VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ----- * ----- NGUYỄN THANH BÌNH DESIGNING ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR AN ENGLISH CLUB AT XUAN HUY HIGH SCHOOL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING COMPETENCE Nghiên cứu thiết kế các hoạt động ngôn ngữ giao tiếp bằng lời trong câu lạc bộ tiếng Anh trường THPT Xuân Huy nhằm nâng cao năng lực nói của học sinh M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr. DUONG THU MAI Hanoi, 2014 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work. I have provided fully documented references to the others‟ work. The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course.
I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library. Research‟s signature Nguyen Thanh Binh ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Duong Thu Mai, Ph. for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout the research. Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the Department of Postgraduate Studies, College of Foreign languages, VNU for their useful lessons from which have inspired me to conduct this thesis.
I am greatly indebted to my students- the members in Xuan Huy English Club and my colleagues at Xuan Huy high school for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful. Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving parents, my husband, my children and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate the designing of oral communicative activities for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students‟ competence. The main purposes of the study are to find out the needs for improving speaking competence of students from Xuan Huy High school and the effectiveness of the speaking activities designed according to students‟ needs and applied in Xuan Huy School‟s English Club.
The study reviews theoretical background relating to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in teaching speaking, characteristic of Communicative Language Teaching, teaching speaking according to CLT, English speaking club in CLT before presenting the instrumentation, data collection and data analysis of the study. To be specific, two sets of questionnaires were administered to discover the students‟ needs about oral communicative activities as well as their perception of the use of these activities in Xuan Huy English Club. Moreover, interviews were delivered to seven teachers to investigate their needs about oral communicative activities. Lastly, English Club meeting observations were also employed to clarify and test the validity of information about the effectiveness of designed activities.
Basing on the findings of the studies which revealed teachers and students‟ need about oral communicative activities, the researcher provided some suggested activities for enhancing students‟ speaking competence. The finding also discovered students‟ good and bad perception about applied oral communicative activities. iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS.
v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES. viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Objective of the study.
Scope of the study. Design of the study. 3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Communicative Language Teaching.
The concept of Communicative Language Teaching.2 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching. Teaching speaking according to Communicative Language Teaching. Definition of Speaking. The nature of speaking in oral communication.
Definition of Speaking Competence. Communicative activities in CLT. Oral communication in CLT approach. Types and design of oral communicative activities.
Evaluating oral communicative activities. English Speaking Clubs in CLT. Definition of Clubs. The roles of English speaking club in CLT.
Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam about designing communicative oral activities. The contexts of the study. An overview of the English Club of Xuan Huy high school. 14 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Students at Xuan Huy high school. Teachers at Xuan Huy high school. Facilities at Xuan Huy high school. Participants and setting of the study.
Setting of the study. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedures.
19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Students‟ need analysis and teachers' interview. Students‟ perceptions about English oral communicative activities. Findings from English observation.
30 CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES. Face to face games (group work). Face to face game (Pair work). Limitations and suggestions for further study.
vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching MA Master of Arts MOET Ministry of Education and Training VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi EFL English Foreign Language vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES 1. Figures: Figure 1: How oral communicative activities can help students. Tables: Table 1: How oral communicative activities can help students. 22 Table 2: Patterns of speaking activities teachers often use to teach speaking skills in classroom.
23 Table 3: Students‟ preference for the types of oral communicative activities. 24 Table 4: factors may encourage students to communicate in oral communicative activities. 25 Table 5: What teachers should do to create good relationship and to help students in oral communication. 25 Table 6: Frequency in organizing oral communicative activities.
27 Table 7: The content of oral communicative activities. 27 Table 8: the most suitable way that teachers or facilitators give feedback with students' wrong answers. 28 Table 9: Students‟ assessment about oral communicative activities. 29 Table 10: Students‟ assessment about their friends' enjoyment with all oral communicative activities.
29 Table 11: The most effective pattern to improve students' speaking competence. 30 Table 12: Assessment about oral communicative activities students participated in. 30 Table 13: What teachers did to create good relationship and to help students in oral communication. 31 Table 14: Assessment about the time spent on applied oral communicative language activities.
32 Table 15: Assessment about the content of oral communicative activities. 32 Table 16: The effectiveness of oral communicative activities. 33 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Speaking is a very important part in studying English and in order to communicate one to each other, make good communication, people need to speak.
Having good English speaking competence is very essential especially for the students because it becomes the bridge for them to know the world. However, the problems that teachers and students of English in Vietnam, especially in mountainous areas cope with are having few opportunities to use English in authentic contexts outside the classroom for learners, the students‟ characteristics are being quiet and shy, the teachers' difficulties in controlling oral communication activities in large classes, or the lack of oral communicative activities in the textbooks. As a consequence, learners have many problems, especially in oral communication. When they try to express themselves orally, they only pronounce isolated words and disconnected sentences making their production poor and meaningless.
Moreover, since speaking is required in academic and professional performances, the lack of oral production skills becomes a serious disadvantage. There may be two main reasons for this. The first reason, which is a basic one for every high school students, is low motivation in studying. It is undeniable that passing examinations is one of the most important motivations in studying.
However, according to the policy from MOET, the semester and final examinations only focus on reading skills through the multiple-choice format. The lack of background knowledge is the second basic reason for students having poor speaking competence. Against the problems above, in recent years, one of the key tasks of the school year in which the Department of Education and Training has given to all local high schools, including Xuan Huy high school, is organizing English speaking activities in English club so that students have opportunities to enhance their language skills and create “language environment”. This actual requirement sets a challenging task for teachers of English in Xuan Huy high school, which is to design communicative activities which can provide students with “real” contexts for negotiating meaning so that they can develop communicative competence.
This is also the reason why this study in designing oral communicative language activities for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students‟ competence was conducted with the hope of enhancing the ability to speak for students. Helping students to have better English speaking competence also means helping them in choosing their field of study and looking for opportunities in the future. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Objective of the study For the above-given reasons, the main purposes of the thesis are as the following: (1) Discussing the needs for improving speaking competence of students from Xuan Huy High school.
(2) Investigating the effectiveness of designed oral communicative language activities for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students' speaking competence. Research questions The study intends to find out the answers to the following questions: What are the students‟ needs about activities to improve their speaking competence? What are the teachers‟ needs about activities to improve their students‟ speaking competence? Which oral communicative language activities should be designed for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students' speaking competence? What is students‟ perception of the designed activities? 4. Scope of the study At present, speaking a foreign language represents one of the essential requirements of today's society. Besides other skills and knowledge, it is considered one of the most influencing factors while applying for a job or sustaining in a particular work position under the condition of advancing the language level.
Speaking is a broad and complex area that takes much time to study by linguists. Moreover, the establishment and maintenance of Xuan Huy English club has contributed to the improvement of students‟ speaking ability. Therefore, this study mostly focused on designing some oral communicative language activities for English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students' speaking competence. Because of the limited time and within an M.
minor thesis, the researcher intends to make a brief view of the current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill in Xuan Huy high school, identifies teachers and students‟ preferences and demands about English speaking activities in English Club, then applies some designed oral communicative activities and examines the effectiveness of these activities in improving students‟ speaking competence. Methodology In order to accomplish this study, quantitative method was mainly used. The data collected for the study comes from two sources: All members in English club and all teachers of English at Xuan Huy high school. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Survey questionnaires, two for students (pre- and post- designing questionnaire), were used to gather information and evidence for the study.
In addition, to make the data collected more reliable and authentic, qualitative data were also collected with two instruments: a follow up interview and an informal observation. Design of the study The thesis organized around three parts with three chapters: Part A: Introduction consists of reasons for the study, objectives of the study, research questions, scope of the study, methods and design of the study. Part B: Development is divided into three chapters: Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background relating to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in teaching speaking, characteristic of Communicative Language Teaching, teaching speaking according to CLT, English speaking club in CLT.