An investigation into difficulties in english learning speaking skill preparing for (vstep formatted) b1 speaking test the case of non english majors at dong thap university

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN DUY HOÀI AN INVESTIGATION INTO DFFICULTIES IN ENGLISH LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL: PREPARING FOR (VSTEP formatted) LEVEL B1 SPEAKING TEST THE CASE OF NON – ENGLISH MAJORS AT DONG THAP UNIVERSITY MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Đồng Tháp, 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN DUY HOÀI AN INVESTIGATION INTO CHALLENGES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL: PREPARING FOR (VSTEP formatted) LEVEL B1 SPEAKING TEST THE CASE OF NON – ENGLISH MAJORS AT DONG THAP UNIVERSITY Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: TRẦN BÁ TIẾN, PhD Nghệ An, 2017 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT I certify my authority of the Study Project Report entitled An investigation into challenges in learning English speaking skill: preparing for (VSTEP formatted) B1 speaking test the case of Non-English majors at Dong Thap university To total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Trần Duy Hoài 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The paper could have been completed with the help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all merit my gratitude and appreciation First of all, I would like to thank Mr Tran Ba Tuen, my supervisor who assisted, encouraged as well as carefully read and commented while I was doing my research Special words of thank also go to all my lecturers at Dong Thap university and all my students from three classes whose support me to fulfill the questionnaire Without them this paper not has been possible Finally, I owe my sincere thanks my parents who always inspired and encouraged me to complete this study ABSTRACT The study is carried out to investigate the difficulties both learning and teaching speaking skill to non – English major of Dong Thap university Specially, the researcher attempts to survey the potential causing the difficulties and clarify the problems of those respectively Furthermore, some recommendations are made with the hope of help English Language lecturers and the student at Dong Thap university enhance the quality their teaching and learning the speaking skill The thesis consists of three parts The first part is an introduction to the thesis The review of related literature, methodology used in the study, the findings and discussion of relevant difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill caused by the lecturers and the students The last is the conclusion of the study, which discusses the overview that can be drawn from the study, proposes some coping strategies and suggests some techniques for student to diminish these challenges when learning this skill and some interesting activities as well to minimize those difficulties in teaching speaking skill Moreover, the limitations of the thesis are pointed out and further study is put award in the final part It is hoped that the thesis will be useful for the lecturers and also the non – English major student at Dong Thap university ABBREVIATION ALM: Audio – Lingual Method CLT: Communicative Languague Teaching DM: Direct Method GT: Grammar – Translation MOET: Ministry of Education and Training SLA: Second Language Acquisition VSTEP: Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study………………………………………………………… 1.2 Aim of the study ……………………………………………………………… 1.3 Research questions …………………………………………………………… 1.4 Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………3 1.5 Method of the study ……………………………………………………………3lang 1.6 Organization of the study ………………………………………………………4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speaking skills ………………………………………………………………….6 2.1.1 The role and status of speaking in language learning and teaching …… ……6 2.1.2 Concepts of speaking …………………………………………………………7 2.1.3 Spoken language and communication …………………………………… …8 2.1.4 Characteristic of speaking …………………………………………………….9 2.1.5 Problems with speaking activities ………………………………………… 10 2.2 Speaking in VSTEP……………………………………………………………11 2.2.1 Overview speaking test in VSTEP ………………………………………… 11 2.2.2 Difference between speaking communication and speaking test of VSTEP 11 2.3 Communicative language teaching (CLT) ……………………………………12 2.3.1 Some definitions of CLT …………………………………………………….12 2.3.2 The importance role of CLT ………………………………………………13 2.3.3 Characteristics of CLT …………………………………………………… 14 2.3.4 Comparisons of CLT with other methods ………………………………….17 2.4 Communicative activities …………………………………………………….19 2.4.1 Definition of communicative activities ……………………………………19 2.4.2 Features of communicative activities …………………………………… 20 2.4.3 Role of communicative activities …………………………………………22 2.4.4 Type of communicative activities ………………………………………….25 2.4.5 Techniques for developing speaking skill ………………………………… 26 No table of contents entries found CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study In the international integration and development stage, with the aim of boosting awareness, besides the growing of economy, it is essential to investigate in education, especially foreign language English is the most popular language in the world, it is considered an effective tool for further research as better working opportunities This language is offered as a compulsory subject in the curriculum from primary school to national high school examination Moreover, this is also one of the requirement that the students must obtain the certification with level A2, B1 (formatted VSTEP) before graduation as out coming demand In recent years, communicative language teaching (CLT) seems its more predominant role than other approaches and led to the increasingly significant role of teaching speaking skills However, the teaching and learning speaking skills to students currently in Vietnamese classrooms is still much concern due to characteristics of learners as well as teacher’s proficiency and classroom methodology Furthermore, a part of teachers have been influenced by training of the Grammar Translation method which also impedes them from teaching speaking effectively With format VSTEP for four skills generally and oral examination, particularly which is considered to mark reforming the approach of teaching and learning speaking skill from traditional approach – grammar translation method, which only focus on ability of using grammar rules On the other hand, the CLT aims to focus on speaking skill as learner-centered activities within communicative context, the teachers of English at the university find it difficult to achieve language learning more relevant, interesting, enjoyable and effective because of the class size and the student’s language level As a teacher at the informatics and foreign language at Dong Thap university, I often receive complaint from many students that “they are impossible to speak English well” In the reality of teaching, many students who have mastered knowledge of grammar for reading and writing, but they are unable to express their idea to the teacher On the other hand, other colleagues also complain: “ the students seem so quiet, passive and lazy during speaking lessons It is difficult to create them participate in speaking activities” Therefore, the idea of doing research useful for teaching and the students has urged to conduct the study Another reason why I conduct the study that I can know more about the challenges in teaching and learning this skill, thus I can find relevant techniques to improve teaching speaking skill better For the above reasons and factors have inspired to the study on “An investigation into challenges in learning English speaking skill: preparing for (VTEP formatted) B1 speaking test the case of NonEnglish majors at Dong Thap university” with the hope to improve step by step the student’s learning it and consider that as an essential skill in communication 1.2 Aim of the study This study aims to suggest appropriate techniques for helping students in graduating the university overcome difficulties in learning oral skills In order to obtain this aim, the following objectives are established: - Firstly, the reality situation of teaching and learning are revised, especially speaking skill - Secondly, the difficulties are found out by the teachers and students while process of teaching and learning speaking skill - Thirdly, the current approaches, methods and techniques are being used in teaching oral skill that is investigated - Finally, some solutions are suggested to deal with the problems mentioned above 1.3 Research questions The study is conducted in an attempt to find out the answer to the following research questions: 10 Lastly, English teaching did not really escape from teacher – centered teaching in which lecturers occupied by the time The lecturers seemed to spend most of the time to explain lessons involving grammatical items and writing sample answers on the board while the student have not chance to join in the process of learning English 4.2.2.2 Student’s problems a Low English proficiency The non – English major students low English proficiency in this language is considered a big obstacle that prevent from using English to communicate They just regarded it as less important than other subjects in their major and did not pay sufficient attention to it As a result, their English proficiency is far from expectation For instance, when the lecturers ask the students a question, they could not understand it or even though if they follow the lecturers requirement, they could not have enough vocabulary or find appropriate grammatical structures to express their ideas Gradually, these students lose the interest in trying to speak English and became discouraged to speak this language b Limited motivation in learning Motivations play an important role in learning language Down (2000) insists that motivation is one of the crucial phenomena in determining whether a learner will be successful in learning a language or not The similarity Down view, Ur (1991) declares that “motivation is very strongly related to achievement in language learning” Students’ motivation on learning obviously affects the success of learning process However, the non – English major students who had low motivation in learning which created difficultly for the lecturers A potential explanation for this constraint is that English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum as well as one of condition outcomes for their graduation Most of the students as reflected in the survey in response that English as a minor subject , they are only concerned with passing the exams, most of which not pay attention to communicative 61 competence Obviously, the laziness and apathy of these students create an obstacle in teaching English speaking skills To enhance students’ motivation to participate speaking activities, there are some clear implications for the teacher - Making an effort in creating a relaxing atmosphere in class in order that most students are not afraid of speaking in front of the rest of the class Also, doing as many speaking activities as possible in pairs and groups so that students can comfortably speak English without the rest of the class listening - Exposing students as much as possible to naturally pronounced speech, and also integrating some pronunciation work into the lessons The more natural speech they hear, the more effective their learning speaking - Accustoming students to combining listening and speaking in real time and in natural interaction This is very important for them to be familiar with listening and speaking in the manner of combination Then, in other real situations outside classroom, they can listen and speak not very difficultly In addition, in communicative output, the teacher may also teach students some speaking strategies which they can use to help them expand their knowledge of the language and also their confidence in using it c Use of Vietnamese during pair work or group work The fact that the students preferred to speak Vietnamese in pair work or group work were a result of the restraints as low English proficiency and limited motivation Indeed, the mother tongue which is used to help the weaker during pair work or group work However, during studying they often use Vietnamese to complete their tasks Therefore, they are familiar with speaking Vietnamese easier to discuss than in English Excessive use of mother tongue gradually forms a habit of using the language while they are quite capable of expressing themselves in English This will not only limitation student’s ability 62 * Resistance to class participation Through the figures from the survey indicated that the non – English major students are unwilling to participate activities in class From questionnaires’ response confirm that they are anxiety, unfamiliar with communicative lessons, low English proficiency are the main causes This is supposed that the students get used to and be affected deeply traditional learning style in which the lecturer must be a knowledge transmitter and they are knowledge receivers The students come to class with expectations that the lecturers will explain all things such as vocabulary, grammatical structures while they just sit quietly, listen to and take notes what the lecturer say The learning style, like lazy in thinking, shy and slow in creating inhibit students from being familiar with learning activity They, therefore, become to passive listeners as well as speaker like being expected 4.2.3 Other problems The majority of lecturers admitted that multi- level and large sizes were the main problem As it reflected in the lecturer’s questionnaire It is really challenging to teach English because there are so many students with different level that the lecturers can pay attention equally to all of them If she tries to call on everyone, it takes a lot of time As a result who are never be finished So interaction is only restricted in some students The student who are less able and they cannot be given enough attention, care and encouragement So this makes the problem worse The students’ multi –level in such classes vary greatly In a class about a dozen students are at intermediate level, and others are at elementary level This causes a main problem for the lecturers to keep all the students motivated 4.3 Conclusion In this chapter, I have tried to present the analysis of the data collection to answer the research questions and to draw out some important findings from the study The results of the study showed that the main techniques utilized by the lecturers at Dong Thap university in teaching speaking skills were pair work and 63 group work However, the activities used for group work were not varied Additionally, the lecturers strictly followed the activities seem to be bored among students Furthermore, giving students good marks was considered an effective way to promote student’s participation in speaking classes The data collected from the questionnaires also revealed the obstacles that have constrained teaching and learning speaking skills for the non – English major students at Dong Thap university These are classified difficulties from the lecturers, challenges from the non – English major students, and some other problems, including large sized classes, multi –levels and difficulties and a suggestion of some activities for enhancing speaking skill to the non – English major students at Dong Thap university 64 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Contribute to theory From a theoretical perspective, some hypotheses derived that was formed throughout the analysis to answer two research questions In particular, the findings strengthen the study will also contribute to the body of knowledge about Communicative Language Teaching, especially in Vietnam This approach minimizes some mistakes when the students speak English in front of the class, they feel worried about making mistakes, nervous about using the second language, afraid if they could not understand what the interlocutors said, and sharing their feelings and opinions This study examines the relationship between individuals and the interaction, especially, between students and lecturers The results of this study are helpful to realize that to be successful, learning to communicate in English will require the pooled effort and cooperation of teachers, parents, classmates, and individual learners Furthermore, the findings could enable me to develop approaches and practices for working with students to help them cope with their anxiety so that they can have a more active participation in classroom 5.2 Contributions to Research The findings obtained through the qualitative methods employed in this study Vietnamese emphasized the important role of communication This study has developed English as a foreign language classroom by adapting the items more relevant to English as a foreign language classroom situation Thus, it has contributed to the development which could also be used to investigate willingness to communicate the second language in the classroom in the future 5.3 Contribute to Methodology I It is an approach to language teaching which focuses on developing learners’ communicative skills through authentic language in meaningful contexts Despite some negative feedbacks on CLT, this approach is seen to be potential in developing communicative skills in English among universities and colleges This study has developed speaking skill in Vietnamese English as a foreign language classroom by adapting the items more relevant to English as a foreign language classroom situation Thus, it has contributed to the development of a more appropriate WTC questionnaire which could also be used to investigate willingness to communicate the second language in the classroom in the future 5.4 Pedagogical implications The present study offers valuable information for the reality of teachers’ and the students’ reflection The results of this study have confirmed that CLT really needs to be seen as an important component of SLA (Kang, 2005) Language teaching should ultimately foster learners’ willingness to engage in communication (MacIntyre et al., 1998) and their willingness to talk in order to learn (Skehan, 1989) Teachers should promote self-confidence in communication among students and encourage them to seek out opportunities for contacts with other English speakers in their environments In a language classroom setting, in order to enhance student confidence, teachers should try more appropriate and compelling means (for example, by empathizing with students in class and encourage students to share their emotions) to increase student interest and motivation and to use language In addition, it is suggested that teachers should arrange more group activities (Cao & Philp, 2006) and allow enough time for the students to prepare before ask them to speak out in the classroom is necessary, so that learners may have more opportunities and feel more willing to communicate This could lead to more I learner’s language use, leading to an increase in their self-test level (Liu & Jackson, 2008) 5.5 Conclusion The study aims at investigating some difficulties coped by the lecturers and the non – English major students in teaching and learning speaking skill It is based on the instrument of the two questionnaires, the study has reached the significant findings with the purpose of helping lecturers to prophesy the problems and find out techniques to solve them in order to enhance the student’s speaking skill The findings are allocated into groups as difficulties and solutions In order to help the reader easily grasp the key findings in each difficulty is presented and followed by its solutions Another significant part of this chapter is the suggested activities which support overcome the basic difficulties as well as enhance quality of teaching and learning in English speaking skill for the non – English major students at Dong Thap university It is conclusive that difficulties and solutions for teaching and learning in Dong Thap university are focused to reflect on this chapter in order to have answered the research questions In summary, the thesis is believed to be a useful point in the research field on non – English major students at Dong Thap university It is hoped that the lecturers of English at Dong Thap university can benefit from the findings and suggestions to enhance the student’s speaking skill 5.6 Limitation of the study Though the research has made efforts toward carrying out the study, like other research, this study also has some limitations due to the researcher’s ability and teaching experience, deficiency of reference resources as well as limitation of time that are unavoidable First, the number of subjects in the research is only limited to the students in three classes The results, therefore, may not generalize to all students Next, although the researcher utilizes survey questionnaire as the research instrument I for collecting data, the researcher should combine different tools for data collection like observation or recording in order to make the obtained results more reliable and valid Therefore, other research on techniques and activities for promoting speaking skills to the whole students should be conducted However, there are still unavoidable limitations, the researcher believes that this study will be helpful in the teaching of speaking skill for the non – English major students at Dong Thap university and this may lead to student’s speaking progress 5.7 Suggestions for further study The study only concentrates on relevant difficulties in teaching and learning English speaking skill to the non –English majors at Dong Thap university and makes some suggestions for the lecturers and offers some techniques and activities which help to motivate hesitant to speak English There are some suggestions for further researchers concerning the teaching and learning for speaking skill at Dong Thap university - A study on techniques and activities for the students to help their learning speaking skill - A study on designing speaking tasks and activities base on curriculum for non – English major students in the light of CLT - A study on the methods of introducing students to current methods of learning speaking skill - A study on action research on the effectiveness of suggested techniques and activities mentioned I REFERENCE English Authors Brown, Gillian & Yule, George (1983): Discourse Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Brown, H.D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching (4thed.) New York: Longman Bygate, M 1991 Speaking Oxford: Oxford University Press H Douglas Brown (1987).Principles of language learning and teaching Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall Hornby 1995 Definition of Speaking skill New York: publisher Larsen-Freeman, D 2000 Techniques and Principle in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press Littlewood, 2007 Communicative and task-based language teaching in East Asian classrooms Language Teaching, 40 (3) (2007), pp 243-249 Nunan, D (1985), Language Teaching Course Design, Trends and Issues, National Curriculum Resource Centre Nunan, D (1988), Syllabus Design, Language Teaching, A Scheme for Teacher Education, Oxford University Press, 45-50 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology Prentice Hall, London Richards, Jack C and Theodore S Rodgers (1986) Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Richards J.C Communicative Language Cambridge University Press.(2006) Print I Teaching Today Cambridge: Richards J.C and Theodore S Rodgers (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Print Rivers (1981) Teaching foreign-language skills Chicago : University of Chicago Press Swan, 1990 A critical look at the communicative approach In Rossner, R And Bolitho R Currents of change in English language teaching (pp73-98), Oxford University Press, Oxford (1990) I APPENDICES Appendix 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR LECTURERS This questionnaire is carried out with a view to find out relevant difficulties from lecturers when teaching English speaking skill to non – English major students in Informatics and Foreign Languages Centre at Dong Thap university Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERARTION! Background information - Your gender:  Male  Female - Your age:…………………………………………………………… - Your full name: …………………………………………………… - Your years of teaching English: …………………………………… Please put a tick () in the box beside the opinion(s) appropriate to you Have you been trained to teach the approaches for English speaking skill (VSTEP)?  Yes, in English teaching workshops  No, I only exchange experience with my colleagues  No, I have only read via some documents  No, I have to adapt myself What you think about the topics English speaking skill (VSTEP) for non – English major students to learn?  Good but difficult  Good and appropriate  More or less the same as the old  Not good for non – English major students I What teaching methods are currently applied in your teaching speaking?  Audio – Lingual  CLT  Direct method  Others  Grammar – Translation What you to make your students interested in their speaking topic?  Creating some interesting games and activities  Giving marks  Praising them in front of the class  Watch video or clip to follow ideas or new words for the topic  Others: ……………………………………………………… What you after finishing topic discussion?  Encourage students practice more about the topic outside class  Correct student’s mistake  Summarize good idea and give feedback  Give student homework Do you have any difficulties in your teaching oral skills?  Yes  No If any Could answer below questions What are the difficulties by your students that you have experienced when teaching speaking to non – major students in Informatics and Foreign Languages Centre at Dong Thapuniversity? (You can tick () more than one opinion)  Students’ low motivation  Students’ low level of English proficiency  Lack of time  Students’ passive way of learning  Limit their pronunciation  Concentrate and volunteer  No participate What you think of a successful speaking lesson?  Students talk a lot  Language is of an acceptable level  Participation is even  Others: …………………………  Motivation is high Appendix 2: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN Phiếu điều tra nhằm tìm hiểu khó khăn mà sinh viên khơng chun tiếng Anh học chương trình Tiếng Anh Tăng Cường trình độ B1 (VSTEP) trung tâm Ngoại ngữ & Tin học trường Đại Học Đồng Tháp học kỹ nói Các thơng tin câu trả lời mà bạn cung cấp quan trọng cần thiết khảo sát Bạn yên tâm liệu mà bạn cung cấp sử dụng cho nghiên cứu không nhằm mục địch khác Cám ơn hợp tác bạn! * Thông tin cá nhân: - Giới tính:  Nam  Nữ - Họ tên: ………………………………………………………………… - Tuổi: ……………………………………………………………………… - Lớp: ……………………………………………………………………… - Bạn học tiếng Anh bao lâu? …………………………………… Bạn đánh dấu () vào ô bên cạnh câu trả lời mà bạn lựa chọn Kỹ nói tiếng Anh có thật quan trọng bạn  Có  Khơng  Như mơn học khác Bạn đánh chủ đề hoạt động kỹ nói?  Thú vị  Khó  Tẻ nhạt  Dễ Bạn có gặp phải khó khăn nói tiếng Anh khơng?  Có  Khơng Bạn nêu khó khăn học nói (Bạn () nhiều lựa chọn)  Khơng có từ vựng cấu trúc để nói  Khơng có nhiều thời gian cho việc chuẩn bị nói  Khơng có ý tưởng  Cách phát âm  Các nguyên nhân khác: ………………………………………… Những yếu tố khiến bạn ngại nói tiếng Anh trước lớp?  Sợ mặt  Khơng quen với việc nói tiếng Anh  Bài học nhàm chán  Không tự tin Bạn mong muốn cải thiện yếu tố việc học nói tiếng Anh?  Tăng Vốn từ vựng  Có nhiều ý  Sửa lỗi ngữ pháp  Học thêm cấu trúc Ý kiến khác: ……………………………………… ... study The title of the paper ? ?An investigation into challenges in learning English speaking skill: preparing for (VTEP formatted) B1 speaking test the case of NonEnglish majors at Dong Thap university? ??... have inspired to the study on ? ?An investigation into challenges in learning English speaking skill: preparing for (VTEP formatted) B1 speaking test the case of NonEnglish majors at Dong Thap university? ??...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN DUY HOÀI AN INVESTIGATION INTO CHALLENGES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL: PREPARING FOR (VSTEP formatted) LEVEL B1 SPEAKING TEST THE CASE OF