Fostering verbal interaction in the efl classroom

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ~ro~ro t1:lO.01 \/ /1 A ,J) - 7 1):? FOSTERltiG VERBAL ItiTERACTIOti lti THE EFL CLASSROOM A thesis submitted in partial fulillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) Submitted by NGUYEN TH! LAN HUONG Supervisor NGUYEN HUYNH E>~T, ED M Ho Chi Minh City - 2005 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled FOSTERUtG VERBAL I"TERACTIO" I" THE EFL CLASSROOM is my own work , and that it has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution Ho Chi Minh City, October 30, 2005 Nguyen Thi Lan Hirong, I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, lowe an enormous debt of gratitude to Mr Nguyen Huynh Dat, Ed.M., my thesis supervisor, whose vigorous and consistent manners inspired me with the strength and determination to accomplish this work Burdened as he was with duties and responsibilities at the English Department, he was still tolerant of my unexpected calls and careful about the proofreading of my papers Without his invaluable criticisms and constant guidance, I could not have finished this thesis I am grateful to all my teachers for their devotion and helpful instruction during the course I would especially like to thank Professor Dennis F Berg, my instructor of Technolog y and Teaching, for his insightful comments on my use of SPSS for data analysis My sincere thanks are also due to Ms Nguy en Thi Doan Thir, Ms r.e Thi Thanh True, Ms VO Thi Phuong Oanh, Ms CMu Cue Phuong, Mr Trdn Minh Canh, Mr Tra Van Trung, Mr Huynh Cong Khanh, Mr Le Cong Thien, Ms Tran Thi Dung, Mr Nguyen Nhu Tung, Ms Huynh Thi Bich Phuong, Mr Le Vuong Nguyen, and Mr Pharn Xuan Thao, who helped with the data collection and who suggested viable solutions to the investigated problem; to all the students who participated in the study for their willing and productive cooperation; and to all my friends and colleagues for their sharing and supportive companionship Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family for their unwavering love, understanding, and encouragement II ABSTRACT This thesis investigated verbal interaction in the EFL context of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology The survey respondents include 104 freshmen and 13 teachers of General English at Linh Trung branch Results indicate disparity between belief and practice Students' receptivity to the spoken language was impeded by perceived low English proficiency, obstructive difficulties, and by an assessment system based on discrete-point tests Teachers, likewise, being driven by pressure of curriculum coverage and written evidence of students' achievement in examination, failed to activate the use of English for communicative purposes in the classroom The study also suggests a number of recommendations so that instructors and learners can become fully committed to teaching and learning the communication skills The study is an effort to fulfill the practicability of language teaching and learning III TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I Certificate of originality II Acknowledgement Abstract III Table of contents IV List of tables VIII List of figures IX Abbreviations X CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE PROBLEM 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.4 METHODOLOGy 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.5.1 Theoretical Significance 1.5.2 Practical Significance 1.6 LIMITATION 1.7 DELIMITATION 1.8 DEFINITION OF VARIABLES 1.9 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS CHAPTER BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 2.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH COURSE FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGy 2.1 1The course 2.1.2The textbook 2.1.3The students and examinations IV 2.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENGLISH SYLL ABUS AT TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, HO CHI MINH CITy 11 2.3 SUMMARY CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 12 3.1 INTERACTION AND ACQUISITION 12 3.2 STATUS OF ORACY 17 3.2.1 The influence of syllabus and exa mination 18 3.2.2 Teacher and student ex pectations 20 3.3 MOTIVATION 22 3.4 DIFFICULTIES 24 3.4 Anxie ty 25 3.4.2 The ' Engagement' Prob lem 28 3.4.3 The Influence Of Cultur e 29 3.4.4 Problems With Discussions 30 3.5 PAIR AND GROUP WORK 32 3.5.1 Lockstep 32 3.5.2 Pair Work 32 3.5.3 Group Work 33 3.6 TEACHER TALK 34 3.7 SUMMARy 36 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 37 4.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 37 4.2 RESE ARCH DESIGN 38 4.2 Subjects 39 4.2.1.1 Students 39 4.2 1.2 Teachers 41 4.2.2 Instruments 41 V 4.2.3 Data Collection Proc edure s 44 4.3 SUMMARy CHAPTER 44 DATA ANALySIS 45 5.1 THE STATUS OF ORACY IN THE EFL CLASS 5.2 MOTIVATION 48 5.3 DIFFICULTIES HINDERING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SPOKEN ACTIVITIES 51 5.4 PREFERRED LEARNING/ TEACHING MODES 54 5.5 TEACHER TALK - DEGREE OF EXPOSURE 58 5.5 Exten t Of Exp osure Given To Learn er 58 5.5 Correlation Of Teacher Talk And Student' s Use Of Target Language 5.6 ASSESSMENT 60 OF LEARNER'S SPE AKING ABILITY AND POSSIBILITY OF IMPROVEMENT 65 5.7 FINDINGS 66 5.8 SUMMARy 68 CHAPTER IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6.1 IMPLICATIONS : 6.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 69 69 72 6.2.1 Te aching And Le arn ing 72 6.2.1.1 Dialogues And Pair Work 72 6.2.1.2 Group Work And Freer Activities 74 6.2.1.3 Extra-Curriculum Activities 78 6.2.2 Te sting 79 6.3 SUMMARY 82 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 83 VI 85 BffiLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX lA Student Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) i APPENDIX IB Student Questionnaire (in English translation) v APPENDIX 2A Teacher Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) ix APPENDIX 2B Teacher Questionnaire (in English translation) xii APPENDIX Student's favor of speaking xv APPENDIX Student's extra ideas on the reasons why they like to speak English (in Vietnamese and in English translation) xv APPENDIX SA Student's reasons to dislike speaking xvi APPENDIX5B Teacher's justification on student's disfavor of speaking xvi APPENDIX Student's reactions to a vocabula ry problem in oral performance XVII APPENDIX Teacher's familiar mode of organizing cla ss activities xvii APPENDIX Frequency of teacher and student's use of English under student's viewpoint APPENDIX9A Teacher's suggestions xviii for improving speaking Vietnamese) APPENDIX9B (in xix Teacher's suggestions for improving speaking (in English ) trans I ation XXII APPENDIX 10 Funny stories for pair work training xxv APPENDIX 11 A reading text for pair and group work training xxvi APPENDIX 12 A crossword for pair work training xxvii APPENDIX 13 A group work activity APPENDIX 14A A communication crossword (Student A) xxix APPENDIX 14B A communication crossword (Student B) xxx APPENDIX 15 A game for group work xxxi APPENDIX 16 Picture differences xxxii APPENDIX 17 Picture-sequence VII xxviii xxxiii LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Summary of student sample characteristics Personal characteristics of the teacher sample 39 41 CHAPTER Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Tabl e 5.4 Table 5.5 Table 5.6 Table 5.7 Table 5.8 Table 5.9 Table 5.10 Table 5.11 Table 5.12 Ratings of skills by importance "Do you give time for students to practice speaking in class? " Types of spe aking activities used in class Student's e njoy me nt of spea king Performance anxiety Teacher's focus and student' s weakness Favorite speaking partners Student's preferred mode of talking Student's justification on their not always speaking English Evaluation of student's speaking proficiency Student's opinions about improving speaking ability Teacher's opinions about improvement VIII 46 48 48 48 51 53 54 57 58 65 66 66 APPENDIX 9A: TEACHERS' SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING SPEAKING (IN VIETNAMESE) Teacher Cho giao vien huang dftn c6 quyen cho di~m n6i tro ng lop, xem nhu di~m re n luyen d~ c6 th~ co ng them vao cuoi ky (kh uyen khic h), Neu c6 th~, t6 chiic ky thi n6i (kho ng bAt buoc), Teacher Luy en each phat a m cho sinh vie n Khuyen khich sinh vien n6i nhieu hon VI da so sinh vie n kh ong diroc nr tin T6 chirc ca u lac bQ tieng Anh sinh vie n tu t6 chtrc, giao vie n chi III ngiroi lam co van chuong trlnh, Tap cho sinh vien chia theo nh6m, phan cong nhiern VI;1, d~ thuyet trlnh thea d~ ta i ( ngiroi se la speaker, nhirng vien co n lai phai chuan bi ca u tra Wi tu ca u hoi cua cac nh6m khac) , Teacher Cac doi thoai ngan c6 huang d~n va du