Phân tích cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong việc giảng dạy kỹ năng nói cho sinh viên đại học năm nhất

NGUYỄN THU TRÀAN ANALYSIS OF TEACHER TALK IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Phân tích cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong việc giảng dạy kỹ năng nói cho

NGUYỄN THU TRÀ

AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHER TALK IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL FOR

FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

(Phân tích cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong việc giảng dạy kỹ năng nói

cho sinh viên đại học năm nhất)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THU TRÀ

AN ANALYSIS OF TEACHER TALK IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL FOR

FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

(Phân tích cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong việc giảng dạy kỹ năng nói

cho sinh viên đại học năm nhất)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Supervisor: Mai Thị Loan (PhD)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

I hereby state that this thesis is the result of my own work for the minorDegree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies,Vietnam University, Hanoi The research has not been submitted for any degree atany other universities or institutions

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited inthe library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan

or reproduction of the paper

The last two years would have become tedious and less meaningful if I hadnot had any friends to study with Therefore, I want give a shout out to Hằng and

Ms Giang They are the ones who have listened to my struggles with patience andgiven me the support that I am forever grateful for

Last but not least, I would like to thank my mom and dad for understandingand supporting me

The aim of this study is to explore the techniques utilized in teacher talk inteaching speaking skill for first-year university students Data collection instrumentsinvolve the observation of three English lessons and the interviews with threeuniversity lecturers Observation and interview were implemented to find out thetechniques in giving instructions and feedback Besides, observation was exploited

to determine the patterns of language in the techniques employed by the lectures.Data gathered through observation and interviews were then analyzed usingqualitative method After the investigation, the research has produced certain results.First, the teachers made use of four strategies in giving the instruction, namelybreaking down the instruction, modeling the instruction, checking the instructionand using mother tongue Besides, three techniques which are repeating, extendingand prompting were found in giving feedback Second, the language features ingiving instructions were simple vocabulary, linking words, less complex sentencestructures and informal phrases In giving feedback, positive words were spottedand negative comments were likely to be avoided

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Method of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Organization of the paper 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Teacher talk 5

2.1.1 Definition of teacher talk 5

2.1.2 Features of teacher talk in discourse analysis 6

2.1.3 The effects of teacher talk 8

2.1.4 Teacher talk in giving instructions 9

2.1.5 Teacher talk in giving feedback 13

2.2 Speaking skill 16

2.2.1 Definition of speaking skill 16

2.2.2 Teacher talk in teaching speaking skill 17

2.3 Previous studies 18

2.4 Summary 21

3.1.2 Characteristics of case study 22

3.1.3 Steps for conducting case study 22

3.2 Research approach 24

3.3 Research context 24

3.4 Participants 25

3.5 Data collection instruments 26

3.5.1 Observation 26

3.5.2 Interview 27

3.6 Data collection procedure 28

3.7 Data analysis 29

3.7.1 Analysis framework 29

3.7.2 Data analysis method 29

3.7.3 Data analysis procedure 29

3.7.4 Data analysis scheme 29

3.8 Summary 30

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 31

4.1 Analysis of observation 31

4.1.1 Giving instructions 31

4.1.2 Giving feedback 41

4.1.3 Remarks on language features in giving instructions and feedback 46

4.2 Analysis of interview 48

4.2.1 Giving instructions 48

4.2.2 Giving feedback 49

4.3 Findings 50

4.3.1 Techniques in giving instructions and feedback 50

4.3.2 Language features in the techniques of giving instructions and feedback 52

4.4 Summary 52

5.1 Recapitulation 53

5.2 Concluding remarks 53

5.3 Implications of the study 54

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further research 55

5.4.1 Limitations 55

5.4.2 Suggestions 55

REFERENCES 56 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 II APPENDIX 3 III

3.1 Class A III 3.2 Class B XXIII 3.3 Class C XLI

APPENDIX 4 LXIII

4.1 Teacher A LXIII 4.2 Teacher B LXVI 4.3 Teacher C LXX

APPENDIX 5A LXXIII APPENDIX 5B LXXIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The chapter sheds light on the rationale for this study More importantly, the aim and objectives are summarized in two research questions This chapter continues with the scopes, the significance, the method and the overview of the study.

1.1 Rationale of the study

In the classroom, the primary channel that provides students withcomprehensible target language input stems from the teacher According toVygotsky (1978), the teacher who possesses higher levels of academic knowledgeand skills can act as a “mediator” to help learners move to the next layer ofunderstanding In-class interactions between teachers and students therefore are ofgreat significance for the learning process of students, especially those who areliving in a non-English environment So as to reach the aim of the lesson andincrease students’ language competence, second language teachers are expected to

be skillful and flexible in the use of language

To date, teacher talk has attracted curiosity from scores of practitioners Inforeign studies, the strategies in the discourse moves of a high school teacher(Sharpe, 2008) and the learning opportunities created from the questions by threeuniversity lecturers (Zhu, 2016) were under scrutiny Meanwhile, Yang (2010) andCourse (2014) examined the use of teacher questions by pre-service teachers InVietnam, some were in favor of exploring the interaction between universitylecturers and students in speaking and listening classrooms (Đỗ Thị Thanh Dung,2016) and the effects of teacher talk on ESP university students’ learning frommultiple perspectives (Phạm Ngọc Khánh Ly & Hoàng Vân Trang, 2015) Phan ThịToán (2014) explored the characteristics of teachers’ instructions in reading lessons

in two first-year university classes Phan Thị Loan Trang (2018) undertook a study

on how teacher talk enhances primary students’ learning There is no doubt thatteacher talk is a major research topic in the English language teaching field

to the realization that the techniques of teacher talk in teaching speaking skill werenot fully explored in the context of university in Vietnam.

Self-interest in the classroom language was another crucial factor thatinspired the researcher about this topic That is, the researcher was curious abouthow university lecturers construct their talk in the class As a novice teacher, theresearcher believed that the study could bring in profound pedagogical knowledgethat would benefit her future teaching career

The aforementioned reasons propelled the researcher to implement a researchentitled “An analysis of teacher talk in teaching speaking skill for first-yearuniversity students”

1.2 Aim and objectives of the study

The writer aimed at exploring the techniques of teacher talk in givinginstructions and feedback in speaking lessons This overall aim can be achievedthrough the following objectives:

(1) To find out the techniques the teachers employ in giving instructions andfeedback in teaching speaking

(2) To find out the language features in the techniques in giving instructions andfeedback in teaching speaking

1.3 Research questions

The objectives of the study are summarized into two research questions:(1) What are the techniques of teacher talk in giving instructions and feedback whenteaching speaking skill ?

(2) What are the language features in the techniques in giving instructions andfeedback when teaching speaking skill?

1.4 Scope of the study

Due to the aim of the study, the researcher set certain scopes for the study

Second, the researcher analyzed the discourse that was related to the learningcontent about speaking activities Third, since teacher talk involves many contentareas, the researcher limited the scope of the study by finding out the techniques intwo major functions of teacher talk, which are giving instructions and givingfeedback for speaking activities.

1.5 Method of the study

The study was in the form of a case study research The research instrumentswere observation and interview

Initially, the researcher carried out the observation of three lessons Eachlesson was taught by one teacher All the lessons were videotaped so that theresearcher could transcribe the data and revisit the videos for analysis

After that, the interviews took place to determine the teachers’ personalopinions on the strategies

Finally, the researcher sorted the data from both observation and interview toproduce meaningful outcomes

1.6 Significance of the study

In theory, the research’s literature review and results could make a potentialcontribution to offer addressees an insight into teacher talk and its power in teachingand learning a foreign language In practice, the researcher hopes to make use oftechniques found in the teaching performances from the participants in order tocreate more beneficial speaking lessons to students

1.7 Organization of the paper

The paper consists of five main parts as follows:

Chapter 1 - Introduction: gives an overview of the present study including reasons

for conducting the study, research aim, researcher objectives and research questions,scope, method and contributory aspects of the study

Chapter 2 - Literature Review: offers an outline of relevant foreign and local

studies as well as the fundamental knowledge of teacher talk, giving instructions,

Chapter 3 - Methodology: demonstrates research design, research approach,

research context, participants, the procedure of data collection and data analysismethod

Chapter 4 - Data Analysis and Findings: describes the detailed analysis of the

collected data and presents the findings, explanation and interpretation of thefindings

Chapter 5 - Conclusion: recaps the whole research, summarizes the key results,

puts forward implications, limitations of the research and recommendations for thefuture studies

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review discusses major aspects which in turn lay a foundation for the researcher’s contemporary study, namely overview of teacher talk, giving instructions, giving feedback, speaking skill and previous studies.

2.1 Teacher talk

2.1.1 Definition of teacher talk

Teacher talk has commonly been defined in a close relation with foreignertalk (Krashen, 1982; Richards & Schmidt, 2010) Initially, teacher talk is a type ofmodified input possibly known as a “foreigner-talk in the classroom, the language

of classroom management and explanation, when it is in the second language”(Krashen, 1982, p 32) Richards and Schmidt (2010) proposed a more detailed anddirect description of teacher talk from the respects of language practice and appliedlinguistics In their scientific work, teacher talk is indicated as “that variety oflanguage [ ] used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching” With theeffort of building communication with second language students, teacher’s speech ismade easier Its simplification results in teacher talk having a number of featuresanalogous to foreign talk and other speech styles that have been simplified

Sharing a similar view of the concept on the modification feature, Ellis (2015)pointed out the modifications concerning two aspects, language form and languagefunction, made by teachers are called teacher talk Wang (2014, p 1172) presented

a short statement of teacher talk by generalizing that it is “the talk the teacher says”

to second language learners This type of talk has been adjusted and become asimpler form with the view to enhancing understandable input for students as well

as keeping communication between teachers and students at an unhindered state

Cullen (1998) mentioned that “good” teacher talk used to be assumed as

“little” teacher talk because when it accounts for too much time, the opportunitiesfor students to speak decrease However, the quality, not the quantity of teacher talk,has appeared in the discussion more than before Instead of centering on the amount

of time teacher talk has, the effectiveness in the way teacher talk facilitates learningand promotes interactive interaction should receive more emphasis.

Walsh (2002) attempted to define what effective teacher talk is First, therelationship between teacher talk and the learning task is under the spotlight If thelearning activity requires more participation of teachers such as grammarexplanation, it is understandable to see that student talk is less evident and teachertalk is at a more complex and prominent level Meanwhile, when some tasks such aseliciting responses from students take place, there might be an increase in learners'involvement If teachers have sufficient awareness of their lesson goals and attempt

to match the language use to the teaching aims and the pedagogic purposes, the use

of language or teacher talk may be accepted as effective Walsh (2006, as cited inSkinner, 2016) also listed four lesson phases combining with the purposes ofpedagogy and interactional features that demonstrate the appropriate type of teachertalk for each purpose An example of this is setting up pair work from one of theteaching episodes in the managerial phases With the consideration of the task in theclass, transitional markers such as first of all, then, after that, confirmation checks,

“Has everybody got that?” and extended teacher turn would be consideredeffective

In general, teacher talk is a type of instructional language which does nothave many complexities for the sake of learners’ understanding

2.1.2 Features of teacher talk in discourse analysis

Discourse analysis “examines patterns of language across texts and considersthe relationship between language and the social and cultural contexts in which it isused […] It examines how the use of language is influenced by relationshipsbetween participants as well as the effects the use of language has upon socialidentities and relations” (Paltridge, 2012, p.2)

engineering, language including teacher talk does not serve any purposes other thanthe teaching medium Hence, teacher talk is called a type of institutional interaction

on the grounds that it carries its own interactional architecture or distinctions(Skinner, 2016)

As Hughes et al (2007) categorized, classroom English is separated intodifferent purposes, namely managing the physical environment, managing thelearning environment, managing creative classroom activities, progressing throughthe lesson, giving instructions, using classroom resources, teaching listening,speaking and pronunciation in English, teaching reading, writing and pronunciation

in English, teaching reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar in English, givingoral feedback and giving written feedback

In the context of a second language classroom, Chaudron (1998, as cited inWang, 2014, p 1172) specified straightforwardly some distinctive features ofteacher talk in detail

 Slower speed

 More frequency of pause showing speakers’ thinking or conceiving and withlonger time

 Clearer and more understandable pronunciation

 Easier chosen vocabulary

 With lower subordinate degree (less use of subordinate clause)

 More narrative sentences or declarative sentences than interrogativesentences

 More frequency of teacher’s self-repetition

Longman (2006) also mentioned some outstanding points that teacher talkmay have as follows:

 Non-linguistic support for comprehension (visibility, facial expression bodylanguage, reference to real objects and people, pictures, diagrams, maps and

so on)

 Regular checks largely through watching the facial expressions of thelisteners rather than asking if they comprehend or asking for demonstrations

of comprehension and eye contact

 Regular pauses

 Familiar words and topics

 Immediate repetition and/or paraphrase

 Slower, clearer talk

 Exaggerated intonation and stress

 Structurally simplified language

 Familiar routines

 Clarity of discourse markers

In a nutshell, teacher discourse contains certain linguistic features such asslower rate of speech, regular pauses, clear pronunciation, repetition and lesscomplex use of lexical repertoire and types of sentences

2.1.3 The effects of teacher talk

When it comes to the impacts of teacher talk, some researchers havementioned this aspect in their studies (Gower, et al., 1995; Nunan, 1991; Walsh,2002; Kim, 2010; Zhu, 2016)

Nunan (1991) believed teacher talk has a vital position in the secondlanguage acquisition and classroom organization Gower, et al., (1995) specifiedmore on this idea in his book Considering the fact that students study English in anon-native environment, teacher talk is a useful authentic material for classroomlearning The teacher-students classroom interaction is an opportunity for students

to learn daily vocabulary items and expressions teachers use Teachers are the oneswho model how to use new linguistic items best Teachers can make use of theirtalk to provide an explanation for issues about the language learning points and

calling on students by name and so on As a result, the amount of time for teachertalk spent in class can be a valuable way to enrich the learning experience ofstudents According to Zhu (2016), the questions posed by the teachers can allowstudents to negotiate the meaning and engage in the use of target language.Gradually, the students could figure out the form as well as the meaning of languagewhich baffled them before by answering teachers’ questions Another aspect whichcan be better is students’ participation Kim (2010) concluded that teachers’questions could create chances for learners in class to participate and share theiranswers.

Nevertheless, one major concern of teacher talk is the taking time (Gower, etal., 1995) If it lasts for too long, there is a high possibility that the students will notget the chance to talk The students are unlikely to feel motivated when the teachertalks “for” them Furthermore, the language in the teacher’s explanation mightappear complex for students of lower levels to comprehend (Gower, et al., 1995).Based on the findings of his research, Walsh (2002) claims that teacher talk maydominate and restrict the choice of language students in some situations such as thecontent and procedure are largely controlled by teachers; the participants and thetime for participation are occasionally decided by teachers; teachers talk most of thetime; teachers are the ones who initiate most of the questions (to which they knowthe answers) and so on

To conclude, teacher talk can positively affect classroom organization, theimprovement of language competence and class engagement Simultaneously, thetime spent on teacher talk and the complexity of language should be consideredcarefully to minimize the negative effects on the learning of students

2.1.4 Teacher talk in giving instructions

Giving instructions is a main function of teacher talk The instructions ofteachers are defined as “the direction” for the learning activities (Ur, 1996) In otherwords, they are considered the decisive factors in the success of the lesson After

Lương Quỳnh Trang, et al., 2016; Sowell, 2017; Nguyen & Vu, 2019), giving is categorized into two stages, namely the preparation stage and the deliverystage The main techniques in the delivery stage are the main parts of this study.

or a flip chart (Sowell, 2017)

2.1.4.2 Delivery stage

In the delivery stage, a number of effective tips are presented Prior to givinginstruction for an activity, the teacher should have students form groups and arrangethe classroom furniture He or she needs to make sure students know which groupthey are in and where they should sit (Sowell, 2017) It is essential to have theattention from students before the main instruction is given such as creating asilence or making eye contact (Scrivener, 2011) Besides, extra-linguistic devicessuch as gestures can facilitate the understanding of the teacher’s instructions(Scrivener, 2011) The teachers can give students a time limit to help students stay

students more examples or modeling the activity again in a patient manner (Sowell,2017).

The commonly discussed techniques, namely breaking down the instruction,modeling the instruction, checking for understanding and using mother tongue will

be discussed with more details in the following parts

2.1.4.2.1 Breaking down instructions

Breaking down instruction is also known as step-by-step or feed-in approach(Lương Quỳnh Trang, et al., 2016) With the activities that have a chain of steps, theteacher is recommended to give one instruction at a time instead of giving allinstructions at once Separating the instructions into smaller steps increasesstudents’ comprehension and provides them more chances to perform what isexpected from the teacher (Sowell, 2017)

2.1.4.2.2 Modeling

After the teacher delivers instructions, it is suggested that the teacher modelwhat he or she wants the students to do (Ur, 1996; Scrivener, 2011; Lương QuỳnhTrang, et al., 2016) Depending on the activities and the students, the teacher can dothis on his or her own, with a student, a pair of students or the whole class.Occasionally, modeling an activity in two steps may be helpful (Sowell, 2017) First,the teacher demonstrates the activity alone and then, the students can be the models

Modeling one or two examples is sufficient to help students understand whatthey are supposed to do in most situations Nevertheless, when an activity is new tostudents, or when the teacher is working with students who have not had muchexperience with interactive classroom activities, it is necessary to give additionalexamples and more instruction on working in pairs or groups (Sowell, 2017)

2.1.4.2.3 Checking for understanding

After the teacher gives instruction, the students need to understand what theyare supposed to do Other than observing the students’ reaction, “Do youunderstand?” is a prevalent way of checking for understanding However, it seems

to be ineffective because many students, whether they fully comprehend theinstructions or not, will choose to answer “Yes” (Ur, 1996).

Another way that seems to be more effective in checking students’understanding is to ask concept-check or instructional questions (Sowell, 2017).These are some simple questions that students can respond to with a short answer,such as “How many students are you going to interview?”, “Who is going to speakfirst?” or “How many questions are you going to write” “What are you going to donow?” is not considered a concept-check question since it entails a longer andpossibly complex answer The teacher can ask one or two students to say theinstructions again (Scrivener, 2011) or to perform part of the activity (Ur, 1996).Through this way, the teacher can know whether the students have understood theactivity or not

2.1.4.2.4 Using mother tongue

There have been contradictory viewpoints on the exploitation of mothertongue in the second language classroom In the paper by Nguyen and Vu (2019),some prominent ideas by both proponents and opponents of the first language werecited Some researchers emphasized on the exposure to the target language in thesuccess of language learning and believed in the negative effects of first language.Some viewed the first language as the natural part of the second languageacquisition process and acknowledge its contribution to the teaching as a time-saving method Cook (2001) stated two main areas where the teachers could use thefirst language positively The first one is to convey the meanings of words andsentences or to explain grammar The second one is for classroom organizationpurposes such as organizing tasks, maintaining discipline or communicating withindividual students Using mother tongue could also create a comfortableenvironment for students, which might improve the learning process

Vietnamese” This is considered helpful to students at lower levels (Lương QuỳnhTrang, et al., 2016) Sowell (2017) also agreed that using mother tongue may be amethod in certain situations to deliver more efficient instructions Nevertheless,there is a possibility of the first language being overexploited On top of that, thecomfort of instruction in the native language might become a negative habit forteachers and students.

Even though the pedagogical and psychological role of mother tonguesupports the learning of the students, there are certain disadvantages of using it.With this in mind, the over-exploitation of the native language in the instructionsshould be avoided in the classroom

To conclude, teacher talk in giving instruction is normally discussed in thepreparation stage and the delivery stage In the preparation stage, preplanning thetalk for instruction is suggested In the delivery stage, the teachers can make use ofdifferent strategies such as breaking down instructions, modeling, checking andusing mother tongue Whichever the strategy is used, the teachers should speakclearly and simply so that the instructions can be made understandable to students

2.1.5 Teacher talk in giving feedback

Another function of teacher talk is giving feedback Teacher feedbackprovides great assistance to students in becoming autonomous learners who havethe skills of monitoring, evaluating and regulating the learning process bythemselves (Ferguson, 2011) From the literature review (Nunan, 1989;Lindenmeyer, 1990; Allwright and Bailey, 1991; Ellis, 2009; Nassaji and Wells,2000; Pei, 2012; Lyster, et al., 2013; Course, 2014), there are four main categories,evaluating, repeating, extending and prompting in giving feedback

2.1.5.1 Repeating

The first sub-category is repeating identically what the student has said or thekey words in the student’s response to indicate acceptance or paraphrasing what thestudent has said to summarize or provide synonyms This contributes to

The second sub-category is repeating what the student has said in aquestioning tone This expresses disapproval, which usually makes the studentbecome aware of the unacceptable part in the response and correct it by themselves

or by other students (Pei, 2012)

The third sub-category is repeating with the correct form to recast whatstudents had said, which is related to oral corrective feedback strategies As Lyster,

et al (2013) stated, oral corrective feedback can be viewed as “responses to learnerutterances containing an error” (p 2) Repetition confirms the students’ idea but notthe form in which it was expressed For instance:

Student: He take the bus to go to school

Teacher: He takes the bus to go to school

The fourth sub-category is repeating in a different person The teacherfollows up the student’s response in the form of repeating to indicate acceptance, inthe form of the third person to diversify the language and increase grammaticalawareness among the students without explicit instruction (Pei, 2012) For example:

Student: I want to be a teacher when I grow up

Teacher: Oh, yes Ann says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

2.1.5.2 Extending

The term was from Jarvis and Robinson’s (1997) category of extending,which refers to the teachers’ discourses functioning to develop, elaborate and build-

up the discussion (as cited in Pei, 2012)

The first one is requiring the student to respond in a whole sentence Whenthe teacher knows that the student has the linguistic competence to respond inlonger phrases, even one or more sentences, they usually ask that student explicitlysuch as “May I have a whole sentence?” or “Please give me a long sentence” Thisstrategy directly requires students to practice the target language (Pei, 2012)

The third one is transferring to the student’s existing experience or linkingthe topic under discussion to the students’ experience in schools and or out-of-school settings This was helpful for the students to accommodate new ideas, or toclarify and assimilate misconceptions (Pei, 2012).

2.1.5.3 Prompting

Different from extending, prompting pushes students to higher levels ofcognitive and linguistic development In prompting, the teacher can ask a Wh-question, elicit more students’ contribution by asking “What else?’, and providesome hints to the questions asked (Pei, 2012)

When it comes to questions, they are usually divided into two main types,namely display and referential questions The purpose of display questions is torequest the display of knowledge instead of new information Display questionshave answers that are clear to the teacher, (as in Can you remember the words?).Meanwhile, referential questions entail answers that the teacher asking the question

is unaware of and real information is desired in students’ answers (as in Why doyou phone your friend?) (Course, 2014)

Cullen (2002, cited in Course, 2014) illustrates that display questions arelikely to scaffold the language of learners The exploitation of display questions isconsidered to create more chances and allow some students at lower languageproficiency to partake in the lesson (Allwright and Bailey, 1991) While referentialquestions are associated with the creative responses of the learners and continue theinteraction between teachers and students, the exploitation of display questionsseems to generate shorter responses (Brock, 1986, as cited in Lindenmeyer, 1990)

Regarding referential questions, more opportunities for students to expressthe ideas and develop the output of the target language was created (Nunan, 1989)

In comparison with display questions, this second type of question entails longeranswers, and more logical connectors can be found in the students’ speech based onthe study by Brook (1986, as cited in Lindenmeyer, 1990) One hindrance that

referential question This is attributed to the fact that a proper reply to a referentialquestion involves internal factors such as respondent time, thought and effort ofstudents whose background knowledge and linguistic abilities vary Some students,for example, low-level ones may find it challenging to answer referential questions(Brook, 1986, as cited in Lindenmeyer, 1990).

2.1.5.4 Evaluating

The category was adapted from Nassaji and Wells’s (2000) categorization ofevaluation, including acknowledgement and rejections Stated by Ellis (2009),positive comments such as “good”, “ok”, “yes” and “well done” is not only aconfirmation of correct responses, but it also gives support to the students as well asstrengthens motivation to sustain their learning

To sum up, teacher talk in giving feedback is usually categorized into fourparts, namely repeating, extending, prompting and evaluating In the feedback, theteachers can evaluate the students’ answers, provide more input, create self-correction from the students and entail more students’ speaking output through theirtalk

2.2 Speaking skill

2.2.1 Definition of speaking skill

According to Chaney and Burk (1998, p 13), speaking is "the process ofbuilding and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in

a variety of contexts" In language teaching and learning, speaking is “theproductive oral skill which consists of producing systematic verbal utterance toconvey meaning” (Nunan, 2003, p 48) There are three types of learning objectives

in speaking activities, namely accuracy, fluency and complexity (Thornbury, 2000)

To be more specific, accuracy in speaking is speaking without or with fewgrammatical, pronunciation and vocabulary errors Fluency in speaking includes the

In short, speaking skill is a productive skill in language learning Practiceactivities can be directed at accuracy, fluency and complexity in speaking.

2.2.2 Teacher talk in teaching speaking skill

Since teaching speaking skill in the second language classroom poses certainchallenges for teachers, Kayi (2006) issued some principles of teaching speakingskill in the classroom context

 Teachers should provide opportunities to students to speak the targetlanguage and create activities that involve as many students as possible

 Speaking time in class from the teacher should be limited to spare time forstudent’s speaking

 Pronunciation mistakes of students should not be corrected very often whilethey are speaking

 Eliciting questions from the teachers should encourage students to speakmore, and some positive signs should be included when commenting on astudent's response

 The teachers are suggested to walk around the classroom This ensures thatthe activity is carried out by the students correctly, and the teacher can see ifthey need any help when working in groups or pairs

 Some vocabulary which students might need in speaking activities should beprovided in advance

Ur (1996, p 22) also recommended some ideas that may help teachers solvethe problems of teaching speaking skill

 Use group work

 Base the activity on easy language

 Make a careful choice of topic and task to simulate interest

 Give some instructions or training in discussion skills

 Keep students speaking the target language

From all the suggestions in teaching speaking skill (Kayi, 2006; Ur, 1996),

the amount of teacher’s talking time should be reduced The second one is thequestion which prompts students to talk more The third one is teachers’ feedbackwith positive signs The last one is the avoidance of giving oral corrective feedbackwhile the students are talking.

Yang (2010) explored the effects of the question types from the teachers onthe students’ discourse patterns using the transcripts of their videotaped lessons.Three pre-service English teachers allocated to three different bands of secondaryschools were the participants of the study It was concluded that yes-no questions,closed and display questions were occasionally asked The teachers seldom or neverasked open and referential questions It seemed that pre-service teachers should be

Zhu (2016) focused on the learning opportunities and the teachers’ questionsusing the transcriptions from the videotapes of the lessons The researcher examinedthe questions from three university teachers with different teaching experiencebased on four responses from the students, namely right answer, partly right answer,incomplete answer and refusal answer The study concluded that by strengtheningstudents’ identities, extending contributions and attracting the involvement fromstudents, more learning opportunities were provided by the expert teacher than theexperienced and the novice teacher In addition, the nexus between the questiontypes and learning opportunities was not significant Even when the similar type ofquestion was utilized, the teachers did not respond similarly to the students’answers This, in turn, created different learning opportunities for students.

Course (2014) examined the use of teacher questions by English languagestudents in a Turkish state university 60 students’ micro-teachings for two courseshave been recorded and transcribed The researcher came to a conclusion that thestudent teachers were prone to pose questions for organizing the learningenvironment more than for eliciting meaning output or scaffolding the language

In Vietnam, the researchers also exhibited their interest and approached thetopic from multiple facets

Phan Thị Toán (2014) analyzed one aspect of teacher talk which is teacherinstruction in academic reading lessons in the two first-year classes at a university.Classroom observation and interview were the two research tools The researcherfound out that the teachers employed simple English words and structures in almostall of the instructions Furthermore, there was a match in the opinions from teachersand students as they expressed the satisfaction with the teachers’ explicitinstructions Despite this, the study suggested that more referential questions should

be asked to draw the students’ attention and motivate them to think To ensure theeffectiveness of the instruction, more explanation, understanding checking andresult checking are recommended Also, the support on the way to deal with the

Phạm Ngọc Khánh Ly and Hoàng Vân Trang (2015) executed a study on theeffects of teacher talk on the learning of students majoring in Business Interviewswith the students and the teachers as well as the classroom observations wereexploited The study came up with three main findings First, teacher talk was areliable source of input for students and inspired them to study Rapportestablishment and class atmosphere were listed as the indirect impacts of the teachertalk along with other influences on subject knowledge and skills Second, thepervasive use of IRF pattern did restrict the students’ learning Third, the students’needs and the teachers’ opinions were not in correlation with each other.Specifically, the students expected the talks from the teachers with more formalityand technical terms involved with their business major On the contrary, from theteachers’ perspectives, the frequency of using formal lectures should not beexcessive so as to avoid a distant relationship and student boredom.

The next research is by Đỗ Thị Thanh Dung (2016) The research put ahighlight on the interaction between teachers and university students and analyzedboth teacher talk and student talk In the study, the writer made use of classroomobservation and interview To conclude, the teachers followed the pattern Initiation-Response-Follow up, and they were the ones who triggered most of the first and thethird move in the lessons The research also indicated that the feedback mightinterrupt the talk flow of the learners; nonetheless, learning opportunities were stillcreated via the questions made by teachers The students fully participated in thelessons despite the fact that they did not produce any initiation

Phan Thị Loan Trang (2018) aimed to find out the characteristics of teachertalk in teaching young learners based on classroom observation Three teachers andthe primary students in six classes participated in this study The researcherconcluded that the teachers mainly made use of questions for various pedagogical

comprehensible input was seldom provided by the teachers In addition, the overuse

of Vietnamese, as stated by the researcher, seemed to confine the exposure of thestudents to the target language

Generally, teacher talk is indeed significant to the learning process ofstudents Through the analysis of teacher discourse, the researchers came up withmeaningful conclusions and implications of teacher talk in various teachingcontexts In spite of this, it can be seen that not many studies have delved intoanalyzing the strategies of teacher talk in teaching speaking skill for first-yearuniversity students

In this research, due to the complexity of teacher talk, the research decided toanalyze the techniques in teacher instruction and teacher feedback in speakingclassrooms

2.4 Summary

As mentioned before, the research objectives are the language features andtechniques in giving instructions and feedback in speaking lessons The literaturereview gives an insight into previous research on teacher talk as well as the mainfeatures of it In addition, the literature review also includes these major aspects ofteacher talk in relation with teaching speaking skill On top of that, commonstrategies in the instructions and feedback are presented, which provides theresearcher the framework to answer the two research questions

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Chapter 3 offers a detailed description of the research methods including type of the research, research context, participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis method.

3.1 Case study

3.1.1 Definition of case study

Yin (2009, p 13) defined a case study as a type of research which

“investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when theboundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” Simons(2009, p 21) viewed case study as “an in-depth exploration from multipleperspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of a particular project, policy,institution, program or system in a real life” Kumar (2009) stated that a case studycan be beneficial when there has not been abundant knowledge about an area orwhen the researcher wants to gain a comprehensive insight into the situation, group

or community Generally, case study research is a common type of research which

is conducted to find out more about the chosen case from real life

3.1.2 Characteristics of case study

There are certain characteristics of case studies First, case studies can beutilized in qualitative and quantitative approaches (Rowley, 2002) Second, casestudies can involve a single case or multiple cases (Sarantakos, 2013) Finally, theyemploy several sources of information (Kumar, 2009) Overall, the chosen researchdesign has the characteristics that are advantageous to the current study

3.1.3 Steps for conducting case study

Merriam (1998) listed five main steps in executing a case study

 Step 1: Conduct literature review

 Step 5: Select the sample (purposive sampling)

According to Yin (p 2009, p 1), doing a case study is “a linear but iterativeprocess”, and it includes six components

 Step 1: Plan

 Step 2: Design case studies

 Step 3: Prepare to collect case study evident

 Step 4: Collect case study evidence

 Step 5: Analyse case study evidence

 Step 6: Report case studies.

Sarantakos (2013, p 151) mentioned six steps for carrying out a case study:

 Step 1: Choose topic and methodology

 Step 2: Construct methodology

 Step 3: Carry out sampling procedures

 Step 4: Collect data

 Steps 5 and 6: Analyse, interpret and report

Based on the recommendation above, the researcher came up with a list ofseven steps for the current research as follows:

 Step 1: Identify the purpose of the study

The researcher conducted this study to find out the techniques of teacher talk

in giving instructions and feedback in speaking lessons for first-year universitystudents

 Step 2: Carry out literature review

Previous studies related to teacher talk, giving instructions, giving feedbackand speaking skill are included This provides the framework for the researcher tocarry out the study

 Step 3: Decide on the research questions

Next, the research questions were determined

 Step 4: Decide on the participants and methods to collect the data

In this step, three teachers were chosen as the participants The researcherused observation and interview to collect the data for the research.

 Step 5: Collect the data

This step involved using observation and interview which has beendeveloped for data collection

 Step 6: Analyse and interpret the data

The researcher analyzed the data qualitatively

 Step 7: Report the results

The findings were drawn and reported in this paper

In general, case study research is helpful to the current study With thisresearch design, the researcher believed that she could have more understanding ofteacher discourse in teaching speaking skill

3.3 Research context

The study was implemented at the faculty of English language teachereducation belonging to a prestigious university in Vietnam With the tradition ofteaching and studying in English, the faculty has actively shown its support foreducational researchers and their work In addition, it is well-known for its long

stores numerous international and local reading materials for learning, teaching andresearch purposes.

In terms of teaching materials, first-year students are exposed to differentEnglish materials both from established publishers and in-house materials designedand combined by the teachers from the faculty The learning topics for the freshmen

in the first semester center on familiar topics with the practices of speaking skill

The syllabus also clarifies the roles of teachers Basically, students in thiscourse are responsible for their own learning and progress; therefore, teachers’ role

is mainly facilitator Teachers assist students to achieve course objectives byproviding clear instructions for assessment tasks and learning activities; providingguidance and support during students’ preparation and support; giving constructivecomments and feedback for students’ performance and asking students to reflect ontheir performance and progress The teacher should also be a constant role modelfor students to improve their English competences

3.4 Participants

Three university lecturers agreed to partake in this research (two femaleteachers and one male teacher) All the participants in this research are in charge ofteaching first-year students who majored in English They have had at least one year

of teaching speaking skill at the current working institution They have accumulatedexperience in teaching speaking skill from in-class teaching and workshops wherethey share and learn from both experienced and novice lecturers from the sameschool In terms of academic background, the lecturers completed their bachelor’sdegree at a university in Hanoi Regarding language proficiency, they all achieved ascore of 8.0 in the IELTS test They also have had chances to work with variousgroups of students, ranging from young learners, teenagers, university students toworking students In this study, they are addressed as Teacher A, Teacher B andTeacher C

Teacher A is 25 years old She graduated from the university in 2017 and has

a master’s degree in TESOL Teacher B is 24 years old Before working officially

as a teacher in Vietnam, she had spent one year aboard finishing her master’s degree.Teacher C is 24 years old After graduating from the university, he became theuniversity lecturer in 2018

3.5 Data collection instruments

3.5.1 Observation

The researcher adopted observation to answer the first question about thetechniques in giving instructions and feedback and the second question about thelanguage features in those techniques

The scopes of the study were the techniques in the teachers’ instructions andfeedback Therefore, the researcher designed the observation scheme composed oftwo parts (see Appendix 1) The first part including the techniques in givinginstructions (breaking down instructions, modeling, checking the instructions, usingmother tongue) and its language features, is mainly based on the works by Ur(1996); Scrivener (2011; 2012) and Sowell (2017) The second part is composed ofthe techniques in giving feedback (repeating, extending, prompting) and itslanguage features, which are suggested by Pei (2012); Lyster, et al (2013) andCourse (2014)

The total number of lessons observed was three lessons The researcher’sattempt is to have a comprehensive idea about teacher talk in the university context

As a result, the researcher decided to observe one lesson taught by one teacher Theduration for the whole lesson from each class was approximately two hours (seeAppendix 3)

The observation did not follow a highly structured one; instead, theresearcher depended on notes and recordings for detailed descriptions of this session.The researcher acted as a pure observer and did not influence any activities of

action to facial expressions and postures, providing the researcher withsupplementary evidence to analyze The observation was the major instrument thathelped the researcher to underline the major points in the lesson, thus analyzing thedata more quickly and easily.

The semi-structured interviews were conducted online in Vietnamese,creating a comfortable atmosphere for the interviewees Each interview lasted forabout 15 minutes

The semi-interviews offered the researcher the freedom to prompt and addfurther questions related to what was being discussed Thanks to its interactivenature, this method could evoke additional information when the initial responseswere elusive and not specific enough, which anticipated a more thoroughinvestigation into the problem (Mackey & Gass, 2005)

Recording and note taking were the two techniques chosen to record theinterviews’ information Recording assisted the researcher in collecting accurateinformation through transcripts and minimizing possible misunderstanding Besides,while delivering a conversation with interviewees, the interviewers jotted downimportant points and key terms that had been mentioned in order to keep track andask for more explanation if unclear assertions appeared and prompt other related

questions With the assistance of the techniques, the researcher expected to collectthe desirable data for the study.

3.6 Data collection procedure

The researcher followed a sequence of steps to collect the data fromclassroom observation and interviews

First, to find out the techniques and language features of the techniques inteacher talk, the observation sessions were carried out

Prior to the data collection process, the researcher sent the letter forpermission from the English faculty of the school and later received the agreement

to undertake the observation Then, the researcher sent an email to the teachers.Each teacher received an invitation letter with sufficient information about the studyand detailed description of the observation process so that they could considerjoining the research The teachers who agreed to participate in the research senttheir confirmation through emails, and then they were given copies of consent form

to sign on After that, the researcher was informed of the teaching schedules by theteachers

During the observation, the researcher filmed three lessons to record theinteractions between the participants in the classes, wrote down notes based on theobservation scheme and avoided making interference with the activities in thelessons

Second, the researcher carried out the online interviews to ask the teachersabout the strategies found in giving instructions and feedback The researcher usedthe online app called Zoom to interview the participants The information from theinterviews was recorded by laptop

All the data from observation and interviews were collected to prepare forthe analysis process

3.7 Data analysis

3.7.1 Analysis framework

The researcher relied on the techniques in giving instructions (breaking downinstructions, modeling, checking the instructions, using mother tongue) and itslanguage features (vocabulary and sentence structures) by Ur (1996); Scrivener(2011; 2012) and Sowell (2017), and the techniques in giving feedback (repeating,extending, prompting) and its language features (vocabulary and sentence structures)

by Pei (2012); Lyster, et al (2013) and Course (2014)

3.7.2 Data analysis method

The process of analysis is qualitative analysis This analysis provides a closerlook into the exploitation of the strategies as well as the language features

3.7.3 Data analysis procedure

There were five crucial steps in order to complete the analysis procedure ofthe data

 Step 1: The researcher transcribed the parts related to giving instructions and

giving feedback and the interviews from the teachers

 Step 2: The researcher categorized the data by using the analysis scheme below.

 Step 3: From the raw data, the researcher came up with the preliminary codes.

 Step 4: In the end, the final codes were stated The researcher drew conclusions

from the results of previous steps

3.7.4 Data analysis scheme

The full analysis scheme is described as follows:

- The teacher asked the students:

“Should the next students accept it?”

in the role-play activity to check on

their understanding Or, in another

- Other than yes-noquestions, theteacher alsoincluded another

- The checkingtechniques helpedthe teacher in thesesituations to see

activity, teacher A asked the student to

list the ideas for the speaking task

about describing the food again by

answering a sequence of questions:

“So you can say it is from what kind of

ingredients and what else?”; “Flavors

and what else?”

technique to checkthe instructionwhich is askinginstructionalquestions in someactivities

whether the studentshad understood theinstructions or not

3.8 Summary

In the chapter, the writer presents briefly the information about case studyresearch, qualitative approach and the participants of the study The next part is thedescription of two data collection instruments, observation and interview Thechapter concludes with data collection process and data analysis method

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

This chapter is made up of the data analysis and the findings of the study The results collected from the observation and the interviews are demonstrated and discussed.

4.1 Analysis of observation

From the raw data in the observation, the researcher found the key words orphrases related to the techniques Then, the writer grouped them and formed themain ideas in the preliminary codes Finally, the conclusions were drawn This isdemonstrated in the next parts

Most of the activities observed in the three classes were consideredappropriate to the students’ English level and smoothly implemented As a result,there were not any major breakdowns or awkward moments in the lessons This is

an indication that the instruction-giving and feedback from the teachers facilitatedthe understanding of the students and contributed to reaching the aims of the lessons

4.1.1 Giving instructions

4.1.1.1 Breaking down the instruction

 Teacher A

- Step 1: The teacher introduced

the task

T: I would like you to join a

challenge First, just think of a

dish or a kind of food in your

mind, but don’t tell others, ok?

And next, you will have to give a

description of the dish in at least

3 sentences, ok?

- Step 2: The teacher provided

- The teacher split theinstruction into threemain steps

Step 1: Instruction fordescribing the foodStep 2: Someguidelines and anexample for thedescriptionStep 3: Instruction for

- Through thesequence ofdifferent steps in theinstruction, thecontent of theactivity wasdelivered clearly tothe students

T: It can be to describe the flavor,

the texture … Is it a liquid or

solid?…And how is it cooked? Is

it baked or is it boiled? …

- The teacher asked a student to

read the model description of

banh mi in the book

- Step 3: The teacher introduced

other requirements

T: But then, you cannot tell the

name of the food And next, I

would call some of you to stand

up to give a description of the

food…

- Step 4: The teacher repeated the

instruction for the first step and

wrote down the mentioned ideas

on the board

the foodStep 4: Repetition ofthe main requirements

- The repetition step atthe end of the

instruction would beuseful for students whoforgot the ideas

mentioned in theteacher’s instructionswhen constructing theirdescriptions

 Teacher B

- Step 1: The teacher

handed out the notes

T: Now, I’ll give each

group one note.

- Step 2: The teacher

- To present the requirements, theinstruction for the activity in theintroduction of consonant soundswas broken into two steps:

Step 1: Distribution of the papers

- The teacherconstructed theinstruction usingstep-by-step strategy