VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES HOW TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILL TO 11 GRADERS IS A COMMUNICATIVE WAY EFFECTIVELY A CASE STUDY AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art (tesol) Submitted by VÕ THỊ THY Supervisor ĐẶNG THỊ HƯỞNG, Ed.D Ho Chi Minh City, December 2009 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “HOW TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILL TO 11th GRADERS IN A COMMUNICATIVE WAY: A CASE STUDY AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL” is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institutions. Tay Ninh, 31st December, 2009. Vo Thi Thy.
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that, Vo Thi Thy, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, and reproduction of theses. Ho Chi Minh City, 31st December, 2009. Vo Thi Thy.
ACKOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Dang Thi Huong, who has given me valuable assistance over the long period of carrying out the research and writing this thesis. She has devoted her time to reading all the chapters of my draft versions carefully, provided me with invaluable comments, criticism and the best advice on how to gradually improve my work. Without her constant guidance, I could not have completed it.
Second, I would like to send my geat gratefulness to all the teaching staff of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University in Ho Chi Minh City for their devotion to the success of the M. Third, I am greatly indebted to the Vietnamese teachers of English and students at Nguyen Trai High School, Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province who all have enthusiastically helped me accomplish this thesis. Last but not least, I send my special thanks to my mother and my parents-in-law, my husband, my sisters and brothers, teachers, and my friends who have constantly given me favour, sympathy and encouragement. They have made a great contribution to the completion of my thesis.
ABSTRACT The focus of my thesis is to work out underlying principles in creating “communicative need” for modifying communicative speaking activities in Tieng Anh 11 textbook as well as ways of teaching English speaking skill in a communicative way effectively. This is a case study at Nguyen Trai High School, Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province. Survey questionnaires for both teachers and students were designed. The questionnaire for teachers was delivered to Vietnamese teachers of English at NTHS to investigate their current ways of teaching English speaking skill.
It aims at finding out how much teachers can make use of the designed speaking activities in the textbook in a communicative way. The questionnaire for students was delivered to the two groups, controlled and experimental, to probe their different perceptions of and reactions to the two ways of teaching speaking skill during the experimental time. In the experiment, 90 students were divided into two groups of equal ability. They were trained for 16 weeks in the second semester of the school year 2008- 2009.
In the controlled group, students were instructed to practise ready-designed speaking activities in the new textbook. In the experimental group, students were asked to conduct newly-modified speaking tasks in which communicative need was created and a number of principles for making an activity communicative and tips for a communicative speaking class were applied. At the end of the experimental time, a speaking test was carried out to test each student’s speaking skill of the two groups of student subjects to see whether the experimental group was more successful in communication than the other group. The findings showed that students in the experimental groups had more positive attitudes toward speaking classes during the experimental time than the other.
More students in the second group were successful in making themselves understood than the first one. They talked more and used the target language in a more fluent and natural way than the other. The results proved that the principles suggested were actually effective in making a speaking activity communicative itself, which is a prerequisite for the success of a speaking class. Besides the principles, a number of techniques for teaching the skill communicatively were also proposed.
In the last chapter, some conclusions and recommendations for the teachers and the administrators of the school were also made. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship. i Retention and use of the thesis. iv Tables of content.
vi List of tables. ix List of figures .x List of diagrams. xii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study.
The aims of the study. Significance of the research. The overview of the research .5 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2. The differences between written and spoken language.
Speaking in real life and speaking in classroom. The nature of real-life communication. The distinction between speaking in real life and speaking in classroom. Language competence and performance.
Oral communicative activities.1 Criteria for a speaking test .2 Reliability and validity of a speaking test. Types of speaking test. How to test speaking ability. 34 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.
Characteristics of subjects. Data collection procedure. 44 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4. Teachers’ responses to the questionnaires.
Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skill. Teachers’ awareness of the existence of communicative need in speaking activities. Teachers’ intention of creating communicative need for speaking activities. Teachers’ frequency of using oral communicative activities.
Teachers’ other techniques in using communicative activities. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skill. Students’ responses to the questionnaire and scores of the speaking test .1 Students’ responses to the questionnaire. Students’ attidutes toward learning English speaking skill.
Students’ perceptions of and reactions to speaking classes. Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to games used. Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to roleplays used. Students’ perceptions of and reactions to communicative situations.
Students’ perceptions of and reactions to how they do the tasks…. Learners’ success in making themselves understood. Students’ average talking time in speaking classes. Learners’ difficulties in speaking classes.
Students’ scores of the speaking test. 70 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. 79 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Information on teachers’ age and gender.2: Information on teachers’ background .3: Students’ background information .1: Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skill .2: Teachers’ awareness of the existence of communicative need in speaking activities .3: Teacher’s frequency of modifying speaking activities.4 : Teachers’ intention of creating communicative need.5: Teachers’ frequency of using oral communicative activities in teaching English speaking skill.6: Teachers’ other techniques in using communicative activities .7: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skill .8: Students’ attitudes toward learning English speaking skill .9: Students’ difficulties in learning English speaking skill .10: Students’ average scores at English in the first semester, school-year 2008-2009 .12: Task completion scores. 69 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to speaking classes.2: Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to games used……….3: Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to roleplays used…….4: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to communicative situations .5: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to how they do the tasks .6: Learner’s success in making themselves understood .7: Students’ average talking time in speaking classes.
64 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram 2.1: The nature of communication.3: Teachers’ using textbooks .A Bachelor of Arts DOET Department of Education and Training EFL English as a Foreign Language M.A Master of Arts MOET Ministry of Education and Training NTHS Nguyen Trai High School OUP Oxford University Press CUP Cambridge University Press TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION This chapter presents background to the study, the aims of the research, significance of the thesis as well as the overview of the research. Background to the study The term “Communicative approach” has been in the limelight in teaching English in recent years and EFL has been changed a great deal since the “Open- Door” policy was implemented in Vietnam in 1986. Both textbooks and coursebooks written by native and non-native writers have been updated from communicative viewpoints, Vietnamese teachers of English have been trained to adapt their teaching in a communicative way. As a result, throughout the country, from secondary to tertiary foreign language education, language learners have been encouraged to study the English language with a view to succeeding in real communication.
In the future, it is hoped that they will be able to participate successfully in the development of the country in all aspects such as politics, education, economy, culture, technology, commerce, etc. with their knowledge of the English language. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the society, a new series of English textbooks, from grade 6 to grade 12, written by Vietnamese teachers and researchers of English has gradually been used for several years. The change is that speaking and listening components are included as equally important parts as reading and writing skills in the curriculum.
The proportion of each unit in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 and the time allocation for teaching the four language skills are designed as follows: Reading: one 45-minute class contact hour. Speaking: one 45-minute class contact hour. 2 Listening: one 45-minute class contact hour. Writing: one 45-minute period class contact hour.
Language focus: one 45-minute class contact hour. All units (16 units) are begun with reading comprehension part from which listening, speaking, writing are designed in terms of topic or theme. Vocabulary and structures used in the reading are extracted for language focus (including pronunciation and grammar). For speaking, designed activities are intended to promote students’ use of English in different communicative situations.
Besides, the language input for practice is carefully prepared so that students could feel more confident in communication. The themes are taken from Vietnamese cultures and Vietnamese students’ life including family, friendship, voluntary work, illiteracy, personal experiences, contests, hobbies as well as global issues involving world population, nature in danger, sources of energy, wonders of the world, etc. in order to make it easy for students to talk about. However, from the methodological view, “communicative need” is failed to be created and used in teaching English speaking skill.
In the curriculum, it is necessary that two 45-minute tests must be done in each semester, one after every three units. 15-minute tests (three tests) and oral tests (at least one time) are frequently conducted at random in each semester. In the one-period test, pronunication (at word level including distinguishing sounds and stress), grammar, lexis, reading and writing skills are mainly tested in the form of multiple choice questions. A 15-minute test format is similar to that of the 45- minute test.
In the so-called “oral test”, students are asked to do some small exercises on grammar of the previous lesson only. Now and then teachers ask students questions about the reading contents and vocabulary. In general, speaking skill is not included in both tests and semester or graduation exams. 3 Furthermore, Vietnamese students of English have some common difficulties in acquiring speaking skill because of linguistic deficiencies, shyness and anxiety, worries of making mistakes and losing face, passive learning styles, mother- tongue use, no exposure to English environment, frequent tongue-tied embarrassment “they cannot think of anything to say, they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should speak” (Ur, 1996: 46).