VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ----***---- PHẠM THỊ PHƯỢNG DEVELOPING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH- MAJOR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE: AN ACTION RESEARCH (Phát huy tính tự chủ đối với kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm thứ nhất tại trường Đại học Thương mại: Nghiên cứu áp dụng) M. MINOR THESIS Field : English Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ----***---- PHẠM THỊ PHƯỢNG DEVELOPING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE FIRST YEAR ENGLISH- MAJOR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE: AN ACTION RESEARCH (Phát huy tính tự chủ đối với kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên chuyên ngành tiếng Anh năm thứ nhất tại trường Đại học Thương mại: Nghiên cứu áp dụng) M. MINOR THESIS Field : English Methodology Code : 60 14 10 Supervisor : Đỗ Bá Quý, M. Hanoi, 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study. Aims of the study.
Scope of the study. Structure of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of autonomy.
Roles of autonomy. Characteristics of learner autonomy. Teacher‟s roles in learner autonomy. Ways to develop autonomy.
The nature of speaking and characteristics of an effective speaking lesson. Autonomy in speaking skill. AN OVERVIEW OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SITUATION AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE (VUC). English department at VUC.
The teaching syllabus for speaking skill. The opportunities and constraints of the context. The opportunities of the context. The constraints of the context.
20 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Subjects of the study. Description of data collection instruments. Detailed description of module 1.
Detailed description of module 2. 25 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS. Students‟ performance and attitudes towards the project. Student‟s speaking proficiency.
Students‟ attitudes towards learning process. Suggestions for further study. XVIII LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Characteristics of independent learning. 8 Table 2: Students‟ attitudes and performance during the project.
27 Table 3: The benefits of the projects to the students. 29 Table 4: Students‟ self-evaluation of their speaking skill. 32 Figure 1: The Learner Independence Continuum. 8 Figure 2: Students‟ opinions on the continuity of a similar project.
30 Figure 3: Level of students‟ involvement during the project. 31 Figure 4: Students‟ changes in their perception of learner autonomy. 34 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Over the last three decades, learner autonomy in language learning has been a “buzz-word” in the field of second language education.
In fact, few teachers will disagree with the importance of helping language learners become more self-directed. It is so robust that there are numerous books and articles (Holec, 1981; Dickinson 1987; Riley 1988; Little, 1991; Little, 1999; Littlewood, 1999; Tudor, 1996, etc.) and the proliferation of researches on the theme (Kavaliauskiene, 2003; Ali, 2000; Coombe, 2001; Barrett & Daborn, 2001; Malcolm, 2001; Luchini & Rosello, 2007, etc. Despite the concerted effort made to implant learner autonomy, it is still at a low level in the university setting in Vietnam. The students in University of Commerce are of no exception.
Even the students who major in English exhibit low responsibility in their English - learning process. The students are lukewarm and lack of determination and self-discipline to learn independently. Observations in the classrooms reveal the lack of the cooperative learning. The general atmosphere in the class seems to be very formal.
Students only raise their voices once they are called upon. When asked to work in pairs and groups in speaking lessons, they start to write down their own ideas as a long presentation or some key points and revise their own work individually, and ready to communicate only when they are perfectly sure of their part and their ideas. Furthermore, they are generally reluctant to question the teacher or give their opinions. An open discussion in Vietnamese with the students explicates that their low autonomy has resulted from psychological, social and personal grounds.
Their misleading beliefs, minute confidence, restricted knowledge as well as the previous learning experience are agreed upon as the primary causes of their passive learning style. The beliefs and attitudes learners hold have a profound influence on their learning behaviors. It is, therefore, essential to assist students in moving towards greater autonomy, especially in learning speaking. Teachers should validate the importance of autonomy to the students as an ancient proverb going “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” This situation compels the conduction of this research to aid students in their second language learning and life-long learning. This is genuinely no easy task since autonomy does not flourish automatically. Due to the highly complex nature of language and language learning, LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 augmenting autonomy in language learners often proves to be a doubly difficult objective. Although few researches have been done in Vietnam to boost student‟s active engagement in speaking, a large number of studies in other countries have reported favorable results in developing their students‟ autonomy.
Experimental practice has been exploited to empower teachers by bringing a research perspective into their classrooms, where ordinary classroom activities are modified for their investigative potential. Most of them use awareness-raising activities, portfolio, self-assessment, homework and assignment in their studies. Inaugurated from these practices, the present paper is an attempt to search the current researches then devise a pertinent project of actions for the students in English Department, University of Commerce (VUC), who have mediocre level of learning autonomy. The expectation is to help learners generate a sense of autonomy in language learning, elevate the students‟ speaking skill as well as render effective speaking lessons.
Aims of the study This research aims at - identifying the current VUC English – major freshmen‟s autonomy in speaking skill - working out the appropriate scheme of actions to improve the situation - finding out the effectiveness of the selected activities in the action plan - reflecting the results of the study From the outcomes, some implications will be suggested for handling and applying classroom activities to promote the students‟ autonomy in learning speaking. In particular, it is conducted to ascertain the answer to the following question: Can raising students' awareness of the importance of learner autonomy and application of selected activities help improve autonomy in learning speaking skill for first year English- major students at the University of Commerce ? 3. Methods of study As mentioned above, this is an action research to solve the problem of low level of learner autonomy at English Department, VUC. To reach the goal, a project is launched into the classroom environment.
It is divided into two modules, the former consists of selected awareness-raising activities, learner contract signing, and essential speaking-strategies training activities to raise students‟ awareness of the problem as well as equip them with necessary skills to acquire more confidence in speaking skill. The latter pertains to the LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 3 practice of such skills in doing their home assignments and in-class activities to habituate their speaking practice and active engagement. Besides, public appearance is deferred to the final stage, when students have become more experienced. Specifically, students practice working in pairs before having public speaking to amplify their self-reliance progressively.
After the action, questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations are conducted to get the feedback. The data aims at getting the students evaluation on the activities and more remarkably, to examine whether they become more autonomous. Scope of the study Learner autonomy is undoubted to be the vast issue in the second language learning. It encompasses different aspects and areas.
Therefore, this study touches upon only one researchable aspect of autonomy, i., developing autonomy in speaking skill. In the literature, there is a range of actions to ensure students self-directed learning; however, several pertinent activities are adopted in consideration of the context of University of Commerce and the small scale of this research for the sake of limited time and students‟ low level. Furthermore, the subjects of this study are the first year students who major in English as these freshmen often exhibit the least autonomy in learning and implore a good start for their students‟ life. Structure of the study This paper is organized into three main parts as follows: Part A: Introduction This part presents the rationale, the aim, scope, method and design of the study.
Part B: Development This part is divided into different chapters. Chapter 1 serves as the theoretical background for the study, presenting the concepts and relevant theories. Chapter 2 gives an overview of teaching and learning situation at English Department, VUC. Chapter 3 deals with the actual procedures of the study: methodology, subjects and data collection procedures.
Chapter 4 presents the finding and analysis of the data collected. Part C: Conclusion This last part of the study recaps the main content of the study and deals with some suggestions for improving student‟s autonomy in studying speaking skill. In addition, it also poses several directions for future research. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter serves as the theoretical background for the study. The definitions and roles of autonomy and speaking skill were given to clarify the subject matters investigated and the significance of the matters. Moreover, the characteristics of autonomy, roles of teachers and ways to develop learner autonomy receive more details and attention as to find out an efficient learner autonomy enhancing process. Definition of autonomy Nowadays, the language teaching has become more and more communication-oriented, pushing the traditional classroom teaching to a situation of big challenge.
The learner- centered ones are replacing the traditional classrooms where teachers play the role of knowledge transmission. This learner-centered approach in EFL has brought out the notion of leaner autonomy in learning EFL. Among the scholars in this field, Holec, one of the earliest advocates of autonomy in language teaching Holec began by defining learner autonomy as the “ability to take charge of one‟s own learning” (1981, p. He endorses that this ability “is not inborn but must be acquired either by “natural” means or by formal learning, i.
in a systematic, deliberate way”, and stresses the idea of man as “producer of his society” but not “product of his society” (Holec 1981, p. His definition remains the basis for many researchers. Nevertheless, there is no consensus as to what the term “autonomy” really is. For Little (1999), autonomy is “a capacity for a certain range of highly explicit behavior that embraces both the process and the content of learning” (p.
73) regards autonomy in educational terms as “involving students‟ capacity to use their learning independently of teachers.” Scharle and Szabo (2000, p. 4) holds that autonomy means “the freedom and ability to manage one‟s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well.” Although definitions of learner autonomy have varied, they all agree that students should take responsibility for their own learning. Taking responsibility involves learners in taking ownership (partial or total) of processes which have traditionally belonged to the teacher, such as deciding on learning objectives, selecting learning methods and assessing progress. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.