MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------------------- HUYNH VAN HUU AN INVESTIGATION INTO PROBLEMS FACED BY GRADE 12TH STUDENTS IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS: A CASE STUDY OF TAN PHUOC HIGH SCHOOL, TIEN GIANG PROVINCE MA THESIS IN EDUCATION HUE, 2013 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ----------------------------- HUYNH VAN HUU AN INVESTIGATION INTO PROBLEMS FACED BY GRADE 12TH STUDENTS IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS: A CASE STUDY OF TAN PHUOC HIGH SCHOOL, TIEN GIANG PROVINCE FIELD OF STUDY: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.10 MA THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: TRUONG BACH LE, D. HUE, 2013 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------------------- HUỲNH VĂN HỮU ĐIỀU TRA NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ HỌC SINH LỚP 12 GẶP PHẢI KHI HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH: NGHIÊN CỨU THỰC TRẠNG Ở TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG TÂN PHƯỚC, TỈNH TIỀN GIANG CHUYÊN NGÀNH: LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY - HỌC MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.10 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ GIÁO DỤC HỌC NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TRƯƠNG BẠCH LÊ HUẾ, 2013 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates, and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Huỳnh Văn Hữu iii ABSTRACT This thesis aims to investigate into factors, especially ones relating to students themselves, causing problems at Tan Phuoc High school face in English speaking class and affecting their English speaking performance. The data were collected by means of questionnaires, in-depth interviews and observation. One hundred and twenty copies of questionnaires were delivered and returned, and interviews were conducted with ten teachers and twenty 12th grade students. Observations were also made of the feedback sessions conducted among the observers.
The findings show that most 12th grade students at Tan Phuoc High school, Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province met many problems in learning speaking skills. Students realized that it is difficult to speaking English. There are many causes such as lack of time, difficulties in expressing their ideas, shyness, fear of speaking English in front of the class, lack of vocabulary and grammar knowledge, etc. Suggestions and implications for pedagogical practice and for further research were then made.
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of choosing and writing the thesis, I was fortunate to receive invaluable assistance and support. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Doctor Truong Bach Le, for his careful instructions through the course, great advice, and especially his invaluable documents, experienced suggestions and comments without which this thesis could not have been fulfilled. I would like to show my heartfelt gratitude to Doctor Truong Vien, Doctor Pham Hoa Hiep, Doctor Tran Van Phuoc, and Doctor Le Pham Hoai Huong, Doctor Ton Nu Nhu Huong, and Doctor Pham Thi Hong Nhung for their instructions, counseling, and materials which are of great values to this thesis. My special thanks go to all the teachers at Hue College of Foreign Languages for their lectures as well as their suggestions and knowledge that inspire me during the time of writing.
I also wish to extend my thanks to the principals, the teachers of English, and the students at Tan Phuoc high school, Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province, for their completions on the surveys, their participation in the interviews and their allowance for class observations without which information for this research could not be obtained. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE………………………………….i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. v TABLE OF CONTENT. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
ix LIST OF TABLES. x LIST OF CHARTS. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………. Rationale for the study.1 What is communication competence in language teaching? .2 Definition of CLT .2 What is conversation? .2 Characteristics of the conversation in English textbook 12 .3 Overview of speaking skill .1 Definition of speaking skill .2 Elements of speaking skill.
Teaching speaking skill. Methods of teaching speaking skill. Stages of a speaking lesson. Reasons to teach speaking skill at high school level.
Importance of group work in English classes .6 Roles of feedback in language classrooms .7 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity.4 Factors affecting students‘ English speaking performance .4 Nothing to say .5 Low uneven participation .6 Mother tongue use. Studies proposing activities used to improve students‘ English speaking performance .3 Games in teaching English. 27 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .1 Problems encountered by students in their speaking classrooms .1 Student‘s opinions about speaking in English .2 Problems students have in their speaking classrooms .2 Factors leading to problems students have in their English speaking class and affecting their English speaking performance .3 Factors relating to students themselves .1 Low language proficiency .2 Students‘ difficulties in English speaking performance with low English language proficiency .5 Poor topical knowledge. 51 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ANDIMPLICATIONS………………….2 For school administrators .3 Limitations of the study .4 Suggestions for further research .76 Appendix 1 Interview Questions for the teachers ………………….76 Appendix 2 Questionnaire for the students …………………………….……77 Appendix 3 Interview Questions for the students ……………….…………85 Appendix 4 Classroom Observation Form ……………………………………89 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching EFL : English as a Foreign Language ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Students‘ problems in learning speaking skills Table 4.2: Factors affecting students‘ English speaking performance Table 4.3: Students‘ difficulties in English speaking performance x LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Students‘ English ability Chart 4.2: Students‘ feeling of learning speaking in English Chart 4.3: Students‘ opinions on the importance of speaking in English Chart 4.4: Students‘ opinions about the role of English language proficiency on students‘ English speaking proficiency Chart 4.5: Students‘ perspectives of influence of inhibition on their English speaking performance Chart 4.6: Students‘ perspectives of influence of topical knowledge on their English speaking performance xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study Nowadays everyone knows the importance of English language in the world, the importance of English language in our daily life. Whenever we wish to travel someplace, we have to communicate. If we don't know the language of the country where we intend to go, just try speaking English and we would be understood right away. Now imagine ourselves traveling to a country, and we do not know how to speak English.
The encounter with a foreigner would be a disaster if we do not know how to explain or ask questions in English. In effect, if we have already learned English, talking to a foreigner would prove to be an easy time. People also need to learn English, especially if they will be working at firms or other companies where English is the medium of communication. Instructions would be clearly understood, and therefore the room for error is minimized.
At the same time, a person who would try to explain himself to his boss and co-employees would be clearly understood if he could construct his ideas into a single coherent thought. This can only be achieved by learning English seriously. For those people who are in the process of looking for a job, a mastery of the English language would put them at a higher leverage compared to those who do not. Considering that communication is an essential component in a workplace, persons who are able to communicate well using the English language would always have an advantage over others.
In Vietnam, from elementary to college level, most of the schools include English as one of their major subjects. Many students liken being able to speak a language to knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, "success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." 1 Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be. Just think of all the different conversations we have in one day and compare that with how much written communication we do in one day.
Which do we do more of? In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. Do we think this is a good balance? If the goal of our language course is truly to enable our students to communicate in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practised in the language classroom. 12th grade students in Tan Phuoc High school, Tien Giang, a far-off school and where I used to teach, cannot speak English in class although they have been learning English for seven years. They always say English is important to them to communicate with foreigners, explore the Internet and find a good job later, etc.
The problem is that they are afraid of studying this subject because of their lacking of English background. There are many students getting good marks in writing tests but they failed in oral tests. As a remote high school, the facilities are poor. Classrooms are equipped chiefly with a board and chalk.
Students are assessed based on a written test of reading and writing skills only. The examination content mainly tests the ability to remember grammar rules rather language use. So, listening and speaking skills are the less important in teaching and learning. It takes teachers and students so much time to develop reading and writing skills to get good results in final exams.
Practising speaking in class seems to disappear in teaching 2 and learning activities. As a result, students at Tan Phuoc High school cannot speak English in class. Textbooks are also the cause. Although the textbooks cover four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing, students are not self-confident with the speaking skill.
The conversations in the textbook are too difficult for students to apply in daily conversations. Furthermore, the speaking tasks provided in the English textbook do not involve interaction between learners. Teachers‘ behaviors in teaching affect directly students‘ behaviors in learning. Working in remote areas with difficult living conditions, they hardly use English in class.
The purpose which both teachers and students want to reach is that the good result in the final exam is needed. Gradually, speaking activities in the class are not important any more. The above reasons have aroused my interest and encouraged me to carry out this study ―An Investigation Into Problems Faced By 12th Grade students In Learning Speaking Skills: A Case Study Of Tan Phuoc High School, Tien Giang Province‖ with the hope that information obtained from this study may help English teachers in remote areas, especially those at Tan Phuoc High school in Tien Giang province, adjust their work in classroom. Research purposes With the reasons mentioned above, the special aims of the study are: To investigate the reality of teaching and learning speaking of 12th grade students at Tan Phuoc High school.
To provide some solutions to help 12th grade students at Tan Phuoc High school improve their speaking skills in their classes. Objectives of the research To achieve the purposes of study I try to make clear the following objectives: 3 - To find the problems learners get in their English speaking class. - To investigate into factors, especially ones relating to students themselves, causing problems at Tan Phuoc High school faced in English speaking class and affecting their English speaking performance. - To suggest solutions to the problems under investigation.