Some suggestions to improve speaking skill for the second year students at thanh hoa university of culture, sports and tourism (tucst) masters thesis in education

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ QUỐC NGUYÊN SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THANH HOA UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM (TUCST) MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHỆ AN - 2014 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ QUỐC NGUYÊN SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THANH HOA UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM (TUCST) Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: M.A PHAN THỊ HƯƠNG NGHỆ AN - 2014 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere Author Lê Quốc Nguyên i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS AND FIGURES ABBREVIATIONS PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Scope of the study Aims of the study Significance of the study 5 Methodology 6 Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES The nature of speaking 1.1 Nature of Language skills 1.2 Definition of speaking 1.3 Spoken language and communication 1.4 Types of speaking 10 1.4.1 Monologue 10 1.4.2 Dialogue 11 1.5 Speaking skill 11 1.6 The role of the teacher and students in teaching and learning speaking 12 1.6.1 The role of the teacher 12 1.6.2 The role of learners 14 1.7 Stages of teaching speaking 15 ii 1.7.1 The pre - speaking stage 15 1.7.2 The while - speaking stage 17 1.7.3 The post - speaking stage 17 1.8 Problems with speaking 18 1.8.1 Students‘ Difficulties in learning speaking 18 1.8.1.1 Fear of making mistake 18 1.8.1.2 Shyness when talking in English 20 1.8.1.3 Thinking of what to say in Vietnamese then Translating into English 21 1.8.2 Teachers‘ Difficulties in teaching speaking 22 1.8.2.1 Teacher-learner relationship 22 1.8.2.2 Inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices 23 1.8.2.3 The amount of Teacher Talk 23 1.8.2.4 Teacher's Correction 24 1.8.2.5 Krashen’s Input Theory 24 1.9 Objective factors 26 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29 2.1 The Teaching and learning situation in Thanh Hoa University of culture, sports and tourism 29 2.1.1 Brief introduction of TUCST 29 2.1.2 Syllabus used for non - English major students at TUCST 29 2.1.3 Facilities used at TUCST 30 2.1.4 Teaching methods 31 2.1.5 Students‘ background 31 2.2 Research questions 32 2.3 The subjects 33 2.4 The data collection instrument 34 iii 2.4.1 Instrument 1: classroom observation 34 2.4.2 Instrument 2: Survey questionnaires 35 2.4.3 Instrument 3: Interviews 35 2.5 Data analysis 36 CHAPTER 3: FINDING AND DISCUSSION 37 3.1 Presentation and analysis of data 37 3.1.1 Questionnaires for teachers 37 3.1.1.1 Their teaching experience 37 3.1.1.2 Difficulties for teachers 37 3.1.2 Questionnaires for students 43 3.1.2.1 Students’ background of learning English 43 3.1.2.2 Students’ attitude towards speaking skill 45 3.1.3 Factors making the students unwilling to speak in class 45 3.1.4 Students‘ difficulties in learning speaking 46 3.1.5 Students‘ interest in speaking activities 48 3.2 Findings and discussion 49 3.2.1 Helping the students to improve their grammatical structures and enrich their vocabulary 50 3.2.2 Eliminating the students‘ anxiety 53 3.2.3 Creating speaking environment 54 3.2.4 Raising the teachers‘ confidence 54 3.2.4.1 Problems of the teachers 54 3.2.4.2 Solutions to the teachers’ problems 55 3.2.5 Some suggestions to develop the students‘ speaking skill 55 3.2.5.1 Helping the students to have ideas to speak 55 3.2.5.2 Using pair work and group work to help low level students 57 3.2.5.3 Reducing the students’ use of Vietnamese during group work 60 iv 3.2.5.4 Changing the students’ deep routed habit of passive learning style 60 3.2.5.5 Maintaining students’ extrinsic motivation and enhancing their intrinsic motivation 3.2.6 Some communicative speaking activities 61 64 3.2.6.1 Drill activities 64 3.2.6.2 Information gap activities 66 3.2.6.3 Improvising dialogues 67 3.2.6.4 Discussion 68 3.2.6.5 Role play 68 3.2.6.6 Games 69 PART C: CONCLUSION 73 Conclusion 73 Limitation of the study 74 Suggestions for further study 74 REFERENCES 75 APPENDICES 78 Appendix 1: Phiếu điều tra sinh viên 78 Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers 80 Appendix 3: Interview questions for teachers 82 Appendix 4: Câu hỏi vấn dành cho sinh viên 83 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Mrs Phan Thi Huong for her precious advice, practical suggestions and constant encouragement in the preparation and completion of this graduation paper Without her help this graduation paper would not have possibly been completed I wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the teacher of Department of post- graduate studies who supply me with the good conditions to conduct this thesis and finish This M.A course I would be also grateful to the teachers and students at Thanh Hoa University of culture, sports and tourism for their assistance and unwillingness to permit me to observe their classes, interview and to answer my questionnaire Due to the limited scope, mistakes in this graduation paper are inevitable Therefore, I hope to receive further comments and advice from the readers to make it better ABSTRACT This thesis aims to find out the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill that teachers and non-English major students encountered at Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism and give some suggestions for developing the students‘ speaking skill The study includes three main parts The study begins with the introduction, which includes rationale, scope of the study, aims of the study, significance of the study, methodology and design of the study Part two includes three chapters in which the first chapter presents the related literature, the second chapter, the heart of study, gives a brief introduction of Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism, describes the study in detail, the third chapter deals with the summary, finding and pedagogical implications of study Part three is the conclusion, which focuses on the summary of the research LIST OF TABLES, GRAPHS AND FIGURES Table 1: Teachers‘ experience of teaching Table 2: Difficulties from Students Table 3: Teacher pedagogical Practices in teaching speaking skill Table 4: Students‘ opinions on inappropriate teacher pedagogical practices in English speaking lessons Table 5: Teachers‘ English communicative competence Table 6: Students‘ history of learning English Table 7: Students‘ time of learning English Table 8: Students‘ attitude towards speaking skill Table 9: Factors making the students unwilling to speak in class Table 10: Students‘ difficulties in learning speaking Table 11: Students‘ interest in speaking ABBREVIATIONS TUCST: Thanh Hoa university of Culture, Sports and Tourism STT: Student talk time TTT: Teacher talk time EFL: English as foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language GE: General English ESP: English for Specific Purpose ELT: English language teaching CLT: Communicative language Teaching No of Students: Number of Students No of Teachers: Number of Teachers ―Role-play is to create a real life situation in the classroom That is, the students simulate the real world by role-playing real life situations Role-play is one of the most popular activities done in pairs or in groups‖ (Mai Thanh Thu, 2008) When the teachers ask their students to take part in role play, they want put the students into the real life, the students will deal with the problems that they may meet outside the classroom In role- plays, the students have to use the language that is appropriate to the situation and characters so their sociolinguistic competence will be improved Students usually find role playing enjoyable, but students who lack selfconfidence or have lower proficiency levels may find them intimidating at first The following example is about role play activity: The teachers give students the situation, instructions then appoint them to play roles Situation: you are going to have an interview Your task is to deal with this situation (Applicable for Unit - Work and Play p.26) If you are interviewer you have to ask interviewee the questions following structure as ―can you V……? and if you are interviewee You should answer the questions following structure ―Yes, I can +V… or No, I can‘t +V‖ 3.2.6.6 Games According to Jill Hadfield (Communication games, 1984) ―A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun‖ Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work Games also help teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful In the games, the students are free to be themselves They can engage their real personality with those of his fellow-learners without the additional burden of trying to be someone else The situations they are put into have not been preprogrammed Playing games is one of the means to end a lesson productively and amusingly if the lesson goes faster than it has been planned and there some minutes left at the end 69 There are many kinds of games which can be played in pairs/groups This is extremely useful in a large class because they give everybody more chance to participate The selling game The selling game provides a creative gamelike setting in which students can explore the language of persuasion and negotiation in a series of motivating, opened- ended, ongoing oral interactions Aims: Develop interaction oral fluency; focus on persuasion and negotiation function Procedure: - Gather a bag of product that students will have to try and sell to each other - Divide the class in half between sellers and buyers - Have all the sellers come to the front of class pull one of the subjects from the bag - Have the buyers and sellers mingle, with the sellers trying to interest buyers into purchasing their product, the sellers must think of as many uses as possible for product, and buyers may haggle over the price set by the seller if they think it‘s too high Buyers must make a purchase by the end of the game - After the sale, have the seller make a note of any money that would be exchanged and move on to the buyer (The seller retains the product as a sample to show to the next buyer.) - Close the market afterb10-15 minutes and have the sellers add up the value of their sales The student who has made the most money is the winner Applicable for unit –Description; part listening and speaking Page 24 - Work with a partner Make conversation to buy two of these things 70 Yes/No game In this game, students are required to use only general questions or question tags to ask, the students are not allowed to use ―Yes‖ or ―No‖ answers Example S1: Are you a student? S2: I am a student S1: Do you live in Thanh Hoa city? S2: I live in Dong Son Province S1: Do you go to School by bus? S2: I go to school by bicycle S1: Your rented house is near university, isn‘t it? S2: My rented house is so far from my university 71 S1: You have a boyfriend, haven‘t you? S2: I have a handsome boyfriend (And so on) This kind of game is suitable to Elementary students who have little knowledge of English language and the students are already familiar with the more usual responses beginning with ―Yes‖ or ―No‖ In this game, students can work in pairs or groups, one asks and the other answers and vice versa The ―Yes/No game‖ may help students develop accuracy reaction and pronunciation 72 PART C: CONCLUSION Conclusion No one can negate the importance of English to our daily in the process of integration into the world That is reason why Vietnam intends to make English it second language With this intention, English has been widely taught in Vietnam However, there are many problems facing the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam With the hope to find the ways to solve these problems to improve the teaching and learning of speaking skill to non- English major students at TUCST, the researcher carried out this study This study aims at finding out the difficulties which the teachers and nonEnglish major students face with when they learn speaking skill By using three data collection instruments as questionnaires, interview, and class observation, this study discovered the significant difficulties which the teachers and the learners face Beside it, the study also discovered the significant findings to help the learners and teachers overcome those difficulties in learning speaking skill The findings and Discussion consists of author‘s findings of the difficulties of teaching and learning speaking skill at TUCST The difficulties can be grouped into: Difficulties from teachers‘ side, difficulties from students‘ side and objective factors The findings reflect the situation of teaching and learning at TUCST It is conclusive that difficulties and solutions focused on in this chapter have answered the research questions In summary, this thesis is believed to be a turning point in the research field on non- English major students at TUCST It is hoped that the teachers of English at TUCST can benefit from the findings and suggestion to improve the students‘ speaking skill 73 Limitation of the study Although the researcher has made effort toward conducting this thesis, there undoubtedly exist some limitations First, due to a small group of culture management students and teachers at TUCST are involved in this study So, the results may not be generalized for all students Next, in this study the researcher utilized three measurement instruments to collect data: survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and class observation, the researcher combined different tools for data collection to make the obtained results more reliable and valid In spite of the unavoidable limitation, the researcher believes that this study will be beneficial to the teaching of speaking skill to non- English major students at TUCST and this may lead to students‘ speaking progress Suggestions for further study This study only focus on difficulties encountered in the teaching and learning of English speaking skill to the teachers and the second year students of culture management at TUCST and makes some suggestions for teachers and suggests certain classroom techniques and activities which help to motivate reluctant or reticent to speak English Only small group culture management students and the teachers involved in the study, the conclusions drawn were experimental; a study with a large number of teachers and students to investigate their difficulties and solutions would certainly have more valid and reliable data Therefore, further studies with larger population should be carried out to show more convincing results This study suggests some activities for students which help them improve their speaking skill They are also some suggestions for further researches relating speaking and teaching speaking skill at TUCST in particular and at other colleges and universities in general 74 REFERENCES Nguyen, B (2002) Methodology course 1- Teaching The Skills VNUH Canh, L.V.(2001) “Language and Vietnamese Pedagogical Contexts” Teachers‘ Edition, Issue 7, pp 34-42 Phạm, H.H (2005), “University English classrooms in Vietnam” ELT Journal, Vol 59, No 4, pp 336-339 Thu Linh, Nguyen Thi.(2008) A study on the reality of teaching speaking skill to non-English major students at Thai Nguyen University-College of Technology: relevant difficulties and some suggested teaching speaking techniques and activities.Unpublished M.A Thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi Thanh Thu, Mai Thi.(2008) Speaking difficulties encountered by teachers and non English major students of culture management at Thanh Hoa college of Culture and Arts Unpublished M.A Thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi Bich Thuy, Le Thi.(2006) An action research on the application of cooperative learning to teaching speaking to the second year students at the department of English, Gia Lai teachers’ training college Unpublished M.A Thesis Vietnam National University, Hanoi Bailey, K.M & Savage, L (1994) New ways in Teaching Speaking The USA: Teachers of English to Speakers Bock, G (2000) Difficulties in Implementing Communicative Theory in Vietnam Teacher‘s Edition, 2, 24-28 Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the spoken language Cambridge language Teaching Library 10 Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principle: an interactive approach to language pedagogy Eaglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 11 Byrne, D (1988) Focus on the classroom Hongkong: Modern English Publications 75 12 Brown, G and Yule, G (1983), Teaching The Spoken Language Cambridge University Press 13 Burkart, G.S (1998), “Spoken Language: What it is and how to teach it” Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1998 Retrieved from http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/spindex.htm 14 Bygate, M (1991), Speaking Oxford: Oxford University Press 15 Chaudron, C (1988), Second Language Classrooms: Research on Teaching and Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 16 Cook, V (2000), Second Language Learning and Language Teaching (2nd Edition) Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press 17 Davies, P & Pearse, E (2000) Success in Language Teaching Oxford University 18 Down, M (2000) Increasing Student Motivation Teacher‘s Edition, 4, 813 19 Harmer, J (2000), How to Teach English Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press 20 Hedge, T (2000), Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford: Oxford University Press 21 Horwitz, E.K (1988), “The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students” Modern Language Journal, 72, 283-294 22 Horwitz, E.K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope, J.A (1991), ―Foreign Language classroom anxiety” In E.K Horwitz & D.J Young (Eds.), The Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications (pp 27-36) New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc 23 Johnson, K and Morrow, K (1984) Communication Games: Jill Hadfield 24 Krashen, S.D (1985), The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications New York: Longman Inc 25 Koch, A.S., & Terrell, T.D (1991), ―Affective reactions of foreign language students to Natural Approach activities and teaching techniques” In E.K Horwitz 76 & D.J Young (Eds.), The Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications (pp 109-126) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall 26 Mathews-Aydinli, J & Van Horne, R.V (2006), ―Promoting the Success of Multilevel ESL Classes: What Teachers and Administrators Can Do” Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (CAELA) Retrieved from www.cal.org/caela/esl resources 27 Nunan, D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology: a textbook for Teachers Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 28 Nunan, D (1998) Language Teaching Method ( A textbook for teachers) Prentice Hall, NewYork 29 Tsui, A (1996), ―Reticence and anxiety in second language learning” In Bailey, K.M & Nunan, D.(eds.): Voices from the Language Classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 30 Ur, P (1981) Discussion that work: Task-centered Fleecy Practice Cambridge University Press 31 Ur, P (1997), A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 32 Ur, P (2000), A Course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press 33 Walker, L (2001) Creative Ideas for the TESOL classroom Teacher‘s Edition 34 Wright,T (1987) Role of teachers and learners Oxford: Oxford University Press 35 Young, D.J (1991), “Creating a low – anxiety classroom environment: What does language anxiety research suggest?” Modern Language Journal, 75, 426-439 77 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA SINH VIÊN Phiếu điều tra nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài nghiên cứu tìm hiểu khó khăn việc học tiếng Anh sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ trường Đại học Văn hóa, Thể thao Du lịch Thanh Hóa Các thông tin câu hỏi trả lời mà bạn cung cấp qua trọng đề tài nghiên cứu Các liệu điều tra sử dụng cho việc nghiên cứu khơng mục đích khác Cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! Thông tin chung - Giới tính :  Nam  Nữ - Tuổi:……………………………………………………………………… - Tên: ……………………………………………………………………… Xin em vui lòng cho biết gia đình em sống đâu?  Thành phố  Thị trấn  Nông thôn  Miền núi Em bắt đầu học tiếng Anh từ nào?  Lớp  lớp 10  Từ vào trường Đại học Văn hóa, Thể thao Du lịch Thanh Hóa Nói kỹ cần thiết cho nghề nghiệp em tương lai  Đồng ý  Hồn tồn đồng ý  Khơng đồng ý  Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Yếu tố làm em cảm thấy không tự nhiên nối tiếng Anh lớp?  Học tiếng Anh để giao tiếp 78  Sợ bị bạn lớp giáo viên chê cười  Các chủ đề nói giáo trình tẻ nhạt  Giáo viên lên lớp tẻ nhạt Những khó khăn bạn gặp phải học kỹ nói?  Khơng đủ vốn từ để diễn đạt  Thiếu ý tưởng  Cách phát âm tiếng Anh q khó  Thầy, khơng nhiệt tình giúp đỡ  Khơng đủ thời gian để thực hành  Các bạn lớp gây tập trung  Khơng khí lớp căng thẳng  Khơng có mơi trường thực hành hoạt động nói Trong luyện nói hoạt động em thích thấy áp dụng để học  Đóng kịch  Cặp đôi hỏi đáp theo cấu trúc cho trước  Nhóm làm việc theo chủ điểm  Thảo luận tự  Kể chuyện theo tranh  Hoàn thành đoạn hội thoại  Phỏng vấn theo chủ đề  Các trị chơi  Đốn ngơn ngữ cử  Giải tình giả định 79 APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This questionnaire is designed for my research into difficulties in teaching speaking skill to non- English major students of culture management at TUCST Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Please complete the following questions You may tick more than one option * Background information - Your gender:  Male  Female - Your age: ………………………………………………………………… - Your name: ……………………………………………………………… - Your years of teaching English: …………………………………………… Difficulties from students  Students‘ low motivation  Students‘ low English proficiency  Students‘ passive learning styles  Students‘ not participating in class activities  Students‘ use Vietnamese during pair work or group work What teaching methods are currently applied in your teaching speaking?  CLT  Grammar-translation method  Audio-lingual method  Direct method  Others What will you when your students always make mistakes?  Keep quiet, smile and encourage them to go on finishing their task  Keep quiet with a serious face  Stop them and correct their mistakes  Get annoyed when students keep making mistakes 80 How often you correct students‘ mistakes while they are performing their tasks?  Never  Seldom  Sometimes  Frequently How self- confident you-yourself feel about speaking?  Very self-confident (be willing to communicate in all various situations)  Self-confident enough (communicate in different situations if expected)  Not very self-confident (avoid communicating in various situations as much as possible)  Not self-confident at all (feel a bit frightened if coping orally with different situations) What should you to prevent your students from using Vietnamese during group work or pair work?  Move around to observe students  Criticize students when using Vietnamese  Encourage students to speak English  Other solution………………… What should you to overcome your students‘ passive learning style?  Create a variety of activities to have students participate in  Use praise when the students volunteer to speak  Encourage the students to share their idea with the teachers  Organize group work and pair work  Give the students assignments 81 APPENDIX 3: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Do you have any difficulties in teaching speaking skill to the first-year students at TUCST? What knowledge areas you think are needed in the notion of communicative competence? - Do you have any difficulties related to these knowledge areas? - If yes, what are the potential causes of these difficulties? Are you satisfied with your students‘ learning style in the second year at University? What you think about your students‘ motivation to learning English? What should you to minimize these problems? 82 APPENDIX 4: CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN Bạn có gặp phải khó khăn học nói tiếng Anh khơng? Theo bạn, phương pháp sư phạm giáo viên bạn cịn có điểm khơng phù hợp làm ảnh hưởng đến việc học nói tiếng Anh bạn khơng? Bạn có cảm thấy miễn cưỡng tham gia vào hoạt động nói tiếng Anh lớp học ngoại ngữ khơng? Những nguyên nhân gây miễn cưỡng bạn? Bạn đánh giá chủ đề hoạt động nói sách tiếng Anh mà bạn học? Các chủ đề hoạt động nói sách có có gây khó khăn cho bạn khơng? Theo bạn, giáo viên nên làm để giảm bớt khó khăn tiết học nói tiếng Anh? 83 ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LÊ QUỐC NGUYÊN SOME SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THANH HOA UNIVERSITY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM. .. 2.1 The Teaching and learning situation in Thanh Hoa University of culture, sports and tourism 2.1.1 Brief introduction of TUCST Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism is located in. .. teaching and learning speaking skill that teachers and non-English major students encountered at Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism and give some suggestions for developing the students? ??