TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS Page STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS .2 Aim of the research .3 The scope of the research .4 The structure of the research. 10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 The overview of the chapter .2The significance of interaction to learning .3 The aspects of classroom interaction .2 The importance of classroom interaction in language learning .3 Types of classroom interaction .4 Forms of the oral interaction .1 Teachers- learners interaction .2 Learners-learners interaction .1 Definitions of learners- learners interaction .2 The significance of oral interaction between the learners.3 Factors influencing students‘ oral interaction .4 Related theories on communicative classroom activities.1 What are communicative activities? .1 Characteristics of communicative activities .2 Types of communicative activities .3 Oral communicative activities .2 Communicative activities for improving students‘ oral interaction .1 Cooperative learning activities (Group work and pair work) .5 Previous studies on classroom activities and oral interaction .1 Related foreign authors studies .2 Related Vietnamese authors studies .6 The nature of teaching speaking in Vietnam .2 Aims of teaching speaking .3 The state of teaching speaking English in Vietnam .3 In- depth interview. 32 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.
Students‘ attitudes to oral interaction.1 The role of English learning .2 Students‘ self-evaluation on their English language. Student‘s view on oral interaction.1 The effect of raising oral interaction. Oral interaction in relation to language skills. The state of oral interaction in HUEFL speaking class.
Communicative classroom activities used in speaking classes .1 Current communicative classroom activities. Organizing communicative classroom activities.1 Organizing a speaking class .3 The role of English speaking teachers in a classroom activity .1 Teachers‘ actions in group time .2 Teachers‘ actions to encourage students. Teachers and students view these communicative activities in terms of effectiveness.1 General advantages of these activities about increasing oral interaction .2 The positivity of group learning .1 Teachers’ evaluation on students’ oral interaction skill. Teachers’ general views on current classroom activities .5 Improving current communicative activities .1 Students‘ feelings on improving current activities.1 An evaluation on level of difficulty of given communicative activities .2 The necessity of developing given activities and adding new activities.2 Teachers‘ feelings on improving classroom activities .1 Teachers’ evaluation on the level of difficulty of given activities .1 The necessity of new activities.3 Teachers and students‘ suggestions for improving the communicative activities.
Conclusion of the finding chapter. 58 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .2 The main findings .3 Implications and suggestions .3 For policy- makers.4 Limitations of the study .5 Recommendations for the future research. vii 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: Students' interest in language skills .2: Oral interaction in relation to language skills .3: Current activities used in speaking class (HUEFL) .4: Observation on classroom activities .5: Teachers‘ action for encouraging students learning .6: General advantages of classroom activities on oral interaction.7: The positivity of group learning. 47 5 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Students' self evaluation on their speaking .2: The necessity of interaction .3: Students‘ interaction habits .4: The state of first year students‘ oral interaction .5: Organizing a speaking class .8: The level of difficulty.9: Students feeling on developing classroom activities.
53 6 ABSTRACT The primary aim of learning a language is for learners to be able to use it in oral communication. Oral interaction between the learners is a key to reach that goal. Classroom is a basic communication environment which manifests real society. Communicative classroom activities should be pedagogically meaningful which would enable students to develop oral interaction.
Although many studies have been conducted on the use of communicative classroom activities in the English for foreign language setting, few studies have explored the effectiveness of oral interaction in the Vietnamese context. This thesis seeks to explore the classroom activities that teachers can use for improving student‘s oral interaction. The study is conducted at Hue University College of Foreign Languages with the students and teachers of English as s foreign language. Questionnaires and interviews were used as the main methods for data collecting.
Moreover, class observations were also conducted. Based on the findings, effective classroom activities were given. They are the current activities which added more practically, usefully, funnily and attractively. The finding could be a significant contribution to English teaching in EFL classroom contexts.1 Background Knowledge In the domain of teaching English, the methods of communicative language teaching (CLT) have become the basic mainstay since 1970s.
CLT has served as a major source of influence on language teaching practice round the world. As Li (1998) comments, CLT has extended in scope and has been used by different educators in different ways. There is a large area of studies and practices of this approach. Larsen- Freeman (1986) for example, studied the attributes of CLT and he indicates the most obvious attribute of CLT is that ―almost everything that is done with a communicative intent‘‘ (p.
In CLT, meaning is given prime importance, which is achieved through interaction between reader and writer, and through negotiation between speaker and listener. Pham (2007) researched about CLT in term of its meanings to Vietnam classroom context. The aim of communicative language teaching (Richards and Rodgers, 2001) is the acquisition of communicative competence via student engagement in meaningful use of language at discourse level. To achieve this, the teacher facilitates communicative activities by managing the classroom environment, providing resources and acting as a communicator.65) maintains that a communicative approach should focus on oral skills before written ones.
To help English for foreign language (EFL) learners become fluent or to acquire oral skills, language teachers should encourage their students to be successful in learning to speak in classroom. English has been a basic school subject as a foreign language of Vietnam educational system for many years. Vietnamese learners study only for exams. English textbooks designed for senior and junior students tend to focus on reading and grammar points.
Therefore, English teachers thus design the activities which improve students‘ vocabularies and grammars. Not much real communication conducted in the class. In my compulsory education at secondary and upper 8 secondary, I had never had a real English conversation or discussion with teachers or other classmates. The teachers only used the translation method for teaching; my oral skills such as pronunciation thus couldn‘t develop.
Discussing about English language teaching in Vietnam, Sullivan (2000) assumes that most classrooms have been teacher-centered or teacher-fronted. This is also supported by Kennett and Knight (1999), who hold that teaching methods [in Vietnam] were outdated, relying almost entirely on strict teacher-centered methods and rote learning. Vietnamese people have recognized that they shouldn‘t study only for exams, but they also learn for communication. In recent years, Vietnamese teachers have witnessed the significant changes in the English teaching method, from traditional grammar- translation method to the communicative language teaching (CLT).
CLT enables students to improve and develop their communicative competence, especially their speaking skills. It is believed that speaking or oral communication is the foundation to language acquisition. As a result, English teachers tend to promote students‘ oral communication and their oral interactions by designing new classroom activities. Thanks to increasing students‘ interaction, their oral communication has been improved and they thus, may be fluent in speaking.
According to Brown (2001), interaction is at the heart of communicative competence. When a learner interacts with another learner, he/she develops oral skills naturally. Krashen and Terrell (1988) emphasize the role of interaction in second language acquisition in their cooperative research ―The Natural Approach- Language Acquisition in the classroom‖. They show that acquisition requires meaningful interactions in the target language- natural communication in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
As a second language teacher, I have recognized the significances of increasing oral interaction among learners. I am thus motivated to conduct this study which seeks to explore the types of classroom activities used and how can they be improved.2 Aim of the research This study aims to explore the types of classroom activities that can be used to improve first year EFL students‘ oral interaction. It particularly seeks to answer the following questions: 1) Which types of classroom activities are currently used in the speaking class of the first year students at Hue University College of Foreign Languages? 2) How do teachers and students view these activities in terms of effectiveness? 3) How can these activities be improved? 1.3 The scope of the research This study was conducted within the three speaking classes of 120 first year students of Hue University College of Foreign Languages and with the three EFL teachers who teach speaking skill in these classes. The data collected in this micro setting could not be generalized to other contexts.
However, the project is still significant as it can inform teachers and students in the other similar contexts of the improvement of classroom interaction.4 The structure of the research This research project consists of five chapters: Chapter 1 provides such basic information as the background of the study, the rationale, the aims, research questions, the scope and the structure of the thesis. Chapter 2 reviews the related literature pertinent to the study. This review discusses the basic concepts such as interaction, classroom interaction, teaching activities and ―some factors‖ which affect directly or indirectly student‘s oral interaction. It also reviews some previous studies carried out in Vietnam and highlights the need for this present study.
Chapter 3 describes instruments used for conducting the study. Particularly, the participants, the research questions, questionnaire and interview questions will be described. 10 Chapter 4 reports the findings of the study. Chapter 5 summarizes the main findings and offers some recommendations for teachers and students.
11 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The overview of the chapter This chapter consists of three main parts. First, some definitions and the significances of the interaction in language teaching are focused. Secondly, it will discuss the types and specific features in designing classroom interaction activities. The chapter will then present theories showing different aspects of students‘ oral interaction and teaching speaking.
The communicative classroom activities, the issues of teaching speaking in Vietnam and factors influencing students‘ oral interaction are also discussed. The chapter will finally argue for the objective of this research.1 Definitions In the literature regarding interaction in classroom, there have been many articles and studies debating the definition of the term. For example, according to Sims (1999), interaction is to facilitate programs based on the learner‘s input, allowing various forms of participation of communication. Lipman (1991) states that interaction or activity is fundamental to creation of the learning communities.
It is key leaning component in learning theory. An interaction is an event which takes place between a learner and learner‘s environment. Its purpose is to respond to the learner in a way intended to change his or her behavior toward educational goals (Wagner, 1994, p. Language classrooms can be seen as sociolinguistic environments (Cazden, 1988) and discourse communities (Hall and Verplaetse, 2000) in which interaction is believed to contribute to learners‘ language development.
In general term, Robinson (1994:7) raised clearly his definition on interaction ―Interaction is the process referring to ―face-to-face‖ action. It can be either verbal channeled through written or spoken words, or non-verbal, channeled through tough, proximity, eye-contact, facial expressions, gesturing, etc.2The significance of interaction to learning The significances of interaction to speaking skills have been showed specifically through many teaching methods researches. For instance, in his study, Long (1991) shows the necessary of interaction in language acquisition: ―Speaking a language is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions‖ (p. It is believed that the functions of spoken language are interactional and transactional.
Being able to interact in a language is essential.