VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* VŨ THỊ THUỲ A STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS FACED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT NHI CHIEU UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, IN KINH MON DISTRICT, HAI DUONG PROVINCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL AND SOLUTIONS. (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG T.T NHỊ CHIỂU, HUYỆN HINH MÔN, TỈNH HẢI DƯƠNG TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CÙNG BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************* VŨ THỊ THUỲ A STUDY ON THE PROBLEMS FACED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS AT NHI CHIEU UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL, IN KINH MON DISTRICT, HAI DUONG PROVINCE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL AND SOLUTIONS. (NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG T.T NHỊ CHIỂU, HUYỆN HINH MÔN, TỈNH HẢI DƯƠNG TRONG VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CÙNG BIỆN PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC) M.
MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Văn Độ HANOI - 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I hereby state that I, Vu Thi Thuy, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts (TEFL), accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of M.A Thesis deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the thesis. Hanoi, October 2014 Vũ Thị Thuỳ i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Prof.
Nguyen Van Do, my supervisor, for thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable suggestions, various sources of reference and precious corrections on my writing. Furthermore, I am grateful to his close guidance and generous help, which have been great encouragement to me during the process of writing up the thesis. I, hereby, would like to express my sincere thanks to lecturers of Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lessons and suggestions, which aroused the thesis for this study to be realized. I also owe my sincere thanks to teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary who have enthusiastically participated in my study.
Finally, my heart-felt thanks go to my beloved family who have encouraged and supported me in every stage of this study. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Speaking is considered one of the most important skills which language learners should master. During the process of acquiring English language in the light of communicative approach, speaking English fluently, accurately and naturally seems to be the most challenging and difficult for teachers and learners at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school. The present study primarily investigated the difficulties of teaching and learning English speaking skills at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school.
Data was collected via survey questionnaire for 100 school pupils and for 5 teachers of English. The findings revealed that both teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school are facing the problems in teaching and learning speaking skills. From the findings, some suggestions were given with the hope that they might be a reliable source of reference for teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary school to improve their teaching skills. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF CHARTS, TABLES.vi PART I: INTRODUCTION.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the study. 2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT.
4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Some major trends and approaches of language teaching. Nature of language skills and oral communication. Types of speaking skills.
Characteristics of speaking. Teaching and learning English speaking skills. The role and status of speaking in language teaching and learning. Stages of teaching and learning English speaking skills.
14 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Method of the study. Data collection procedures. 23 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire. data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire. 32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS .1 Difficulties of teachers. Difficulties of students.
Providing more intersting topic to encourage students’ participation. Building a habit of speaking English for students in the class. Equipping teaching facilities. 46 PART III: CONCLUSION.
Limitations and suggestions for further research .I v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Difficulties of teachers. 42 Chart 2: Difficulties of students. 43 Chart 3: Typical causes of the problems. 44 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Description of teachers’ experience in teaching English.
24 Table 2: Teachers’ attitudes towards speaking skills. 24 Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background. Teachers’ perception of CLT. Number of teachers applying CLT in teaching speaking skills.
Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skills. Teachers’ attitudes towards reluctant speakers. Techniques to minimize the difficulties. Methods applied in teaching speaking.
Students’ reasons for learning English. Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills. Students’ opinions on speaking topics. Factors that make students reluctant to speak.
Teachers’ reaction to students’ mistakes. Students’ opportunities to speak English outside classroom. Teachers’ current techniques to encourage students to speak. 40 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Rationale of the study Nowadays it is not daring to say that the ability to speak at least one foreign language is a necessity. “Language is arguably the defining characteristic of the human species and knowledge of language in general, as well as ability to use one’s first and, at least one other language, should be one of the defining characteristics of the educated individual” (Nunan, 1999: 71). Learning English is becoming a need that most students are aware of and that the society demands, especially in the process of industrialization and modernization in connection to the open door policy of Viet Nam. We are living in the time of immense technological inventions where communication among people has expanded way beyond their local speech communities.
Therefore learning a second language has become a means of keeping up with the pace of the rapidly changing world. Speaking seems to be the most important skill that should be paid attention to in the process of teaching and learning. It is true for the students at Nhi Chieu High School where learners are future citizens who learn English in order to be able to communicate with the foreigners and to work as a good worker or staff. But in fact there are a large number of students who find it difficult to speak in English.
When most of the students are required to talk in English, they often stand speechless or they have to think for a long time about what they intend to say This has given me the desire to conduct “A study on the problems faced by teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School in Kinh Mon district, Hai Duong province in teaching and learning English speaking skills and solutions”. Aims of the study The study is conducted to find out the most typical difficulties faced by teachers and students at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School in teaching and learning English speaking skills and some recommendations including coping 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com strategies and classroom techniques and activities for them to minimize those difficulties. Specifically, this research tries to investigate the potential sources causing the difficulties in teaching the skill of speaking and simultaneously identify the specific problems of those sources respectively. Furthermore, some recommendations are made with the anticipation of helping English Language teachers improve the quality of their teaching the speaking skill.
Research questions The above aims can be realized through the following research questions: 1. What are the difficulties of the teachers and students in teaching and learning English speaking skills at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School? 2. What are the most typical causes of these problems? 3. What should be done to help teachers and students at Nhi Chieu upper Secondary School to overcome the problems? 4.
Scope of the study Though problems in teaching speaking exist in the four macro-skills, the researcher has chosen to focus on difficulties in teaching speaking skill to students at for the fact that mastering speaking is so central to language learning that when we refer to speaking a language, we often mean knowing a language. In addition, some recommendations for the teachers of English at the school to decrease those difficulties are also proposed. The study of difficulties, recommendations of other skills to ameliorate the quality of teaching English skills would be beyond the scope of the study. Also, due to the researcher’s limited ability, time constraints and narrow-scaled study, this study only involves the students and five teachers of English at Nhi Chieu Upper Secondary School.
Design of the study The study consists of three parts: 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Introduction (presents basic information such as : the rationale , the aims, the research questions, the scope of the study. Conclusion - Summarize the key issues - Limitation 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART II. Language teaching in general and English language teaching in particular have undergone a process of development for many centuries.
And over the centuries, this process has seen many changes as a result of various influences. The evolution of second and foreign language teaching from the history until now has marked so many ‘rise and fall’ of language theories proposed by researchers, theorists and language teaching professionals. Those are continuous attempts to renew language teaching. Within the framework of this thesis, it is difficult to cover all aspects as well as detailed theories during the history of language teaching.
However, some major approaches and methods will be overviewed in the following part. But first, some terms in language teaching should be clarified. Some major trends and approaches of language teaching The Grammar Translation Method is considered as the oldest method of teaching foreign language. Its focus was on grammatical rules, the memorization of vocabulary and of various declensions, conjugations, translations of texts and written exercises.
Although this method is occasionally used by some language teachers today, it is often looked upon as ineffective and old fashioned by most linguistic and educational theorists because students who learn languages through this method usually lack communicative competence in the target language. The emergence and dying away of some language teaching approaches and methods have been continued over many centuries with Direct Method, Audio-Lingual Method, Situational Language Teaching, etc. And the latest method that has been come along with the trend of developing the communicative competence is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). 4 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Unlike other approaches, the primary focus of CLT is on helping learners create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation.
This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence. Despite such outstanding features, many writers such as Michael Swan (1985) and more recently Bax (2003) have critiqued CLT for paying insufficient attention to the context in which teaching and learning take place. However, in a broad sense, CLT has been still the most influenced approach and continued to be adopted worldwide.