TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Sub cover page Statement of authorship. ii List of abbreviations. iii List of figures. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Structure of the thesis. Definitions of key terms. What is “speaking”?.
Elements of speaking. Types of speaking. Speaking skills and spoken English. Factors affecting English speaking abilities.
The nature of teaching speaking. What is teaching speaking?. Goals of teaching speaking in the classroom. Why teaching speaking skills?.
Principles for teaching speaking skills. Classroom techniques and tasks for speaking. Sub-skills in teaching and learning the speaking skills. Textbooks and their roles in a language program.
What is a textbook?. The roles of textbooks in the ELT classroom. Approaches in textbook design. Textbook adaptation and techniques of adaptation.
Techniques of adaptation. Overview of the textbooks New Headway Beginner and Elementary. Structure of the textbooks. The English Program for elementary level at KFLIC.
Length of the courses. Overview of learners and teachers of English at Kon Tum Foreign Language - Informatics Centre. Previous studies on teaching speaking skills and textbook adaptation. In other countries.
Data Collection Instruments. Methods of data analysis. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The textbooks as a teaching and learning tool to improve learners’ speaking skills.
Learners and teachers’ general evaluation of the textbooks New .Learners and teachers’perception of the appropriateness of the textbooks New Headway. Learners’ interest in the topics in the textbooks. Teachers’ ranking of the topics that gain learners’ interests. Learners and teachers’ evaluation of the vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar and speaking activities.
Learners and teachers’ opinions of accuracy and fluency in the New Headway. Speaking activities of the textbooks. Difficulties faced by learners and teachers when using the books. Difficulties faced by teachers.
Difficulties faced by learners when they use the textbooks. Adaptations made to the textbooks to be used more effectively at the center. Textbook adaptation techniques. Speaking activities used by teachers.
Learners’ opinion of teachers’ textbook adaptation. Reasons for teachers’ textbook adaptation. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY. Summary of the key findings.
Limitations of the study. Background According to The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) English is a compulsory subject for elementary school students from the third grade through high school. From 2010-2011, MOET expects that English will be taught to some 20 percent of third grade students, with gradual, yearly expansion. An estimated 70 percent of students will learn English in the 2015-2016 school year, reaching 100% in 2018-2019.
This is to show that English learning is very important in Vietnam. However, according to the evaluation of some employers and language educators, many school-leavers seem to be incompetent in speaking English. Nguyen Huu Tho, the Director of Saigon Tourist says: At our company, most of the applicants graduating get ‘dumb’ by fifty percent and ‘deaf’ by forty percent when being interviewed. Similarly, The Director of Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Centre in Vietnam says ‘many BA holders could not express everyday notions or perform basic communicative functions; they lack productive skills and strategies; they are unable to negotiate meaning successfully.
In short, they lack communicative competence. (cited in Pham Van Chi, 2008, p.1) According to Candlin and Edelhoff (1982, cited in Phan Van Chi, 2008, p.2), many language teaching materials used in Vietnamese schools in general are ‘authentic’ in the sense that they contain ‘authentic language, authentic tasks, and authentic focus of communication’. However, Candlin and Edehoff (1982) point out that the tasks and the topics found in the textbook are limited and proved not to meet all of the need and interests of learners. As a result, many learners have decided to take extra English courses at the language centres for the sake of improving their English communicative competence.
With this trend, many foreign language centres have chosen native textbooks and the use of authentic materials as their tool of teaching and learning English. Rationale Textbooks are one of the most important factors that have great impact on the success of a language program. According to Richards (2001), textbooks are one of the key components in most language programs. In some cases, they serve as the basis of the language input that the learners receive and the language practice occurs in the classroom.
They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught, and the kinds of language tasks students actively use. In other situations, textbooks may serve primarily to supplement the teacher's instructions. For learners, textbooks may provide a major source of contact they have with the target language. Richards (2001) adds that in the case of inexperienced teachers, textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training.
He says that textbooks provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use. In my opinion much of the language teaching that occurs throughout the world today could not take place without the extensive use of textbooks. Learning how to use and adapt textbooks is hence an important part of a teacher’s professional knowledge. In the last several years, the number of English-language teaching materials on the market has grown exponentially, addressing a variety of learner interests, skill levels, and tastes.
Among other features, these materials also vary in their linguistic design, focus, and objectives, making the choice of a textbook-an integral part of many ELT classrooms - a seemingly formidable task. Teachers or those trained to become teachers of English can look to a number of sources to help them to make more informed decisions when the evaluation of textbooks is required. In the case of Vietnam, many employers nowadays require job applicants to have an A, B or C certificate in a certain language, especially in English. In part- time education, the proficiency in English is measured by national levels: A (Elementary), B (Intermediate), and C (Advanced).
According to the Decision No. 31 of The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Foreign Language Centres (FLCs) must use the native textbooks such as Streamline English series, Headway 6 or New Headway series, Cutting Edges series or Life Lines series for teaching English in order to develop learners’ language skills. The National Syllabus for teaching English at FLCs includes 400 periods of 45 minutes for each level. The classes often take place six sessions a week.
MOET also has set clear objectives for language skills (Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing) for each level. Speaking and listening are as important as reading and writing. Speaking currently accounts for up to 10 per cent of the final total mark awarded in the final examination. It is also assessed separately by teachers in the final exam, and has equal weighting here with other skills.
The objective of speaking skills set in the Vietnam’s table of English proficiency by MOET, 2005 is that a learner can participate in simple dialogues in and outside of class and express his/her own ideas without limitation about cultural and social issues (level 3 -elementary), or can take part in dialogues and present his/her ideas about familiar topics (level 4) when he/she finishes level B (intermediate). Moreover, as a teacher at Kon Tum Foreign Language- Informatics Centre (KFLIC) for more than 10 years, I have noted that most of learners when doing the enrollment for an English course at the centre, really want to develop their speaking and listening skills. Therefore, KFLIC has chosen New Headway textbooks series in order to meet learners’ needs. However, the effects of the use of the textbooks on teaching and learning speaking skills still need to be investigated.
The writer is, therefore, urged to do the study, entitled “The Effects of the Use of New Headway Textbooks at Elementary Level on Teaching and Learning Speaking Skills at Kon Tum Foreign Language–Informatics Centre”. Research Questions The study aims to answer the following questions: 1. How effective are the books as a teaching and learning tool to improve learners’ speaking skills? 2. What are the difficulties that teachers and learners encounter when using the books? 7 3.
What adaptations can be made to the books so they can be used more effectively at the center? 1. Significance of the study Theoretically, the study hopes to contribute to the literature of the learning and teaching speaking skills and the use of textbooks. Practically, it hopes to give implications on how to use the textbooks, particularly, the series of New Headway effectively as a teaching and learning tool to improve learners’ speaking skills at KFLIC in particular and at other places where the setting is similar. Scope of the study This study focuses on the effects of the use of New Headway Beginner and Elementary textbooks on the actual teaching and learning speaking skills at KFLIC.
The study is conducted with 40 students randomly selected from classes at the elementary level and with 5 teachers who are in charge of teaching these elementary classes at KFLIC. Structure of the thesis This study consists of five chapters. Chapter one introduces general information of the research. Chapter two reviews the literature and chapter three discusses research methodology.
In chapter four, findings and discussion are presented. Chapter five gives summary of the research, implications and suggestions. 8 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Introduction First, this chapter defines and clarifies terminology related to speaking skills, teaching and learning speaking skills.
Second, it discusses the roles of textbooks in a language program and its techniques of adaptation. Third, the approaches in textbook design are presented. Next, an overview on the New Headway Beginner and Elementary textbooks, learners at elementary level and teachers at Kon Tum Foreign Language- Informatics Centre is described. Finally, an analysis and synthesis of some previous studies related to teaching and learning speaking skills and textbook evaluation are presented.
Definitions of key terms 2. What is “speaking”? Chaney (1998, cited in Pham Van Chi, 2008, p.14) explains that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non- verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts. Brown (1994), and Burn Joyce (1997, cited in Pham Van Chi, 2008, p.14) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. In fact, speaking is a crucial part of foreign language learning and teaching because its form and meaning are depended on the context in which it occurs, including participants themselves, their collective experiences, and the physical environment, and the purpose of speaking.
Moreover, Kathleen (2003, cited in Nunan, 2003, p. 48) defines that speaking is an aural/oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. According to Manser (2000, p.414, cited in Bismoko, 2009, p.4), speaking is to talk to somebody about something, use your voice to say something; be able to use a language; make a speech to an audience; or say or state something.
Elements of speaking Harmer (2001, p.269) says that the ability to speak fluently presupposes not only language features, but also the ability to process information and language “on the spot”. He points out elements necessary for speaking are the following: Language features Connected speech Effective speakers of English need to be able not only to produce the individual phonemes of English but also to use fluent “connected speech”. Expressive devices Native speakers of English change the pitch and stress of particular parts of utterances, vary volume and speed, and show how they are feeling (especially face- to-face interaction) by other physical and non-verbal (paralinguistic) means. The use of these devices contributes to the ability to convey meanings.
They allow the extra expression of emotion and intensity. Students should be able deploy at least some of such suprasegmental features and devices in the same way if they are to be fully effective communicators.