VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRƯƠNG THỊ THANH HOÀI ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY TOWARDS THE USE OF VISUAL AIDS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS (Thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tiếng Anh trường đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội đối với việc sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan trong các giờ học nói tiếng Anh) M.A Minor thesis Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Mai Ngọc Khôi, M.A Hanoi, 2011 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration ……………………………………………………………. i Abstract ………………………………………………………………… Iii Table of contents ………………………………………………………. Iv List of abbreviations …………………………………………………… Vii List of tables and charts ………………………………………………. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………….
Aims of the study……………………………………………………… 2 3. Significance of the study……………………………………………… 2 4. Scope of the study……………………………………………………. Methods of the study ………………………………………… 2 6.
Organization of the study ……………………………………………. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………. Definitions of attitude ………………………………………. Components of attitude ……………………………………….
Relationship between belief, perception and attitude ………. Definition of speaking ………………………………………. Speaking in relation to three other skills …………………….The role of speaking in communicative language teaching …. Definitions of visual aids …………………………………….
Benefits of using visual aids in teaching speaking…………… 9 1. Types of visual aids …………………………………………. 11 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Chalkboards and whiteboards …………………………… 11 1.
Picture flash cards ………………………………. Word flash cards …………………………………. Work cards and work sheets …………………………. Authentic printed materials ……………………………….
Computers and videos ……………………………………. Studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context 16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY …………………………………….1 The context of Hanoi University of Industry………………………… 17 2. Teaching and learning facilities ……………………………… 18 2.2 Selection of participants ………………………………………. The direct interviews ……………………………………….
20 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……………. The data analysis ……………………………………………………. The participants’ age, gender and years of experience ………. The teachers’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons ………………………………………………………… 23 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
The students’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in 25 speaking lessons ………………………………………………………… 3. Discussion and findings ……………………………………………. 35 PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS …………. Conclusion of the study ……………………………………………….
38 41 3 Limitations and suggestions for further study. REFERENCES 43 APPENDIXES Appendix 1. Survey questionnaire for teachers Appendix 2. Survey questionnaire for students Appendix 3.
Interview for teachers Appendix 4. Interview for students 6 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT: Communicative Language Teaching HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry 7 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Page Table 1. Teachers’ age, gender, years of experience, qualification…………………. Students’ age, gender, years of learning English …………………………… 22 Table 3: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons ….
23 Table 4: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons …. 25 Table 5: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from teachers’ view points 27 Table 6: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from students’ view points 28 Table 7. Purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking skills from teachers’ view points 31 Table 8. The purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking from students’ view points 31 Chart 1: Favorite types of visual aids used in speaking lessons from the view points 26 of teachers and students ……………………………………………………………… Chart 2: Teachers’ techniques of using visual aids ………………………………….
The students’ favorite activities when learning speaking through visual aids 30 Chart 4: Teachers’ difficulties in using visual aids to teach speaking ………………. 32 Chart 5: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking through visual aids ……………. 33 8 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale In recent years, English has become an important language.
It is not only spoken by most native speakers but also the second and official language in many countries. Since Vietnam joined the WTO (the World Trade Organization), teaching and learning English as a foreign language has taken an important part and English has become a compulsory subject in most national curriculum. It is undeniable that the goal of learning and teaching English is to make students master the communicative activities. As for the students at Hanoi University of Industry in general and the freshmen in particular, learning speaking skill is a really important task.
Most of the students at HaUI are non-English majors so they often find speaking the most challenging to them to acquire English. In fact, what students are wondering is always haunted in the researcher’s mind most of the time, which urges her to find a suitable solution to motivate them in English speaking lessons. Among proper solutions, using visual aids to teach speaking has been proved to be an effective way. When mentioned the importance of visual aids in learning and teaching a language, Bowen emphasized that “learning is a complex process and visual aids are a great help in stimulating the learning of a foreign language.
The students must use his ears as well as his eyes but it is the eye that is primary channel of learning” (1982, p1). Chamberlain (1980) also pointed out that 83% of the information received by the brain comes through sight and only 11% comes through hearing. This means in the learning process, what students see and touch will be perceived in their mind better than what they can hear only. Visual aids can create many communicative situations to encourage students to speak and make teaching and learning easier and more pleasant as well as more productive.
A teaching lesson which is provided with an appropriate type of visual aids will be an active one in which all students are willing to speak the given topic. For example, a map can be fully made use in asking and giving direction lessons or a real object, a picture can be a good illustrator in describing lessons. For the reasons mentioned above, the researcher chooses “Attitudes of teachers and first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry towards the use of visuals aids in English speaking lessons” as the title for this research with the hope that it will reveal the application of visual aids in teaching speaking and some benefits of using visual 9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com aids in teaching and learning English speaking skills. What’s more, some suggestions of exploiting visual aids more effectively to teach speaking skills will be given with the hope of providing useful source and reference for teachers at HaUI in particular and for all teachers of English in general to motivate their dear students in English speaking lessons.
Last but not least, it is expected that the research would be a certain contribution to the improvement of teaching speaking skills for first-year non-English major students at HaUI. The aims of the study - To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward speaking skills - To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward the use of visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skills. - To investigate the application of visual aids in the field of teaching speaking skills. - To explore the benefits of using visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skills.
- To explore the problems faced by teachers and first-year non-English major students at HaUI. - To give some recommendations to exploit visual aids more effectively. Significance of the study This study helps point out the teachers and students at HaUI’s attitudes toward visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skill. Particularly, this study is carried out with the hope to provide an insight into current teaching situation of using visual aids in English speaking lessons to teach first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry.
Last but not least, it is hoped that the study would make some suggestions of applying and exploiting visuals in teaching English speaking so that the teachers can have proper adjustment to their teaching methods. Research scope of the study This paper is restricted to mention the visuals which can be used for teaching and learning speaking. Some other kinds of visual aids such as teachers’ gestures, facial expression are not intended to be covered because they are mostly used in teaching vocabulary. This paper only focuses on types of visual aids such as boards, pictures, realia, video, etc which are well applicable to particular conditions at Hanoi University of Industry.
Methods of the study To reach the aims of this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are made used of. Data are collected from the survey questionnaires and direct interviews. The quantitative data obtained from survey questionnaires were then analyzed statistically. Direct 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com interview was carried out to supplement the survey questionnaires.
Both of the two methods are hoped to bring about valid and reliable data. 11 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Organization of the study The study consists three main parts: Part one: Introduction which provides specific reference to the rationale, aims, significance, scope, methodology, and organization of the study. Part two: Development which includes three chapters.
- Chapter one: Literature review which gives the brief view on attitudes, the basic theoretical background of speaking skills and the overall view of visual aids. - Chapter two: Methodology that gives the research questions and describes an insight into research methods to find out the answers to research questions. This chapter also gives the brief view on the subjects, the procedures and the instruments to collect data employed to seek for the answers to the research questions. - Chapter three: Data analysis and discussion show the data collected from the survey questionnaires and the interview.
Also, these data will be discussed in this chapter. Part three: Conclusion which reviews the main findings of the study, offers some recommendations of using visual aids to teach speaking skills effectively as well as some suggestions for further study. 12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT This chapter discusses the theory and research into which this study bases on. Some basic concepts related to attitudes, speaking skills, visual aids are addressed to provide the theoretical background for the study.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definitions of attitude Over the course of decades of research, there are various definitions of attitudes proposed. According to Jung, attitude is a “readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way” (1971, p. Bower, Jennifer Crocker, Elizabeth Hall point out that an attitude is “an evaluative response to a particular object, idea, person, or group of people.
This response reflects an individual preference or aversion. Triandis, H (1971) supported these ideas by defining attitudes as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, and situation.) They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions, beliefs and are based upon our experiences. From these above definitions, a conclusion can be drawn that attitudes are a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question.
These definitions seem to be comprehensive and significant for this study, since the researcher, to some extent, aims at investigating teachers and first-year non-English major students’ evaluation of the use of visual aids in English speaking lessons. Components of attitudes Attitudes are judgments. In discussion of components of attitudes, traditionally, they are considered to have three components. According to Fazio, R.H (1986), most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment; they develop on the ABC model (affective, behavioral, and cognitive): - An affective or emotional component: An individual's degree of preference for an entity, how people feel about the object.