An application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non english majors at nghe an economics and technology college

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY Ngun thÞ lan h¬ng An application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non-English majors at Nghe An Economics and Technology College Áp dụng nguyên lý dạy ngôn ngữ giao tiếp việc dạy nói cho sinh viên khơng chun tiếng Ạnh trường Cao đẳng kinh tế kỹ thuật Nghệ an Master thesis in Education Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Trần Bá Tiến Vinh, 2011 i Acknowledgement First of all, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Ba Tien, for his valuable guidance, helpful suggestions, invaluable critical feedback and encouragement in the writing of this research Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the English Department of Nghe An Economics and Technology College, for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study.I am greatly indebted to my students from class K6-10 and class K6-11 and my colleagues for their participation and assistance without which this thesis could not have been successful Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving parents, my husband, my sons and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study ii Statement of authorship I certify my authorship of the study report entitled An application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non-English majors at Nghe An Economics and Technology College is the result of my own research for the degree of Master of Art at Vinh University, and this thesis total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Nguyễn thị lan hơng 2011 Supervisors signature Trần Bá Tiến iii Abstract This study is an attempt to investigate the application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non-English majors at Nghe An Economics and Technology College The main purposes of the study are to find out: the current English speaking teaching and learning situation at Nghe An Economics and Technology college; activities and techniques of CLT applied by teachers and students’ preferences; the difficulties in learning and teaching English speaking and then give some suggestions for teachers to stimulate students in speaking and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in teaching speaking English for students iv TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgement ii Statement of authorship iii Abstract iv TABLE OF CONTENT .1 Lists of tables and charts Chapter 1: Introduction .6 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives: 1.3 Research questions: 1.4 Scope of the study: 1.5 Significance of the study: .9 1.6 Organization of the study: 1.7 Definitions of terms: .10 Chapter 2: Literature Review .11 2.1 An overview of language learning 11 2.1.1 Behaviorism 11 2.1.2 Cognitivism 12 2.1.3 Constructivism .12 2.2 Approaches to language teaching .13 2.2.1 Grammar-translation method .14 2.2.2 The direct method 14 2.2.3 The audio-lingual method 15 2.2.4 The communicative teaching method 16 2.3 Communicative language teaching 17 2.3.1 Definition of Communicative Language Teaching 17 2.3.2 Distinguishing Features of CLT 17 2.3.3 Condition of applying CLT 19 2.3.4 Communicative competence 20 2.4 The nature of speaking 23 2.4.1 Definition of speaking 23 2.4.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking 23 2.4.3 Problems with speaking activities and solutions 24 2.5 Teaching Speaking 26 2.5.1 Teaching speaking .26 2.5.2 Motivation in speaking in classroom 26 2.5.2.1 Motivation in the classroom setting 26 2.5.2.2 Factors making students reluctant to speak in classroom 27 2.5.2.3 Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking .27 2.5.3 How to teach speaking 28 2.5.4 The teachers’ role in different stages of teaching speaking 28 2.6 Goals and techniques for teaching speaking .30 2.6.1 Goals of teaching speaking 30 2.6.2 Techniques 31 2.6.3 Strategies for developing speaking skills 32 2.6.4 Applying techniques and activities of CLT 33 2.7 Summary: .38 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 39 3.1 An overview of the research site 39 3.2 Research design: 39 3.3 Research method: 39 3.4 Participants: 40 3.5 Data collection instruments: 40 3.5.1 Survey questionnaires: 40 3.5.1.1 Questionnaires for students: 40 3.5.1.2 Questionnaires for teachers: 41 3.5.2 Class observation: 41 3.6 Data collection procedures: 42 3.7 Summary 42 Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 43 4.1 Results from students’ pre-task questionnaire pre-task questionnaire .43 4.1.1 Students’ motivation and opinions on learning speaking English 43 Table 4.1: Types of motivation .43 4.1.2 Factors making students reluctant to speak English in class 46 Table 4.2: Factors making students reluctant to speak English in class .46 4.1.3 Factors increase students’ motivation in speaking English 47 Table 4.3: Factors encourage students to speak English .48 4.1.4 Activities used by teachers and students’ preference 49 Table 4.4: What teachers to motivate students to take part in speaking activities 49 Table 4.5: Activities applied by the teachers and students’ preference 50 4.2 Results from students’ pre-task questionnaire post-task questionnaire 53 4.2.1 The changes of students’ motivation and attitude in English speaking skill 53 4.2.2 Factors increasing students’ motivation in English speaking skill 56 4.3 Results from teachers’ pre-task questionnaire survey questionnaire .57 4.3.1 Problems teachers often faced in teaching speaking English 57 4.3.2 Teachers’ opinion towards students' motivation in speaking English 58 3 Techniques and activities of CLT applied by teachers .59 4.4 Results from class observation 65 4.5 Summary: .68 Chapter 5: conclusion and implications .69 5.1 Summary of the study 69 5.1 Difficulties teachers have encountered in teaching speaking 69 5.1.2 Factors making students unwilling to speak English in class 71 5.1 Techniques and activities used by teachers .72 5.1 Conclusion 73 5.2 Pedagogical implications .74 5.2.1 Promoting the students internal factors .74 5.2.2 Varying speaking activities 75 5.2.3 Combining the textbook and relevant materials 76 5.2.4 Setting up co-operative atmosphere in class 76 5.2.5 Being enthusiastic, tolerant, helpful, creative and active 76 5.2.6 Aware of and satisfy students’ interest and desires 76 5.2.7 Helping the students to improve their knowledge of grammar and enrich their vocabulary 77 5.2.8 Recognizing the potential value of available facilities of the school and the Internet 77 5.3 Limitations and recommendations for further research 79 Reference 80 Appendix I Survey Questionnaire For teachers I Appendix .IV Pre-task Questionnaire For students .IV Appendix VII Post-task Questionnaire For students VII Appendix X Lesson observation sheet X Appendix 5: XII Classroom observation checklist XII Lists of tables and charts List of tables Table 4.1: Types of motivation……………………………………………………………………… Table 4.2: Factors making students reluctant to speak English in class……………………… Table 4.3: Factors encourage students to speak English……………………………………… Table 4.4: What teachers to motivate students to take part in speaking activities……… Table 4.5: Activities applied by the teachers and students’ preference……………………… Table 4.6: Activities enjoyed most by students………………………………………………… Table 4.7: The changes of students’ motivation……………………………………………… Table 4.8: The changes of the factors making students reluctant to speak………………… Table 4.9: Problems teacher faced in teaching English speaking…………………………… Table 4.10: Teachers’ opinions towards students’ motivation in speaking English……… Table 4.11: Teachers’ opinions in creating good relationship with students……………… Table 4.12: Techniques used by teachers to help students to be more active and interested in speaking lessons……………………………………………………………………………………… Table 4.13: Teachers’ techniques to prevent students from using Vietnamese……………… Table 4.14: The frequency of teachers’ using communicative activities…………………… Table 4.15: The frequency of teachers’ techniques to motivate students…………………… Table 4.16: Result of class observations………………………………………………………… List of charts Chart 4.1: Students’ perceived importance of English………………………………………… Chart 4.2: Students’ interest in learning English………………………………………………… Chart 4.3: Students’ frequency of speaking English in class time……………………………… Chart 4.4: Students’ result after the treatment…………………………………………………… Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Rationale In this globalization era, English has an important role in the world Most countries in the world use English as medium of communication in many aspects of life Meanwhile, in Vietnam, English is considered as a foreign language (EFL) It also has been introduced to educational institutions, which is learnt from Junior High School up to university as a compulsory subject The ability to speak English has always become a very important goal for learners of this language both its natural and foreign setting In transferring of language to students, appropriate techniques are needed in order to give new atmosphere of class interaction To make the students able to communicate in target language, the English teachers should be aware of implementing classroomspeaking process It can be assumed that English teachers are required to be well prepared before performing the lesson through supported activities in order to impress the students’ motivation in achieving the skill on speaking Thus, communicative language teaching will run more effectively and efficiently Since 1986, Vietnam’s economic and political situation has led to radical changes in Vietnamese education and training in general, and in English language teaching (ELT) in particular The national reform policy since the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), December 1986 signposted a significant change in the socio-economic situation of modern Vietnam, orienting this country towards modernization and industrialization with a multi-sector commodity economy (Le & Sloper, 1995) Vietnam opened its doors to the world, beginning a new period of scientific, educational and commercial cooperation with many countries Therefore, to meet the new demands for different competencies and increased quality for Vietnam’s development, higher educational curricula and methods are required to be further reformed in a practical and updated way to produce skilled manpower well-prepared for immediate employment in the future, to boost the training of post-graduates within the country and overseas, to strengthen scientific research, and to facilitate the application of advanced education experience (Pham,1998) During this period, in the field of Vietnamese ELT, more and more teachers are offered chances to upgrade their degrees abroad; more seminars by Western organizations on teaching methods are held for Vietnamese teachers, and more Western teachers are employed in Vietnamese universities In this context, Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) has been introduced and considered by a large number of Vietnamese teachers and educators as the more appropriate approach for Vietnamese tertiary ELT compared to the traditional teacher-centered education The question is whether a Western approach can and should be applied in an Asian context like Vietnam, and whether there are challenges in this application In the context of Nghe An Economics and Technology College, students are taught English as a compulsory subject The students start learning General English at the beginning of the first year and then they will start another course in ESP (English for specific purposes) The short period is mainly aimed at improving reading and translating skills However, in order to communicate well in a foreign language, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them correctly, as well as should know how to use the language appropriately In fact, in speaking lessons, students are usually reluctant to take part in class activities Speaking tasks often take place in silence Some students may be very good at writing or reading English but they fail to speak English fluently and naturally Some students state that they cannot find words to say, and some fear of making mistakes, however a lot of students frankly admit they are not motivated to speak Being a teacher at Nghe An Economics and Technology College for four years, with my own teaching experience and what I have observed from my colleagues’ teaching, I found that we now face with some difficulties in teaching speaking, such as: We have too many students in each class (over 70) There are too many different levels of ability in the class ... signature Trần Bá Tiến iii Abstract This study is an attempt to investigate the application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non- English majors at Nghe An Economics and Technology College. .. Statement of authorship I certify my authorship of the study report entitled An application of CLT principles in teaching speaking to non- English majors at Nghe An Economics and Technology College. .. out to meet the following aims: To investigate the current English speaking teaching and learning situation at Nghe An Economics and Technology college in order to find out the difficulties in