VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* ĐOÀN HỒNG ANH A SURVEY ON THE ATTITUDES OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL TOWARDS THEIR TEACHERS’ USES OF ONLINE MATERIALS TO IMPROVE THEIR SPEAKING SKILL (NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT VỀ THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN ANH TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÕA ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC GIÁO VIÊN SỬ DỤNG NHỮNG TÀI LIỆU TRÊN INTERNET ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Hanoi, 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ************************* ĐOÀN HỒNG ANH A SURVEY ON THE ATTITUDES OF GRADE 10 ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL TOWARDS THEIR TEACHERS’ USES OF ONLINE MATERIALS TO IMPROVE THEIR SPEAKING SKILL (NGHIÊN CỨU KHẢO SÁT VỀ THÁI ĐỘ CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN ANH TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN BIÊN HÕA ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC GIÁO VIÊN SỬ DỤNG NHỮNG TÀI LIỆU TRÊN INTERNET ĐỂ NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: TÔ THỊ THU HƯƠNG, PhD Hanoi, 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I, Doan Hong Anh, hereby declare that the thesis entitled: “A survey on the attitudes of grade 10 English-major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School towards their teachers‟ uses of online materials to improve their speaking skill” is the result of my own research in the fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Moreover, this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree.
Hanam, 2016 Đoàn Hồng Anh i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my affectionate and deeply-felt gratitude to my supervisor, TO THI THU HUONG, PhD for her invaluable assistance, inspiration as well as guidance during the time I tried to accomplish this thesis. I owe my sincere thanks to all the lecturers in Postgraduate Department of University of Languages and International studies for their precious lectures and ideas. Moreover, I would like to send my thanks to the teachers and students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School for their enthusiastic cooperation in this study. Finally, I am also deeply indebted to my family who has supported me vigorously.
Their great love and encouragement have assisted me in completing this thesis. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Speaking is considered one of the most important and challenging skills which English-major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School are facing. Their ability to speak English is generally limited. Teachers at Bien Hoa Specialized High School, therefore, have selected and used a diverse source of online materials in the context of a poor provincial teaching-learning environment, in order to provide motivation and help the students to overcome their speaking difficulties and improve the skill.
The study was thus conducted with the aim of exploring the students‟ attitudes towards their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials to improve their English speaking skill. Questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection instruments of the study. The participants in the study consisted of 35 grade 10 English-major students (6 males and 29 females). The findings revealed that most of the grade 10 English-major students hold a positive attitude towards their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials to improve their English speaking skill.
From the findings, some suggestions on appropriate use of supplementary online materials were given with the hope that they might be useful for the teachers at Bien Hoa Specialized High School to improve their students‟ English speaking skill. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BHSHS: Bien Hoa Specialized High School EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as a Second Language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training CLT: Communicative Language Teaching iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES CHarts Figure 1: Students’ awareness about the importance of learning English speaking Figure 2: Students’ feeling of speaking English Figure 3: Students’ interest in learning speaking skill Figure 4: Students’ assessment of the difficulty level of speaking topics in the grade 10 pilot English textbook Figure 5: Students’ awareness of the importance of using online materials in speaking lessons Figure 6: Students’ judgements of online materials used in speaking lessons Figure 7: Students’ preference for types of online materials Figure8: Students’ preference for work arrangement in speaking lessons using online materials Figure 9: Students’ preference for speaking activities in speaking lessons using online materials Figure 10: Students’ preference for the integration of speaking with other skills (listening, writing, reading) Figure 11: Students’ comments on the effectiveness of using online materials to improve speaking skill Figure 12: Students’ improvement when online materials are used in speaking lessons Figure 13: Students’ self-evaluation of their own speaking skill after teachers use online materials in the speaking lessons Figure 14: Students’ expectation of their teachers’ use of online materials in speaking lessons Tables Table 1: Students’ perception of the advantages of online materials Table 2: Students’ perception of the disadvantages of online materials v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. iv LIST OF FIGURES. Rational of the study.
Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Methodology of the study.
Design of the study. 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW. Attitude and their roles in language learning. Definition of Speaking.
The position of speaking in English Language Teaching and Learning. Approaches in teaching and learning speaking skills. Learners‟ problems with learning English speaking. Teaching and learning materials.
Definition of Supplementary Materials. Advantages of Supplementary Materials. Criteria for selecting materials. 15 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY.
16 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. The School, the Teachers and the Students. The teachers‟ uses of online materials (taken from the Internet). Data Collection Instruments.
The data collection procedure. The data analysis procedure. 22 CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Questionnaire for students.
Students‟ attitudes towards learning English speaking skills. Students‟ attitudes towards teachers‟ uses of online materials to improve their speaking skill. Major findings of the study. Limitations and suggestions for further studies.
I APPENDIX 2: Transcription For Interview. V APPENDIX 3: A collection of online materials. VII vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rational of the study Nowadays, English is recognized as a lingua franca for communication across nations and cultures throughout the world.
In Viet Nam, to meet the demands for development and integration of the country into the world arena, over the last decades, more emphasis has been put on the teaching and learning of English language. At present, English is a compulsory subject in most schools of all levels, especially at high schools. Among the four macro language skills known as listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking skill is considered the most significant one that most learners of foreign languages need to achieve. However, in Vietnam, for many years, not much attention has been paid to developing learners‟ speaking competence in English classes and time for speaking practices is limited for many reasons.
Consequently, students have poor ability to speak English though they have been learning the language for a long time. They speak English badly even in English speaking lessons. They often lack the confidence and feel confused when they are asked to speak in English. They regularly find it difficult to express their ideas in English and even some students cannot speak anything but just keep silent during the speaking lesson.
As a teacher of English at a specialized high school, I am fully aware of the importance of English speaking skill. Moreover, I am now in charge of teaching English to grade 10 English-major students. These students have to take part in many examinations especially the ones for gifted students. Furthermore, Information Technology has become very important in recent times.
Computers are used in almost all fields of life, and the Internet has developed into a significant source of information. The Internet provides a huge quantity of online English teaching and learning resources. The easy access to computers and the Internet and the increasing number of free web-based English courses, English teaching and learning materials have supported teachers and learners in teaching and learning 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Accordingly, it is advisable that teachers who are very busy making lesson plans should take advantages of an abundant source of teaching materials on the Internet.
Furthermore, in this research context where the researcher is working, there are not enough computers linked to the internet in each classroom and students generally do not have their own computer or access to the Internet at home. Each foreign language classroom is equipped with only one computer connected to the Internet and a projector. The physical setting in this study does not qualify students for learning online courses and does not meet the requirements for using computer- mediated teaching/learning. Therefore, I, as well as other teachers who are responsible for teaching English-major students in my school, have selected and used supplementary online materials in regular classroom settings in order to improve their English speaking skill.
There has never been any pedagogical guideline to guide teachers in the effective use of online materials for teaching English in my school. We expect the use of supplementary online materials will give a valuable impact on the students' learning English speaking but students‟ attitudes towards their teachers‟ use of online materials are still unknown. All these above-mentioned reasons have motivated me to conduct a survey on the attitudes of grade 10 English- major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School (BHSHS) towards their teachers‟ uses of online materials to improve their English speaking skill. The findings could help teachers and students, not only at BHSHS but also at similar settings, to fully exploit online materials for even better teaching and learning English.
Aims of the study This study aims at: - finding out the attitudes of grade 10 English-major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School towards their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials to improve students‟ English speaking skill so that more appropriate use of online materials could be provided. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com - recommending to teachers at Bien Hoa specialized high school some pedagogical suggestions for even more effective use of supplementary online materials to improve their students‟ English speaking skill 3. What are the attitudes of grade 10 English-major students at BHSHS towards their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials to improve their English speaking skill? 2. How should teachers at BHSHS exploit online materials for even more effective teaching of English speaking skill? 4.
Significance of the study The study is conducted with the expectation that its results will be beneficial for English-major students and teachers of English at BHSHS. The study helped teachers understand more about their students‟ attitudes towards and expectations on their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials. Based on the findings, some suggestions on employing and exploiting supplementary online materials were given to the teachers to help them improve their students‟ English speaking skills. Hence, it could be a considerable contribution to the endeavor of making teaching and learning English even more effective and enjoyable at BHSHS or elsewhere with similar contexts of limited teaching and learning resources.
Scope of the study As stated above, the study was designed to find out the students‟ attitudes towards their teachers‟ uses of supplementary online materials to improve their speaking skill. Due to the author‟s limited time and experience, the study was not carried out on a large scale.