English speaking skills by rural 9th graders versus urban ones in binh dinh province = kỹ năng nói tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 9 thành thị so với nông thôn ở tỉnh bình định

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY HO THI DIEM ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS BY RURAL 9th GRADERS VERSUS URBAN ONES IN BINH DINH... ABSTRACT This research was conducted with the aim to investigate similarit

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

HO THI DIEM

ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS BY RURAL 9

GRADERS VERSUS URBAN ONES IN BINH DINH

g h: h g h d y h c bộ môn i g h 8140111

g i h g d : PGS.TS NGUYỄN QUANG NGO N

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I confirm that the work presented in this research report has been carried out by myself Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the thesis I confirm that this work is submitted in partial fulfillment for the M.A thesis in English at Quy Nhon University and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or qualification

Quy Nhon, July 2022

h i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my Assoc Prof Doctors, Doctors, colleagues, friends and family, the successful completion of this thesis work would not have been possible I take this chance to appreciate them for their expert advice and wise invaluable comments, and generous time They have enriched my knowledge and made

my graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life

First and foremost, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Assoc Prof

Dr Nguyen Quang Ngoan, for his amazing supervision His outstanding knowledge and profession teaching-related expertise inspired me greatly during my academic life at Quy Nhon University, and he opened new horizons for me in the field I appreciate his accommodating guidelines and suggestions, great patience, and strong management skills in helping me resolve the obstacles during the time I carried out my thesis I feel fortunate to have had him support for my work

I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating assistance, support and management during the pilot phase They not only encouraged

me when I met obstacles during my thesis, but also gave me valuable insights into my thesis I am very lucky to know all of them

Last, but not least, I am grateful to all the support and encouragement I received from my beloved family throughout my thesis education

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted with the aim to investigate similarities and differences in speaking English between rural 9th graders and urban ones in Binh Dinh Province, how well rural 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak English, compared to urban 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province In this study, quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied for comparative analysis The population of the study was 69 rural 9th graders, 61 urban ones and 6 English teachers in charge of teaching those 9th graders of the 6 secondary schools chosen to investigate in Binh Dinh Province consisting of 3 secondary schools in an urban area and 3 ones in a rural area The instruments were Test and Interview The data for analysis selected from the first test (Test 1), the second test (Test 2) and the interviews were analyzed by means of SPSS The findings showed that there was significant difference about English speaking skills among the urban group and the rural group However, there was

improvement between the first test and the second test among the two groups

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF CHARTS x

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Research aim and objectives 3

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Scope of the study 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2.LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Oral communication and the Speaking skill in a Foreign Language 7

2.1.1 Definitions of Oral communication and the Speaking skill 7

2.1.2 Oral proficiency 12

2.1.3 Necessity of Speaking Assessment 14

2.1.4 Test specifications 15

2.1.5 Speaking Component Assessment using the Components of English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) 15

2.2 Speaking skills of the 9th graders in Vietnam 19

2.3 External factors and speaking in English 20

2.3.1 Family factor 21

2.3.2 Socio-economic factor 21

2.3.3 Facilities and resources 21

2.3.4 Teacher‟s qualification 22

2.4 Related studies 22

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE 29

3.1 Research design 29

3.2 Participants 30

3.3 Instruments 31

3.3.1 Tests 32

3.3.2 Interviews 33

3.4 Procedure 33

3.4.1 Data collection 33

3.4.2 Data analysis 35

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 36

4.1 Students‟ English speaking test results 36

4.1.1 Participants‟ English speaking test results within the two groups 37

4.1.2 Participants‟ English speaking test results between the two groups 39

4.2 Students‟ conversation skills and project presentation skills 40

4.2.1 Students‟ conversation skills from Test 1 and Test 2 40

4.2.2 The students‟ belief in their conversation skills from the interviews 41

4.2.3 Students‟ project presentation skills from the interviews 45

4.3 Students‟ abilities of giving personal opinions and exchanging ideas and information between the two groups 47

4.4 Students‟ English pronunciation 48

4.4.1 Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban group 49

4.4.2 Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the rural group 53

4.4.3 Students‟ opinions about English pronunciation 57

4.4.4 Teachers‟ opinions about English pronunciation 64

4.5 External factors influence the students‟ English speaking skills 66

4.5.1 Results from the students 66

4.5.2 Results from the teachers 68

4.6 Summary 69

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 72

5.1 Summary of the study 72

5.2 Summary of key findings of the study 72

5.3 Implications 73

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study 74

REFERENCES 76

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training EFL: English as a foreign language L2: Second language

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Speaking scoring rubric of the tests 17 Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics for Test 1 36 Table 4.2: Reliability Statistics for Test 2 37 Table 4.3: Mean difference of students‟ speaking test results in the rural

group 38 Table 4.4: Mean difference of students‟ speaking test results in the urban

group 38 Table 4.5: Students‟ English speaking test results between the two groups 39 Table 4.6: Students‟ conversation skills in speaking in English between

the two groups 41 Table 4.7: Students‟ abilities of giving personal opinions and exchanging

ideas and information between the two groups 48 Table 4.8: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking in English between the two

groups 49 Table 4.9: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the urban group in Test 1 50 Table 4.10: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 1 50 Table 4.11: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the urban group in Test 2 52 Table 4.12: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 2 52 Table 4.13: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the rural group in Test 1 54 Table 4.14: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 1 54

Table 4.15: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the rural group in Test 2 56 Table 4.16: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the rural group

in Test 2 56 Table 4.17: Some urban and rural participants‟ scores from Test 1 and

Test 2 68

LIST OF CHARTS

hart 4.1: Urban students‟ belief versus rural students‟ one in their

conversation skills 44 hart 4.2: Urban students‟ project presentation skills versus rural

students‟ ones 47 Chart 4.3: Opinions of the urban students about English pronunciation 60 Chart 4.4: Opinions of the rural students about English pronunciation 62 hart 4.5: Urban students‟ opinions versus rural students‟ opinions about

English pronunciation 63

According to Eaton (2010, p 16), learning English as a foreign language

in the 21st century is emphasized not only on grammar, but also on communicative skills and the skills are applied as a means for communicating and connecting to others over the world In English language learning, speaking is considered as one of the most key skills to be progressed and enhanced continually communication The speaking skill is also one of the essential elements to evaluate someone‟s English abilities

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching and assessment was created for the unification of directives

in the learning and education of the languages, proposes orientations by means of linguistic guidelines to achieve the communication in the teaching-learning process of a language by The Council of Europe In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages the acquisition of a language is contextualized with specific aims of communication, it is needed

to learn in classrooms beyond linguistic contents At present, we are requested

to be able to communicate in English during English learning process in general and in the life in participate, especially English speaking skills According to Clark and Clark (1997, p 233), “speaking is fundamentally an instrumental act” Widdowson (1984, p 58) says that “speaking is the active

or productive skill” According to above two definitions, it can be referred that speaking is an interaction progression between two people or more A good speaking activity is when the people interacting can understand each other For example, speaking activities in classrooms are interaction between

a teacher and a student or more students In the interaction, the teacher should have a good speaking ability because through his or her speech, he or she has

to help his students understand the material

Today, with economic integration and globalization in Vietnam, speaking English well is necessary in life in general and at work in particular

It is in recognition of the need to be good at English speaking skill and achieve efficiency in communication focally emphasized on speaking skills in the Vietnamese school system The curriculum which guides the study of this subject is planned available by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in Vietnam for both rural and urban schools The scheme of work guiding the teachers of this subject is also made available in the same way to all schools Lately, the MOET in Vietnam has issued guidelines for the piloting of teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and English is taught in schools as a compulsory subject from Grade 3 In the context of Binh Dinh - a province belonging to Coastal Southern Central Vietnam consisting of Quy Nhon City and ten rural and mountainous districts, there has been a difference in using types of textbook series in curriculum from Grade 3 to Grade 9 between schools in Quy Nhon City and schools in districts Therefore, at the time the study was carried out, I chose the urban low- secondary schools and the rural ones which have applied pilot English curriculum of the MOET for Grade 9 to investigate It also means that investigated 9th graders used the same type of textbook, and curriculum distributed by the MOET

In the context of Vietnam, English language called and known as the foreign language (EFL) is acquired This implies that most speakers acquire English in addition to their mother tongue, called and known as the first language (L1) And this may lead to mother tongue interference problem Observably, Vietnamese learners have difficulties in English pronunciation It

is obviously seen that both the teachers and the learners must exert effort in this aspect of the English language to achieve fluency, whether in the Urban

or Rural areas But it is disappointing to understand that people pass positive results in favor of the students in the urban areas to be better in the knowledge and understanding of the subject than the ones in the rural areas

Because of the above reasons, this study, entitled “English Speaking

Skills By Rural 9 th rader er rba e i h i h ro i ce”,

wishes to assess English speaking skills amongst 9th graders at three urban lower-secondary schools and three rural ones in Binh Dinh Province and examine differences and similarities in speaking English among them

1.2 Research aim and objectives

The general aim of the study is to investigate similarities and differences

in speaking English between rural 9th graders and urban ones in Binh Dinh Province

The objectives of the study are:

 To examine how well rural 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak English

 To examine how well urban 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak English

 To discuss similarities and differences in speaking English between rural 9th graders and urban ones in Binh Dinh Province

1.3 Research questions

The study is carried out to answer the following questions:

1 How well do rural 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak English?

2 How well do urban 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak English?

3 What are similarities and differences in speaking English between rural 9th graders and urban ones in Binh Dinh Province?

1.4 Scope of the study

The study mainly bases on the framework of the 2018 high school English target program of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam

to analyze and compare speaking skills in English of the 9th graders of the lower-secondary schools However, with the restricted time and geographical conditions, I was not ambitious to conduct a total research on the 9th graders

of all lower-secondary schools in Binh Dinh Province Instead, I conducted

my study on 130 ninth graders of six lower-secondary schools including 69 ninth graders of three rural schools and 61 ninth graders of three urban ones And the English teachers of the 9th graders were asked to give help on my interview

1.5 Significance of the study

The findings of the study are expected to help people have a more accurate point of view of speaking skills in English of the 9th students, whether in rural areas or urban areas The findings of the research seem to make both theoretical and practical contributions It can enrich the comparative studies of English speaking skills and contribute to the process of teaching and learning English language Furthermore, the research results wish to expose that it is suggested for the government to recruit teachers of Oral English who are professional to teach the subject in schools and it is also suggested for the schools in the rural areas to be made conducive like those in

the urban areas - electrification, water, quarters, library, laboratory etc In addition, the recommendations have also been put in place that the students should learn and practice all English speaking skills including speaking, listening, writing, reading and uses of the language

1.6 Structure of the thesis

The study is organized in 5 chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the rationale, aim and objectives, research questions, scope, significance of the study and structure of the thesis Chapter 2, Literature Review, is put within its theoretical framework, by presenting the major theories that support it First of all, I present literature on Oral Communication and the Speaking skill in a Foreign Language including Definitions of Oral communication and the Speaking skill; Oral proficiency; Necessity of Speaking Assessment; Test specifications; and Speaking Component Assessment using the Components of English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) Secondly, English speaking skills of the 9th graders in Viet Nam is also shown Thirdly, External factors and speaking

in English are discussed, which consisting of Family factor, Socio-economic Factor, Facilities and Resources, and Teachers‟ qualification Fourthly, related studies are shown

Chapter 3, Methodology, supplies comments on research design, participants, instruments and procedure

In chapter 4, Results and discussion, presents similarities and differences

in speaking skills of the investigated 9th graders in rural schools versus urban schools and the external factors influencing the similarities and differences in Oral English are reported

Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, composes of the main findings

resulting in the conclusions and discussion of its limits and a few recommendations

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this study is to examine English speaking skills by rural

literature knowledge related to (1) Oral communication and the speaking skill

External factors and speaking in English, and (4) Related studies

2.1 Oral communication and the Speaking skill in a Foreign Language

2.1.1 Definitions of Oral communication and the Speaking skill

The definitions of the terms “Oral communication” and “Speaking skill”

have been suggested by a lot of researchers in language learning

Paltridge (2001) states that oral communication is a two-way progression embracing the speaker and listener and it relates the productive skill in speaking and the receptive one in understanding or listening to understand ( cited in Palmero, 2019)

Rixon (2011) declares that oral communication skill concerns a communicative ability of conveying and receiving information Oral communication refers to the meaning‟s negotiation between two or more persons; therefore, it is always related to the context occurring speaking communication which both speaker and listener play important roles

Palu (2016) and Akinola (2014) proclaim that oral communication is a unique and learned oratorical skill that expects to understand what to be said and how to say it Speech in more formal circumstances is not sent out naturally What should be learned is how to think and show oneself as a speaker in all occasions

Asubiojo et al (2005) professes that „oral communication skill is a

highly sought skill compared to writing and reading‟ (cited in Palmero, 2019) This is reason why learning to speak is an important aim It provides learns with a set of communication skills so that they can employ in the rest of the life Besides, oral communication is employed to send out thought, debate or discuss, suggest explanations, send out information, and make attention or impressions on others

Palu (2016) and Olatunji (2012) said that oral communication is a dynamic interactive progression that relates to the effectual spread of realities, opinions, thoughts, feeling and worth Speakers are actively and are consciously absorbed in communication so that they may grow information and understanding entailed for effective group function

Gass (2013) asserts that oral communication is the spoken contact between two or more people (cited in Palmero, 2019)

Richards and Renandya (2002, p 204) reports that an effective oral communication require the skills to use the language competently in real-life interactions involving not only verbal communication but also paralinguistic factors of speech like pitch, stress and intonation Brown (2007, p 237) declares that social contact in interactive role of language is important and in which it is not only what you say but also how you say it

According to Nunan (1989, p 32), effective oral communication comprises: the skill to articulate phonological features of the language comprehensibly; mastery of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns; an acceptable extent of fluency; skills in transactional and interpersonal; skills in taking short and long speaking turns; management skills of interaction; negotiating skills of meaning; conversational listening skills (successful conversations require good listeners as well as good speakers); skills in being aware of negotiating purposes for conversations; using correct conversational formulae and fillers

Besides, from Webster‟s New Dictionary (1994, p 932), we learn that speaking is an act to express one‟s ideas, feeling, purpose and thought orally It

is also called oral communication Speaking needs the performance, expression, intonation, stressing, pronunciation, grammar, and confidence to explore the idea or opinion Thus, speaking is a complex skill because at least it is concerned with components of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency (Syakur, 1987, p.5)

Moreover, Widdowson (1996, p 56) says that speaking as a case in point

of use, is a part of reciprocal exchange in which both reception and production play a significant role In this sense, skill of speaking involves both receptive and productive participation In fact, speaking is productive rather than receptive skill because it is as a way language system is manifested through the use of organs of speech and operates through the aural rather than the visual medium Therefore, speaking can be considered as productive and receptive skill through both aural and visual as it is used in communicative activity

Siahaan (2008, p 95) suggests that “speaking is a productive language skill” It refers that speaking is a person's skill to create sounds that are meaningful and understood by others so that good communication can be made According to Bygate (1987, p 7), speaking is an undervalued skill in many ways Speaking is a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as literary skills

Thornbury (2005, p 20) states that speaking is an activity in real life performed by speaker to carry out his/ her ideas for interacting with listeners The activities are unintended and their continuousness is based on situations Ladouse (in Nunan, 1991, p.23) reports that speaking is expressed as the activity as the capability to articulate oneself in the circumstance, or the activity

to describe acts, or situation in accurate words or the capability to converse or to

express a sequence of ideas fluently Furthermore, according to Wilson (1983, p 5), speaking as progress of the connection between speaker and listener

Another definition of speaking comes from Cameron (2001, p 40), she presents that speaking is about making hearers understand utterer‟s feeling and ideas by carrying out an act of communication which uses language At the time people give utterances, they express their meanings, feelings, ideas and desires

Besides, Caroline (2005, p 45) defines that speaking is an essential oral communication among people in humanity Speaking serves as natural means

of communication of the participants of the community for both expression of thinking and form a social behaviour

Additionally, according to Chaney (in Kayi, 2006, p.1), speaking is a building and sharing meaning process through the use of verbal and non-verbal in various contexts Mackey in Bygate (1987, p 5) summarizes that oral expression involves the use of right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, and the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey meaning That is the reason why speaking can be understood as an oral expression because it is used to express the idea by saying words and sentences, even though many other things are included in it In our daily life, according to Thornbury (2005, p 1), speaking is interactive and requires the ability to co-operate in the management of speaking turns It also typically takes place in real time, with little time for detailed planning Hence, speaking represents a real challenge to most language learners

Moreover, Fulcher (2003, p 23) asserts that “speaking is the verbal use

of language to communicate with other” In other words, this activity concern two or more participants implying both hearers and speakers and they have to respond to whatever they hear

Bailey (2000, p 25) states that speaking is an interactive progression where speakers expect to construct meaning through producing, getting and processing information

Brown (2001, p 267) reports that when somebody can use a language to speak, it refers that he can competently perform a conversation In addition,

he declines that the standard of acquiring language successfully is virtually always the exposition of the ability to achieve pragmatic purposes through an interactive discourse with others using language

In fact, speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching (Kayi, 2006, p.15) On the one hand, relating to the language teaching, speaking as the skill of being able to use the language is a problem

in teaching a foreign language (Bygate, 1987, p.1) In addition, the object of teaching speaking is to improve the oral communication of students Harmer (1990, p 38) states that the aim of teaching is to train students‟ communicative skills in real life As a result, language activities in the classroom should focus on the individual language use This requires teachers not only to create a warm and humanistic classroom atmosphere, but also encourage students to naturally communicate with their partners

From the statements on oral communication and the speaking skills definitions above, it can be concluded that English oral communication and the speaking skills are parts of communication skills The skills refer to the process

of conveying ideas, thought, point of view, or feelings through spoken words This can be carried out in a conversation between two or more participants English as second language learners often do not have chances to practice speaking English outside the classroom, and for most of them, the only place where they meet English is the course book Rixon (2011) claims that even though speaking skills are considered as necessary language skills that learners

ought to improve, it has been widely noticed that they cope with lots of difficulties in speaking English Therefore, learners ought to be supported to obtain these skills English teachers should actively engage their students' speaking abilities through enjoyable language activities and media in the

classroom and give them plenty of opportunities to practice their speaking skills

2.1.2 Oral proficiency

2.1.2.1 Definition of Oral proficiency

An overall definition of oral proficiency in English is the ability of learners to speak and use English in real communication with conversers It can be said that a fluent English speaker is someone who asks or responds to questions effectively, understands his or her teachers, expresses his/ her thoughts without difficulty and exactly, and have a tendency to interact more with a talker He/she is also a person who is able to use spoken language appropriately and competently through practice, especially the practice to use perfectly larger language units

Oral proficiency is a polysemous notion It relates to some aspects of language such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, intonation, proficiency and skills of interaction Saunders and Brien (in William M Saunders et al.,

2006, p.14) claim that: "Developing proficiency in oral English involves acquiring vocabulary, gaining control over grammar, and developing an understanding of the subtle semantics of English At the same time, acquiring proficiency in English involves learning how to use the language to interact successfully with other speakers of the language"

Taylor (1988) has the same notion He states that proficiency includes what learners know and their ability to use their knowledge in real-life communication Proficiency is considered as a dynamic concept, closely linked to process and function

Therefore, a universe definition of oral proficiency in English is „„the learner‟s ability to speak and use English in actual communication with an interlocutor‟‟

2.1.2.2 Necessity of Spoken Fluency

The purpose of learning a foreign language is to use it naturally Brumfit (1984) considers fluency as using language naturally like a native speaker Spoken fluency is also an important communication component, because fluent speaking ability can help speakers produce continuous speech without difficulty in understanding for listeners and to maintain ideas to communicate more effectively (cited in Yang, 2014) There are not any language learners turning down speaking English fluently This means that spoken fluency is essential for learners of English as foreign language to progress and enhance

In addition, the issue of spoken fluency is widely debated Nation (1997) supposes that improving speaking fluency also enhances the quality of grammatical accuracy and content control degrees The practice of speaking fluency does not conflict with instruction that focuses on form, but greatly enhance the accuracy of a language

In the context of our country, spoken fluency is required for professional aim such as doing business and diplomatic affairs, and for higher education

At the private sector, various local and multinational companies have created

a vast employment field for our young generation The candidates‟ required qualities are presentation abilities and spoken fluency which can be noticed from the employment advertisements on the radio and in newspapers Sometimes at an interview the academic result is omitted if somebody‟s English speaking skills are acceptable Candidates‟ English speaking skills makes them confident in the interview because they can give the responses easily In addition, students who are going abroad for purpose of pursuing

their higher education must be able to speak English fluently At today‟s workplaces where everything is carried out through voice mail, teleconferencing, video conferencing, power point presentations, seminars, meetings and conference through teamwork our abilities to communicate are becoming more and more significant

2.1.3 Necessity of Speaking Assessment

In countries where learners study English as a second language, they do not get lots of opportunities to practice their English skills And even if they have any chance to apply, they are not received feedbacks properly that they employ English whether correctly or not Institutions are the best places for them to carry out what they have learned and can be assessed and have correction Therefore, appropriate assessment is essential in developing skills because if there is not assessment, the process of gaining competence remains inadequate

On the whole, Brown (2002) states that “English language teaching now requires diagnosis, treatment and assessment” (cited in Yang, 2014) Bachman and Palmer (2010) suggest that “students should demonstrate language proficiency through a performance test The tasks used in such an assessment should enable students to talk, to participate in a conversation, or

to communicate in another context that exists in real life” (cited in Srikaew et al., 2015)

In the context of Vietnam, the prevailing mentality is that students learn foreign languages to get good grades in exams, not to develop skills Assessment of speaking skills is as important as other skills Hughes (1989, p 44) suggests to teachers, “if you want to encourage oral ability, then test oral ability” If students understand that they have to present something or take an oral assessment in English at the examination and their good achievement in

the use of language is contingent on their performance, they will be thoughtful enough to progress their speaking abilities

According to Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2018, p.570), test specifications include: the programme objectives and student learning outcomes

to be addressed; the content areas to be addressed; the relative weightings, balance and coverage of items, with weightings addressing objectives, content areas, kinds of question and difficulty of the items; the total number of items in the test; the number of questions required to address a particular element of a programme or learning outcomes; the exact items in the test

2.1.5 Speaking Component Assessment using the Components of English Language Development Assessment (ELDA)

The Components of English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) is an assessment which is used annually in the United States and designed to facilitate schools in measuring the students‟ annual progress achievement of English language in Grades 3 to 12 in developing English language proficiency Ferrara et al (2008) state that ELDA assesses language

skills with content which is drawn from school curricular and non-curricular resources that is suitable with age and each grade cluster assessment The

EL A assessment‟s component has four speaking functions Firstly, it is Reason The Reason function is outlined as debating for or against a certain topic relating and supporting the argument The required response relates to clear position and information Secondly, it is Explain It is defined as providing detailed information about a relevant topic in a conversation The required response is relevance, specific ideas and information Next, it is Tell

It is defined as providing main information about a relevant topic in a conversation The required response is relevance, extends with details or examples And the last one is Connect It is defined as establishing a verbal connection with an interlocutor in order to converse on a topic The response required is relevance as a demonstration of connection (Yunus, 2012)

2.1.5.1 Numbers of Items, Time and needed materials of the English speaking tests (Test 1 and Test 2) for the 9 th graders

Each test had 4 questions for 4 speaking functions according to the ELDA

assessment‟s component, including 1 question for Reason function, other one for Explain function, other one for Tell function and another one for Connect function The content of the questions and the images related to the questions were printed on A4-size paper A laptop storing the content of the test questions and projectors/televisions were used to present to students the content of the tests

in case the images of the tests on paper were unclear The time for each student

to answer all 4 questions in each test was about 8-10 minutes Oral administrations were opted and the students‟ responses were scored live

Students‟ responses in oral English following the prompts are scored by the test examiners through using a speaking rubric The students get 0, 1, or 2

points for each response given by them for each question, depending on the appropriateness and response‟s quality according to the scoring guide For each function the teacher gives input, scaffolding, the prompt, and finally repetition the prompt to remind and encourage the students to demonstrate their speaking abilities (Yunus, 2012) In addition, the students' pronunciation scores are also assessed based on Curriculum framework and goals for English of universal education in 2018 of the MOET in Vietnam The students get from 0 to 0.5 pronouncing points for each response given by them for each question The students with good pronunciation, good accent, intonation, rhythm of phrases and the sentences get the scores of pronunciation from 0.4 to 0.5 points, the ones with clear pronunciation, relatively accurate sounds receive the scores of pronunciation from 0.25 to 0.35 points, and the ones get the pronunciation scores from 0.0 to 0.2 points if they don‟t achieve the criterions of pronunciation in English speaking Table

2.1 presents speaking scoring rubric of the tests (Test 1 and Test 2)

Table 2.1: Speaking scoring rubric of the tests

Connect

Q1

Tell Q2

Explain Q3

Reason Q4

information or extend beyond information in the prompt

0

oesn‟t provide essential

information or explain/elaborate

May contain only information from the prompt

0

an‟t participate in a short, simple conversation about related issues

Connect

Q1

Tell Q2

Explain Q3

Reason Q4

1

Both essential and attempts to explain, elaborate

on information

Information may

be general or incomplete

Errors may interfere with understanding

1

Can participate

in a short, simple conversation about related issues

2

Essential information and specific detail explain, elaborate and convey order

Errors do not interfere with understanding

2

Responses express a clear position and include information that supports the position Errors do not interfere with understanding

Connect

Q1

Tell Q2

Explain Q3

Reason Q4 0.5

of phrases and the

sentences

0.5

Clear pronunciation, relatively accurate sound, accent,

intonation, rhythm of phrases

and the sentences

0.5

Clear pronunciation, relatively accurate sound, accent,

intonation, rhythm of phrases and the

sentences

2.2 Speaking skills of the 9 th graders in Vietnam

According to Curriculum framework and goals for English of universal education in 2018 of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, after studying English at the lower secondary level, students can achieve English level 2 of the 6-level Foreign Language Competency Framework for Vietnam Specifically, they can understand frequently used sentences and structures related to basic communication needs (such as information about family, self, shopping, asking for directions, employment, etc.); can exchange information

on simple, familiar everyday topics; can simply describe himself, his surroundings, and matters of basic need Through English, students have general knowledge about the country, people, culture of English-speaking countries and other countries in the world; have a positive attitude towards the subject and learning English; at the same time have understanding and pride

in the values of their national culture; develop qualities such as compassion, family love, pride in the homeland, environmental protection, a sense of self-study and responsibility for self and family

About language knowledge for 9th graders, topics are about Living environment, Urban life, Vietnam - past and present, Life in the past, Healthy living, Natural wonders, Travel, Future job, English in the world

For 9th graders, their speaking skills have to achieve the following criterions:

- Clear pronunciation, relatively accurate sound, accent, intonation, rhythm of phrases and the sentences

- Participate in short, simple conversations about familiar issues related

to work and daily life

- Short, well-prepared project presentation on familiar topics; give reasons and a brief explanation of the personal opinions

- Exchange ideas and information on simple topics

2.3 External factors and speaking in English

In the case of English language learning, opportunities to contact with supportive and suitable environment affect learners‟ speaking skills It can be said that some reasons for the variations in second language learners‟ attainments are family, geographical location, resources of materials, facilities, available technology and also the teachers‟ qualification

It is understood that urban area is the one surrounded by cities and has dense population while rural area which is farmland or countryside one and is sparsely populated area Lately, differences in foreign language learners‟ achievements between rural students and urban ones have been investigated

by some educational researchers Rural learners are widely supposed they are

given an education having less quality than the urban ones by a large number

of experts from the lots of fields in particular like education, research, society and so on and most of people in the community in general

A lot of factors cause the students‟ differences in students‟ English speaking skills in rural areas versus urban ones (UKEssays, 2018)

2.3.1 Family factor

The factor of family is determined by many researchers that it is very important in the students‟ achievement Rural students‟ English speaking ability is not as good as urban students‟ one, this is believed that it is affected

by their parents‟ education Moreover, adolescents‟ choices to pursue higher learning are also affected by parents‟ prospect (UKEssays, 2018)

2.3.2 Socio-economic factor

The socio-economic factor affects their academic performance Most of the rural students don‟t have enough conditions to get more academic resources because they are often from poor families Conversely, most of urban students are usually from wealthier families, they have enough conditions to join tuition classes and get more resources of materials for references It means that this affects the students‟ ability of language (UKEssays, 2018)

2.3.3 Facilities and resources

Learners‟ achievement is also thought that it is affected by facilities and resources factors For rural schools, some of them are downgraded and lack facilities applied to support in learning and teaching The problem of uneven spreading of facilities and resources between provinces, rural and urban areas remains intact It is important to have enough facilities supporting and being helpful in effective language teaching and learning Since rural students are

not provided enough facilities, they have fewer opportunities to access to technology Urban students‟ learning progression has a large number of advantages and the advent and development of technology make their learning easier and their comprehension in learning process will also be better through the facilities provided (UKEssays, 2018)

2.3.4 Teacher’s qualification

It is important for students to receive both support from teachers in language teaching and learning process and good knowledge and good teaching and imparting skills from qualified teachers to obtain students‟ good performance Teaching in rural schools has certain difficulties; therefore, most of the teachers don‟t want to work in rural areas It means that most of teachers sent to the rural areas to teach are the novice teachers having less experience in teaching (UKEssays, 2018)

2.4 Related studies

Many studies explored the urban and rural students‟ English proficiency Some of those examined the students‟ English proficiency in schools which didn‟t have enough facilities and apprised that students‟ proficiency in English especially oral proficiency in particular is low or limited

Basa, Asrida, & Fadli (2018) examined factors contributing to the students‟ speaking ability and asserted that there were several contributing factors to the students‟ speaking development Some of all factors suggested

by him in the research include Teacher, Family Support, Classroom Environment, Learning Materials This research was a case study based on qualitative approach To get the data, Basa, Asrida, & Fadli investigated eight students of the twelfth-grade students of SMAN 3 Batusangkar in 2017-2018 school year The data was collected by an unstructured interview The author concluded that there were many contributing factors to the students' speaking

ability consisting of internal factors and external factors and he listed many external factors comprising social class, teachers, family support and classroom environment

Karunaratne (2003) executed the research to investigate several aspects

of the sociology in English teaching and learning in Sri Lanka and it attempted to discover the ability to apply of the communicative approach in English teaching and learning in the context of Sri Lanka He examined the efficiency of the teaching approach in teaching English in four public schools

in Colombo The results of the study raised considerable doubt about the communicativeness in an English lesson at the schools where social conditions, teaching conditions and physical facilities were claimed to be insufficient and it was expected that teachers should be well qualified

In addition, Perera (2001) also suggested the complex factors affecting the English teaching and learning The study was implemented to inquire into classroom interaction‟s role in acquiring second language in Sri Lanka Some

of the objectives of the research were to explore how the learning materials provided opportunities for second language learning and how oral interactions between teacher and students in the classrooms promoted probability to develop second language In the study, Perera selected four schools from different sociocultural backgrounds to examine and used the approach based

on observational case studies On the other hand, the learning materials used

in the classrooms were based on Communicative Language Teaching approach which focuses on oral interaction and was used to complement the qualitative data He indicated that the oral interactions were the results of a complex relationship including the teachers who differed in terms of their experiences The purpose of learning English differed between schools, between students, and was related to the schools‟ culture and the students‟

socio-economic background As a result, the opportunities to develop foreign language performance were different in each of context

McLoyd‟s (1989) examined how poverty and low socio-ecomomic status (SES) concerns with insufficient learning outcomes Parental education being

an essential standard of SES involves children‟s educational outcomes Nevertheless, McLoyd stated that the different conditions of family SES, including parental education, income, and parents‟ occupation status might be predicted as the stronger affecting factors of children‟s academic outcomes Odigbo (1990) studied on teachers‟ accomplishment and effectiveness in teaching He employed a sample size including two hundred and forty (240) teachers with an investigation inferential research design Using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis, he found that the proper approach to safety in the languages is through training He stressed that such training involves acquiring more knowledge and higher qualification According to him, it was not safe to assume that a teacher in front of the English Language class was qualified to teach the subject He proposed that teaching diploma referred to the teacher‟s qualification which has to be obviously shown by the teacher‟s teaching of the subject to understand it effectively (as cited in Idoli

& Ummanah, 2011) Besides, Sunday & Kola (2014) explored involvement of teachers in the students‟ learning outcome The study emphasized teachers‟ position conquering important resource in the educational system of Nigerian

It noticed that teachers‟ pedagogical content knowledge is very important for the teachers to teach effectively and to be able to improve students‟ academic learning Moreover, Mittapalli et al (2021) studied on various development of speaking skills in English language learning The research emphasized the value of communication skills in all aspects of life, especially English speaking skills It also stressed on improving students' English speaking skills

in an EFL/ESL classroom environment Besides, it emphasized that a teacher played an important role in improving students' English speaking skills in English language classrooms by using various methods, techniques, and approaches since skills of communication were essential for in any fields of the life

Similarly, Lan Nguyen et al (2021) explored factors influencing English proficiency This study attempted to examine how the Vietnamese students are distinctive or not in learning English, and investigated factors influencing Vietnamese students‟ language proficiency The study hypothesized the significance of intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors in determining Vietnamese people‟s English proficiency The intrinsic factors were individual ability, thought, hard-working and motivation; conversely, extrinsic factors included student demographic, home environment, and school environment In this study, the authors stated lightly how students studied a second language and how their language proficiency could be developed The participants of the study were more than 2500 students of eight famous universities in Vietnam The researchers sent to them online questionnaires to collect data The researchers employed SPSS and EVIEW to analyze collected data Research results asserted that: Under parents‟ perspective, parents‟ education greatly affected the formation of their children's thinking and language preferences The higher the educational achievement parent was, the better the child learnt a foreign language The study also suggested that high-income families were able to provide their children with opportunities to have better language skills than low-income families Parents‟ investment in education was key to help their children enhance their foreign language skills; furthermore, under educators‟ perspectives, the higher English exposure‟s level the students were equipped

at school, the higher their language was proficient and students had learning programs that use English as the main language in learning and teaching often had better foreign language proficiency than students had traditional training systems

On the contrary, Kosgei et al (2013) implemented the study on influence

of teacher characteristics on students‟ academic achievement among secondary schools The aim of this study was to explore the involvement between teacher characteristics and students‟ learning achievement The objectives of this study were to identify the relation between qualification and experience of the teachers to student academic achievement The target population of the study was teachers of 26 public secondary schools in Nandi District, Kenya A causal comparative research design was employed in the study The instrument of the study was a questionnaire used to collect data Collected data was analyzed applied descriptive and inferential statistical techniques The results of the research reported that teacher qualification doesn‟t influence student‟s achievement in learning

Moreover, Kimani, Kara, & Njagi (2013) carried out the investigation into teacher influencing factors on students' achievement in learning in secondary schools in Nyandarua County, Kenya The focal objective of the study was to examine how selected teachers‟ demographic characteristics related to instructional practices and academic performance in secondary schools in Nyandarua County Data were collected from one hundred and fifty three teachers selected randomly from eighteen schools in three districts in the County participated in the study using a validated questionnaire Kimani, Kara, & Njagi (2013) concluded that “teachers‟ age, gender, professional qualifications and professional experience did not have significant effect on academic achievement in secondary schools”

In addition, Dahar et al (2011) studied on impact of the prior school environment on performance in learning of students at the secondary stage in Punjab (Pakistan) The aim of the study was to explore the impact of the quality of the teachers on the learning achievement of the students at the secondary stage The random sample size of the study included a total of 288 schools, 20 students and 10 teachers of each school The instruments to collect data of the study were a questionnaire for teachers to identify the quality of the teachers and a result sheet used to collect the data of students‟ academic achievement Dahar et al (2011) found that there was not “much difference in the quality of teachers of schools with higher academic achievement and that of the schools with lower academic achievement” The study concluded that the indicators of teacher quality in the research were

“not effective but instead the prior achievement is the most effective” This was the reason why the researchers implicated that “only the quantity of academic and professional degrees/certificates or trainings or years of service

or amount of salary was not important but it was the attitude of teachers towards teaching and the extent of the use of their skills, expertise and abilities in teaching that is important” Even though the research had limitation owing to limited time and resources as well as limitation of conversation of teacher quality, it had significance to guide for developing the education standards, educational managers and the policy makers

In general, many researches were implemented to investigate into English speaking skills as well as factors influencing English speaking skills Nevertheless, as far as I know, no studies examined differences and similarities in students‟ English speaking performance in rural areas versus urban ones And this creates a research gap for this current study Therefore, I carried out the research to explore English speaking skills by the rural 9th

graders versus urban ones in Binh Dinh Province to identify what differences and similarities there might be among them and how some external factors might influence English speaking skills