g knowing how to begin and end conversations,knowing what topics can be talked about in different types of speech event, knowingwhich address, forms should be used with different person one speaks to and in differentsituations.

c) Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests,apologies, thanks and invitations.

d) Knowing how to use language appropriately (quoted from Nunan, David, 1999:226)

According to Nunan, David (1999) what are needs to know and be able to do in orderto speak in another language is to know how to articulate sounds in a comprehensiblemanner, one needs an adequate vocabulary, and to have mastery of syntax.

The socio linguist Dell Hymes (1974) prosed the notion of communicative competenceas an alternative to Chomsky’s linguistic competence Communicative competenceincludes linguistic competence, but also a range of other socio linguistic andconversational skill that enable the speaker to know how to say what to whom, when.Sandra Savignon, in the early 1970, defined Communicative Competence as “ability tofunction in a truly communicative setting”.

2 2 Teaching Speaking Skills

Much of the very considerable momentum of present day language teaching may beseen as a response to a problem which teachers have been aware of for a long time It is theproblem of the student who may be structurally competent, but who can not communicateappropriately (Johnson K., 1979:192).

Newmark (quoted from Brumfit C J and Johnson K., 1979: 161) gives an example ofa person who wants to smoke but can not know how to speak to borrow a stranger’ lighter ormatch As for him, the person may know the structure taught by the teacher, yet can not knowthe way to get his cigarette lit by the stranger when he has no matches is to walk to him andsay one of the utterances “Do you have a light?” or “Got a match?” or “Do you have a fire?”or “Do you have illumination?” or “Are you a match’s owner?”

2.2.1 Aims of Teaching Speaking Skills

As for Widdowson H.G (quoted from Brumfit C.J & Johnson K:117), “ the problem isthat students, and especially students in developing countries, who have received several yearsof formal English teaching, frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use thelanguage, and to understand its use in normal communication, whether in the spoken or thewritten mode” (1979:117)

Therefore, objective of teaching speaking skill is communicative efficiency or in otherwords is to teach learners the way to communicate “appropriately” and efficiently It can beseen from the example give by Newmark of a man who is good at structures but fails inutterance competence.

So, to help learners develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teacher can usebalanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output andcommunicative output.

 Language input comes in the form of teacher talk, listening activities, readingpassages, and the language heard and read outside of class It gives learners thematerial, they need to begin producing language themselves.

 Language input may be content oriented or form oriented.

 Structured output focuses on correct form In structured output, learners mayhave options for responses, but all of the options require them to use thespecific form or structure that the teacher has just introduced.

 Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing specificlanguage items recently introduces, sometimes in combination with previouslylearned items.

 In communicative output, the learners’ main purpose is to complete a task, suchas obtaining information, developing a travel plan… To complete the task, they To complete the task, theymay be use the language that the teacher has just presented, but they also maydraw on any other vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies thatthey know In communicative output activities, the criterion of success iswhether the learner gets the message across Accuracy is not a considerationunless the lack of it interferes with the message.

 In a balance activities approach, the teacher uses a variety of activities fromthese different categories of input and output Learners at all proficiency levels,including beginners, benefit from this variety, it is more motivating, and it isalso more likely to result in effective language learning.

2.2.2 Prior Studies Related to Difficulties of Teaching Speaking Skills

2.2.2.1 The Reluctant Speakers

Nunan, David (1999) carried out a survey with colleagues, reluctance to speak on thepart of students was seen as their biggest challenge.

In his opinion, the possible mismatches can occur between teachers and learners fromdifferent cultural background An example is given by him as follows:

If learners come in to your classroom believing that learning a language involveslistening to the teacher or the tape, and doing written exercises, then they will be reluctant tobecome actively involved in speaking.

Therefore, it will be necessary to engage in a certain amount of learner training toencourage them to participate in speaking.

Burns and Joyce (1997) also agree with the point and identify three sets of factors thatmay cause reluctance on the part of students to take part in classroom task involving speaking.They suggest that this reluctance may be due to cultural factors, linguistic factor, and orpsychological affective factors Cultural factors derive from learner’s prior learningexperiences and the expectations created by these experiences.

2.2.2.2 Reasons for Learners Reluctance in Speaking ’

Also in the view of Nunan, David (1999), one of the main reasons explaining thereluctance of speakers is partly due to their learning experience Many of them were educatedin large classes in school situated in noisy neighborhoods where opportunities to speak areseverely limited Others were taught in school where speaking was simply not encouraged.

According to Buns and Joyce, the linguistic facts that inhibit the use of the spokenlanguage include difficulties in transferring from the learners’ first language to the sounds,rhythms, and stress patterns of English, a lack of understanding of common grammaticalpatterns in English (e.g English tenses) and how these may be different from their ownlanguage, lack of familiarity with cultural or social knowledge required to process meaning.Psychological and affective factors include culture shock, previous negative social or politicalexperiences, lack of motivation, anxiety or shyness in class, especially if their previouslearning experiences were negative.

2.2.2.3 Motivation

Gardner (1985) (quoted from Nunan David, 1999: 232-233) states that Motivation is akey consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate Motivationrefers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the good of learning the languageplus favorable attitudes toward learning the language That is, motivation to learn a secondlanguage is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual work or strives to learn thelanguage because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity Manyattitudes of the individual such as compulsiveness, desire to please a teacher or parents, or ahigh need to achieve might produce effort, as would social pressure, such as a demandingteacher, impending examinations, or the promise of a new bicycle.

As Nina Spada (1999:56) motivated learners are those who participate actively in classexpress interest in the subject and study hard If teachers can make classroom the placeswhere learners enjoy coming and where the atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening,they can make a positive contribution to learners’ motivation to learn

Garder and Lambert (1985) introduces two major types of motivation: Instrumentalmotivation and Integrative motivation, Resultative motivation and Intrinsic motivation.

 Instrumental motivation: When learners need English as an instrument to reach aparticular goal such as passing oral test, getting a good job with high salary and soon In this case, motivation is the reflection of an external need.

 Integrative motivation: When learners internally want to integrate themselves intothe culture of the target language (English)

 Resultative motivation: is known as the cause of achievement It also can be theresult of learning The fact show that learners who experience success in learningmay become more motivated to learn.

 Intrinsic motivation: plays a significant role in most learners’ success or failure… To complete the task, theyFor them, what happens in the classroom will be of great importance indetermining their attitudes to language and in supplying motivation Intrinsicallyautonomy and self-actualization whereas extrinsically motivated learners anticipatea reward from outside and beyond the self such as money, prize… To complete the task, they

Therefore, it seems to be the problems that learners with different reasons will bedifferently motivated to learn the language.

Learning at Hai phong Foreign Languages Centre

Hai Phong University1 Teachers and Their Background

It can be said that HP FLC – HP U has been the largest and most famous centre inHai Phong city because of good training quality and experienced and enthusiastic teachers Atpresent, about 36 teachers are teaching at the centre, including both full-time teachers and part-time teachers of which 18 are fulltime teachers and the others are part-time ones Theseteachers have graduated from different universities in Vietnam Some have been trained atHanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages Some have been trained at HaiPhong People Founded University and Hai Phong University and some are former teachers ofRussian who have been trained from in-service training courses Although they come fromdifferent backgrounds, they have many things in common: enthusiasm of teaching, eagernessof learning experiences from experienced teachers and taking part in intensive and highertraining courses Up to now, 8 teachers have successfully gained Master degree, and other 7are preparing for their Master Thesis and will get Master degree at the end of 2007 which upsthe number of Master degrees to 12 With the regular over 90 classes, the centre employs over50 visiting teachers from other universities, colleges and high school teachers.

2 Learners and Their Background

Like other Foreign Languages Centres, learners at HP FLC- HPU are of all ages andwalks of life, including university or college learners, working- learners, school- learners andschool children, which can be said to be one of difficult tasks and various challenges forteachers at HP- FLC They have reasons and purposes of learning English and their languageknowledge and language competence are different The learners at the centre are aged fromten to forty or over, excluding children The centre has also English classes for children Alarge number of learners have ever learnt English rather long before while some of them havehad at least 4 years of English at secondary school, another 5 years of English at HighSecondary school Some only have had 3 years of English at High Secondary school, andothers have learnt English for special purpose at their Universities without being taughtspeaking skill or in other words, communication skill Some of them have never learnt Englishbefore

3 Resources and Materials

English levels at the centre consists of 3 levels: Elementary, Pre-intermediate andIntermediate Unlike other Foreign Languages Centres in Hai Phong City, each coursenormally takes 5 months, each course at HP FLC usually takes 10 months The main coursebooks are three books of Streamline English (by Bernard Hartley and Peter Viney, 1982) usedsince late 1970s In 1980s, “Headway”, “Fact and Figure” and “Cause and Effect” have beenadded to promote reading skills and oral skills, “Let’s listen” and “Listen carefully” forlistening Since 2005, another course book “Life Line” of 3 levels: elementary, pre-

intermediate and intermediate has been used as supplementary materials together with mentioned course books to improve 4 skills for learners.

above-Chapter 3: Methodology1 Subjects

The subjects taking part in the study include 80 intermediate learners at HP FLC, and15 teachers teaching the level at the same place Most of these learners finished level A andlevel B at the centre and from other different centres Unlike universities, the size of the classis not deal for practice of speaking skill Each class ranges from 35 to 50 learners Therefore,organizing activities during a speaking lesson is not easy at all.

The second Questionnaire is composed of 10 questions, the purpose of which is to findout teachers’ current teaching method, their difficulties in teaching speaking to learners,which the researcher will base on the current context or situation to make some suggestions tohelp teachers improve their teaching method in order to maximize learners to get involved inspeaking lessons.

In addition, observation, at the same time, will be also carried out by the researcher atHP FLC to make the study more reliable.

3 Procedures

The questionnaires were prepared to hand out to 15 teachers and 80 learners at HPFLC- HPU to collect important information for the study The two questionnaires include bothmultiple- choice and open-ended questions The questionnaires take 15 minutes to fill inbefore being collected After that the responses to each question were calculated andconverted into percentage for analysis and discussion.

4 Method

The major method used in this study is the Quantitative one to fulfill the aims of thestudy The data analysis comes from the 2 following sources

The C level part – timer student and the teacher respondents at HP FLC.

All considerations, comments, assumptions, suggestions and conclusions provided inthe study based on the analysis of the statistic data collected from Questionnaire Survey andObservation.

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation

The main source of data is derived from the answers of the two questionnaires.

Questionnaire 1 (for learners) and Questionnaire 2 (for teachers) are included in Appendix 1

and Appendix 2.

1 Data analysis from Learners Questionnaire‘ Questionnaire

The questionnaire for the learners consisting of 14 questions was designed anddelivered to 80 learners to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collection.

1.1 Learners assessment of topics based on course book Streamline English-‘ Questionnaire “

Destinations (Questi” on 1).

interesting: 10.4%all right: 18%boring: 56%

not interesting at all: 15.6%

Figure 1: Learners assessment of topics based on course book‘ Questionnaire

Streamline English-Destinations

As shown in Figure 1, only 10.4% of the surveyed students state that topics based oncourse book “Streamline English-Destinations” are interesting, and 18% of respondentsconsider topics to be all right whereas most of the surveyed (56%) say that the topics areboring and 15.6% of the total suppose that the topics are not interesting at all

From the results shown in Figure 1, topics based on the course book can be said not tobe interesting enough to attract students’ attention in speaking lessons Therefore, thenecessity for the teachers is to provide learners with interesting topics or appropriate speakingactivities and so on to motivate them to get involved in speaking lessons.

1.2 Learners reluctance degree in speaking lessons (Question 2)’

often: 51.7%sometimes: 18.4%rarely: 15.3%not at all: 14.6%

Figure 2: Learners reluctance degree in speaking lessons’

Figure 2 shows that the number of surveyed learners often feel reluctant to getinvolved in English speaking lessons accounts for 51.7% while 18.4% of the participants aresometimes reluctant to speak Only 15.3% of the surveyed are rarely reluctant to get involvedin speaking lessons, and 14.6% of the total do not feel reluctant to involve in speaking lessonsat all.

It can be concluded that most of the learners feel reluctant to speak in speaking lessonsdue to many reasons, and one of those is that topics are not interesting to learners

1.3 Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons (Question 3)

A: 17.5%B: 14.6%C: 46.4%D: 21.5%

Figure 3: Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons

As clearly stated from Figure 3, up to 46.4% of the respondents suppose thatuninteresting lessons are one of many factors deterring their involvement in speaking lessons,whereas 21.5% of the participants say that boring teaching method make them reluctant tospeak Besides, subjective factors have a certain influence on their interest in speaking lessonssuch as feeling shy only accounts for 17.5 and not being accustomed to speaking in front ofother people makes up 14.6%.

1.4 Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons (Question 4)

Figure 4: Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons

The result in Figure 4 shows that teachers’ English speaking affects a great deal tolearners’ involvement in speaking lessons The number of surveyed learners supposing thatteachers use too much English in English speaking lessons accounts for 38%, while 36% ofthe learners state that teachers speak too fast A very small number of the participants thinkthat teachers speak too much Vietnamese in English speaking lessons (15%), and 11% of thetotal say that teachers speak too slowly.

1.5 Learners difficulties in speaking lessons (Question 5)’

A: 41%B: 18%C: 26%D: 15%

Figure 5: Learners difficulties in speaking lessons‘ Questionnaire

As shown in Figure 5, 18% of the participants think that finding ideas for the giventopic is one of difficulties deterring their involvement in speaking lessons, while up to 41% ofthe total suppose that finding words is the main reason preventing them from performing theirspeaking tasks Poor pronunciation also contributing a not small percentage accounts for 26%.And 15% of the respondents seem to be affected by mother-tongued inference in speakinglessons

In summary, through the data collected from Figure 3, 4 and 5, it can be concludedthat there is a variety of factors that make the learners unwilling to speak or affects theirinvolvement in speaking lessons including: subjective factors from the learners themselves

such as finding ideas, finding words, poor pronunciation ect and objective ones such asuninteresting lessons, teaching method and so on… To complete the task, they

1.6 Teachers talking time in speaking lessons (Question 6)’

too much: 44%a little much: 26%all right: 20%too little: 10%

Figure 6: Teachers talking time in speaking lessons’

The information obtained from Figure 6 indicates that teachers always take much timeexplaining in speaking lessons (70%) Only a small minority (10%) does not do so And 20%of the respondents think that their teachers talk enough

1.7 Teachers mistakes correction for learners in speaking lessons (Question’ 7)

A: 72.5%B: 18.3%C: 9.2%D: 0%

Figure 7: Teachers mistake correction for learners’ in speaking lessons

The statistics provided from Figure 7 show that most of the learners (72.5%) respondthat their teachers interrupt them and correct their mistakes immediately, whereas 18.3% ofthem state that their teachers wait until they finish and then correct their mistakes And only9.2% of the participants say that their teachers do not correct their mistakes and encouragethem to speak until they finish It is amazing to see that none of the teachers only listen tolearners and do nothing with their mistakes

It can be said, from the above-mentioned statistics (Figures 6 and 7), that the way ofcorrecting mistakes done by the teachers is inappropriate In addition, the amount of timetaken by the teachers in speaking lessons is not proper Most of the teachers talk too much.Consequently, learners’ taking time is limited This proves that teaching method here in Hai

Phong Foreign Languages Centre still focuses on accuracy and forms, not on fluency andcontent

1.8 Learners attitude towards teachers activities (Question 8)’ ’

very muchrathera littlenot at all

Figure 8: Learners attitude towards teachers activities’’

It can be seen from Figure 8, 27% of the surveyed learners say that activities designedby their teachers are interesting to them while up to 51% of the surveyed show their littleinterest in their teachers’ activities in speaking lessons And a not small number of theparticipants (22%) are not interested in the activities designed by their teachers at all

The data collected from Figure 8 indicates that activities utilized by teachers are notinteresting enough to draw learners’ attention and encourage them to get involved in speakinglessons

It can be said that speaking activities designed by the teachers play a very significantrole in encouraging students to speak in speaking lessons Teachers should invest more timeand effort to design activities suitable to learners’ ability.

1.9 Teachers activities to encourage learners to speak (Question 9)’

role-play: 43%interviewing: 13%questioning: 28%

games for speaking: 16%

Figure 9: Teachers activities to encourage learners to speak’

The data from Figure 9 clearly shows that role-play is an activity mostly used byteachers because 43% of the surveyed learners reveal the fact Other activities such asinterviewing holds 13%, using games for speaking accounts for 16% and questioning takes up28%

Role-play can be considered to be a popular activity utilized by most teachers in orderto encourage learners to talk in speaking lessons However, the other mentioned activitiesshould be used flexibly by teachers in speaking lessons

1.10 Teachers activities before each discussion topic (Question 10)’

Figure 10: Teachers activities before each discussion topic’

As shown in Figure 10, up to 43% of the respondents state that their teachers let themdiscuss the given topic themselves However, 32% of the participants say that their teachersprovide them with new words relating to the topic and 18% of the surveyed suppose that theirteachers give them main ideas about the topic And only 7% of the learners say that theirteachers divide them in to pair and group before each given topic

1.11 Teachers attitude toward learners presentation (Question 11)’ ’

A: 49%B: 9%C: 15%D: 27%

Figure 11: Teachers attitude toward learners presentation’’

It can be seen from Figure 11, 49 % of the participants say that their teachers givethem good comment after their presentation although their performance is not really good.Only 9% of them state that their teachers criticize their mistakes after presentation whereas

15% of the surveyed suppose that their teachers only point out their mistakes And 27% of thetotal say that their teachers point out and correct their mistakes after their performance.

It is encouraging to see that most of the teachers encourage their learners to speak bygiving good comments The action can be considered to be a good way of promoting learners’involvement in speaking lessons

1.12 Learners expectations toward their teachers (Question 12)’

Figure 12: Learners expectation toward their teachers’

From the result collected in Figure 12, it can be easily recognized that 29% of thesurveyed learners expect their teachers to let them choose appropriate topics to discuss And26% of the participants need more time to work in pair and group while 31% of the surveyedwant their teachers to provide them with speaking tasks suitable to their ability Only 14% ofthem desire teachers to let them choose partners who share the same opinion with them

It can be said that giving opportunity to learners to choose their appropriate topics fordiscussion and giving them more time to work in pair and group can help learners a lot inexpressing their ideas freely and creatively However, it is necessary for teachers to investmore time in designing speaking tasks suitable to learners’ ability to help them take part inspeaking lessons.

In summary, the learners’ desires to speak well and get involved effectively in Englishspeaking lessons are very encouraging Teachers need to pay more attention to their learner’sneeds to help them in time so that learners can improve their speaking

1.13 Activities help to motivate learners to speak (Question 13)

A: 22%B: 28%C: 35%D: 15%

Figure 13: Activities help to motivate learners to speak most

The figures in Figure 13 point out that activities can help to motivate learners to speakmost such are oral presentation taking up 35% and reporting news holding 28% whereastelling funny stories accounts for 22% and describing picture occupies 15% of the total

1.14 Factors help learners better get involved in speaking lessons (Question 14)

Figure 14: Factors help learners better get involved in speaking lessons

It is very interesting to see that confidence and careful preparation for given topics arethe two factors that help learners’ involvement effectively in speaking lessons when 30% ofthe learners state that be confident when presenting news and 30% of the participants say thatprepare well given topics and present in front of other members help them participateeffectively in speaking lessons, whereas 19% of the respondents say that try to speak Englishfluently and 21% of the total suppose that actively work in pair and group help them betterinvolve in speaking lessons.

2 Data analysis from Teachers Questionnaire‘ Questionnaire

The questionnaire for teachers consisting of 10 questions was delivered to 15 teachers.The data collected was analyzed as follows

2.1 Teachers assessment of the course book Streamline English-Destination’ “ ”

(Question 1)

A: 12%B: 38%C: 34%D: 16%

Figure 15: Teachers assessment of the course book’

Streamline English-Destination