427 00312
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSTTY
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 11'" STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL
IN VUNG TAU CITY TRUONG DAI HOC Md TP.HCM
THU VIEN
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)
Submitted by MAI QUOC DANH
Supervisor: Dr HO THANH MY PHUONG
Trang 2STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis entitled “AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE
TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 11" STUDENTS AT VO THI SAU HIGH SCHOOL IN VUNG TAU CITY” is my own work
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the
main text of the thesis
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution
» NOVEMBER 2013
Mai Quoc Danh
Trang 3ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation to my supervisor, Dr Ho Thanh My Phuong, for her help and warm encouragement, as well as her insightful comments on my work from the beginning to the end of my study The thesis would not have been completed without her academic guidance and invaluable support Also, my thanks go to all of my lecturers at HCMC Open University for their helpful instructions during the Master in TESOL training course
In addition, I would like to extend my special thanks to Mr.Vo Van Tuan, the head of the English department at Vo Thi Sau (VTS) high school, for providing me with valuable advice and access to the related resources on my thesis
The completion of this study would not have been possible without the cooperation from 5 English teachers and 100 students at Vo Thi Sau high school who participated in the study I am grateful to all of them for providing useful data for the analysis of this study
Last but not least, my thanks go to my family for their ongoing support, and my classmates and friends for their valuable suggestions, inspiration, and proofreading to
Trang 4ABSTRACT
English has been applied to officially teach students of grade 6 for a long time and likely to students of grade 3, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET, 2010) Also, some improvement has been made in teaching methods, textbooks, curriculum, etc., with a hope to improve students’ speaking skills in high
school Students, however even after several years at school, cannot communicate
well, even in simple situations, according to most of language teachers and experts
This study was to investigate the teaching and learning of the English speaking skills of grade 11 students at VTS high school in Vung Tau city The study was conducted
using the data from interviews with 5 teachers, a survey from 100 students, and 4
classroom observations The study explored what the teachers and students normally do to develop students’ speaking skills At the same time, difficulties were identified and then helped suggest necessary conditions and solutions in order to improve students’ English speaking skills
The results of the study clearly pointed out that the teachers have tried their best to apply many of communicative activities such as discussions, role plays; brainstorming; and interviews They also scaffold students with needed language input; created very comfortable learning atmosphere aiming to foster the students’ speaking However, students’ communicative competence has still been limited the students’ lack of vocabulary and ideas, imperfectly learned pronunciation, confidence lacking, speaking time limitation in class, low level of frequency of practice were some most common challenges revealed in the current situation As a result, possible solutions were also indicated for related shortcomings
Trang 6TABLES OF CONTENTS
Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .:cssssssssessesstssseseessesseesssssssesenseneesseseesnsanessecnecsnenneeneenaeey ii ,.\0).6)/9À940919)6)9)/15011 00121575775 iii BÃI là Ì T UÁT TÍ sy sa: 2c: c¿ co xi9 3/603E414/858207212025363364.419019/01542484094043184600400148222810)21324014001-2044k9EĐA1001354030/7591994E370234E 1V TAELE OF(CCMIETNIS sSẲsSẲằẲ cỖ.62 0 0014c6c-cc166200303Y6o3.C00kkstis9Av959 vi LIST OF FIGURLES G <5 <5 S3 HH TH TH HH HH g0 001 0040040017100174 ix LES FOP TA assis case cczconscxs os erucsoutss cae cacnesacesasseasnussusspacsssescepiestvenseusseneavsseenesensstsesnsrarrrvanvervs x PBB RE VIA TIONS sccerecccserseecerrsenssecsseoncnencensecenasenssossanssanosatosbvannesnaavesasdssauaas tecanteskreanensarsensnenice xi CHAPTER 1: INNTRODUCTIOÌN 5 - 5< S11 9 ng ng ng ng 00 1v 1 D1 Ba kpronndl6 thế SIHIY Ÿ {0Ÿ Ÿ.Ÿ ndaeebiseiobonbeeielsassespetssodasesterersre 1 1.2 SEEISTWETH 0Í Dufpose s sàeẽinŸỶariianircoaaiabeooiiaketslseesveazioasatahetker 3 1/3 ResesfthqUEsloDS e.eeeeceeneeeerrrirrnrririessaserasaenalilee464848106115436 3 1.4 Signilieanoe 60E1H€ SLUOY eeceideoieeaiiooodioiiioioessiricblklsketgeestiasecsessASeeferike 3 1.5 Limitation and delimitation of the sttdy .0 6.c.cccssesccsescesvcanssaussasacecsnerseccerseecaenene 4 1.5.1 Limitation ofthe Sfudy - - - << S x1 3v ng vn Hi ng người 4 {157 Delimitation oithế š(UlY 7 2cc660222enetseecsssiorosesasbsorrlteeskterreettre 5 1.6 Qøanization o[ the stHdy eeeeeeieiioiiniieakiiokoiieeooenbisiidkkklioiobieke 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW cicsescsessssccorcesvossesenvonserrccerssensenascnnssacesanasensansasvanadonttng 6 2A Thhearetical CONCC DUS «cc <n ccccsisseseecssecesscacessanrerece vsesnnenees "".' ố Ẻ 6 2.1.1 Speaking and characteristics Of speaking « cac.csssscsrenseseseesenereannvenersscersronnaes 6 ZA2 © Speaking Competence .c.ccccscccsesesnrcarcersseecossersnetrssneosvorersenensensnacsasnasncannesadnaves’ 7 2.1.0.1 Gifaiifllshcal COHIDPECHCE a.eiaiiiieiesoieaiiesensooroeeroeiseseokkekerertieetrea 8 2.1,,2 ID iSeOurse COMPpetEnCe — -—. ccccsecacaoxseeabeavsnsseactanatisennevoneconstookiatunersenceeernene: 9 2.1.2.5 Sociolinguistic commpetence < - c-cseccese-csoncsnsonesencstesneensactsesiavasoanvenvaes 9 Z.1.c0j: SWBE6DIC COIHDEEDCO.iiiieeoieeeoseseedorceerakdsbskksyrasarbeerssnksesvseesncse 10 2.1.3 > FUNCHONS OF SHCA «<5 ccses <i rocsansstsscescncsesuserncetsavessesnevsesssenesuananarennnaneneventers 10 2.1.4 The importance of English speaking skIÌÌS .- - 5-55 <5s<++e++e++esexess 13 215 Principles of teaching speaking Skills: cscsisnccenescroctecrcnaseoncceetcereencsncsmonesenensense 14 2.1.6 Approaches and activities for teaching Speaking :)cccccssarssecensierensonneerseseseraeses 15 24.7 Sub-skills influencing speaking .c.scccccscsssscsescasdecncenexacsrsasannoceseverexestsarsenernnes 16 2.1.8 Factors affecting the students’ English speaking skills - 18 2.1.8.1 Students” learning mOfIVAfIOI s5 5 + + 13+ Vreerrreerseerserrre 18 2.152 — ÄAifcofiVe [4GlifO(SHXỈEUY iŸieiieaidiiiiieesiieinoaseiesrosoidasassetsrse 19
Trang 72.2 Empirical researches related to the teaching and learning of English speaking skills20 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .eceeceseesseeseesseesseeseeeesesseesseeeeseseeasenesease 23 Ook RGR SRTCTE SITS = cv seen csennennnonnenarnsnnnanavaensasss cesphs¥ shes suness} ockranssueavasevustooeaiavanseassncaneues 23
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Trang 84.2.1 The teaching and learning of the English speaking skills of grade 11 at VTS high school 50
42.1.1 Studerits’ motivations to learn EngliSH eueeoi-oaoao 51 4.2.1.2 | Teachers’ commonly used activities to promote students’ speaking 52 4.2.1.3 Level of frequency of activities practiced by the students .- 54 4.2.2 Challenges facing students’ English speaking skills and solutions 56 4.3 Chapter Summary + + + 1 vn nh 58 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS 59 J.Í C6 THRIỢH, ceieeeiSiiceirkcee-soeriexcidisnluakesskix44xA144113E04X44 352844215766 59
Coo.oi co hố 59
3+.1 ` REEONHUWmEIKIAHOHS LOI (GG0H©TS eo iiieeiiskiosstdosesskdesssissskysse 60 5.2.2 _ Recommendations for SfU€TIS - -G- <5 +33 1v 9 9v vn 61 5.2.3 Recommendations for the school authorities and the Department of Education UA TH Nữ can nan bá Hà g2 20150912 2962102694010539n00 3242 tsgzkSSictlbos2ffE426xste4U9lG07HS2420IMENSgL1400E1- 62 5.5 ‘suggestions for further StUdY .- :.eccc-ceesersroranspovoenndvessssenernanioabasanskonssasncant 63 REFERENCES .cccsscesscsscesecesseesceescessecceessncescesseeeeeesesscesseseseseneesaeseaseneeeseesseeeaeeesesesaeenaees 65 APEC B722 áccáccci2 620542216621 2c2511602)01205325650909562039/6300660/4005g088g320040041 71 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR STUDENTS <- << 71 APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS .- 5 -<<<<<2 78 APPENDIX 3 OBSERVATION SHEET s.c-ssxcssxcss651541356161/363551015340443411132101650019194834611654600685535ã 83
Trang 9LIST OF FIGURES
Trang 10LIST OF TABLES
Trang 11MOET DOET VTS TESOL CLI SPSS ESL EFL VOA BBC ABBREVIATIONS
: The Ministry of Education and Training : The Department of Education and Training : Vo Thi Sau
: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages : Communicative Language Teaching
: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences : English as a Second Language
: English as a Foreign Language : Voice of America
Trang 12CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
In the trend of globalization, Vietnam has been attempting to integrate itself into the world community in various fields such as economics, politics, education, and so on Schools and language centers felt the pressure of equipping students with good communication skills in foreign languages, especially in English language, in order to meet the needs of international communication in the new labor market Accordingly, English has been taught as one of the official subjects at school from grade 6, and it has been initially applied to teach for grade 3 in many schools now -(MOET, 2010) and on that purpose, communicative skills are highly focused Also, English textbooks have been gradually revised with more communicative activities “in order to improve students’ English speaking skills However, when communicating with some students from high schools, a number of people hold a view that the students’ English speaking skills are not actually good, despite the fact that they have studied it for many years Kim Lien (2006) mentioned in an article from Tuoitre newspaper that HCM city has been considered as a place where English teaching and learning movement is the strongest and has the most students taking part in English subject in the graduation exams However, there has been a real fact that most of the students after 7 years studying English at high schools, even taking some English courses at some language centers, cannot confidently communicate with foreigners
Trang 13Vietnamese-Australian high school, HCMC indicated that there have been some students who
never get under 8 marks in their English tests and exams, but they are very embarrassed and confused to utter even a word whenever they are asked to communicate in English
Also, Mr Le Thanh Tung, the head of the English department at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school, HCMC, also has the same point of view that many students were praised to be good at writing, having good ideas but they were very confused when expressing those ideas in spoken form
A recent article posted on Women Newspaper (2012) pointed that after seven years of learning English at high school with much effort and time, the result is almost nothing because the majority of the students cannot listen, speak, read, and write in English as well
After many years of teaching English at high school, Mr Cao Huy Thao said that
some factors such as school curriculum, school facilities, teachers, evaluation methods, etc., contributed to the current problem In addition, English is a skill-
teaching subject, so it should be practiced often, especially outside the class According to many language experts, it is essential to have various activities organized during the class Accordingly, the learning environment should be undisturbed; plenty of time should be provided for practice; the number of students is limited; and most importantly, teachers should have good speaking and listening skills (Kim Lien, 2006)
The fact that so much time has been spent teaching and studying English in Vietnam but very little practical results are shown, is alarming to all of those in education What is the problem? Is it one or a combination of several factors such as
unqualified teachers, school curriculums, etc? Therefore, this research was carried
Trang 14of English speaking skills of the grade 11" students at Vo Thi Sau high school in
order to find out the realities Probably, at the same time, there were some possible
solutions to help improve the current situation
1.2 Statement of purpose:
Firstly, the study aimed to investigate the teaching and learning of English speaking skills of the grade 11 students at Vo Thi Sau high school
Secondly, the study tried to identify challenges facing the students in speaking English
Lastly, the study would suggest solutions in order to help improve English speaking skills of the grade 11 students at Vo Thi Sau high school
1.3 Research questions
The research questions were as follows:
1 What is the reality of the teaching and learning of the English speaking skills of the 11" grade students at VTS high school?
2 What are the challenges facing the 11" grade students at VTS high school in speaking English?
1.4 Significance of the study
Trang 15Secondly, the result of the research would scaffold the learners with more activities
and help them find out more opportunities inside and outside the class to practice and improve their English speaking skills
Finally, the results would also help the school authorities know the reality of the teaching and learning English at their current establishment Perhaps some better policies would be made in order to help the teachers and the students to be well- equipped to improve the students’ English speaking skills
1.5 Limitation and delimitation of the study 1.5.1 Limitation of the study
Trang 161.5.2 Delimitation of the study
The study just focused on 11" grade students at Vo Thi Sau High school, so research findings might not be generalized as the whole picture of English speaking ability of all grades Some reasons made the researcher choose only students of grade 11 were as follows:
“ Grade 12 students were busy preparing for the final exams and the high school graduation exam Therefore, they could not fully participate in this study
oo Students of grade 10 were also not selected because they were freshmen who just stepped up from lower level Therefore, data collected from such participants might not be good in value, since it was probably related to their background from junior secondary schools
1.6 Organization of the study
Trang 17CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter described the review of literature which was relevant to the topic Besides, some empirical researches were debated to find out and bridge the gap between those and the present one
2.1 Theoretical concepts
2.1.1 Speaking and characteristics of speaking
Speaking is a multifaceted construct According to Nazara (2011), speaking is so intertwined with daily interactions that it is difficult to define Thus, there is one way by which we define speaking by its characteristics and conditions
According to Nazara (2011), speaking could be defined as a social, multi-sensory speech event, whose topic is unpredictable
Taking social feature into consideration, Thornbury and Slade (2006) hold a view that speaking establishes rapport and mutual agreement, maintains and modifies social identity, and involves interpersonal skills This social element is expressed through
wishes, feelings, attitudes, opinions and judgments (Nazara, 2011) Likely, Gumperz
(1999) agreed that speaking is cooperatively constructed which is based on contributions, assumptions, expectations, and interpretations of the participants’ utterances This cooperative discourse is motivated by interactive rules and routines
(Dornyei and Thurrell, 1994, p.42) where these structures guide how silence, volume,
intonation, conventional language, information and norms are used to organize speaking
In addition, speaking is also a multi-sensory activity because it involves paralinguistic
Trang 18quality changes, and pitch variation which affect conversational flow (Thornbury (2005) It seems that culture is integral in how speaking is constructed which has implications for how English speaking is taught and learned
Thirdly, speaking is topically unpredictable and therefore native speakers tend to have a “linguistic repertoire” of regularly used phrases that help create various speaking (Gumperz, 1980)
Taking speaking condition into consideration, speaking usually happens when people are face-to-face which makes it highly interactional and social (Van Lier, 1989) Otherwise, Thornbury and Slade (2006) point out that “computer-mediated communication shares many conversational characteristics where face-to-face may not be the only way to have a conversation Accordingly, speaking happens in a small group of people with a minimum of two It happens within shared contexts such as
situational, institutional, social and cultural environments Nunan (1999) also agrees
that speaking take places in real time and demands spontaneous decision-making and improvisation leading to a very dynamic discourse
2.1.2 Speaking competence
Speaking is a means of communication and it certainly has a variety of styles and uses in different circumstances Different styles of speaking reflect the roles, age, sex, and status of participants in interactions and also reflect the expression of politeness (Richards, 2008) Therefore, successful management of speech styles creates the sense of politeness that is essential for harmonious social relations (Brown and Levinson, 1978)
Trang 19was put forward by Hymes (1979) and expanded by many researchers who have
followed Therefore, this section discussed the definition of communicative
competence and how its components structure the speaking development
According to Hymes (1979), an individual’s communicative competence is his or her ability to use language effectively in actual communication By that meaning, it consists of both knowledge about the language and specific skills in using the language The concept of communicative competence was further developed by Canale and Swain (1980) in order to explain it within second language contexts They identified four components that made up communicative competence: grammar competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and _ strategic
competence
2.1.2.1 Grammatical competence
Grammatical competence refers to knowledge about grammar, vocabulary, and phonology Accordingly, learners must have the knowledge of lexical items and of the rules of morphology, syntax, sentence — grammar semantics, and phonology Grammatical competence is essential for any communicative approach whose goals include providing learners with knowledge of how to determine and express accurately the literal meaning of utterances It means the learners must have the knowledge of
words and sentences; that is, they must understand how words are segmented into
various sounds, and how sentences are stressed in particular ways Thus, grammatical competence enables learners to use and understand English language structures accurately and unhesitatingly, which contributes to their fluency (Canale and Swain,
Trang 202.1.2.2 Discourse competence
According to Canale and Swain (1980), learners must develop discourse competence, which is concerned with inter-essential relationship In communication, both the production and comprehension of a language require one’s ability to perceive and process stretches of discourse, and to formulate representation of meaning from referents in both previous sentences and following sentences Therefore, effective speakers should acquire a large range of structures to express ideas, show relationships
of time, and indicate cause, contrast, and emphasis With these, learners can manage
turn-taking in conversations (Canale and Swain,1980)
2.1.2.3 Sociolinguistic competence
Trang 212.1.2.4 Strategic competence
Strategic competence is “the way learners manipulate language in order to meet communicative goals” (Brown, 1994) Strategic competence is made up of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for communication breakdowns due to performance variables or insufficient grammatical competence With reference to speaking, strategic competence refers to the ability to know when and how to take the floor, how to keep the conversation going, how to terminate the conversation, and how to clear up communication breakdown as well as comprehension problems (Canale and Swain, 1980)
From our discussion so far, we have seen that second language speaking is a combinatorial skill, like other language communication skills (Richards, 2012) It is because it involves a high element of doing various things at the same time (Johnson, 1996) Therefore, our aim in teaching speaking is to help learners become better at combining various skills and processes during language production (Littlewood, 1992)
2.1.3 Functions of speaking
Technically speaking, a purpose can be defined why something exists, how we use an object, or why we make something Taking purposes of speaking into consideration, Brown and Yule (1983) made a useful distinction between the interaction functions of speaking, which serves to establish and maintain social relations between participants, and the transactional functions, which focus on the exchange of information Following Brown and Yule’s framework, Richards (2008) expanded the notion into three-part
version: talk as interaction; talk as transaction; and talk as performance
Trang 22to be friendly and establish a comfortable zone of interaction with others They exchange greetings, engage in small talk, recount recent experiences, and so on Depending on different cases, the exchanges may be either formal or casual On the account of the nature of interaction, skills of how to open and maintain a conversation are also rather important Serving for social function, some of the skills involved in talk as interaction are described by Richards (2008) such as opening and closing conversations; choosing topics; making small-talk; joking; recounting personal incidents and experiences; turn-taking; using adjacency pairs; interrupting; reacting to others; and using an appropriate style of speaking
Also, second language learners need a wide range of topics at their disposal in order to manage talk as interaction They also need practice in introducing new topics into conversation to move beyond this stage (Hatch, 1978)
They should practice nominating topics about which they are prepared to speak They should do lots of listening comprehension for topic nominations of native speaker They should practice predicting questions for a large number of topics They should be taught elicitation devices to get topic clarification That is, they should practice saying
“huh,” “pardon me,” “excuse me, I didn’t understand,” etc., and echoing
parts of sentences they do not understand in order to get it recycled again Nothing stops the opportunity to carry on a conversation quicker that silence or the use of “yes” and head nodding when the learner does not understand (Hatch, 1978 p.434)
Differing from talk as interaction where the function focuses on the speakers and how they wish to present themselves to each other than on the message, talk as transaction emphasizes on what is said or done The message and making oneself understood clearly and accurately is the central focus (Richards, 2008) Previously, Jones (1996)
Trang 23also agreed in this type of spoken language that students and teachers usually focus on meaning or on talking their way to understanding Accordingly, talk as transaction is clearly applied in some following common activities: classroom group discussion; problem-solving activities; discussing computer problems with a technician; discussing a sightseeing plan with a tour guide; making a telephone call to get flight information; asking for street directions; buying something in a shop; ordering food from a menu in
a restaurant, and so on Hence, in order to carry out these activities effectively,
Richards (2008) points out some common skills to be practiced as follows: explaining a need or intention; describing something; asking questions; asking for clarification; confirming information; justifying an opinion; making suggestions; clarifying understanding; making comparisons; and agreeing and disagreeing
Taking talk as performance into consideration, this type of talk emphasizes on the form of monolog rather than dialog and is close to written language than conversational language Usually, it needs to follow a recognizable format It often refers to public talk which aims to transmit information before an audience such as classroom presentations, public announcements, and speeches (Richards, 2008) Consequently, the effectiveness and impact on listeners are the central focus in order to assess the success of talk as performance Considering the spoken text of this type, Jones (1996 p.14) points out:
Trang 24When comparing to two previous functions, talk as performance has the focus on both message and audience Talk as performance can be recognized in giving class report, giving a welcome speech, making sales presentation, giving a lecture, and etc Serving for that purpose, some skills need to be involved in using this type such as using an appropriate format; presenting information in an appropriate sequence; maintaining audience engagement; using correct pronunciation and grammar; creating an effect on the audience; using appropriate vocabulary; and using an appropriate opening and closing (Richards, 2008)
In brief, depending on each kind of talk, teachers should have a clear focus on what they have to prepare when planning speaking activities before the class By understanding the functions of speaking carefully, it is easier for teachers to realize the objectives of different speaking activities Since then, teachers will have appropriate preparation for each speaking class
2.1.4 The importance of English speaking skills
As the important functions mentioned previously, English speaking is certainly considered one of the most necessary skills and one priority in someone’s purpose when following language learning Therefore, Richards (1990, 2008, and 2012) agree that the mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second language learners or foreign language learners Accordingly, the success in language learning and effectiveness of an English course is also measured upon the basis of how well they feel they have improved in the spoken language proficiency Also, Nunan (1991) states the success of a language learner is measured in terms of ability to carry out a conversation in the target language As a result, it is clearly understandable that
Trang 25speaking and listening skills have been one of central focuses in many EFL/ESL
courses nowadays
2.1.5 Principles of teaching speaking skills
Brown (1994) points out some following principles of teaching speaking which teachers should always keep in mind when organizing any speaking activities Initiatively, the speaking tasks should focus on both fluency and accuracy, depending on certain objectives Next, the authentic speaking content is always encouraged to be used in meaningful contexts It needs to be practical and usable in real-life situations and concentrates on speaking with the language the students have Then, teachers should provide many intrinsically motivating techniques to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their needs for knowledge In addition, teachers should provide students with appropriate feedback and correction but do not disturb their flow of communication Moreover, the development of speaking strategies such as asking for clarification, using fillers, using conversation maintenance cues, paraphrasing, appealing for assistance, and using gestures should be encouraged Further, it is important that teachers should create more opportunities for students to initiate
conversations, nominate topics, to ask questions, and to change the subject Lastly,
Trang 262.1.6 Approaches and activities for teaching speaking
Approaches for teaching speaking can be divided into those that focus directly on developing isolated speaking skills and those that focus on the production of speech during communicative activities (Burns, 1998) These approaches are referred as direct/ controlled and indirect/ transfer ones Accordingly, a direct/ controlled approach is concerned with structural accuracy and emphasizes practice of language forms, such as pronunciation of sounds in English; learners’ awareness about grammar, discourse structures Otherwise, an indirect or transfer approach is concerned with fluency of speech During the language learning, functional language is focused Teachers tend to engage students to talk in commonly and practically prepared situations The approaches and activities are shown in following table (Burns 1998 p.103-105)
Table 2.1 Approach and activities for teaching speaking
Direct (controlled) Indirect (transfer)
Aim Develop enabling skills Develop interaction strategies
Focus Accuracy Fluency
Language analysis Language for communication
Characteristics Controlled language use “Authentic” / functional language use
Skills getting Skill using
Pedagogic Real life
Pre-communicative Communicative
Part-task practice Whole-task practice
Activities Drills Discussions
Pattern practice Information gaps
Structure manipulation Project work
Language awareness Role plays
Consciousness raising Simulations
Interaction Teacher led Learner centered
Trang 27
According to Burns (1998), however, both of these approaches have particular limitations Neither of them effectively supports all the processes of second language speaking development She points that although the direct approach focuses on the development of language form, it does not take into consideration the fact that the accurate use of grammatical resources is often developed through face-to-face communication Likewise, controlled language use in speaking classes also cannot account for the development of language complexity Following Burns, Bygate (2001) also admits that the indirect approach gives so much currency to the development of fluency through spontaneous talk that a focus on language elements and discourse structures is often neglected
Taking a focus on particular activities to promote speaking in class into consideration, many linguistics and ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak in the second language by “interacting” Therefore, activities and techniques related to communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim On that purpose, Kayi (2006) suggests some activities which are useful to promote students’ speaking and according to many language teachers, they have been usefully and widely applied in most of current speaking classes nowadays The activities are mentioned such as discussions; role plays; information gap; brainstorming; storytelling; interview; story completion; picture narrating; picture describing; and finding the
difference
2.1.7 Sub-skills influencing speaking
The macro skill of speaking is a combination of smaller sub-skills (McCarthy and
O’Keeffe, 2004; Dornyei and Thurrell, 1994; McCarthy, 1998; Richards, 1994; Hedge,
Trang 28awareness of speaking sub-skills and providing classroom practice with them, we will be providing students with strategies to improve their communication outside the classroom They affirm that conversations outside the class are bound to be better experiences than those inside the classroom To understand more the importance of these sub-skills, a comparison of types of practice is stated in details as below:
Classroom Use Real World Use
Exposure - T and non-proficient - native-like or a range users (mostly other students) - artificial - authentic - Teacher chooses content - Student chooses content - limited - Unlimited
Use - artificial - authentic
- determined by Teacher - determined by Student
Motivation - limited rewards - unlimited rewards
- rewarded by Teacher - rewarded by inter- personal
or transactional success
Trang 29
2.1.8 Factors affecting the students’ English speaking skills
Apart from the components underlying speaking development above, it is necessary to
mention other factors, including inside and outside the students Here, students’
learning motivations and affective factor of anxiety were considered
2.1.8.1 Students’ learning motivation
- Motivation is one of the elements that many researchers, authors, educators, and
teachers pay much attention to when they study related educational resources Actually, it has been widely studied in order to find out how much motivation the students have and what types of motivation they possess According to Harmer (1991), motivation is the internal effort which encourages someone following a process If we can predict a goal and realize that it may bring good results, we have the motivation for the goal Ryan and Deci (2000) distinguish its definition as two types of motivation: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation The distinction between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation helps teachers and learners set the right direction for developmental and educational practices Accordingly, the intrinsic motivation is understood as doing something because it is inherently interesting or enjoyable Meanwhile, the extrinsic motivation refers doing something because it leads to a separable outcome (Ryan and Deci, 2000) Additionally, the difference is one more defined by Pintrich (2003) that intrinsic motivation influences learners to choose a task, get energized about it, and persist it until they accomplish it successfully, regardless of whether it brings an immediate reward It is present when learners actively seek out and participate in activities without having to be rewarded by materials or activities
outside the learning task The extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, concerns with
Trang 30and pleasure that the task itself may not provide Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, and Ryan
(2001) all agree that those behaviors are instrumental in nature They are performed not out of the interest but because they are believed to be instrumental to some consequences An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some rewards Because many of the tasks that educators want their students to perform are not inherently interesting or enjoyable, knowing how to promote more active and volitional (versus passive and controlling) forms of extrinsic motivation becomes an essential strategy of successful teaching (Ryan and Deci, 2000)
2.1.8.2 Affective factor of anxiety
Actually, speaking can be stressful for some, even most of second language learners Anxiety is considered one of the affective factors which is most strongly linked to speaking and listening, where learners have to process and produce language spontaneously without any planning or rehearsals (Burns, A and Goh, C.C.M, 2012) Also, Anold and Brown (1999) hold the same idea that “anxiety is possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process” (1999 p.8) Obviously, anxiety is hardly avoidable and it might influence on the way we behave According to Burns, A and Goh, C.C.M (2012) anxiety can be referred to subjective feelings of tension, states of apprehension, nervousness, and worry It is an important affective variable in second language acquisition and is intricately intertwined with
other affects such as self-esteem, inhibition, and risk taking Therefore, learners who
suffer from language anxiety perceive speaking in a second language to be an uncomfortable experience and are not prepared to make mistakes because of perceived social pressure They are also less willing to take risks and experiment with new ways of expressing themselves in the target language (MacIntyre & Gardner 1991a)
Trang 31Conclusively, being aware of language anxiety and its causes can help teachers take appropriate approaches to develop learners’ speaking
2.2 Empirical researches related to the teaching and learning of English speaking skills
This section focused on some empirical researches which debated the same issues in some nearby countries which have the same cultural and social features
Firstly, debating a rather same case, Oradee (2012) studied and compared speaking
activities of Grade 11 students, using three communicative activities (discussion,
problem-solving, and role-playing) Also, she wanted to find out students’ attitudes towards English speaking skills using these activities The sample of the study was 49
secondary students in Udon, Thani, Thailand, which was classified by high, medium,
and low according to their abilities of English speaking proficiency levels Research findings showed that the students’ English speaking abilities after using the three communicative activities were significantly higher than before their use Also, their attitude towards teaching English speaking skills using the three communicative activities was rated good She concluded that teaching English speaking skills using the three communicative activities was a learning method focusing on the learner- centeredness (Oradee, 2012) Students can work in small groups divided by their language proficiency In addition, the students could have an opportunity to work together providing help to others More importantly, the atmosphere in working in groups could lessen their fear in making mistakes when speaking English This could lead to self-monitoring, more confidence in speaking, and enjoyment can encourage them to participate more in learning
Trang 32She took the sample of 38 students of second-year Business English and the results also revealed that the students’ English speaking skills were significantly higher after using these two communicative activities According to the study, small groups, especially groups of four, should be divided to promote students’ confidence in producing the language as a result of their language proficiency Additionally, Harmer (2007) supported that in conducting a communicative activity, the context should be
focused on meaning, not the form, and there should be no teacher intervention while
the students are involved in the activity
Taking into consideration problems facing students’ speaking development, Gan (2012) carried out a study to investigate the L2 speaking problems of ESL students at a tertiary teacher training institution in Hong Kong The results of the study revealed a range of problems including inadequate vocabulary, stumbling block of grammar, imperfectly learned pronunciation and intonation, inadequate opportunities to speak English in class, lack of a focus on language improvement in the curriculum, and input- poor environment outside the class
In the context of Vietnam, Hoang (2010) who was concerned with the current situation and issues of the teaching of English in Vietnam stated some problems experienced in teaching English in Vietnam The results showed that there were a range of various problems which currently existing domestically Firstly, the demand of English teaching has been growing higher and higher, yet the number of competent non-native teachers is in a limited number Secondly, despite the importance of English in the new context of integration and globalization, English language teaching in Vietnam has not met the demand for competent English speaking people, due to its low quality Some reasons have been pointed out that most of the English teachers who are particularly teaching at primary and secondary school levels are disqualified; most of the teachers
Trang 33have not have opportunities to study in English-speaking countries, and most of them do not normally communicate in English and cannot sustain teaching that mainly depends on communicative interactions The third challenge comes from the classroom constraints such as: schools located in noisy places with poor ventilation, overcrowded classes, poor libraries, poorly paid teachers Constraints from teaching materials, teaching aids, little class contact also contribute to make problems worse Next, there was a mismatch between teaching and learning in the current teaching While teaching is following communicative orientation, testing focuses much on checking the students’ lexical and grammatical knowledge Last but not least, although teachers of English at high schools rarely have a chance to attend training workshops or seminars to learn about new methodologies, soon after they return to their institutions, they still
use their old methods
Trang 34CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research methodology which consists of the following
sections: research site, design of the study, procedures of the study, instruments used to collect data, data collection, and methods of data analysis
3.1 Research site
3.1.1 Pedagogical setting
The researcher took VTS high school as the pedagogical setting of the study Data collection was carried out on the 4 classes of grade 11 of the school VTS high school was one of the oldest public schools in Vung Tau City It is located on Pham Ngoc Thach Street and was built in 1958 There are forty-six classes in total including grade
10, 11, and 12 with the total number of nearly 1900 students It also enrolls new
students in the middle of August The students who enter VTS high school need to have the average point of 8 of three continuing years in middle school The quality is a little higher compared to other schools, except specialized high schools
Taking grade 11 into consideration, there are 677 students divided into 15 classes
including group A, B, C, and D English department consists of 12 teachers who all have got BA degree in English, except 2 with MA degree in Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) The teachers do not only teach only one grade, but they are in charge of mixed classes The data collection was collected through 4 teachers who are teaching four chosen classes and one who was the head of the English department They use the English textbook of “Tiếng Anh 11” of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) There are 16 units of lessons and 6 units of revision There are five objectives in each unit including: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus Each unit of lessons is being taught within 5 periods basing on
Trang 35each objective in it In the curriculum of grade 11, English occupies 3 periods of 45
minutes a week The students take four exams a year including midterm 1, final term 1, midterm 2, and final term 2 All of the exams focus on written tests which are similar
to the format of High School Graduation Exam with 50 written sentences
The timeframe the researcher wanted to collect the data was the middle of October
The students just finished their midterm exam and were free and willing to help the researcher get the desired data
3.1.2 Research population
The population for the research is all the students of grade 11 at Vo Thi Sau high school There are 15 classes with the total number of 677 students including boys and girls divided into 4 groups according to the subjects A, B, C, D They are all local teenagers with an average age of 17
3.1.3 Sampling method
A Stratified random sampling method was used to choose the sample for the research » It is the sampling method being used when a big group is divided into smaller groups basing on similar characteristics such as gender, age, birthplace, and so on A stratum is a subset of the population that shares at least one common characteristic Then, representatives were randomly chosen from these smaller groups Accordingly, the population at the school has been already divided into 4 groups according the subjects
A, B, C, and D with the same age and interests Therefore, the research sample was
Trang 363.1.4 Sample size
The sample size of the research was 100 students of which 25 students were randomly
taken from each group of A, B, C, and D 3.2 ious studies stionnaires Research design iterview servation 3.3 Secondary data N Findings ì Primary data 2 The reality of the teaching and learning of English speaking skills
Figure 3.1 Research design
Procedures of the study Vv Identifying of problems Solutions to improve English speaking skills
The procedure of collecting data was initially carried out in the middle of the first semester of the school year
Firstly, the researcher asked in person for the permission from the school authorities and teachers to conduct the research at the school The pilot test of the questionnaire surveys were administered to a group of 10 students in class 11A8 The result of the pilot test helped the researcher revise the questionnaires
Trang 3711A2 (group A), 11A7 (group B), and 11A11 (group C) The researcher came to each class according to appointments with the teachers in charge of those classes The questions were randomly delivered to 25 students of each class They were asked to complete the survey questionnaires in 10 minutes In order to help students understand the information and instruction in the questionnaires, the researcher read and explained each question clearly
Then, interviews with the teachers were carried out The researcher had an opportunity
to meet all of four teachers of four classes in charge during the thirty-minute break at the teacher’s room The interviews were carried out with 5 teachers in 5 minutes each Finally, the classroom observations were done with the 4 classes One class was visited 2 times according to the schedule from the English unit
3.4 Instrument
Based on the research questions mentioned above, data collection methods were questionnaire survey for students, interview for teachers, and classroom observations
3.4.1 Questionnaire
Questionnaire is one of the most common ways used to collect descriptive data According to Wallace (2002), it was chosen due to its function of eliciting various
types of data such as opinions, ideas, attitudes, experience, and so on Besides, it is also
Trang 38Based on its background, the questionnaires (see Appendix | for details) were used as a major tool in order to explore the realities of the teaching and learning at VTS high school The survey aimed at finding out some factors affecting the students’ English speaking development such as learning motivation, daily activities to improve speaking skills, how often students practice speaking English both inside and outside the classroom; and what difficulties facing the students The questionnaires were designed with the combination of close ended questions and open ended questions The questionnaires used for students comprise of 8 main questions with some sub-questions and they are in Vietnamese
The questionnaires used for students comprise 2 sections, A and B Section A consisted of 2 questions about students’ personal information One was about his/her gender and one was about his/her class, including the group he/she belongs to
Section B included questions focusing on factors affecting English speaking development They are questions which directly or indirectly affected students’ English speaking development
To secure the validity, the questionnaires were piloted prior to carrying out the main study The draft questionnaire administered to a small group of ten randomly selected students of class 11A8 On the basis of the outcome from the pilot study, the questionnaire was amended so that the final draft to be aimed at getting the more reliable results of the main study
3.4.2 Interview
Apart from the survey on questionnaires, interview protocol was done with 5 teachers of English who are teaching 4 classes of grade 11 of the school to understand more about the realities and to support the data collected from the questionnaire
Trang 39The advantage of this instrument was that it provides access to the process-oriented data which was unobtainable via other instruments (Cohen & Olshtain, 1993) It was also thought that it might help overcome such potential pitfalls as the researcher’s
incorrect inferences about the causes of observed behaviors (Gerloff cited in Robinson,
1991) According to Patton (1990), it is considered open, flexible, and suitable for situations in which the researcher and interviewers already have extensive knowledge of the subject under investigation
The interview (see Appendix 2 for details) consists of 6 main questions which were divided into 2 sessions focusing on some factors as follows: attitudes of teachers towards the improvement of English speaking skills; factors affecting the students’ English speaking development such as learning motivation; daily activities applied in classrooms to help students develop their English speaking skills; and challenges commonly faced by the teachers All the interview content was recorded for data analysis
3.4.3 Classroom observation
Finally, classroom observation was carried out to explore the teaching and learning in the classroom “Observation is actually used in the study because it is the most satisfying technique to investigate because it brings forth to the “sweetest” of data” (Tuson, 1995, p.16) Regarding to the objective of it, the observation sheet (see Appendix 3 for details) contains 5 main parts with 48 observed items used to discover
how students’ talking time is delivered; how teachers motivate students’ learning; how
Trang 403.5 Methods of analysis
On the one hand, the quantitative data was entered and analyzed by SPSS program The qualitative data on the other hand, will employ a content analysis method and was analyzed in terms of themes related to the study objectives
3.6 Analytical framework
In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected The response from questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations from the respondents were analyzed in term of 3 objectives
The first one was to investigate how the English speaking skills of the grade 11 students at Vo Thi Sau high school was taught and learned Next, the objective was to identify the challenges facing the students in speaking English The last one aimed at finding out some solutions in order to help improve English speaking skills through some findings of the first and second objectives
Data from the questionnaires were analyzed, using descriptive statistics and they were later compared with those of the interviews and classroom observations
Data collected from all types of instruments were also synthesized and findings were
discussed with some references to the related literature