A study on english speaking ability of the first year students at law department, vinh university = nghiên cứu về khả năng nói tiếng anh của sinh viên năm nhất khoa luật, trường đại học vinh

420 VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT ******* VŨ THỊ THƢƠNG A STUDY ON ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT LAW DEPARTMENT, VINH UNIVERSITY ( NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ KHẢ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT KHOA LUẬT, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC VINH ) GRADUATION THESIS FIELD: METHODOLOGY VINH-2015 VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT ********* A STUDY ON ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT LAW DEPARTMENT, VINH UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu khả nói Tiếng Anh sinh viên năm khoa Luật, trường Đại học Vinh ) GRADUATION THESIS Field: Methodology Student Supervisor : Vũ Thị Thƣơng, 52B2 : Bùi Thị Thanh Mai, M.A Vinh, March 2014 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For the completion of the thesis, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor MA Bui Thi Thanh Mai for giving me excellent suggestions, advice and detailed critical comments on this research I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to all my lecturers of the Foreign Language Department, Vinh University They taught me a lot of knowledge and skills which support me to complete this research In addition, particular thanks must go to the authors whose materials have been used in my graduation paper Finally, my warmest thanks also go to my loving parents, my younger sister, and my friends for encouragement I have tried my best to complete this graduation thesis; however, because of the limitation of knowledge, experience as well as materials, my thesis is still far from being perfect Therefore, I would like to receive some comments from you so that my graduation thesis will be better Vinh, March 2015 Vu Thi Thuong ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES v LIST OF PICTURES vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 The rationale for choosing the subject Aims of the study The scope of the study Research questions Methods of the study The design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The concepts of English speaking skill 1.2 Importance of speaking skill 1.3 The component of speaking skill 1.4 Stages of a speaking class 1.5 Principles for teaching English speaking skill 1.6 The criteria of successful speaking activities CHAPTER 2: INVESTIGATION 2.1 Investigation 2.1.1 Goals of the investigation 2.1.2 The subjects of the investigation 2.1.3 Methods for the data collection 2.1.4 Procedures 2.2 The real situation 2.2.1 Survey results: 2.2.2 Analysed results and the reasons for the real situation 14 2.2.2.1 Recommend Target PET - student‟s book 14 2.2.2.2 Problems with speaking activities 17 iii 2.2.2.3 Analysed results and the reasons of the real situation 17 CHAPTER THE SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL 21 3.1 For teachers 21 3.2 For the students 31 3.3 Some important hints used to speak English successfully 33 PART III: CONCLUSION 35 3.1 Conclusion 35 3.2 Suggestions for further studies 35 REFERENCES 36 APPENDIXES 36 iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1: Results of the Survey Questionnaire Figure : Which English skills you spend most of time on studying? Figure 2: How you feel about English speaking skill? Figure 3: What have you been learning English for? Figure 4: How often you speak English in class ? 10 Figure 5: Which level is your ability of speaking English? 10 Figure 6: How much time you spend on practicing speaking English? 11 Figure 7: What you usually to raise your English speaking ability? 11 Figure 8: Do you agree that the environment of english communication affect considerably on your English speaking improvement? 12 Figure 9: How often you study english vocabulary? 12 Figure 10: How many new words you usually study at a time? 13 v LIST OF PICTURES Picture 1: Target PET of Richmond (Student‟s Book) 15 Picture 2: Content of Target PET (Student‟s Book) 16 Picture 3: Discussing activity in English class 23 Picture 4: The teacher uses the cards in teaching English speaking skill 24 Picture 5: The pictures or cards in teaching English speaking skill 25 Picture : Telling the story base on the pictures 25 Picture 7: Describing and guessing games (for thing) 26 Picture 8: Dialogue activity in English class 27 Picture 9: Role play activity in English class 28 Picture 10: An information gap activity 29 Picture 11: Interview activity in information gap game 30 Picture 12: Vinh University English Speaking Zone Club 32 Picture 13: Vinh University English Speaking Zone Club 32 vi PART I: INTRODUCTION The rationale for choosing the subject Nowadays, English plays an important role in our jobs and life, especially, English speaking skill To communicate with other people in the world we often use English speech And speaking skill can also help us to express ideas, see, and feel If we are good at English, it will help us have many opportunities to get a good job with high salary, and easily to get promotion in the career Besides, speaking English well, we can communicate with most of the people in the world, as well as, access a huge amount of information on all the fields of science, culture, society, business, sport, music through books, newspaper, internet, so on However, we can look at the real situation of speaking English of the students Viet Nam in general and the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University in particular Most of the students cannot be able to speak English fluently while they have been studying English for several years Hence, what are the reasons for the real situation? Do they belong to the awareness of students, the teaching method of teachers or other reasons? What are the solutions used to improve the English speaking ability for the students? For the above questions, the author would like to conduct the research entitled: “A study on English speaking ability of the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University.” Aims of the study In this graduation thesis, we pay attention to the real situation of speaking English of students in order to find the reasons and suitable solutions We hope that after reading my thesis, the students will aware the necessity of English speaking skill and get the good ways to study better In addition, the teachers are given some essential suggestions to teach English speaking skill more effectively and interesting The scope of an investigation Because of the limitation in the objective and subjective conditions, we carried out this investigation in the first year students of Law Department, Vinh University Research questions With the above objectives, the research questions are: - Why can‟t students speak English fluently while they have studied for a long time? - What should be done to improve the quality of teaching and learning speaking skill for the first year students of Law Department, Vinh University? Methods of the study For completion, we have carried out some methods as follows: Analytic methods: A survey questionnaire on the first year students of Law Department, V.U about speaking skills and give the suitable solutions Quantitative: 70 students in class were required to the questionnaires The design of the study Apart from acknowledgement, table of contents, there are three main parts in my thesis: Part I Introduction: The introduction is the overview of the study It refers to the goals of this research, research subjects, the mission of research, the methods of research, the scope of an investigation and the design of the study Through this part, we can understand the purposes of the thesis and what we get after reading this Part II Development Chapter 1: Literature review: In this chapter, we will review the theory around speaking skills, such as concepts of speaking, its importance, the component of speaking skill, stages of a speaking class, and the criteria of successful speaking activities Chapter 2: The investigation and the solutions: This chapter is very important It helps us understand the procedures of the survey, the real situation and its reasons, then the results of the investigation Chapter 3: The solutions to improve English speaking skill: In this chapter, the researcher will put the solutions for English teachers and students in improving English skills Part III Conclusion and suggestions for further study: This part includes the main results of the research and gives some suggestions for further study PART II: INVESTIGATION CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The concepts of English speaking skill Speaking is the primary mode of communication and the key to human communication We can say that speaking means to converse, or expressing one‟s thoughts and feelings in spoken language Therefore the most researchers studied and brought out many different concepts of speaking, such as : Byrne (1997:8) has claimed that “speaking is a two-way process between the speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding.”; Brown (1983) has stated “speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information.”; Scott (1978) has pointed that “speaking can be typified as an activity involving two or more people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contribution.”; Most of these researchers agree with one very important feature of speaking, that is a two way process between the speaker and listener Both the speaker and listener have specific functions to perform their communication The speaker transmits the information to the listener and use different ways to express what they want to say by eye contact, body language, intonation, stress, his facial expressions while the listener has to decode that information 1.2 Importance of speaking skill As the number you are concerned that English is the official language of 53 countries and territories It is the official language of the Europe and 3rd most people use only after Chinese and Spanish Especially, if you want to study abroad, European Union is a top priority for you by the living conditions and the school‟ s reputation, then English is the language you should never ignore Therefore you necessarily have to learn English to be able to follow the content of training programs, to communicate with teachers and friends as well as to serve your life When you can speak English well, you can be confident to live and work in any countries Besides, learning speaking English is to improve your lives and your future Because employers will want to choose a candidate with good English speaking skills, instead of a candidate cannot use or use this bad language Even if you work for a Japanese company, or any other multinational ones, if you can speak English well, you will be given priorities  For describing and guessing games: Picture 7: Describing and guessing games (for thing) This is an interesting game The teacher must prepare many pictures or some things before organizing this game: First, for pictures, the teacher divides the class into groups One student will be covered his eyes and he must listen and guess what his friends are describing Another student will look at the picture and describe everything in it without telling the name of that picture If they guess correctly, they will get one mark and vice versa The teacher should open some eventful songs during playing the game to make comfortable and attractive for the students Second, for things, the teacher prepares a big box which carries many things such as a pencil, a mobile, an orange, a ruler, a dish, so on, this is based on the content of the lesson It is the same with playing pictures, the teacher divides the class into groups and they stand in two lines The first group, one student will cover his eyes and he will put his hand into the box and then he must describe to his friends what he takes When the first student has just guessed one thing, he must stand in the end of line to play one more time In fifty minutes, one group have more right guesses many things more than another group will win 26  Dialogue Picture 8: Dialogue activity in English class Dialogue is one of the media in teaching speaking It helps the students practice in speech, pronunciation, intonation, stress Dialogue also increases students‟ vocabulary The primary objective of using dialogue is developing student‟s competence (pronunciation, intonation, stress) in teaching speaking like native speakers Therefore, in teaching-learning uses dialogue (short and long), the students are motivated by the teachers question to reason rather than to recollect Dialogue is two sides communication, it means we not have to express something but we should have to understand what other people said (Podo and Sulaiman, 1995: 25) When we teach young learners we constantly have to keep in mind the fact what he has in front of us is a mixed class with varied abilities, expectations, motivation level, knowledge and last but not least, different learning styles Role play is a form of dialogue It is a classroom activity allowing the students to practice speaking skill, the aspects of role behavior and the knowledge and experience they need to know in their life 27 Picture 9: Role play activity in English class This is “a method in which key ideas and skills are illustrated or practiced by learners assuming roles and contexts in which the ideas and skills would typically be applied” (Reigeluth and Keller, 2009, p.37) An example in Target Pet, Student‟s book, Unit 8.2, activity 10, page 41: Role play a job interview In pairs, choose one of the jobs from activity Student A, interview Student B for the job Student A: Would you employ Student B? Student B: Would you take the job? Change roles Moreover, for this activity, students can be asked to play different roles in the form of drama For example, one student acts like a shopkeeper and the other as a customer in a shopping situation This activity will encourage the students to speak in real life situation 28 Picture 10: An information gap activity 29 Picture 11: Interview activity in information gap game Besides, gap information is also a form of dialogue When one person has some information which the other person does not have, they must interview to fill in gap information Thus, we need to vary our approaches and offer as many opportunities as possible to make the whole class find a little something to hold on to, expand and grow (Klancar, 2006)  For problem-solving: The teacher prepares many different situations Then the teacher divides the class into groups When the teacher speaks out that situation in English, groups must quickly discuss to find the appropriate solution The winners will be a group of putting the best solution These tasks are not sequential Each can be used independently or they can be integrated with one another, depending on learners' needs For example, if learners are not using appropriate sentence intonations when participating in a transactional activity that focuses on the skill of politely interrupting to make a point, the teacher might decide to follow up with a brief imitative lesson targeting this feature When presenting tasks, teachers should tell learners about the language function to be produced in the task and the real contexts in which it usually occurs Teachers should provide opportunities for interactive practice and build upon previous 30 instruction as necessary (Burns & Joyce, 1997) Teachers should also be careful not to overload a speaking lesson with other new material such as numerous vocabulary or grammatical structures This can distract learners from the primary speaking goals of the lesson 3.2 For the students Speaking is the most difficult of the four skills Whilst reading, listening, and writing can be learnt with a teacher or on one‟s own, with books or with methods, but speaking requires immediate comprehension and real-time reaction When convering you can not go and look up a word or search a grammar book for the right tense or the right structure You have to produce language instantaneously with the right vocabulary and right time indicators And that is why you need to practice speaking as much as possible To speak English well depends on almost the students‟ effort The guide of the teacher and environment is only partial Each student should aware the English speaking importance to make an effort to get it It is believed that the students should not be too restrictive about English grammar while they not concentrate on practice speaking English Because this goes against nature when the learners know to read and write before speaking Instead of concentrating on grammar, the students should study continuously vocabulary every day Because vocabulary will help each student expresses all of thing they want to share in communication To speak English better, each student should create the environment of speaking English by himself and speak as much as possible, such as talking to friends in English, joining in English speaking clubs in school, for example: English Speaking Zone Club of Foreign Language Department, Vinh Uni, or other clubs, repeating television or radio line or songs by turning on your favorite English station and try to mimic what you hear 31 Picture 12: Vinh University English Speaking Zone Club Picture 13: Vinh University English Speaking Zone Club 32 This will help you with proper pronunciation, grammar, understanding various phrases, and to practice the speed of everyday speech Besides, instead of the time on the facebook to meaningless things, the students should use some useful software on facebook, skype, yahoo, email, etc to practice speaking English by chatting with foreigners, discussing any problems in English, etc This is a great way for you, because you will learn so much more about the culture and learn the language much faster In addition, the students should volunteer to say something Maybe the students raise their hand in class and offer an idea or an answer Maybe the students help their classmates understand something better This will make the students more confident Besides, the students should positively participate in discussing activities in class and avoid discussing by the mother-tongue The students also can improve their pronunciation and English speaking skill by joining in some good websites such as, www.videotienganh.com, https://www.hellochao.vn/, www.tienganh123.com/, etc Moreover, there are many English centres nowadays, so the students can choose a suitable English centre to study English, especially English communication skill Because this is a useful environment where the students can improve their E.S.S with foreign teachers and friends who share the goals 3.3 Some important factors to speak English successfully To speak English successfully is a continuous practicing process of everyone There are many important factors that you should know, such as confidence, exact pronunciation, the knowledge of culture communication, non verbal communication First is confidence If you are confident, that means you succeed 50 percents in your work If you want to speak English fluently, you should be confident to practice with foreigners, your English teachers, your friends You not need to be worried about anything during communication If you make mistakes, they will help you to correct It is certain that confidence will bring success for you Second is exact pronunciation In process of communication, if you wish the listeners find it easy to understand what you say, it is very essential for you to practice the exact pronunciation However, if your pronunciation is bad, it is easy for the listeners to misunderstand your meaning The next factor of speaking English successfully is understanding the culture in communication It is very successful if you cannot only speak English but you also understand the culture in communication Because it helps you have suitable behavior 33 with the friends from different cultures and nations, avoiding the misunderstanding in communication Finally, using appropriate non-verbal communication is one of the important factors It is well known that good communication is the foundation of any successful relationship In English speaking skill, it is important to recognize, though, that it is our nonverbal communication - our facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and tone of voice - that speak the loudest The ability to understand and use nonverbal communication, or body language, is a powerful tool that can help you connect with others, express what you really mean, and build better relationships When your nonverbal signals match up with the words you are saying, they increase trust, clarity, and rapport and deliver message more successfully 34 PART III: CONCLUSION 3.1 Conclusion English becomes part of everyday life, especially English speaking skill If you are good at speaking English, it is very easy for you to communicate with foreigners, get good jobs in the future, easier advancement in the career However, speaking English skill is too limited for the students nowadays There are many different reasons for this real situation, such as they have no proper motivation, condition or environment to practice, the time in the class is not enough for the teachers to carry out speaking activities for their students, as well as they have not effective methods of practicing speaking English Besides, the students are afraid of making mistakes in front of their friends when speaking such as pronunciation, etc In my opinion, facing with this real situation if each student has the awareness to practice speaking English and the teachers can contribute the lessons with some activities which are suitable with specific characteristics of the first year students at Law Department, the students‟ English speaking skill will improve markedly Although English speaking skill is a difficult skill for many students, each student should try his best to study and invest in practicing speaking English seriously, they will make fast progress in speaking English, like the well-known apophthegm “Practice makes perfect” It is aimed that this writing paper will help readers understand more clearly about the real situation of speaking English of the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University and have the answer to the question that “Why can most of the students not be able to speak English fluently while they have been studying English for several years ?” 3.2 Suggestions for further studies Because of time limitation and experience as well as materials, we only study on the English speaking ability of the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University and give some good suggestions to improve the English speaking ability It is my view that it will be very useful for learners of English if the following studies are conducted: - Fluency and cohesion in speaking - Tips to give a successful presentation - The interdependent relationship of the skills 35 REFERENCES Brown, G and Yele, G (1983) Teaching the spoken language Cambridge language Teaching Library Burn, A & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research Bygate, M.Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Oxford: Oxford Unviversity Press Byrne D (1976) Teaching oral language Harlow, Longman Harmer, J (2001) Practice of English Language Teaching Longman Fauziati, Endang 2002 Teaching of English As A Foreign Language Surakarta: Muhammadiyah University Press Lowy E (1999) Methodology course 1- Teaching the skill (Hanoi 2002: 42- 43) 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Marianne Cele, Mercia Teaching Grammar; Teaching English as a second language or foreign language Heinle publisher Nguyễn Thị Thanh Bình The graduation thesis Vinh University Nguyễn Thanh Huyền The graduation thesis Vinh University Nguyễn Thị Vân Lam, Ngơ Đình Phương (2006) Language Teaching Theory Vinh University Nguyễn Thị Vân Lam, Ngơ Đình Phương (2007) English Teaching Methodology Vinh University Nguyễn Thị Vân Lam, Ngơ Đình Phương (2009) An introduction to research methodology Vinh University Nunan, D (1989) Design Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge Cambridge University Press Richmond Target PET (Student‟s book) Scott, G (1978), The Fore Language of Papua New Guinea, Australian National University Nâng cao khả sinh viên trường Đại Học Thương Mại (2011) http://doc.edu.vn/tai-lieu/de-tai-nang-cao-kha-nang-tieng-anh-cua-sinh-vientruong-dai-hoc-thuong-mai-42256/ The implementation of teaching speaking (2013) Retrieved from http://arieftristian.blogspot.com/2014/07/theimplementation-of-teachingspeaking.html http://digilib.ump.ac.id/files/disk1/16/jhptump-a-rianindahp-777-2-chapter-i.pdf 36 APPENDIXES QUESTIONNAIRE This survey questionnaire is designed for a study on “The limited English speaking ability of the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University” You can be confident that the data collected are only for the study purposes Please circle the answer that best suits you for each of the following questions How long have you been learning English ? ……………………………………… A B C Which skills you spend much time on studying English ? Listening Speaking Reading D Writing How you feel about English speaking skill ? A.Interested B Difficult C.Bored What have you been learning English for ? A To cope with the tests and contests B To communicates with foreigners C To satisfy your favorite in English D To get a good job How often you speak English in your class? A Always B Sometimes Which level is your ability of speaking English ? A Excellence B Good C Bad 37 C Never How much time you spend on practicing speaking English? A 10 minutes B 20-30 minutes C Over 30 minutes D Never 8.What you usually to promote your English speaking ability ? A Watching the films of American B Listening to music and singing English songs C Joining in English speaking club D.Chatting with the foreigners on internet such as facebook, yahoo, skype, Do you agree that the environment of communicating English affect considerably on your English speaking improvement? A Yes, I B No, I don‟t (Explaining : ………………………………………………………) 10 How often you study English vocabulary? A Always B Sometimes C Never 11 How many new words you usually study at a time? A 1-2 new words B 5-7 new words C Over 10 new words 12 Which activities you want to be organized in class by your teacher to improve your English speaking ability? Please make clear …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! 38 CÂU HỎI KHẢO SÁT Bài khảo sát đƣợc đặt với mục đích nghiên cứu “Khả nói Tiếng anh sinh viên năm nhất, khoa Luật, Đại học Vinh” Bạn tự tin liệu đƣợc thu thập với mục đích nghiên cứu Hãy khanh tròn vào câu trả lời bạn cho phù hợp câu hỏi sau Bạn học Tiếng Anh ? ……………………………………… Kĩ bạn dành thời gian để học nhiều ? A Nghe B Nói C Đọc D Viết Bạn cảm thấy kĩ nói Tiếng Anh ? A Thích thú B Khó C Nhàm chán Mục đích học Tiếng Anh bạn ? A Để phục vụ cho kiểm tra kì thi B Để giao tiếp với người nước ngồi C Vì niềm say mê Tiếng Anh D Để có cơng việc tốt Bạn có thường xuyên nói Tiếng Anh lớp hay không? A Luôn B Thỉnh thoảng C Khơng Khả nói Tiếng anh bạn mức độ nào? A Rất tốt B Khá C Kém Mỗi ngày bạn thường dành thời gian để luyện nói Tiếng anh? A 10 phút B 20-30 phút C Trên 30 phút D Không 39 Bạn thường làm để nâng cao khả nói Tiếng anh ? A Xem phim Mỹ B Nghe nhạc hát hát Tiếng anh C Tham gia vào câu lạc nói Tiếng anh D Nói chuyện với người bạn nước ngồi thơng qua mạng internet Facebook, yahoo, skype,… Bạn có đồng ý mơi trường giao tiếp Tiếng anh ảnh hưởng đáng kể đến cải thiện kĩ nói Tiếng anh bạn ? A Đồng ý B Khơng đồng ý (Giải thích lý do:………………………………… ) 10 Bạn có thường xuyên học từ vựng Tiếng anh ngày hay không? A Luôn B Thỉnh thoảng C Không 11 Mỗi lần học từ mới, bạn thường học khoảng từ vựng? A 1-2 từ B 5-7 từ C Trên 10 từ 12 Hoạt động bạn muốn giáo viên tổ chức học để cải thiện khả nói Tiếng anh? Hãy làm rõ …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… Xin chân thành cảm ơn cộng tác bạn! 40 ... at Law Department, Vinh University. ” Aims of the study In this graduation thesis, we pay attention to the real situation of speaking English of students in order to find the reasons and suitable.. .VINH UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT ********* A STUDY ON ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT LAW DEPARTMENT, VINH UNIVERSITY ( Nghiên cứu khả nói Tiếng Anh sinh viên. .. Suggestions for further studies Because of time limitation and experience as well as materials, we only study on the English speaking ability of the first year students at Law Department, Vinh University