(SKKN 2022) some techniques to improve speaking skill for 12th graders to prepare better for IELTS exam

The question is thatteachers need to help students be familiar with the form as well as criteria ofeach skill in IELTS exam.. The aims of the study In this study, the researcher only foc

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 The aims of the study 1

1.3 The objectives of the study 1

1.4 The method of the study 1

1.5 The new factors of the study 2

II THE CONTENT OF THE STUDY 2

2.1 The theoretical background 2

2.2 The statement of the problems 6

2.3 The solutions to the problems 6

2.4 The effectiveness of the methods 12

III CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 15

3.1 conclusion 15

3.2 Suggestion 15

REFERENCE 17

I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

There is no doubt that English as the international language which is used

by many people around the world It is said that English serves well for manypeople as a bridge into the world of higher educational, science, internationaltrade, politics, tourism or any other venture which interest them Besides,English is the essential part that has to be mastered by Vietnamese people toface the globalization era and develop social quality of life In Vietnam, English

is used as the second language for communication As we know, English is atool to communicate and interact each other Through English, people canexpress what they think and know what other people are thinking In English,there are four skills such as speaking, listening, writing and reading Those skillsare important components when people want to master English well One of thecrucial skills in English is speaking Speaking is different with other skillbecause speaking is the main base in doing daily activity as a vehicle forinteraction and communication To access the English level of students’, besidesthe traditional exams at school, students now can take part in many other examswith the international certificates such as TOEFL, IELTS, SAT…These examsare examined by the global system Among them, IELTS is the most popular testfor those looking to migrate to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK It isglobally recognized by more than 11,000 employers, universities, schools andimmigration bodies including 3,400 institutions in the USA Recently, IELTSexam has increasingly become popular among Vietnamese students becausethey can use the results for their university entrance The question is thatteachers need to help students be familiar with the form as well as criteria ofeach skill in IELTS exam

In this study, I just would like to focus on speaking skill, basing on some

my own experience I have conducted on “Some techniques to improve speaking skill for 12 th graders to prepare better for IELTS exam”.

Hopefully, this study may be helpful for my students as well as my colleagues

1.2 The aims of the study

In this study, the researcher only focuses on the teacher’s techniques andhow teacher’s techniques are applied in teaching speaking skill to help studentsprepare better for IELTS exam

1.3 The objectives of the study

The objectives of the study are mostly 12th graders at Nga Son high schoolwho are tending to take part in IELTS exam so that they can win a place atuniversity

1.4 The method of the study

To analyze the result of the study, the writes used the descriptive methodwith the data from some questionnaire and interview students From the result,the author will come to the conclusion whether the method is effective or not

1.5 The new factors of the study

The new factors of the study are the approaches to a very new exam to thestudents, especially in a rural area First, most of the students in my school arenot familiar with the format of IELTS exam In addition, they have had fewchances to practice speaking Therefore, the strategies given by the teachers aretotally new and helpful to them

II THE CONTENT OF THE STUDY 2.1 The theoretical background

2.1.1 Definition of Speaking

In terms of definition, speaking is a skill which is used by someone toconnect in daily life, whether at school or outside the school Speaking is anactivity involving or more people in which the participants are both the listenersand the speakers having to act what they listen and make their contribution athigh speed, Brown (2004: 140) Smith (2006) added up that speaking is theproductive skill in the oral mode It likes the other skills, is more complicatedthan it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words WhileChaney (in Kayi, 2006) confirmed that speaking is the process of building andsharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety

of contexts Based on the explanations above it can be concluded that speaking

is an interactive process between teacher and students where the teacher givesthe knowledge to the students in order to produce language as a skill In otherwords, when people speak, they do not only think about the use of right sounds

or patterns but also the choice of words in order to communicate with otherpersons so they can convey the right meaning Regarding to the abovestatements, the researcher tries to conclude that speaking is ancrucial component

in language because speaking is primarily speech Unlike reading, writing, andlistening activities, speaking requires some degree of real time exposure to anaudience English speaking ability is an ability or skill that the learners have tocommunicate, to convey meaning, and to have a meaningful conversation inEnglish Besides, speaking is a means to communicate or interact each otherthrough the use verbal and nonverbal symbols In other words, speaking is notonly about communication or interaction but speaking is process to deliveredmeaning clearly and understandable

2.1.2 Types of Speaking

The successful speaking of people can be distinguished by talking a lot,participation is even, motivation is high, and language is one of the acceptable

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levels There are five basic types of speaking or oral production Brown (2004:141) They are:

2.1.2.1 Imitative

A very limited portion of classroom speaking time may legitimately bespent generating “human tape recorder” speech, where, for example, learnerspractice an intonation contour or try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound Imitation

of thin kind is carried out not for the purpose of meaningful interaction, but forfocusing on some particular element of language form

2.1.2.2 Intensive

Intensive speaking goes one step beyond imitative to include anyspeaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological orgrammatical aspect of language Intensive speaking can be self-initiated, or itcan even form part of some pair work activity, where learners are “going over”certain forms of language

2.1.2.3 Responsive

Responsive performance includes interaction and test comprehension but

at the somewhat limited level of very short conversation, standard greeting andsmall talk, simple request and comments This is a kind of short replies toteacher or student initiated questions or comments, giving instructionsindirections Those replies are usually sufficient and meaningful

2.1.2.4 Transactional (dialogue)

Transactional language, carried out for the purpose of conveying orexchanging specific information, is an extended from of responsive language.For 7 example conversation, conversation could readily be part of group workactivity as well

2.1.2.5 Interpersonal (dialogue)

These conversations are a little trickier for learners because they caninvolve some or all of the following factors: 1) A casual register 2) Colloquiallanguage 3) Emotionally charged language 4) Slang 5) Ellipsis 6) Sarcasm 7) Acovert “agenda”

2.1.2.6 Criteria of Good Speaking Skill in IELTS exam

IELTS Speaking test format

The total duration of the IELTS speaking test is 11-14 minutes The test isdivided into three parts as follows:

Questions & Answers

minutes speech

Part 3 4 to 5 minutes Discussion

IELTS speaking questions

The questions in all the three sections vary to provide you opportunity toshow the range of your language on a variety of topics and in varying lengths ofresponse

Question types and common IELTS speaking topics

Part 1 In this part, the examiner will ask questions related to your life

This section includes familiar topics and the questions are factual innature You are expected to answer giving more information related

to the topic For example, give reasons for your choice and actions.Take care not to over-stretch your responses Common topics inthis section are related to: family, friends, work/study, holidays,lifestyle, habits, likes & dislikes, hobbies & interests, etc

Part 2 In this part, you are given a topic, or a task card, and you need to

give a talk, or a monologue, for 1 to 2 minutes Before beginning tospeak, you are given one minute to plan your speech Make sureyou utilise this one minute judiciously and plan what you want totalk about Topics in these task cards usually focus on familiar orpersonal areas, such as your experience of something, such as -vacation, memorable incident / event / person, meeting an idealperson, milestone life event, etc

Part 3 In this part, the examiner will ask you questions which are more

abstract in nature These questions are thematically and broadlylinked to the topic given in part 2 You are expected to respond onthe basis of your knowledge and experience Example of how thetopic could be linked to task card: Task 2: Your favourite holidaydestination Task 3: Why are holidays important? How can tourismhelp a country's economy? Etc

Make sure the length of the answers is longer than those in part 1.This is also your last chance to display the range of your language;make the most of this opportunity to give evidence of yourlanguage proficiency

(Table adapted from: British Council Take IELTS )

IELTS speaking assessment criteria:

There are four key assessment criteria for IELTS Speaking:

 Fluency & Coherence (FC)

Fluency (F): Fluency describes the ease with which you are able to speak atlength without noticeable hesitation, pauses or repetition In order to be fluent,

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you should sound natural and be able to convey the right expression so that thelistener can easily comprehend your message

Coherence (C): This refers to the logical development of ideas; their linkingwithin and between sentences while speaking The examiners look for ease withwhich your listener can understand and follow your ideas This is dependent onhow you link your ideas with appropriate words and phrases

Key factors that contribute to higher scores in Fluency & Coherence are:

 the ability to keep going and talking about the topic without muchhesitation, repetition or self-correction

 understanding the topic and producing logical ideas connected with it,while developing your points

 using a range of linking words and other strategies used for presentingyour ideas

 self-correction should be done but limited in frequency

 hesitation can be content related (looking for ideas) but language relatedhesitation should be minimized

 avoiding the repetition of certain words or phrases, often used as ‘fillers’for fluency e.g like, you know, etc

This refers to the range of vocabulary used by a candidate In order to scorehigh, it is recommended that you use a wide range of vocabulary, including lesscommon phrases and idiomatic language, in a natural way

Key factors that contribute to higher scores are:

 appropriate and natural use of uncommon words in context

 the ability to paraphrase (saying the same thing in different words) using arange of words and expressions to avoid repetition

 accurate use of phrasal verbs, figurative language and idiomaticexpressions

 accurate use of collocations E.g go shopping and not do shopping

 Making the right word choice for the right connotation E.g slim conveys

a positive meaning, whereas skinny may be used negatively

 Grammatical range and accuracy (GRA)

This means that it is important to use a variety of grammatical structuresaccurately, in order to score high in IELTS Speaking ’Playing it safe’ byproducing accurate sentences but with only a limited range will not be enough toget you a high score You may need to demonstrate you can use a good mix ofvarious grammatical structures accurately like:

 using a balanced combination of simple, compound and complexsentences

 using a range of tenses including perfect, future forms and narratives

 using modals for different functions

 using referencing and connectors to link two or more ideas

 using subordinating and relative clauses

 using comparative and superlative adjectives

 using active and passive voice appropriately

 using conditionals to speculate, talk about past events that cannot bechanged or hypothetical (imaginary) events

Pronunciation is not to be confused with ‘accent’ At the IELTS test, you arenot expected to speak in any particular accent You should rather speak in away that you are clearly understood, without your listener having to focus onevery word that you utter Various features of pronunciation include are:

 correct individual sounds (phonemes)

 strong and weak sounds in sentences

 stress - at word and sentence level

 intonation - to convey the right emotion

 linking sounds and contractions for fluency

 chunking - combination of pause and stress, for emphasis

Each contributes 25% of your total IELTS speaking score

You will be awarded bands 0-9 in full and halves E.g 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5… This iscalculated as an average of your scores in all four assessment criteria, to thenearest score

2.2 The statement of the problems

The first problem that students face in class is embarrassment When theywant to say anything in the classroom, they are sometimes hesitant They areterrified of being judged if they make a mistake They feel embarrassed by thefact that the other pupils are paying attention to them Students' lack ofconfidence, as well as a lack of speaking opportunities outside of the classroom,may also prevent them from speaking well They didn't want to look foolish infront of the class, so they didn't say anything to avoid making a mistake Thesecond problem is that pupils complain that they don't know what to say and arenot really motivated to do so Because of their limited vocabulary, the studentsfelt they didn't know how to construct English sentences Furthermore, studentstake too much time before producing English sentences Usually they start withwords, before they converse the entire sentence they try to organize intosentences and phrases They also used incorrect sentence structure andpronunciation on a regular basis The research also revealed that learnersfrequently encountered difficulties due to a lack of target language knowledge.The students delayed their English productions as they wanted to make precisepronunciations of English words When speaking, some of them admitted tobeing unsure of their word choice and grammar.The third difficulty with thespeaking class is the low level of involvement Because only one student speaks

at a time in a large class, each student will have very little time to speak becausethe other students will be trying to hear him or her In the speaking class, somestudents dominate the entire class, while others talk very little or never.Finally,

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when some students share the same mother tongue, they try to use it in speakingclass because it is very easy for them

2.3 The solutions to the problems

There are a wide range of techniques to teach speaking skill in an ESLclass Among them, I conveyed the most effective ones applied in my class

2.3.1 Role Play

Role play exercises give students the opportunity to assume the role of aperson or act out a given situation These roles can be performed by individualstudents, in pairs, or in groups which can play out a more complex scenario.Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of socialroles In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such aswho they are and what they think or feel

For example, unit 3: ways of socializing, teacher could supply students lots

of useful expressions in order that the students can use them for the roleplaylater

 To meet new friends

 To make friends

 To get to know someone

 To build relationships with people

 Build a connection with someone

 To network (v.) (at a party or an event) = to meet people for work reasons

 To mingle (v.) (at a party or an event) = to chat informally to people

Students were divided into small groups of three or five members Eachgroup would make a role play about how to start a conversation about differenttopics such as: weather, study, family, films, food, hobbies…The situation might

be set in an appropriate place such as at school or at a restaurant…

2.3.2 Interviews

Students can carry out interviews on selected topics with various people

It is a good idea that the teacher delivers a rubric to students so that they knowwhat type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students shouldprepare their own interview questions After interviews, each student canrepresent his or her study to the class Moreover, students can interview eachother and "introduce" his or her partner to the class This practice is really usefulfor the first part of IELTS exam

For example, in unit 1: Home life, students interviewed their partners about

their family, they could design lots of questions to ask as follow:

 Who were the oldest members of your family that you knew personally?

 Do you know their whole names? Birthdates?

 Did your parents talk about any of their ancestors when you were growingup?

 Did anyone who wasn't related to you live with you when you were achild?

 For how long did your family live in the area(s)?

 How many siblings did you have? What were their names and ages?

 What were your siblings like?

 Did other family members live in the area? If so, who?

 Did you live on a farm? If so, what kind of crops did you grow?

 Did you keep livestock or other animals?

 What was your house or apartment like? How many rooms were in it?

 What kinds of amenities did your home have? (indoor plumbing,electricity or gas, phone, television)

 Do any items or rooms from the house stand out in your mind asfavorites?

In unit 6: Future Jobs, students may interview some of following questions:

Teacher may hold a job fair so that students can practice speaking in big groups;

 Tell me about yourself?

 What do you know about the Company?

 What do you know about the vacancy?

 What attracts you to the job?

 What are the main responsibilities in your current / last job?

 What do you enjoy the most and least about your current / last job?

 What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?

 How would your last Manager describe you?

 How would your best friend describe you?

 How do you spend your spare time?

 How do you prioritise your day?

 Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years’ time?

 Why should we offer you this role?

 What salary are you seeking?

2.3.3 Picture Describing

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to givestudents just one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture Forthis activity students can be divided into small groups and each group is given adifferent picture Students discuss the picture with their members, then aspokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class Thisactivity promotes the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as theirpublic speaking skills

In Unit 8: Students were asked to draw or describe a picture about life in the

future and then they discussed its meaning and represent in front of the class.Some useful words:

 pessimist ['pesɪmɪst] (n)

 optimistic [,ɔpti'mistik] (adj)

 optimist ['ɑ:ptɪmɪst] (n)

 terrorism ['terərizəm] (n)

 terrorist ['terərist] (n) (adj)

 labor saving (adj)

 wipe sth out (v)

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 space shuttle [speɪs'∫ʌtl] (n)

For example, this board game includes typical job interview questions thatstudents have to answer plus 20 vocabulary cards

I usually play this in groups of 4 or 5 at the end of a lesson on jobinterview skills I ask the students to think of a job they would like to apply forbefore starting the game so that they can give specific answers

Cut out the vocabulary cards and place face down in a pile next to theboard When a student lands on a 'vocab card' square they must pick up a cardand either give the definition or use it in a sentence related to job applications.

You need (er group) 1 board + set of 20 cards + 1 die + a counter for eachstudent

2.3.5 Cartoon Story Maker

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