HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------------------------------- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS IN THE DISCUSSION IN SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO HIỆU QUẢ THẢO LUẬN TRONG KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Nguyen Nang Tuan, MA. Student: Mai Thi Ngat Student number: 11317127 Hung Yen – 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --------------------------------------- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS A STUDY ON IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS IN THE DISCUSSION IN SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO HIỆU QUẢ THẢO LUẬN TRONG KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KĨ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Student: Mai Thi Ngat Student number: 11317127 Supervisor: Nguyen Nang Tuan, MA. (Ký tên) Hung Yen – 2021 i DECLERATION I certify my authorship of the study report entitle “Improving the effectiveness in the discussion in speaking skill for the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education”. This graduation paper is the result of my own work and effort, and that it has not been submitted anywhere for any award.
Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged. Hai Duong, June, 2021 Signature ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many people for giving their sincere help to me in doing my graduation paper. First of all, I would like to express my deepest attitude to my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Nang Tuan for his valuable guidance, critical feedback, and enormous encouragement.
Without his incessant support, this research cannot come to this successful closing stage. Secondly, I am grateful to all lectures in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education for their valuable teaching and assistance during my study at the University. Thirdly, I would like to express my thanks to all my classmates who were willing to help me in sharing materials and ideas when this thesis in worked on. Besides, my sincere thanks also go to all my teachers and the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, for their assistance during the process of data collection.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, my friends who gave me support and encouraged during the time the study was carried out. iii ABSTRACT This study deals with improving the effectiveness in the discussion in the speaking skill for the second-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. The study gives a systematic presentation the key theories related to discussion in the speaking class. Communicative approach to language teaching and co-operation in language learning are given in the study to prove that discussion is very important.
The definition, the formation and the role of the teachers and learners in discussion are also mentioned. A survey on the use of discussion activities in English speaking skill at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education are also conducted in the process of doing this study. Therefore, the data analysis as well as the interpretation of the results obtained from the questionnaires is also given. Last but not least, the study gives some suggestions for using discussion activities to develop students‟ speaking ability at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLERATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATION. vi LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES.
vii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.1 Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of study. Methods of study .Design of the study.
3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Teaching speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching. Teaching speaking skill. Types of classroom speaking performance.
Common problems during speaking activities. Discussion in speaking class. The concepts of discussion. The formation of discussion.
The role of teachers in discussion. The role of learners in discussion. The advantages and disadvantages of using discussion in the speaking class. 9 CHAPTER III: THE STUDY.
Background of the study. The physical setting. Participants of the study. Data collection instrument.
Procedure of data collection .1 Questionnaires for students. Questionnaires for teachers. Finding and discussions. Students and teachers‟ opinions and the current situation of discussion in the speaking class of the second year English major students.
The difficulties of students and teachers from using discussion in speaking class of the second year English major students. Suggestion for steps when making discussion in speaking classroom. 36 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION. Summary of the findings.
Limitation of the study. Suggestions for further study. I APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. I APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TEACHERS.
IV vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION 1. UTEHY: Hung Yen University of Technology and Education 2. CLT: Communicative Language Teaching 3. CLL: Cooperative Language Learning 4.
GD: Group Discussion 5. FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages 6. MA: Master of Arts vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES LIST OF CHARTS Chart 3.1: Students‟ thinking about the importance of English speaking skill .2: Students‟ interest in English speaking skill .3: The chances to speak that the teachers give students in speaking class .4: Students‟ assessment for the teachers‟ frequent use of discussion.5: Student‟ appreciation of their participation in discussion .6: Students‟ assessment of the difficulties when discussing in speaking class .7: The most suitable number of members in a group for discussion .8: Teachers‟ attitudes toward teaching speaking skill .9: Teachers‟ evaluations of success with teaching speaking skills .10: Teachers‟ opinions on the importance of discussion .11: The ways which teachers prepare for discussion.12: The stages which teachers often use for class management of discussion.13: Teachers‟ opinions on difficulties in carry out discussion in speaking class.14: Teacher‟s solutions to overcome their difficulties. 31 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: The reason why students choose to learn speaking skill .2: Students‟ opinions on practicing English speaking skill in class .3: The factors cause the difficulties .4: Students‟ favorite kind of partners in discussion.5: The kind of activities which students want to do in speaking class .6: Students‟ desire for the better discussion .7: The benefits of discussion in speaking class .8: The teacher‟s uses of discussion in their speaking class .9: The obstacles of teachers .10: Teachers‟ desire to make their students interested in discussion activities .1 Rationale of the study Currently, English plays an important role because it has become an international language and is used as the official language in all fields such as aviation service, commerce, science and technology, etc.
Because of its globalization, English has become the crucial medium in communication. In Vietnam, English has been used more and more widely. Thus, people tend to pay more attention to learn English. As a result, English is a compulsory subject at schools and colleges, and the number of ordinary people learning English nowadays is on the rise.
Moreover, it would be pointless to talk about the importance of English teaching and learning if we ignore the relation between language and communication. Language is a means of communication and it is “never used for its own sake, but always for the sake of achieving an objective, or to perform a function, to persuade, inform, inquire, threaten. Therefore, the goals of English language teaching are not only to help the students to learn that language, but more importantly, to use that language. To keep pace with the demand of English usage in our society, Faculty of Foreign Languages was established by the headmaster of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education (UTEHY) in December 2007.
However, because of the new establishment, it still exists many limitations in the methods of teaching and learning English, especially in English speaking skills. Many English-speaking students find it challenging when talking to, not to mention communicating successfully with native speakers. In order to help the second year English major students, become good communicators of English, using discussion activities in English speaking skill is one of the most effective ways. These activities can create more chances for students to communicate with one another in the medium of English These above reasons have given the author the idea to conduct a study entitled: “Improve the effectiveness in the discussion in the speaking skill for the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education”.
This study is intended to make a modest contribution to an increased understanding of using discussion in the speaking lesson at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. Aims of the study This study is aimed at investigating the reality of the use of discussion in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. To be specific, the aims of the study are: - To clarify of the importance of discussion in developing speaking skill. - To clarify how discussion is used in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education.
- To find the factors that causes the difficulties for the teachers in their application of discussion in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. - To recommend practical suggestions for the possibility of discussion in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education. Research questions This study is implemented to find answer to the following research questions: 1. What are the opinions of teachers and the second year English major students on speaking skill? 2.
How discussion is used in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education? 3. What are the difficulties from using discussion in the speaking class of Hung Yen University of Technology and Education? 4. What recommendations for improvement are needed to make discussion successful in speaking class of the second year students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education? 1. Scope of study To improve the effectiveness in the discussion in speaking skill of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, the researcher intends to investigate the current situation of using discussion in the speaking class of the second year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education and then making some suggestion for improving it.
Methods of study In order to examine the situation of the study, this research used quantitative method including questionnaires for teachers and students. The data collected from the questionnaire for both students and teachers will be analyzed and generalized. Design of the study The study has four chapters which conclude introduction, literature review, the study and conclusion. Chapter 1: Introduction: States the rationale, the aims, research questions, the methods and the design of the study Chapter 2: Literature review: This chapter reviews the literature on some concepts, characteristics as well as teacher‟s roles in communicative language teaching.
Chapter 3: The study: Methodology, data analysis, findings and discussion, recommendations. Chapter 4: Conclusion: Summarize of the study as well as limitation of it. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW This study investigates the process of discussion implementation in speaking lesson. It aims at finding out how discussion is organized in speaking lesson of the second year English major students at UTEHY.
It also aims to find out the strategies that teachers use to motivate and foster students‟ use of English in discussion. The study also aims to find out the difficulties that teachers and students encounter while implementing discussion.
