1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES --------------------0o0--------------------- TRẦN THỊ THẢO FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DOSON HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS. NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒ SƠN VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, September 2010. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES --------------------0o0--------------------- TRẦN THỊ THẢO FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DOSON HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS.
NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒ SƠN VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 SUPERVISOR: PHẠM MINH HIỀN, M. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENT.
iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationales of the study.
Aims of the study. Methods of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study.
Design of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Theoretical background of speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1 Definitions of speaking .2 Importance of speaking .3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking .2 CLT and teaching speaking .1 Concept of CLT .2 Characteristics of CLT .4 Students‟ participation in speaking activities .3 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities .1 Students‟ learning styles. 7 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.2 Students‟ language levels.3 Students‟ attitude and motivation. 17 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY.1 An overview of Doson High School .4 The materials and syllabus .3 Data collection instruments .4 Data collection procedures .1 Results from students‟ questionnaire .2 Results from teachers‟ questionnaire .3 Results from class observations and interviews.
33 CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Major findings and discussions .1 Students‟ level of participation in class oral activities .2 Factors affecting students‟ participation. 35 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.3 Students‟ attitudes towards the applied teaching techniques .1 Varying speaking activities .2 Personalizing speaking topics .3 Using group work to good effect .4 Managing speaking turns .5 Building cooperative atmosphere .6 Establishing good rapport with students .7 Combining the textbook with other relevant materials .8 Managing speaking time appropriately.1 Cooperating with students .2 Cooperating with teachers. Summary of the study. Limitations and suggestions for further study.
I APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students. I APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for teachers. IV APPENDIX 3: Pre – treatment interview questions. VII APPENDIX 4: Post – treatment interview questions.
VIII APPENDIX 5: Classroom observation checklist.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 9 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching (LUAN.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 10 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS *. Tables Page Table 1: Students‟ learning styles. 23 Table 2: Students‟ motivation. 24 Table 3: Students‟ anxiety.
24 Table 4: Students‟ language levels. 25 Table 5: Teachers‟ talking time. 26 Table 6: Teachers‟ techniques of encouraging students. 27 Table 7: Students‟ evaluation on speaking lessons.
27 Table 8: Factors affecting students‟ participation. 28 Table 9: Students‟ suggested techniques to increase their participation. 28 Table 10: Teachers‟ assessment and attitudes towards speaking skill. 29 Table 11: Teachers‟ opinions about teaching methods.
30 Table 12: Teachers‟ problems in teaching speaking skill. 30 Table 13: Teachers‟ current teaching techniques and activities. 31 Table 14: Factors affecting students‟ participation. 32 Table 15: Teachers‟ suggested solutions to increase students‟ involvement.
33 Table 16: The level of students‟ participation before and after the treatment. Charts Pie – chart 1: Students‟ assessment of their speaking ability. 21 Pie – chart 2: Students‟ level of participation in speaking activities. 22 Pie – chart 3: Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill.
22 Pie – chart 4: Students‟ assessment of speaking activities in the class. 23 Pie – chart 5: Students‟ level of reluctance in speaking lessons. 25 Pie – chart 6: Students‟ assessment of the topics in the textbook TIENG ANH 10 .solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationales of the study In recent years, teaching and learning English is very popular in Vietnam.
English has become a crucial means of communication and it is widely used in different fields of the society such as international commerce, science & technology, education and so on. Therefore, the goal of learning English has verified: students study English not only to pass the exam but also to get communication competence in order to find a good job in the future or to study abroad. It is obvious that learning speaking skills is very important. Together with new textbooks, new teaching approaches have been applied to increase the effectiveness of teaching English at high schools.
In the light of communicative language teaching (CLT), students‟ participation in classroom activities plays a crucial role in the success of the lesson. However, this is the concern of most teachers as students‟ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggest challenge they are facing. Having been teaching English at Doson High School for six years, I have realized that our students have the same problem, they are not active to participate in the speaking activities. With the desire to identify the causes and solutions to this problem, I chose the topic “Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson High School and some possible solutions” as the title of my thesis.
This study helps us have a deep understanding about the factors affecting students‟ participation in oral activities. In general, it can be affected by a variety of factors coming from teachers‟ side, students‟ side and classroom condition. It will also examine the techniques and activities applied by teachers and investigate some difficulties in teaching speaking skills. Through this study, the researcher expects to find out some appropriate solutions to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities.
Aims of the study The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson High School and find out some possible solutions. To be more specific, the major aims of the study are as follows: - To identify factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson High School (LUAN.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 12 - To examine some techniques and activities applied by teachers and students‟ preference - To offer some suggestions for teachers to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities. Research questions The study is implemented to answer the following questions: 1. How actively are the 10th grade students at Doson High School involved in oral activities in the class? 2.
What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities? 3. What are the possible solutions to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities? 4. Methods of the study To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used. The data was collected by means of: - Questionnaires - Classroom observations - Interviews Survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers were mainly used to gather information and evidence for the study.
To make the data more reliable, interviews and classroom observations were conducted. All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the thesis were based on the analysis of the study. Scope of the study Concerning the scope of the study, some of the following things should be taken into consideration. First, the subject of the study are the 10th grade students who are full of energy, desire and time to do the study.
Second, the study only focuses on oral activities because speaking skill is the most important skill for communication. Third, the study concentrates to investigate factors affecting the participation in speaking activities including teacher factors, student factors and classroom factors hindering students‟ involvement in oral activities and find out some solutions. Finally, both quantitative and qualitative were used because of their convenience and high reliability.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Significance of the study The information of the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities is helpful for students and teachers of English in general and teachers at Doson High School in particular.
The suggestions to increase students‟ involvement help the teachers overcome the challenges and find the ways to have successful lessons. It can‟t be denied that the study is of great value to both students and teachers of English. Design of the study The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the Conclusion Part A: Introduction- deals with the rationales, aims, methods, scope, significance and design of the study. Part B: Development – consists of three chapters Chapter 1: Literature review – provides some theoretical background about speaking skill and factors affecting students‟ participation in speaking activities.
Chapter 2: The study – presents the situation analysis, participants, data collection instrument, data collection procedures and data analysis. The detailed results of the research are focused. Chapter 3: Major findings, discussion and recommendations – shows major findings, discussion and some recommendations for teachers to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities. Part C: Conclusion- is a review of the study, suggestions for further research and limitations of the study (LUAN.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 14 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1 Definitions of speaking Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols, in a variety contexts” (Chaney, 1998:13).
Bailey (2005:2) shares the same view that “ speaking is the productive, oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.” In addition, Florez (1991:1) defines speaking as “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” (cited in Bailey, 2005:2). According to Mackey (1965) “ oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning”, (cited in Bygate, 1987:5) From the above definitions, it can be concluded that speaking is the productive skill used to convey meaning.2 Importance of speaking From the teaching point of view, language skills consist of four macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Those four skills have a supportive relationship.
Of those four skills, speaking plays the most important role since it is fundamental to human communication (Ur 1996:120). It can not be denied that in our daily lives, people spend more time on speaking rather than on writing. In social contexts, speaking is particularly useful as it is key to communication. Kayi (2006) and Bygate (1987) share the same view that the learners need to have ability to speak confidently to carry their most basic transactions.
In short, because of the importance of oral skill in language teaching and learning, it is vital that speaking skill should be paid great attention to.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking - The Grammar – translation Method In the Grammar – translation Method, students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate (usually in writing) from one language to another. The main goal of this (LUAN.solutions TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.solutions 15 method has been for students to read the literature of a particular culture. This method does not really prepare students to speak English, therefore, it is not entirely appropriate for students to improve their speaking skills.