VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ CHÚC QUỲNH A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AND THEIR CLASSROOM SPEAKING PRACTICES AT NORTHERN WATER RESOURCE COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc học nói tiếng Anh và việc thực hành nói trên lớp của họ tại trường Cao đẳng Thuỷ lợi Bắc Bộ) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi, 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ CHÚC QUỲNH A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING TO SPEAK ENGLISH AND THEIR CLASSROOM SPEAKING PRACTICES AT NORTHERN WATER RESOURCE COLLEGE (Nghiên cứu thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc học nói tiếng Anh và việc thực hành nói trên lớp của họ tại trường Cao đẳng Thuỷ lợi Bắc Bộ) M. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr. Mai Thị Loan Hanoi, 2013 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education.
I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research, and that it has not been submitted for any other degree. Ha Nam, September, 2013 Student‟s signature i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Mai Thi Loan, for her invaluable guidance, criticism and encouragement in the process of completing this minor thesis. I also wish to express my sincere thanks to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Language and International Studies for their very useful lectures.
My profound thanks also go to the teachers and the students at Northern Water Resource College for their enthusiastic help and support. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my loving family and my special friends who always encouraged and helped me to complete this study. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT Attitude plays an important role in language acquisition and it helps explain linguistic behaviour. Learners may have positive or negative attitudes towards learning a language.
Language attitude has great influence on language learning and acquisition as well as learners‟ choice and use of language. Besides, speaking is considered the most important skill that almost all the language learners want to master. However, not all language learners have positive attitude towards learning this skill. This thesis was carried out to investigate the students‟ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices at Northern Water Resource College.
The data of the study were collected through a survey questionnaire which involved the participation of 100 randomly collected samples and four class observations. The data collected then were analyzed and generalized. The findings of the research revealed that the students hold a negative attitude towards learning to speak English. From the findings, some suggestions were given with the hope that they might be useful for the teachers at Northern Water Resource College to improve their students‟ English speaking skill.
iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREAVIATIONS NWRC: Northern Water Resource College EFL: English as a foreign language ELT: English Language Teaching ESP English for Specific Purpose iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1. Students‟ awareness of the importance of English speaking skill……… 19 Figure 2. Students‟ assessment of their English speaking ability………………. Students‟ feelings of speaking English………………………………… 20 Figure 4.
Factors affecting students‟ learning to speak English………………… 22 Figure 5. Students‟ preferences for practising English. Frequency of students‟ speaking in English class……………………. Activities and methods teacher often uses in English speaking classes 29 Figure 8.
Things teachers often do after giving speaking topics………………… 30 Table 1. Students‟ attitudes towards learning English……………………………. Students‟ willingness to speak English………………………………… 21 Table 3. Students‟ solutions to overcome difficulties in speaking English in class 23 Table 4.
Students‟ ways to improve English speaking competence……………. Students‟ expectations for learning to speak English…………………. The things that students often do in English speaking classes………… 27 Table 7. Students‟ ways to speak English in classroom………………………… 28 Table 8.
Teachers‟ mistake correction …………………………………………… 31 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ……………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………… iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES…………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………. vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION……………………………………….
Rationale of the study……………………………………………. Aims of the study……………………………………………. Scope of the study ………………………………………………. Significance of the study…………………………………………….
Design of the study………………………………………………. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………. Definitions of attitudes…………………………………………. Components of attitudes……………………………………….
Functions of attitudes……. Definition of speaking……………. The role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning…. Problems with speaking skill…………………………………….
The techniques and activities in teaching speaking skills………. The techniques in teaching speaking skills……………………. 10 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. The activities in teaching speaking skills…………………….
Review of previous studies on attitude………………………. The setting of the study…. Data collection instruments. Data analysis procedure……………………………………….
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Questionnaires for students…. General attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning English…. Students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English……….
Students‟ awareness of the importance of speaking skill…. Students‟ assessment of their English speaking ability…………. Students‟ feelings of speaking English…………. Factors affecting students‟ learning to speak English………….
Students‟ preferences for practising English. Students‟ expectations for learning to speak English……………. Students’ classroom practices……………. The frequency of students‟ speaking in English class ……….
The things that students often do in English speaking classes…. Students‟ ways to speak English in classroom………………. Teacher‟s teaching activities in English speaking classes……. Teacher‟s methods and speaking activities ………………….
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS……………………. Summary of findings…………………………………………………. Students‟ attitudes towards English and learning to speak English…… 38 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Students‟ classroom speaking practices……………………………….
Implications for teachers………………………………………………. Suggestions for further study…………………………………………. Questionnaire for students. Class observation sheets………….
XI viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationales Nowadays, English is used for international communication more than any other languages in the world. English is recognized as a lingua franca for communication across nations and cultures and is the most desired second or foreign language in most countries in the world. English is used as a second or foreign language in the workplace, international trade, global media, tourism, education, aviation, business, technology and on diplomatic occasions.
As a result, the demand for speakers using English effectively is necessary in every country. Teaching and learning English, except for the native language, is thus crucial for communicative purposes to meet the demands of global economics and to cope with the growing local, national and international demands for English skills. In Vietnam, English is becoming more widely used in every field of life and it is an official and compulsory foreign language which has been taught in most schools and universities all over the country for nearly two decades now. People thus have a great concern about learning the language.
Many people are aware that English guarantees them good jobs if they are good at English. Among the four language skills known as listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking skill is considered the most significant one that most learners of foreign languages need to achieve. The crucial importance of speaking skill has been stated by many linguistic researchers. For example, Ur (1996:120) states that of all four skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important and people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other skills of knowing that language.
Richards (2008:19) also says: “the mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second and foreign language learners. Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency”. However, for many years, not much attention has been paid to learners‟ speaking competence in Vietnamese English classes and time for speaking practices is limited for many reasons. Consequently, students have poor ability to speak English although they have been learning English for a long time.
They speak English badly even in English speaking lessons. They often lack the confidence and feel confused when they are 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com asked to speak English. They regularly find it difficult to express their ideas in English and even some students cannot speak anything but keep silent during speaking lessons. Among many different factors that affect students‟ learning to speak English in classroom, the attitude of the students has a very important position.
This study has been conducted to investigate the attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices in order to offer some suggestions which might be useful for teachers and students here to develop English speaking skills. Aims of the study This study aims at: - finding out the attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning to speak English - investigating the classroom speaking practices of the students at NWRC - recommending some solutions for teachers at NWRC to improve their students‟ speaking skill based on the findings of the study 3. What are the attitudes that students at NWRC hold towards learning to speak English? 2. How are their classroom speaking practices? 3.
What should the teachers do to improve their students‟ English speaking skill? 4. Scope of the study The study was carried out at NWRC with the participation of 100 first-year students to find out the attitudes of students towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices. Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to the teachers to help them improve their students‟ speaking skills. Significance of the study The result of the study is believed to help teachers at NWRC understand more about the students‟ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their expectations of the teachers‟ speaking lessons so that the teachers have suitable 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com methods to improve their students‟ speaking skills and encourage students to practise speaking English in classroom.
Methodology of the study To conduct this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, involving the survey questionnaires and classroom observations. The survey questionnaires were delivered to 100 first-year students to investigate their attitudes towards learning to speak English. Besides, class observations were conducted to see how and what students often did during English speaking classes. Classroom observations helped the researcher survey students‟ practices in real situations so that the reliability and validity of the data collected for this study could be achieved.
The data collected from the questionnaires and the result of class observations will be analyzed and generalized with a hope for offering some suggestions for the teachers at NWRC to improve speaking competence for their students. Design of the study: This thesis includes three main parts as follows: Part I: Introduction This part includes the rationales, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance, the methodology and the design of the study. Part II: Development This part consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review In this chapter, the theoretical background of the study is introduced. It focuses on three main points: theory of attitudes, speaking skills and some techniques as well as activities that are often used in speaking lessons.
Chapter 2: Research methodology. This chapter starts with the description of the setting and the participants of the study. It also presents how data were collected through the research methods and research procedures. Chapter 3: Data analysis and Discussions In this chapter, the data collected will be analyzed and discussed.
From this, students‟ attitudes toward learning to speak English will be found and their classroom practices will be mentioned as well. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.