Vietnam national university, hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate studies TRẦN THỊ LAN ANH CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL WITH THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE 10 (BASIC STREAM) AT XUAN HOA HIGH SCHOOL, VINH PHUC PROVINCE AND SOME SOLUTIONS (Những Khó Khăn Trong Việc Dạy Và Học Kỹ Năng Nói Theo Sách Giáo KhoaTiếng Anh Lớp 10 Mới Tại Trường THPT Xuân Hòa, Tỉnh Vĩnh PhúcVà Một Số Giải Pháp) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Do Ba Quy, MEd Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Vietnam national university, hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate studies TRẦN THỊ LAN ANH CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL WITH THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK FOR GRADE 10 (BASIC STREAM) AT XUAN HOA HIGH SCHOOL, VINH PHUC PROVINCE AND SOME SOLUTIONS (Những Khó Khăn Trong Việc Dạy Và Học Kỹ Năng Nói Theo Sách Giáo Khoa Tiếng Anh Lớp 10 Mới Tại Trường THPT Xuân Hòa, Tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc Và Một Số Giải Pháp) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: Teachers’ qualifications Table 2: Teachers’ opinions to the speaking sections of the new textbook for grade 10 Table 3: Teachers’ difficulties when teaching speaking skill with the new textbook Table 4: Teachers’ solutions to improve the speaking lessons Table 5: Teachers’ suggested solutions to improve the speaking lesson Table 6: Students’ opinions towards the speaking tasks of the new textbook Table 7: Students’ difficulties when learning English speaking skill Table 8: Students’ solutions to improve their speaking skill Table 9: Students’ suggested solutions to improve their speaking skill Chart 1: Students’ background Chart 2: Students’ time for English at home Chart 3: Students’ opinions towards speaking skill LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 1. CLT: Communicative Language Teaching 2.S: United States LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration………………………………………………………………………………….i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….iii List of tables and charts ………………………………………………………………….
iv List of abbreviations………………………………………………………………………. v Table of contents……………………………………………………………………………vi PART I: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………. Rationale of the study…………………………………………………………… 1 2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………………….
Method and procedure of the research………………………………………… 2 4. Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………2 5. Organization of the paper………………………………………………………. 2 PART II: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………….3 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND……………………………………….
Theoretical background of speaking …………………………………………. Definitions of speaking………………………………………………. The nature of speaking………………………………………………… 3 1. Aspects of Speaking…………………………………………………… 5 1.
Theoretical background of learning and teaching speaking skill…………… 7 1. Definition of teaching and learning……………………………………. Communicative Language Teaching Approach ………………………. Communicative Competence – The desired goal of CLT…………….10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
The necessity of teaching and learning ………………………………. 11 speaking skill in a communicative class 1. Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill ……………………. The teaching and learning situation in Xuan Hoa High School…………….
The New English Textbook for Grade 10……………………………………. The overall design of the textbook……………………………………. The general features of the new textbook ……………………………. Description of the Speaking Section ………………………………….
Description of the study…………………………………………………………17 2. Kind of the research…………………………………………………. The research questions………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS.
Results of the survey questionnaires……………………. Questionnaire for teachers: …………………………………. Questionnaire for students: …………………………………. Results of the interviews………………………………………………27 3.
30 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Difficulties from teachers …………………………………. 30 Teachers’ insufficient communicative competence………….30 Teachers’ lack of training……………………………………. Difficulties from Students:………………………………….
31 Learners’ level of English …………………………………….31 Learners’ traditional features…………………………………31 Mother tongue use…………………………………………….32 Limited exposure to the target language……………………. The constraints brought by the innovations ………………… 33 on the curriculum and teaching method. The testing system……………………………………………34 3. Lack of English teachers.
Lack of teaching and learning facilities………………………35 3. Teachers’ and students’ solutions ………………………………….35 Careful planning for the speaking section…………………….35 Testing students’ communicative competence……………….35 Organizing English speaking clubs………………………. Students’ solutions……………………………………………36 Self – study…………………………………………………….36 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ix Taking extra courses………………………………………….36 Practising speaking to friends……………………………….36 Participating in English speaking clubs………………………36 CHAPTER 4: PEDAGOGICAL RECOMMENDATIONS:……………………………. Pedagogical suggestions for subjective problems …………………………….
A careful plan of the speaking lesson…………………………………. Various ways of testing speaking skill…………………………………. The teacher’s self-improvement of speaking skill……………………. The change in students’ speaking habits ……………………………….
Pedagogical suggestions for objective problems………………………………40 PART III: CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………. Recommendations for further study………………………………………………….I Appendix 2……………………………………………………………………………………IV Appendix 3………………… …………………………………………………………….VIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Language education, especially foreign language teaching and learning, is a compulsory part in every country. With the development of the market economy and the globalization trend, learning foreign languages has become not only an interest but also a great demand for most people in Vietnam.
Since 2006, the Ministry of Education and training prescribed a new series of English textbooks for all grades and school types from grade 6 through to grade 10. According to the authors, the new textbooks are theme-based and skill-based, with the adoption of the two currently popular teaching approaches, i. the learner-centered approach and the communicative approach. A focus is on task-based teaching as the leading methodology.
Within the task-based framework of the new textbook series, students are expected to engage with each other in meaningful interaction and negotiation of meaning within a specific context. The curriculum innovations have brought a total change to the reality of teaching and learning foreign language in Vietnam. In fact, most high-school students have at least four years of learning with the new curriculum at secondary school which has been put in to use since 2002, so they do not find the new textbook unfamiliar. Before the approval and institutionalization of the new textbooks, the teachers have been prepared for the new methods of teaching and learning.
Therefore, they have thorough understanding about the nature of the new textbooks. However, both the teachers and learners face a lot of challenges in the process of working with the new English textbooks. It seems that they do not fulfill the requirements of the new textbooks at all. Of the four language skills, speaking is becoming the primary skill given to the students.
Introducing this vital skill, the teachers of Vietnamese schools in general and in Xuan Hoa high school in particular have encountered plenty of difficulties. The first-year high school students are also confused when learning this language skill. Hence, the author wishes to understand more about this situation by conducting the study entitled “Challenges in teaching and learning speaking skill with the new textbook for grade 10 at Xuan Hoa high school, Vinh Phuc province and some solutions”. With this study, the writer looks into the problems for both the teachers and the students and suggests some solutions to those problems.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims of the study This research mainly aims at clarifying the challenges in teaching and learning speaking skill with the new textbook for grade 10 at Xuan Hoa high school, Vinh Phuc province. The author investigates the teachers‟ and learners‟ attitudes towards speaking skill and then put the focus on the current difficulties in the application of the new textbook. The causes of their difficulties are also examined so that the solutions to those problems can be given.
Method and procedure of the research The data of this paper was collected through the survey questionnaires and interviews. First, the author carried out the survey questionnaires to find out the attitudes towards the teaching and learning of speaking skill with the new textbook and the difficulties of the teachers and students in using the new textbook. Then the interviews with teachers and students were conducted to clarify aspects which were inadequate and vague in the survey questionnaires. Scope of the study This research mainly covers the problems with the speaking skill that teachers and learners have in the process of using the new textbook for grade 10.
These problems were discussed thoroughly in order to discover the causes and to offer the best solutions. The subjects of the study are limited to the teachers and students at Xuan Hoa High School – Vinh Phuc province. Organization of the paper The study includes 5 parts: Part 1- Introduction presents the rationale, aims, method, scope and organization of the study. Part II consists of 3 chapters: Chapter 1- Literature review gives the theoretical background of speaking skill.
Chapter 2 - Methodology includes the description of Xuan Hoa high school context, the new English textbook and the study (the instruments, the participants and the research questions). Chapter 3- Data analysis and findings describes the data of the questionnaires and interviews, then gives some findings through the data analysis. Chapter 4 – Pedagogical Recommendations suggests some solutions to the current problems. Part III - Conclusion focuses on the conclusions of the thesis, some limitations and recommendations for further study.
LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Speaking is the vital skill of everyday communication. Speaking skill and teaching speaking skill have received much attention from linguists all over the world. This chapter will clarify the nature of speaking skill and popular ideas about teaching and learning this important skill. Theoretical background of speaking 1.
Definition of speaking Speaking is the productive skill in oral mode. It is, like the other skills, more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing the words. The nature of speaking. It is obvious that speaking is the key to communication and seems to be the vital skill in comparison with reading, listening and writing.
Everywhere people speak to each other to exchange attitudes, cultural values, etc. Without it communication will become difficult to proceed and our world will become as silent as a grave. Therefore, classroom activities aiming at developing learners‟ ability to express themselves through speech are considered an important component in a language course. Thus oral English becomes an essential part of the senior – secondary school curriculum.
There have been many scholars discussing the nature of speaking. To Brown (1994), Burn and Joyce, (1997), Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information; Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking; It is often spontaneous, open ended and evolving. However, speaking is not always unpredictable. Language functions that tend to recur in certain discourse situations (declining an invitation, requesting time) can be identified and charted.
For example, when a salesman asks, “May I help you?”, the expected discourse sequence include a statement of need , response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgements of appreciation, and a leave – taking exchange. Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language, such as grammar, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 pronunciation or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). According to Byrne (1976: 8), speaking is a two - way process between the speakers and the hearers involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding. Both the listener and the speaker have a positive function to perform.
The speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message. The message itself in normal speech usually contains a great deal of information that the listener needs. It is perfectly true that speaking is active, or productive, and makes use of aural medium. An act of speaking is commonly performed in face - to - face interaction.
The act of speaking involves not only the production of sounds but also the use of gestures, the movements of the muscles and the face. Spoken language consists of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciations.