MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY VO THANH TU FACTORS FOSTERING COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS: A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE MAJORS AT TERTIARY LEVEL Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Assoc.Dr BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN VÕ THANH TÚ CÁC YẾU TỐ THÚC ĐẨY GIAO TIẾP TRONG LỚP HỌC TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH Ở CẤP BẬC ĐẠI HỌC Chuyên ngành: Lý Luận và Phƣơng Pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh Mã số: 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền i DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP The thesis entitled ―Factors Fostering Communication in English Classrooms: A Study On English Language Majors at Tertiary Level‖ is conducted under the supervision of Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, a lecturer working at Quy Nhon University. I declare that the information reported in this study is the result of my own work and effort, except where due reference is made.
The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not simultaneously submitted to any candidature for any degree or diploma. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, colleagues, friends and family, the successful completion of this study work would not have been possible. I take this chance to appreciate them for their useful advice and invaluable comments, and time.
They have always been by my side and helped me enrich my knowledge and made my master thesis graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life. First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, for her amazing supervision. Her knowledge and profession teaching-related expertise inspired me greatly during my studying at Quy Nhon University, and she opened new horizons for me in every field.
I profoundly appreciate her accommodating guidelines and suggestions, great patience, and strong management skills in helping me resolve the obstacles whenever I had difficulties in my thesis. I am very lucky to have had her support for my work. This study was made achievable by the presence of the enthusiastic students at Quy Nhon University in Quy Nhon City, who devoted their time taking part in this study. I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating assistance, encouragement and management during this phase.
I feel fortunate to know all of them. Last, but not least, I am grateful to all the support that I received from my beloved parents throughout my thesis education. iii ABSTRACT In this modern world, communication skills play a vital role and one must have mastery over these skills to get success in their respective fields. So, speaking is the most important skill among all the four language skills in order to communicate well in this global world.
However, it is a fact that there are some challenges for EFL learners when they deal with speaking skills. This study aims at identifying some factors that help students foster their communication skills. This was done by quantitative and qualitative methods with two instruments, namely questionnaire and interview. Moreover, the study also applied observation as another method to identify what activities were popularly used to enhance the learners‘ speaking abilities.
Results showed four factors that got strong agreement from participants. They are Teaching activities, Team work, Classroom environment and Intrinsic motivation. Moreover, Role-play and Group work are two activities which got positive responses. The results of this study can help instructors and researchers take into account the speaking requirements of their language students in the context of English language teaching and learning.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES. Aim and Objectives.
Aim of the Study. Objectives of the Study. Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study.
Organization of the study. Oral and Written Communication. Challenges in Oral Communication. Factors affecting oral communication.
Teacher’s and Learner’s attitudes toward English Speaking. Factors fostering communication in English classrooms. Students – Students’ interaction. Speaking activities developing communication in English classrooms 29 2.
Interviews/ Talk shows. Previous studies on the factors fostering speaking skills. The research setting and participants. Procedures for data collection.
Procedures for data analysis. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Factors fostering communication in English classrooms from Teachers‘ and Students‘ perspectives. Findings from Students’ questionnaire.
Students – Students’ interaction. Findings from Teachers’ questionnaire. Students – Students’ interaction. Findings from observation.
The overview of observation. Results of the observation. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Limitations of the study.
Suggestion for further research. 76 APPENDICES viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3. The Reliability of Students‘ questionnaire. The Reliability of Teachers‘ questionnaire.
Students‘ perception of Teaching activities. Students‘ perception of Team work. Students‘ perception of Students – Students‘ interaction. Students‘ perception of Supportive relationships.
Students‘ perception of Classroom environment. Students‘ perception of Task instruction. Students‘ perception of Feed back. Students‘ perception of Intrinsic motivation.
Teachers‘ perception of Teaching activities. Teachers‘ perception of Teamwork. Teachers‘ perception of Students – Students‘ interaction. Teachers‘ perception of Supportive relationship.
Teachers‘ perception of Classroom environment. Teachers‘ perception of Task instruction. Teachers‘ perception of Feed back. Teachers‘ perception of Intrinsic motivation.
Times using English speaking activities. Observation checklist of the first online class. Observation checklist of the second online class. Observation checklist of the third online class.
The findings from three classrooms‘ observation. INTRODUCTION The present chapter provides the rationale of the study and describes the major components of the thesis. At the beginning, the main reasons for conducting the study is presented. The aims of the thesis then are stated, and clarified by the research questions.
The chapter also discusses the scope and significance of the current study. It ends with a description of the organization of the thesis.1 Rationale In teaching, there are diversified aspects which are needed to be done to create a successful lesson/ classroom and a skillful teacher. Teaching every English skill needs many factors to carry out and involve the whole class. This study seeks to examine the factors that can contribute to students‘ willingness to communicate in English classrooms.
Communication is the key in the classroom: successful teaching is generally considered to require only 50% knowledge to 50% communication skills. Besides, an English-speaking teacher should be proficient in all four modes of communication – listening, speaking, reading, and writing – and should know how to utilize this proficiency effectively in a school environment. Being able to do this has been proven to impact the success students achieve in their academic lives, as well as the teacher‘s own career success. Teachers will also get to know more some of the strategies which can be used to enhance student‘s oral communication skills.
Speaking is a useful skill while communicating verbally. Like the other skills, it requires more than just word pronunciation and is more difficult than it first appears to be. The majority of second language learners frequently view "communicative competence," or "an appropriate ability to pass along or give knowledge, or the ability to make known by talking or writing‖ 2 (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988), as the primary aim of learning. Speaking fluency is often seen as the benchmark for language proficiency among language learners.
Fluency is defined by these students as the capacity for interpersonal communication, rather than the capacity for reading, writing, or understanding oral language. They view speaking as the most crucial ability they can learn, and they gauge their success based on how well they are able to communicate verbally. The voluntary participation of students in communication classrooms is influenced indirectly by motivation through confidence. It is shown that learners‘ belief has a direct impact on motivation and confidence.
The active communication appears to be a major predictor of language acquisition success since it is thought to be the result of a mix of proximal and distal characteristics including psychological, linguistic, pedagogical, and communicative components of language (Mystkowska- Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2014). In order for a teaching setting to be effective, meaningful interactions are required. There are three main routes of communication in the classroom: teacher to student, student to student, and student to instructor. As the teacher creates his/her syllabus and organizes classroom activities, be careful to define the teacher‘s expectations for how students should interact with each channel on a regular basis.
Numerous research initiatives have concentrated on the variables that help or impede communication in the target language. For instance, Kang (2005) researched the factors developing willingness to communicate of Korean students and found that characteristics including security, excitement, and responsibility may contribute to situational second-language speaking skills. In a different study, Cao and Philp (2006) contrasted subjects' self- reported interaction decisions and willingness to communicate behavior in an L2 classroom setting. They found that a variety of variables, including familiarity with the issue, familiarity with the interlocutor, interaction 3 patterns, self-confidence, communication medium, and cultural background, all have an impact on the active communication.
A large-scale investigation of factors fostering the willingness to communicate in English-as-a-foreign- language (EFL) classes is the focus of this research. Using structural equation modeling, a model including willingness to communicate in English, communication confidence, motivation, learner beliefs, and classroom environment was assessed. Exploratory factor analyses on a dataset obtained in a pilot project and confirmatory factor analyses in the full research were used to validate the measures. The idea to carry out this study was not only from the importance of this skill as stated in the literature but also originated from the writer‘s experience.
It was interesting to find out that it is totally different when teaching communication for young learners and students at university. There were numerous researchers who researched about this field but with children such as David K. Dickinson, (2011) or Jennifer J. The kids are easy to get involved in the lesson‘s activities and they are always ready to talk or answer any questions without being afraid of anything.
In contrast, studies that related to this issue but at the tertiary level are rare. Students at university seem to lack the confidence to speak up in the communication classroom and I recognize that this aspect is needed to be done. The shyness usually happens with older students since they find it challenging to communicate in English. Hence, encouraging college students to communicate, participating in classroom activities during communication English class and motivating, engaging students in classroom practices or activities are Herculean tasks for English teachers at the tertiary level, because students do not value English as a subject or recognize the necessity of having confidence in communicating in English.
As a result of the importance of understanding the factors affecting 4 communication skills and the writer‘s experience, the study of these factors fostering communication skills of English tertiary students was chosen, aiming at exploring these factors and some activities to help boost these skills. Aim and Objectives 1. Aim of the Study This study is aimed at investigating what the teachers and students at tertiary level perceived as important factors when developing and fostering oral communicative skills. Objectives of the Study In order to achieve this aim, the researcher tried to fulfill the following objectives: - To explore factors that are essential for developing and fostering oral communication in English classes at Quy Nhon University from teachers‘ and students‘ perspectives.
- To identify speaking activities that teachers of English use in speaking classes to develop students‘ oral communication skills 1. Research Questions In order to achieve the above aim and objectives, the researcher collected data and analyze it in order to answer the following questions: 1. What factors are essential for developing and fostering oral communication in English classes at Quy Nhon University from teachers‘ and students‘ perspectives? 2.
