MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ TRAN HOANG MY RETICENCE IN SPEAKING CLASSES: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS IN NGUYEN HUU THAN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ RETICENCE IN SPEAKING CLASSES: A CASE STUDY OF STUDENTS IN NGUYEN HUU THAN UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG TRI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: BAO KHAM, Ed. HUE, 2018 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- SỰ ÍT NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG NGUYỄN HỮU THẬN TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC MÔN NÓI LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. BẢO KHÂM HUẾ, 2018 ii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Hue, 20/10/2018 Signature iii ABSTRACT Reticence has always been regarded as a problematic phenomenon among students in EFL classrooms especially when it comes to speaking classes. This study attempted to investigate factors contributing to students’ reticence in speaking classes in Nguyen Huu Than Upper Secondary School in Quang Tri Province and to find out what should be done to encourage students to actively participate in speaking lessons. The participants of the study were 111 students from three classes: 12B5, 11B2, 10B4 and five teachers of English in Nguyen Huu Than Upper Secondary School. Both survey questionnaire and interview were employed as methods for collecting the data.
The questionnaire was delivered to 111 students, and 15 of them were also invited to participate in the follow-up interviews. The interviews for the teachers were also conducted as the last step for the data collection procedure. The research findings indicate that a large number of students were found to be reluctant to speak English and remain reticent in oral English language classrooms due to a number of reasons such as student-related factors, teacher- related factors, and factors associated with topics and tasks. The study also reveals that games and role plays are identified as the most interesting speaking activities that encourage students to participate in the lessons.
Concerning students’ expectations for teachers, it was found that providing more familiar topics and conducting more interesting games as well as activities were two major things that students want their teachers to do. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications were made with the aim to enhance teaching and learning speaking skills in the foreign language context. iv First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor Dr. It is a great honor and a tremendous opportunity for me to undertake M.A thesis under his helpful guidance and to learn from his expertise.
Words are not sufficient to express how grateful I am for his professional advice, his infinite patience, and unconditional support to help me in the process of doing this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor for my study. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to Ms. Ngo for her time and efforts to read and give valuable feedbacks and insightful comments for me to better the quality of my manuscript, and for providing me with useful materials that I needed for my research.
I would like to offer my special thank to 111 students from three classes: 12B5, 11B2, 10B4 in Nguyen Huu Than Upper Secondary School for being willing to complete the questionnaire and sincerely providing me with valuable information in the interviews. Without their enthusiasm, this thesis would not have been possible. Special mention goes to my colleagues at Nguyen Huu Than Upper Secondary School. I am deeply grateful to all of the language teachers in Nguyen Huu Than school for making themselves available to answer all my questions and doubts about my study, for offering me detailed advice on designing the questionnaire and giving me precious information in the interviews.
This last, but by no means least, word of acknowledgment I have saved for my family. I do not think I would ever have finished this thesis without their unconditional love, caring and support. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY. Error! Bookmark not defined.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF FIGURES. ix LIST OF TABLES .x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Structure of the research.
Speaking skills in foreign language learning. What is speaking. Significance of speaking skills. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity.
Methods of teaching speaking skills. Theoretical background of reticence. What is reticence. Factors contributing to students’ reticence in speaking classes.
Factors contributing to Vietnamese students’ reticence in speaking classes. Effects of reticence in language classes. Setting of the study. Data collection instruments.
Data collection procedure .FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Results and analysis of students’ questionnaire. Students’ attitude toward speaking skills. Student’s perception of the importance of speaking skills .2 Students’ reasons for learning speaking skills .3 Students’ interest in English speaking lessons.
Students’ frequency of speaking English in speaking classes. Students’ frequency of volunteering to speak English in class. Factors contributing to students’ reticent behavior in speaking classes. Student-related factors.
Teacher-related factors. Factors associated with topics and tasks. Measures to reduce students’ reticent behavior in speaking activities. Students’ preference for speaking activities.
Teachers’ ways to encourage students to speak English. Findings from interviews. Students’ attitude toward speaking skills. Factors contributing to students’ reticent behavior in speaking classes.
Student- related factors. Teacher-related factors. Factors associated with topics and tasks. Measures to reduce students’ reticent behavior in speaking activities.
Students’ preference for speaking activities. Teachers’ ways to encourage students to speak English. Discussion of findings .1 Students’ attitude toward speaking skill .2 Factors contributing to students’ reticent behavior in speaking classes .1 Student-related factors. Teacher-related factors.
Factors associated with topics and tasks. Solutions to reduce students’ reticent behavior in speaking activities. Students’ preference for speaking activities. Teachers’ ways to encourage students to speak English .CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS.
Summary of the study. Implications for teaching and learning speaking skills. Implications for teaching practice. Implications for student learning.
Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further research .79 REFERENCES APPENDICES viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Student's perception of the importance of speaking skills Figure 4.2 Students' interest in English speaking skills Figure 4.3 Students' frequency of speaking English in speaking classes Figure 4.4 Students' frequency of volunteering to speak English in class ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Student's reasons for learning English speaking skills Table 4.2 Reliability statistics Table 4.3 Mean score of three clusters Table 4.4 Student's lack of English proficiency Table 4.5 Student's fear of making mistakes Table 4.6 Factors associated with students’ personality Table 4.7 Students’ lack of confidence Table 4.8 Factors associated with students’ cultural belief Table 4.9 Teacher’s personality Table 4.10 Teachers’ ways of teaching Table 4.11 Factors associated with topics and tasks Table 4.12 Students’ preference of speaking activities Table 4.13 Teachers’ ways to encourage students to speak English Table 4.14 Students’ responses to the fear of making mistakes x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as foreign language CA :Communicative Approach CTL :Communicative Language Teaching xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale In this day and age, when English language teaching has shifted from traditional grammar- based teaching to communicative instructions, the importance of speaking skills in language classes cannot be underestimated. That is the reason why of all the four language skills, speaking seems to be one of the most essential skills for foreign language learners to acquire. As Nadia (2013) affirmed that if learners master the speaking skill, they can easily master all the other skills because speaking is language in use.
Moreover, speaking helps them to express themselves, ideas, emotion, and their problems. Being aware of the crucial role of speaking skills, many attempts have been made by the Ministry of Education and Training with the aim to help the learners develop their ability to speak. One of them is the integration of the speaking skills, along with the other three skills, into official teaching and learning materials which are used in a majority of schools, and Nguyen Huu Than High Upper Secondary School, which is located in Trieu Dai Village in Quang Tri province, is no exception. However, such application seems to be far more difficult in the context of Nguyen Huu Than school.
There is a fact that although students in Nguyen Huu Than school have already spent a large amount of time learning English to communicate as their major goal of the learning process, they still encounter a number of difficulties in using the language to interact with people. A wide number of students in this school found that they could easily pass the written tests with high scores, but they might find it difficult to produce the language they have learnt especially when they are asked to do oral activities in the class. This leads to the fact that the students seem to have avoidance tendency about using the target language to perform a specific speaking task. This tendency can be displayed in a number of ways such as the act of being silent, non-participatory or passive in learning, and these behaviors are closely defined as the students’ reticence in the classrooms.
Being a teacher who has been teaching English in 1 Nguyen Huu Than Upper Secondary School for nearly five years, the researcher realizes that students’ reticence in speaking classes could have a negative influence on the process of teaching and learning a language. Firstly, students’ reticence in oral English activities can be one of the major obstacles for students to develop their oral proficiency in the foreign language. In the reality of the language classes, the researcher noticed that the students seem not to dare to speak up when there is a chance in the class. That is to say, they spend most of the time sitting in their seat, keep silent, listen to what teachers say and even feel extremely nervous when being required to do a particular task orally.
Some of them do not want to participate in the speaking activities although these activities seem not really difficult for them to do. In the researcher’s opinion, students who have the problem of reticence could not easily improve their speaking skills since the quieter they become, the fewer opportunities to recognize their strength and weaknesses in spoken English they have. And their oral competence, consequently, will not be fully developed. As Zhang and Head (2010) once pointed out that reticence to participate in speaking activities was preventing the learners from making progress and achieving the outcomes intended for the course.
Secondly, being too quiet in the speaking classes unintentionally leads to the inappropriate amount of the teacher and students’ talking time during the lesson. That is to say, since the students do not want to speak up whenever an activity is assigned, the teacher has to spend more time explaining to them, giving a model and using the language to encourage them to perform the oral task. Therefore, the teacher is forced to take the dominant role over the students’ in the classroom, which is not greatly appreciated these days when a learning-centered approach is rightly emphasized in language teaching and learning.