A study on teaching oral skills to the first year students at Hanoi University of Industry in the Communicative Approach

A study on teaching oral skills to the first year students at Hanoi University of Industry in the Communicative Approach

Part A: Introduction

1 Rationale

It is undeniable that English is a means of international communication in the fieldsof science, technology, culture, education, economy and so on It is not only the nativelanguage of about 300 million of speakers around the world but also the official languagein many countries as well as second / foreign language in many nations in the world InVietnam, English has taken on a special significance when people are carrying out themodernization and industrialization The number of people who are learning English inVietnam also has been increasing quickly English has even become a compulsory subjectin the curriculum of almost all universities in Vietnam Traditionally, English teaching inHaUI has been dominated by teacher-centered mode In the classroom, the teacher who isconsidered as the leading factor puts on a one-man show He seldom asks his students anyquestions or makes any communication with them He tries to seize every minute and asmany opportunities as possible to impact the students with knowledge Therefore, thisapproach, in a certain degree, is called the cramming of forced feeding method of teaching.The teacher teaches actively while the students listen to him passively As a result, it bringsthe students poor abilities and skills of listening and speaking After studying English forseveral years, students still remain at a loss when they have to express themselves inEnglish They may remember a great number of words and structures, but they can not usethem appropriately in communication Moreover, today’s world requires that the goal ofteaching oral skills should improve students’ communicative skills because, only in thatway, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rulesappropriate in each communicative competence.

In order to change this situation, English teachers have been trying to improve theirteaching Distinguishing from the traditional language-teaching approach which focuses ongrammar and structure, a new approach called Communicative Language Teaching hasbeen very much in vogue at present It gives students more opportunities to communicatein English in the classroom But unfortunately, some phenomena indicate that the effect ofCLT is not so satisfactory as people expected There are some difficulties in applying CLTin universities This paper attempts to clarify certain issues from the perspective ofapplying the Communicative Language Teaching to the teaching of oral English in HaUI,

analyze the factors which impede the effects Then according to the theories of CLT, somesuggestions are put forward, which are relevant to the application of CLT.

2 Aims of the study

This research investigates the reality of the teaching oral skills to the first yearstudents in HaUI when the teachers are considered to be applying CLT approach in theirteaching The main goal of the research is to identify factors which will facilitate or inhibitthe implementation of communicative language teaching approach in teaching oral skills tothe first years students in Hanoi University of Industry and to make somerecommendations which can help teachers to reduce difficulties.

3 Research questions of the study

The basic research questions for the study are:

1 What are the perceptions of the participating HaUI teachers and students about theprinciples of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)?

2 What do these teachers believe are the practices that explain communicativeactivities?

3 What do these teachers think are the main barriers in implementing CLT approachin teaching oral skills to the first year students in HaUI?

4 What do they identify as needs for the successful implementation of CLTApproach?

4 Scope of the study

In this study, the investigator intended to focus on the barriers that teachersencounter when teaching oral skills to the first years students in the CommunicativeApproach The investigator chooses to focus on oral skills because CLT is considered to beeasily and thoroughly implemented in teaching speaking skills

5 Methodology

To fulfill the above aims, qualitative and quantitative methods have been chosen forthe study Comments, remarks, comparison, suggestions and conclusions are based onfactual research, observation, experience and discussion Data for analysis in this study aregained through the following sources:

- Survey questionnaire- Interviews and discussion.

6 Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three parts:

Part A is the “INTRODUCTION” which presents the rationales, aims, researchquestions, scope, methodology and design of the study

Part B, “DEVELOPMENT”, includes three chapters:

Chapter 1 sets up theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study.Chapter 2 deals with date analysis of two questionnaires administered to teachers andstudents to find out their attitudes towards CLT and main difficulties in teaching speakingskills using CLT to freshmen and EFL teachers’ solutions to these problems Also, in thischapter the author would like to provide some information about the findings of the study

Chapter 3 emphasizes the implications of the study in which recommendations forthe application of CLT approach are proposed.

Part C, “CONCLUSION”, summarizes the key issues in the study, points out thelimitations and provides some suggestions for further study

Part B: Development

Chapter 1: Literature review

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to thereexamination of the concepts most relevant to the thesis’s topic Firstly, an account of theCLT theory is made Secondly, characteristics of communication is discussed Finally, theimplementation of CA in the teaching of oral skills is referred to

1 1 Theory on CA

1.1.1 Definitions of CA

The Communicative Approach has dominated English language teaching It hasfirmly established itself on a worldwide basis and there are good historical reasons for this.CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) which is also termed as CA (CommunicativeApproach) was brought to us in 1970s The terms CA and communicative languageteaching (CLT) are both used in this paper but by the CA we will be referring to the moretheoretical, and by CLT to the more practical beliefs; together these beliefs and practicesconstitute a paradigm which dominates the profession

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a prominent theoretical model inEnglish language teaching (ELT) and CLT is accepted by many applied linguists andteachers as one of the effective approaches As Li (1998) stated, since its first appearancein Europe in early 1970s and subsequent development in English as a second language(ESL) countries over the past 20 years, CLT has extended in scope and has been used bydifferent educators in different ways A number of research studies have been conductedand much effort has been put into discussion on the implementation of CommunicativeLanguage Teaching (CLT) in English as a foreign language (EFL) countries (Li, 1998;Xiaoju, 1984).

Many excellent chapters and books have been written in order to define and capturethe characteristics of CLT (Canale, 1983; Cook, 1991; Littlewood, 1981; Richards &Rodgers, 2001 ; Richards & Schmidt, 1983; Rivers, 1968; Rivers, 1978; Savignon, 1983;Savignon, 1997;) Other authors have written various articles and reports on CLT and itsmain elements of communicative competence (Canale & Swain, 1980; Rivers, 1968;Savignon, 1991 ; Xiaoju, 1984).

Although there are different definitions and versions of what CLT is and how itfunctions, there are a few general concepts that are agreed upon CLT is defined by

Richards, et al (1986) as "an approach to foreign or second language teaching whichemphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence" Thisdefinition presents the main concept of CLT, which is the focus on developingcommunicative competence among learners CLT aims to make competence the goal oflanguage teaching and develop procedures to teach the four language skills that allow theindependence of language and communication.

Other researchers in this area have defined and characterized CLT in various ways.Howatt (1984) presents the idea that there are two versions of CLT He states:

“There is, in a sense, a 'strong' version of the communicative approach and a 'weak' version.The weak version, which has become more or less standard practice in the last ten years, stresses theimportance of providing learners with opportunities to use their English for communicative purposesand, characteristically, attempts to integrate such activities into a wider programme of languageteaching The 'strong' version of communicative teaching, on the other hand, advances the claimthat language is acquired through communication, so that it is not merely a question of stimulatingthe development of the language system itself If the former could be described as 'learning to use'English, the latter entails 'using English to learn it” (p 279)

According to Littlewood (1981), "one of the most characteristic features of

communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as wellas structural aspects of language, combining these into a more fully communicative view"

(p 1) CLT advocates to go beyond teaching grammatical rules of the target language, andrecommend that, by using the target language in a meaningful way, learners will developcommunicative competence

In CLT, meaning is important Meaning, according to Larsen-Freeman (1986), isderived from the written word through an interaction between the reader and the writer,just as oral communication becomes meaningful through negotiation between speaker andlistener CLT allows learners to acquire the linguistic means to perform different kinds of

functions According to Larsen-Freeman, "Language is for communication" (p 133) and true

communication is not possible without interaction Larsen-Freeman also asserts that the

most obvious characteristic of CLT is that "almost everything that is done is done with a

communicative intent" (p 132) The communicative approach in language learning and

teaching considers that the primary goal of language learning is to build up communicativecompetence, and to be able to use the language appropriately in a given social context

In every CLT activity, communicative intent is always emphasized In acommunicative class, students use the language a great deal through communicativeactivities, (e.g., games, role-plays, group work, etc) According to Johnson and Morrow(198l), activities that are genuinely communicative have three features: information gap,choice, and feedback An information gap takes place when one partner in an exchangeknows something that the other partner does not In an actual communication, the speakerhas the choice of what to say and how to say it In a drill exercise, students do not havechoice and feedback does not happen through forming questions In a transformation drillthere is no immediate, interactional feedback, so the speaker cannot evaluate if his or hercommunicative purpose has been achieved Language games such as card games,scrambled sentences, problem-solving tasks such as picture strip story, and role- playactivities that match the principles of the communicative approach are integrated in a CLTclassroom (Larsen-Freeman, 1986)

Richard and Rodgers (2001) state that, "the Communicative Approach in language

teaching starts from a theory of language as communication" (p 159) Communicative

Language Teaching thus encourages learners to communicate in a meaningful way usingthe target language from the very initial stage While using the language, accuracy isimportant but communication precedes it So, it is advocated in CLT that if messages are

understood, accuracy may be achieved later Richards and Rodgers also illustrate that "the

emphasis in Communicative Language Teaching on the processes of communication,rather than mastery of language forms, leads to different roles for learners from thosefound in more traditional second language classrooms" (p 166) Learners are considered as

active participants in the language learning process As a result, CLT also alters the role of

the teacher According to Breen and Candlin (1980), "the teacher has two main roles: the

first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in theclassroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts The secondrole is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group" (p 99).

Therefore, due to the different roles of the teachers, when teachers consider implementingCLT, it is important to consider the different teaching environments

CLT emphasizes on learners-centered teaching According to Savignon (1991),

"Communicative Language Teaching has become a term for methods and curricula thatembrace both the goals and the processes of classroom learning, for teaching practice that

views competence in terms of social interaction" (p 263) CLT provides learners with theopportunity to experience language through communicative activities Li (1998) stated thatCLT theory recognizes that individual learners possess unique interest, styles, and goalsthat need to be reflected in the design of instructional methods Li (1998) also added thatCLT requires teachers to develop materials based on the needs of a particular class and

"students must be made to feel secure, unthreatened, and nondefensive" (p 679) in a CLTclassroom

CLT also introduced the use of authentic materials in the class Using authenticmaterials provides students opportunities to experience language actually used by nativespeakers and allows them to develop strategies for interpreting language as it is actuallyused by native speakers (Littlewood, 1981) Canale and Swain (1980) also state that, CLTallows learners to respond to genuine communicative needs in realistic second languagesituations in order for them to develop strategies to understand language as used by nativespeakers in reality.

Finally, Brown (2001) offered six characteristics as a description of CLT:

 Classroom goals are focused on all of the components (grammatical, discourse,functional, sociolinguistic, and strategic) of communicative competence Goalstherefore must intertwine the organizational aspects of language with thepragmatic.

 Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic,functional use of language for meaningful purposes Organizational languageforms are not the central focus, but rather aspects of language that enable learnerto accomplish those purposes.

 Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlyingcommunicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on moreimportance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged inlanguage use

 Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use language, productivelyand receptively, in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom Classroom tasksmust therefore equip students with the skills necessary for communication inthose contexts.

 Students are given opportunities to focus on their own learning process throughan understanding of their own styles of learning and through the development ofappropriate strategies for autonomous learning.

 The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide, not an all-knowingbestower of knowledge Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaningthrough genuine linguistic interaction with others (p 43).

There has been overwhelming agreement that the goal of CLT is to developcommunicative competence The authors concur that CLT has its primary objective to helpstudents develop communicative competence in the target language One may enquire,“what is communicative competence?” The following section will review some commonconcepts dealing with the issue of communicative competence

1.1.2 Communicative Competence

Canale and Swain (1980) referred communicative competence as the interactionbetween grammatical competence, or the knowledge of the rules of grammar, andsociolinguistic competence, or knowledge of the rules of use They identified grammatical,sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence as part of communicative competence.

According to Canale (1983), grammatical competence "focuses directly on the knowledge

and skill required to understand and express accurately the literal meaning of utterances"

(p 7) Sociolinguistic competence represents the learner's ability to use the languageproperly in different social contexts Sociolinguistic competence thus demonstrates thelearners' ability to go beyond the literal meaning of utterances and recognize what is the

intent of such utterances in particular social situations Canale adds “sociolinguistic

competence is crucial in interpreting utterances for their social meaning” (p 8) Discourse

competence relates to the learner's ability to combine grammatical forms and meaning inan appropriate order for diverse needs Discourse competence highlights that learners mustalso be aware of the discourse patterns of the language they are learning Strategiccompetence relates to the learner's ability to master verbal and non-verbal communication

strategies Canale explains that such strategies may be needed for two main reasons: "to

compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting conditions in actualcommunication or to insufficient competence in one or more of the other areas ofcommunicative competence, and to enhance the effectiveness of communication" (p 10).

Strategic competence helps the learner keep on the flow of conversation At the beginning

stage learners may find that strategic competence can help them communicate even withtheir limited vocabulary

Savignon has investigated and written extensively on communicative competence.Savignon (1983, 1997) advocated that a classroom model of communicative competenceincludes Canale & Swain's (1980) four components of competence Savignon (1997) has

defined Communicative Competence as "functional language proficiency; the expression,

interpretation, and negotiation of meaning involving interaction between two or morepersons belonging to the same (or different) speech community"(p.272) Savignon (1997)

characterizes communicative competence as having the following elements:

 Communicative competence is a dynamic rather than a static concept It depends onthe negotiation of meaning between two or more people who share to some degreethe same symbolic system…

 Communicative competence applies to both written and spoken language, as wellas to many other symbolic systems.

 Communicative competence is context specific Communication takes place in aninfinite variety of situations, and success in a particular role depends on one'sunderstanding of the context and on prior experience of a similar kind…

 There is a theoretical difference between competence and performance.

 Competence is defined as a presumed underlying ability and performance as theovert manifestation of that ability Competence is what one knows Performance iswhat one does.

 Communicative competence is relative, not absolute, and depends on thecooperation of all the participants (p 14-15)

1.1.3 Principles of CA

Johnson and Morrow (1981) propose a set of five principles of communicativemethodology as criteria to be taken into consideration in developing teaching procedures Let me elaborate on them in detail.

Principle One: Know what you are doing.

In real life people talk to each other because they really want to talk, otherwise theywould be quiet But people do not talk just for the sake of talking, they have something tocommunicate When someone says, “Nice day, isn’t it” to a stranger at a bus stop, he maymean to be friendly to the person and signify that he is ready to talk or he may really wantto express appreciation of the weather which has been nasty for several days.

Therefore need and purpose constitute the nature of communication Thus, “whenorganizing communicative activities we will try to ensure that these activities share thecharacteristics of communication” (Harmer 1986:43).

In class, what is taught should be closely related to what the learner is most likely toperform in real life communication He may be asked to take the role of himself in varioussituations such as: asking the way in a strange city, requiring a refund for the poor qualityof a jumper in a shop, or try to solve problems which are most likely to occur in life, such

as: a thief breaks into a neighbor’s house, you see it, what will you do? or You are invited

to a close friend’s wedding party on the day before your important exam, what are yougoing to do about it?

Those activities give students a chance to use language and to learn more about thelanguage through using it Johnson and Morrow (1981:61) suggest:

“Every lesson should end with the learner’s being able to see clearly that he can do something whichhe could not do at the beginning, and the “something” is communicatively useful.”

Principle Two: The whole is more than the sum of the parts.

In discussing “whole task practice” Littlewood (1981:17) cities an example oflearning to swim which “involves not only separate practices of individual movement-partskills, but also actual attempts to swim short distances-whole task practice.” Similarly, inlanguage teaching, communicative activities should provide students with practice in totalskills rather than only in part-skills If they are only involved in drill or repetition, theirobjective will be the accuracy of utterance rather than its content in a meaningful context.For example they could be able to manipulate the past tense forms of verb but could nottell other people what they did last weekend properly So “the classroom teacher needs toinstitute a progression from artificial exercises to real language use, from discretelinguistics objectives to communicative objectives” (Schutz and Bartz in Savignon 1983).

Students should have the opportunity to deal with a variety of language rather thanjust a number of grammatical structures, since there is no corresponding one-to-one

equivalence between language forms and communicative functions For example theaffirmative sentence: “He is a good student” could be a statement conveying the speaker’sproposition, but it could also be a question expressing doubt.

Thus, “a crucial feature of a communicative method will be that it relates withstretches of language above the sentence level, and operates with real language in realsituations” (Johnson and Morrow 1981:61).

Principle Three: The processes are as important as the forms

Whether an activity is viewed as communicative or mechanical depends on theprocesses required from the student while doing it Fulfilling a communicative exerciseinvolves the student in filling the information gap between the speaker and the hearer;making a choice from his repertoire of language of what to say and how to say it; andevaluating feedback from what he has done.

Information gap in a communicative activity means that one student must be in aposition to tell another something that the second student does not know.

The following exchange would not have an information gap, since both the teacherand the student know clearly that the table is in the classroom.

Teacher: Where is the table?

Student: The table is in the classroom.

But if the teacher comes into the classroom and cannot see the table and asks:Teacher: Where is the table?

Student: Someone has taken it away.

That is genuine communication incorporating an information gap.

“The concept of information gap seems to be one of the most fundamental in the whole area ofcommunicative teaching Any exercise or procedure which claims to engage the students in communicationshould be considered in the light of it And one of the main jobs for the teacher can be seen as setting upsituations where information gaps exist and motivating the students to bridge them in appropriate ways”(Johnson and Morrow 1981:62)

Communicative activities also require the student to decide for himself what ideas hewants to express and how to express them appropriately in a certain situation under thepressure of time during the conversation Exercises such as drills, repetition, substitution orguided exercises in which students are controlled in the use of language do not practisethis aspect of communication.

Another process involved in communication is feedback which tells the studentwhether his utterance has been understood as he intended or not, and what criteria arenecessary during a particular procedure For example, if the student says, “Did you wentshopping yesterday?” he may get the feedback “Did you go shopping yesterday” or “Yes, Idid” The first one focuses the student’s attention on language form and the second onmeaning The nature of activities dictates the teacher’s selection of appropriate kinds offeedback Littlewood (1981:91) says:

“It is, therefore, important for the teacher to monitor the kind of feedback that his learners receive,from himself or from others, so that it supports the methodological purpose of the activity.”

Therefore all the above processes are essential in any procedure for teaching thecommunicative use of language.

Principle Four: To learn it, do it.

There is a French proverb saying that one learners to be a blacksmith by being ablacksmith.

In language learning, the connotation is obvious The teacher may try to providestudents with a lot of language items which will then be stored in their brain If there is nodemand for using language, those items will be the end in themselves If students arerequired to procedure and use language, they will select items of language appropriate tothe purpose of communication By doing so, their knowledge of the language is developedaccordingly.

Thus, when there is a need to communicate and there is experience ofcommunication, communicative skills are developed and consequently, language skills arealso acquired In other words, the practice of communication encourages the ability tocommunicate.

Principle Five: Mistakes are not always a mistake.

The traditional method concentrates on formal accuracy, whereas the communicativeapproach focuses on success in communication The traditional method avoids mistakes bytightly controlling student’s language but the communicative approach encouragescommunication even at the expense of making mistakes.

Trying to express something they are not sure of, students may take mistakes But“errors are regarded as a completely normal phenomenon in the development ofcommunicative skills” (Littlewood 1981:94).

If students are corrected constantly, they may lose interest and will “find itfrustrating if the teacher’s reaction to their ability to communicate ideas is focused solelyon their ability to get the grammar right” (Harmer 1986:37).

This does not mean that accuracy is unimportant in the communicative approach, but“it requires the flexibility to treat different things as “mistakes” at different stages in thelearning process” (Johnson and Morrow 1981:65) For example, at practice stage thewrong use of tense could be considered a mistake but at the communication stage themistake could be an inappropriate use of styles Finochiaro and Brumfit (1983:93) say thatin communicative language teaching, “language is created by the individual often throughtrial and error”.

In fact, the communicative approach does stress the importance of the both the formsand the uses of language But it does not specify under what circumstances it may be moreappropriate to teach the forms through the uses, or to attach the uses to the forms, or tointegrate them for communicative purposes Perhaps it is the teacher’s responsibility tojudge and decide which priority is relevant in his own condition.

1.2 Applying CLT Approach in teaching oral skills

1.2.1 Characteristics of oral communication

Communication is the exchange of ideas, information between two or more persons.When communication takes place, speakers feel the need to speak, want something tohappen such as expressing pleasure, charming listeners, etc and select the language theythink is appropriate for their purpose In order for communication to be successful, thereshould be a desire for the communication to be effective both from the point of view ofspeakers and listeners In most of the processes of communication, the roles of speakersand listeners are interchanged, information gaps between them are created, and then closedwith the effort from both sides In classroom practices, information gaps should be createdas much as possible and teachers’ vital duty is to encourage real communication whichyields information gaps But teachers must take into account the reality of oralcommunication practice inside the classroom which differs from that of communication inthe real world (or outside the classroom) Pattison (1987) points out the characteristics ofclassroom oral communication practice as follows:

 The content or topic is highly predictable and decided by teachers, textbooks, tapes,etc The meaning of what they say may not always be clear to the speakers

 Learners speak in order to practise speaking, to follow teachers’ instructions ordemands and to get good marks.

 The extrinsic motivation is satisfied as the foreign language is practised, as teachersaccept or correct what is said, as teachers give marks to learners.

 Participants are often a large group in which not everyone is facing the speakers orinterested in what they say except for the teacher

 Language from teachers or tapes is closely adapted to learners’ level All speech isas accurate as possible and usually in complete sentences Learners are oftencorrected if they their speech deviates from standard forms Problems incommunicating meaning are often solved by translation.

The characteristics of classroom oral communication practice as shown by Pattisonreveal a lot of deficiencies learners learning to speak do face in the reality of theclassroom However, this does not mean that enhancing learners communication skills inthe classroom is impossible Teachers must ensure life-like communication to beemphasized and encouraged inside the classroom to develop learners’ speaking skills.

The characteristics of communication and classroom communication as mentionedabove produce some insight into classroom speaking activities In the next section, barriersto adopting CLT in teaching English are discussed.

1.2.2 Barriers to adopting CA

Ellis (1996) questioned the universal relevance of communicative approach tolanguage teaching in view of the cultural conflicts of different educational theories arisingfrom the introduction of a predominantly Western language teaching approach in FarEastern countries He argued that the Western idea that "communicative competence sharesthe same priority in every society"(p.216), may not be true and he asserted that to makecommunicative approach suitable for Asian situation "it needs to be both culturally attunedand culturally accepted" (p.213) EFL teachers working in Asia will have "cultural biases"about the soundness of their educational practices and he suggests that "mediating" canserve as a useful tool in the adoption process and the Western teachers can play the role as"cultural mediators" Ellis concluded that, integration between Western and Easternteaching is needed to make language teaching successful in EFL countries.

Li, D (1998) conducted a study with 18 South Korean secondary English school EFLteachers studying at a Canadian university to identify their perceived difficulties inadopting CLT All participants answered a written questionnaire and 10 were alsointerviewed The results of the study showed that the teachers reported that theyencountered difficulties in trying CLT approach in their classes The difficulties reportedby the Korean teachers fell into four categories: "those caused by i) the teacher, ii) by thestudents, iii) by the educational system, and iv) by CLT itself' (Li, 1998) The fourcategories where later subdivided into other subcategories:

1 Difficulties caused by teachers:

a) Deficiency in spoken English; b) Deficiency in strategic and sociolinguisticcompetence; c) Lack of training in CLT; d) Few opportunities for retraining in CLT;e) Misconceptions about CLT; f) Little time for and expertise in materialdevelopment.

2 Difficulties caused by students:

a) Low English proficiency; b) Little motivation for communicative competence;c) Resistance to class participation

3 Difficulties caused by the educational system:

a) Large classes; b) Grammar-based examinations; c) Insufficient funding; d) Lack ofsupport.

4 Difficulties caused by CLT itself:

a) CLT’s inadequate account of EFL teaching; b) Lack of effective and efficientassessment instruments

Among these, difficulties caused by the teachers and by the educational system werementioned most often This suggested that, the difficulties in adopting CLT have theirsource in difference between the underlying educational theories of South Korea and thoseof Western countries The Korean system could not change the large classes, grammarbased examinations and they had insufficient funding for equipment and facilities Theteachers also reported that they found a lack of support from the administration and theydid not have much training to practice CLT in their classes Most of the teachers madecomments on the fact that CLT was taught as knowledge and theory, and they had nopractical experience in the methodology or its applications Other sources of difficultyreported were misconceptions and misinterpretations of CLT by the teachers The teachersbelieved CLT required them to be fluent in English They generally felt that they had highproficiency in English grammar, reading, and writing, but they had inadequate abilities inEnglish speaking and listening to conduct the communicative class The teachers hadanother misconception about CLT that it neglected accuracy They believed that byconcentrating on appropriateness and fluency CLT does not teach form at all and thusneglects accuracy The teachers also believed that CLT requires more time than traditionalmethod for material development Li stated that "fourteen teachers reported that lack oftime for and expertise in developing communicative materials had been constraints forthem [to use CLT]" (p 689) Also, according to Li, "all 18 respondents referred to largeclasses as one of the principal constraints on their attempts to use CLT" (p 691) Inaddition, one teacher explained that class size makes it almost impossible to use CLTbecause of problems with class management, noise, giving individualized attention tostudents, keeping students on task, and lack of space for teachers and students to movearound or get into groups Li (1998) argued that these numerous problems discourageteachers from trying CLT Li also explained that many changes must take place before

teachers are prepared to use CLT in EFL environments and concluded that "A conflict

apparently exists between what CLT demands and what the EFL situation in many

countries, such as South Korea, allows This conflict must be resolved before EFLteaching in these countries can benefit from CLT" (p 696) Some of the conflicts that need

attention, according to Li, are related to educational values and attitudes, reading, oralskills, grammar, students' attitudes, teachers' attitudes, pre-service teacher education, andlocal educational growth Overall, in Li's (1998) study teachers identified more problemsthan benefits of CLT use in South Korea, thus indicating difficulties with CLT adaptationin, at least, one EFL environment

Gorsuch (2000) investigated Japanese teachers' approval of communicative activities.Eight hundred and eighty four Japanese senior high school EFL teachers participated in thestudy and they answered an extensive questionnaire through a 5-point Likert scale Thequestionnaire was the main source of data for the study, which involved a series ofquestions on teaching activities Based on the data of the study, Gorsuch concluded thatteachers were largely influenced by the requirements of the university entrance exam.Since the university entrance exam is the most important and competitive exam in theacademic career of students, both the institution and the students put pressure on teachersto let them study materials covered in this exam Therefore, as the exam is concentrated ongrammar knowledge, a communicative competence development doesn't meet the needs ofstudents Gorsuch also found that most teachers favoured a more traditional way ofteaching, and resisted change to the new teaching environment required by CLT activities.Another aspect reported in this study deals with the use of language Teachers did not usethe target language in the classroom, and believed students were not ready to use andproduce it Apart from this, teachers believed that since communicative activities requirethe use of the target language, without explicit directions from teachers, it wasinappropriate for English teaching in high schools.

Penner (1995) reported how Chinese language classroom culture "restricts pedagogicalchange advocated by foreign agents" (p 1) From her experience she found that it might bevery difficult to change the classical traditional approach of language teaching andimplement modern approach (in this case CLT) in China She felt that "because of thediscrepancies in educational theory, roles, expectations, methods, material use, andstructural concerns, a new Chinese way needs to be developed (p 12) Penner alsoobserved teachers' beliefs and found that teachers believed that their English languageknowledge was limited Some teachers expressed that they felt uprooted and guilty because

they were not doing their duty Teachers also reported to her that foreign experts did not

respect their experience and insight Penner concluded that "the most important element in

this pedagogical change debate is that all the participants clarify their own culturallearning and teaching assumptions, as understanding other culture can really only occurwhen people understand their own"(p.14) Culture difference in school/educational

expectations thus is found to be one of the main barriers in implementing CLT in EFLcountries.

In another study, Lewis and McCook (2002) examined the lack of uptake ofcommunicative language teaching principles amongst teachers in Asia In the study theyobserved journal entries from 12 Vietnamese high school English teachers written duringongoing in-service workshops The journals revealed their attempt to implement CLT intheir classes They did implement new ideas but they were also incorporating thetraditional features valued in their educational system This suggests that, though theteachers were willing to adopt CLT, they could not avoid local educational theories totally.They tried to follow what they were introduced to during the in-service course "sometimessuccessfully, sometimes less so" (p 152) But their concept of CLT was not clear Theyretained traditional aspects of language teaching The findings of the study demarcate thatthe teachers were following both the traditional and CLT approach in their practice.

While addressing the issues regarding the Indonesian ministry of education's Englishinstruction reform initiative, Mustafa (2001) identified the real situation of communicativeapproach to teaching English in Indonesia He argued that the communicative approach inIndonesia had failed to help students become more competent in the use of English forreal-life purposes According to him, Indonesia lacks certain conditions that are required toenable language learners to become communicatively-competent participants in socialinteraction in the English language; in particular, English language learners in Indonesia donot have much exposure to English language use in real-life situations Mustafa added thatthe enabling condition for successful CLT application is not always easy to create inIndonesian schools He identified the teachers' lack of confidence in using the languagebefore their class, that is the lack of English language proficiency; time constraint, whichlimit students' social communication in the classroom; large classroom; crowdedcurriculum; type and focus of exams (form-focused nationally-administered test); absenceof good, authentic learning materials; teachers' tendency to rely on non-communicatively-

engaging learning tasks (much emphasis on teaching grammar and syntax); absence ofvisible social use of the language outside classroom as reasons that inhibit the adoption ofCLT Most importantly, as emphasized by Mustafa, communication based instructionalmaterials had lost their pedagogical value due to the fact that the English language is notused in the day-to-day social communication in the EFL environment.

Most significant barriers or difficulties in implementing CLT, reported by EFLteachers and/or researchers in the reviewed literature, are: (a) lack of administrativesupport, (b) lack of resources, (c) lack of sufficient English language knowledge, (d) widercurriculum, (e) large class size, (f) discrepancy/inconsistency between CLT syllabus andnationally administered exams, (g) teachers' holding on to traditional methods, and (h) lackof authentic learning materials.

Another difficulty reported by Mustafa (2001), which is noteworthy, is the absenceof visible social uses of the target language outside classroom, due to which, according tohim, communication based instructional materials had lost their pedagogical value inIndonesia.

1.2.3 Teacher Misconceptions about CLT

While exploring the literature concerning the suitability of CLT in EFL contexts, italso becomes evident that one of the major barriers in implementation and success of CLTsuch as misconceptions and misinterpretations of CLT are related to cultural values andpractices of EFL countries Teachers' beliefs and knowledge cause misinterpretations ofCLT The study findings of Li (1998), Penner (1995), and Lewis and McCook (2002) showthat although different educational values and practices are the main reasons for difficultiesin implementing CLT in the respective contexts, misconceptions and misinterpretation ofCLT among teachers are also playing role as barriers.

Apart from the differences of ESL and EFL contexts, and that of culture, EFLteachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practices also generate difficulties in implementing CLT inrespective EFL countries EFL teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practices are related tocultural values and practices of the respective countries Several researchers (Burnaby &

Sun, 1989; Karavas-Doukas, 1996; Sato and Kleinsasser,1999; Thompson, 1996) studiedteachers' beliefs and attitudes towards CLT and found misconceptions andmisinterpretation of CLT among them.

Thompson (1996) sets out four of the main misconceptions Talking to "a largenumber of teachers" (p 10) he found that they criticize or reject CLT for the wrongreasons The four main misconceptions he mentioned are:

CLT means not teaching grammarCLT means teaching only speaking

CLT means pair work, which means role-playCLT means expecting too much from the teacher.

Thompson gave importance to attempting to clear away the misconceptions to saveCLT and also to implement CLT properly Some of the misconceptions set out byThompson (1996) were also found by Sato and Kleinsasser (1999) when they conducted astudy to document the views and practices of CLT by Japanese as a second language (JFL)in-service teachers in Australia They found that the teachers persisted in traditionalpractices in their classes The teachers believed that CLT relied heavily on speaking andlistening skills, CLT involved little grammar teaching and used time consuming activities.The teachers held misconceptions about CLT and there were discrepancies between theirbeliefs and practices So, in this Australian JFL context, teachers' misconceptions andbeliefs about CLT are acting as main barriers for implementation of CLT In another study,Burnaby and Sun (1989) reported the views of 24 Chinese teachers of English on theappropriateness and effectiveness of "Western" language teaching methods for use inChinese situation By western language teaching, Burnaby and Sun mean teaching whoseobjective is the development of communicative competence among students Data werecollected from a Canadian Chinese cooperative program in English and French languagetraining and cultural orientation in Canada, and "an informal study done by Sun on theviews on western teaching methods of Chinese teachers at the tertiary level" (Burnaby &

Sun, 1989, p 224) The study showed that the teachers believed that the communicativeapproach was mainly applicable in China only for those students who planned to go to anEnglish speaking country, but not good for other students, mainly ones that are Englishmajors This finding demonstrates that Chinese teachers had misconception about CLTapproach Again, inconsistency between teachers' attitudes and classroom practices wasalso found in Karavas-Doukas's (1996) study He observed 14 Greek English languageteachers' classroom practices and found that although the teachers held favorable attitudestowards CLT, their classroom practices differed significantly from the principles of the

communicative approach Teachers showed tendency to follow an "eclectic approach,exhibiting features of both traditional and communicative approaches in their classroompractices" (p 193) The lessons mainly were teacher-centered and showed explicit focus onform Pair work activities were found to be used in two classrooms but group workactivities were never applied The findings implied that the teachers misinterpreted CLT asalso in Karavas-Doukas' voice, " the teachers misinterpreted the new idea (CLT) andtranslated them to conform to their existing classroom routines believing that they aredoing what the new approach calls form(p 194) He declared that the reason behind thediscrepancy is that, teachers' existing attitudes and beliefs were mostly neglected beforeintroducing the new approach.

1.3 Summary

Information from the studies reviewed in this chapter gives us a real picture of theCLT theory in some EFL countries and provides evidence that it is difficult to implementCLT in EFL countries The difficulties have their roots in different cultural and educationaltheories and practices and some major barriers for implementation of CLT in EFLcountries are teachers' misconceptions and misinterpretations of CLT, which are related toteachers' beliefs and attitudes Therefore, while implementing CLT in EFL countries inAsia, the countries need to take into account that this implementation is basically anintegration of Western pedagogy into Eastern practices and they have to persist theimplementation process gradually and also by considering their own socio-cultural andeducational contexts.

Chapter 2: The study

Although CLT is a widely known and practiced approach, little is mentioned in theliterature about the ways of successful application of this approach in different educationalenvironments In view of the requirements that CLT places on learners as well as teachers,there is much to be asked about the ability to adapt this approach to EFL settings Hence,the present study attempts to investigate English language teachers and students'perceptions of CLT in EFL setting and discusses teachers’ difficulties in using CLT in theteaching of English at HaUI as well as some of their solutions to these constraints.

In order to achieve the mentioned aims, two survey questionnaires were conducted tocollect data for the study

2.1 Practical Situation of Teaching and Learning English Speaking Skills at HaUI

2.1.1 Description of the English Course and its Objectives at HaUI

Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) has been known as one of the leadingproviders of skill-based diploma degrees in Vietnam Any students who passed theentrance examination to HaUI must study English as a compulsory subject Students learnthis subject in five terms at university However, before students are asked to learn thisforeign language they can take part in the replacement test which divides students intothree different levels: A class (Beginner level of proficiency), B class (Elementary level ofproficiency) and C class (Pre-Intermediate level of proficiency) Each level lasts 120periods (45 minutes per period) equivalent to one semester and students learn 8 periods aweek Hence, depending on the results of the test students will be arranged in anappropriate class basing on their English competence

The English course at HaUI is divided into two stages: The first stage – the stagefor General English lasting in five terms This early stage aims at providing students withgeneral knowledge of vocabulary, phonology, English grammar as well as developingstudents’ integrated four language skills with the focus on speaking skills At this very firststage, the textbooks “New Headway” (Beginner, Elementary and Pre-Intermediate)published by Oxford University Press are used in the first three terms Each of thesetextbooks consists of 14 units with a variety of topics such as getting to know you, the waywe live, let’s go shopping, what do you want to do, going places, etc However, in thefourth term students learn the textbooks “International Express” published in 2004 byOxford University Press at three levels (Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate).