How to teach speaking skill to 11 graders in a communicative way effectively a case study at nguyen trai high school m a 60 14 10

The focus of my thesis is to work out underlying principles in creating “communicative need” for modifying communicative speaking activities in Tieng Anh 11 textbook as well as ways of

HOW TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILL TO 11 GRADERS IS A COMMUNICATIVE WAY

EFFECTIVELY

A CASE STUDY AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH

SCHOOL

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the degree of Master of Art (tesol)

Submitted by

VÕ THỊ THY

Supervisor ĐẶNG THỊ HƯỞNG, Ed.D

Ho Chi Minh City, December 2009

I certify that this thesis entitled “HOW TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILL TO

11 th GRADERS IN A COMMUNICATIVE WAY:

A CASE STUDY AT NGUYEN TRAI HIGH SCHOOL” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any

other institutions

Tay Ninh, 31st December, 2009

Vo Thi Thy

I hereby state that, Vo Thi Thy, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for care, loan, and reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, 31st December, 2009

Vo Thi Thy

First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Dang Thi Huong, who has given me valuable assistance over the long period of carrying out the research and writing this thesis She has devoted her time to reading all the chapters of my draft versions carefully, provided me with invaluable comments, criticism and the best advice on how to gradually improve

my work Without her constant guidance, I could not have completed it

Second, I would like to send my geat gratefulness to all the teaching staff of the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University in Ho Chi Minh City for their devotion to the success of the M.A program

Third, I am greatly indebted to the Vietnamese teachers of English and students

at Nguyen Trai High School, Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province who all have enthusiastically helped me accomplish this thesis

Last but not least, I send my special thanks to my mother and my parents-in-law,

my husband, my sisters and brothers, teachers, and my friends who have constantly given me favour, sympathy and encouragement They have made a great contribution to the completion of my thesis

The focus of my thesis is to work out underlying principles in creating

“communicative need” for modifying communicative speaking activities in Tieng

Anh 11 textbook as well as ways of teaching English speaking skill in a

communicative way effectively This is a case study at Nguyen Trai High School, Trang Bang District, Tay Ninh Province

Survey questionnaires for both teachers and students were designed The questionnaire for teachers was delivered to Vietnamese teachers of English at NTHS to investigate their current ways of teaching English speaking skill It aims at finding out how much teachers can make use of the designed speaking activities in the textbook in a communicative way The questionnaire for students was delivered to the two groups, controlled and experimental, to probe their different perceptions of and reactions to the two ways of teaching speaking skill during the experimental time

In the experiment, 90 students were divided into two groups of equal ability They were trained for 16 weeks in the second semester of the school year 2008-

2009 In the controlled group, students were instructed to practise ready-designed speaking activities in the new textbook In the experimental group, students were asked to conduct newly-modified speaking tasks in which communicative need was created and a number of principles for making an activity communicative and tips for a communicative speaking class were applied

At the end of the experimental time, a speaking test was carried out to test each student’s speaking skill of the two groups of student subjects to see whether the experimental group was more successful in communication than the other group

More students in the second group were successful in making themselves understood than the first one They talked more and used the target language in a more fluent and natural way than the other The results proved that the principles suggested were actually effective in making a speaking activity communicative itself, which is a prerequisite for the success of a speaking class Besides the principles, a number of techniques for teaching the skill communicatively were also proposed

In the last chapter, some conclusions and recommendations for the teachers and the administrators of the school were also made

Statement of authorship i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Acknowledgement s iii

Abstract iv

Tables of content vi

List of tables ix

List of figures x

List of diagrams xi

Abbreviations xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 The aims of the study 4

1.3 Significance of the research 5

1.4 The overview of the research 5

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The differences between written and spoken language 7

2.2 Speaking in real life and speaking in classroom 8

2.2.1 The nature of real-life communication 9

2.2.2 The distinction between speaking in real life and speaking in classroom 12

2.3 Language competence and performance 18

2.3.1 Communicative competence 20

2.3.2 Oral communicative activities 24

2.4 Testing speaking 27

2.4.1 Criteria for a speaking test 27

2.4.2 Reliability and validity of a speaking test 28

2.5 Using textbooks 34

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 37

3.2 Research design 37

3.2.1 Characteristics of subjects 38

3.2.2 Instruments 40

3.2.2.1 The questionnaires 41

3.2.2.2 Testing speaking 43

3.2.3 Data collection procedure 44

CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaires 46

4.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skill 46

4.1.2 Teachers’ awareness of the existence of communicative need in speaking activities 47

4.1.3 Teachers’ intention of creating communicative need for speaking activities 47

4.1.4 Teachers’ frequency of using oral communicative activities 48

4.1.5 Teachers’ other techniques in using communicative activities 49

4.1.6 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skill 50

4.1.7 Conclusions 52

4.2 Students’ responses to the questionnaire and scores of the speaking test 52

4.2.1 Students’ responses to the questionnaire 53

4.2.1.2 Students’ perceptions of and reactions to

speaking classes 54

4.2.1.3 Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to games used 54

4.2.1.4 Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to roleplays used 56

4.2.1.5 Students’ perceptions of and reactions to communicative situations 58

4.2.1.6 Students’ perceptions of and reactions to how they do the tasks… ……….61

4.2.1.7 Learners’ success in making themselves understood 63

4.2.1.8 Students’ average talking time in speaking classes 64

4.2.1.9 Learners’ difficulties in speaking classes 65

4.2.2 Students’ scores of the speaking test 67

4.2.2.1 Fluency 68

4.2.2.2 Task completion 69

4.2.3 Conclusion 70

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 71

5.2 Recommendations 73

BIBLIOGRAPHY 75

APPENDICES 79

Table 3.1: Information on teachers’ age and gender 38

Table 3.2: Information on teachers’ background 39

Table 3.3: Students’ background information 40

Table 4.1: Teachers’ attitudes toward teaching English speaking skill 46

Table 4.2: Teachers’ awareness of the existence of communicative need in speaking activities 47

Table 4.3: Teacher’s frequency of modifying speaking activities 48

Table 4.4 : Teachers’ intention of creating communicative need 48

Table 4.5: Teachers’ frequency of using oral communicative activities in teaching English speaking skill 49

Table 4.6: Teachers’ other techniques in using communicative activities 49

Table 4.7: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skill 50

Table 4.8: Students’ attitudes toward learning English speaking skill 53

Table 4.9: Students’ difficulties in learning English speaking skill 65

Table 4.10: Students’ average scores at English in the first semester, school-year 2008-2009 68

Table 4.11: Fluency scores 68

Table 4.12: Task completion scores 69

Figure 4.1: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to speaking classes … 54 Figure 4.2: Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to games used……… 54 Figure 4.3: Group B’s perceptions of and reactions to roleplays used…… 56 Figure 4.4: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to

communicative situations 58 Figure 4.5: Students’ perceptions of and reactions to

how they do the tasks 61 Figure 4.6: Learner’s success in making themselves understood 63 Figure 4.7: Students’ average talking time in speaking classes 64

Diagram 2.1: The nature of communication 9 Diagram 2.2: Speaking proficiency 23 Diagram 2.3: Teachers’ using textbooks 35

B.A Bachelor of Arts

DOET Department of Education and Training

EFL English as a Foreign Language

M.A Master of Arts

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

NTHS Nguyen Trai High School

OUP Oxford University Press

CUP Cambridge University Press

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents background to the study, the aims of the research, significance of the thesis as well as the overview of the research

1.1 Background to the study

The term “Communicative approach” has been in the limelight in teaching English in recent years and EFL has been changed a great deal since the “Open-Door” policy was implemented in Vietnam in 1986 Both textbooks and coursebooks written by native and non-native writers have been updated from communicative viewpoints, Vietnamese teachers of English have been trained to adapt their teaching in a communicative way As a result, throughout the country, from secondary to tertiary foreign language education, language learners have been encouraged to study the English language with a view to succeeding in real communication In the future, it is hoped that they will be able to participate successfully in the development of the country in all aspects such as politics, education, economy, culture, technology, commerce, etc with their knowledge of the English language

Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the society, a new series of English textbooks, from grade 6 to grade 12, written by Vietnamese teachers and researchers of English has gradually been used for several years The change is that speaking and listening components are included as equally important parts as reading and writing skills in the curriculum The proportion of each unit in the

textbook Tieng Anh 11 and the time allocation for teaching the four language

skills are designed as follows:

Reading: one 45-minute class contact hour

Speaking: one 45-minute class contact hour

Listening: one 45-minute class contact hour

Writing: one 45-minute period class contact hour

Language focus: one 45-minute class contact hour

All units (16 units) are begun with reading comprehension part from which listening, speaking, writing are designed in terms of topic or theme Vocabulary and structures used in the reading are extracted for language focus (including pronunciation and grammar) For speaking, designed activities are intended to promote students’ use of English in different communicative situations Besides, the language input for practice is carefully prepared so that students could feel more confident in communication The themes are taken from Vietnamese cultures and Vietnamese students’ life including family, friendship, voluntary work, illiteracy, personal experiences, contests, hobbies as well as global issues involving world population, nature in danger, sources of energy, wonders of the world, etc in order to make it easy for students to talk about However, from the methodological view, “communicative need” is failed to be created and used in teaching English speaking skill

In the curriculum, it is necessary that two 45-minute tests must be done in each semester, one after every three units 15-minute tests (three tests) and oral tests (at least one time) are frequently conducted at random in each semester In the one-period test, pronunication (at word level including distinguishing sounds and stress), grammar, lexis, reading and writing skills are mainly tested in the form of multiple choice questions A 15-minute test format is similar to that of the 45-minute test In the so-called “oral test”, students are asked to do some small exercises on grammar of the previous lesson only Now and then teachers ask students questions about the reading contents and vocabulary In general, speaking skill is not included in both tests and semester or graduation exams

Furthermore, Vietnamese students of English have some common difficulties in acquiring speaking skill because of linguistic deficiencies, shyness and anxiety, worries of making mistakes and losing face, passive learning styles, mother-tongue use, no exposure to English environment, frequent tongue-tied embarrassment “they cannot think of anything to say, they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should speak” (Ur, 1996: 46) Another difficulty is that Vietnamese teachers of English often have problems in time allocation, class size and so forth

Nguyen Trai High School is one of the three high schools of Trang Bang District which borders Ho Chi Minh City Those are Nguyen Trai High School, Loc Hung High School and Trang Bang semi-state High School The high school is the most prestigious among the three For each school-year NTHS recruits about

440 students who get the highest scores in the entrance exams They are divided into ten classes (grade 10), which is one-third of the total number of students of the school (about 1,200 students) Almost all NTHS students are eager to study and very hard-working

However, the situation of learning English at NTHS is not an exception in comparison with others in the Vietnamese educational context Learning a foreign language, English language, is thought to be less important than other subjects like maths, physics chemistry, literature, etc The first goal that almost all students of NTHS set at learning English is to pass the high school graduation exam Their focus is on vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing Therefore, speaking is belittled because it is excluded from all exams (See Table 4.7 in Chapter Four for more details) For the fact that speaking is ignored in exams, Vietnamese teachers of English at NTHS are expected to help students pass written exams only This situation may lead to the failure of teaching English speaking skill in my school, too

In short, there are a number of reasons for the failure of learning and teaching English speaking skill at NTHS: (1) The activities themselves in the textbook

Tieng Anh 11 are not communicative enough for learners to have real-life

conversations; (2) The teaching of the skill and its test requirement is not synchronous, and consequently English speaking partly loses its importance; (3) Both teachers and students encounter the problems mentioned above in teaching and learning English speaking skill I perceive that many objective and subjective obstacles lie in the process of English speaking teaching and learning at my school, which arouses my interest and I have a strong desire to find out effective ways to solve this problem Hence, the research questions of my thesis are:

1 What are current ways of teaching English speaking skill to 11th graders

I.2 The aims of the study

Based on the background to the study, the aims of the research are:

(1) Suggesting some theoretical principles to create communicative need for speaking activities

(2) Working out ways of teaching speaking skill in a communicative way effectively to 11th graders at NTHS

(3) Making some recommendations for both teachers and administrators in relation to the improvement of teaching and learning English speaking skill for 11th graders at NTHS

1.3 Significance of the research

In recent years communicative approach has gained its approval from EFL classrooms Communication has increasingly been considered to be the ultimate aim of learning a language It is hoped that my research will make, to some extent, a contribution to teaching speaking English communicatively at NTHS by providing practical and applicable speaking activities in which the students are motivated by real needs to speak English naturally Furthermore, the research is potential in equiping them with principles for modifying speaking activities in the textbook in a more flexible and creative way By explaining to them why, when and how to exploit each kind of communicative activity, I do hope that the research will give teachers a profound insight into how to teach English speaking skill to 11 graders effectively

In addition, it is clear that without a close cooperation of the administrators, textbook-writers and teachers, we can not achieve the expected goal Hence, the results of my study, I think, are also meaningful to educational administrators who have played an important role in making decisive policy to the development

of English teaching and learning in the Vietnamese context

I.4 The overview of the research

The thesis will be presented in five chapters Chapter One: Introduction

includes background to the study, the aims of the research, significance of the

thesis, as well as the overview of the study Chapter Two: Literature review

involves (1) the differences between spoken and written language; (2) speaking

in real-life and speaking in classroom; (3) language competence and performance; (4) testing speaking; and (5) using textbooks Chapter Three:

Methodology consists of research questions, research design with a description of

the subjects, instruments and data collection procedures Chapter Four: Data

analysis and discussions reports the results of the data collected and the

discussion of the findings Chapter Five: Conclusions and recommendations

comes from the results of the data analysis and discussion of the findings

This chapter has just presented the introduction Relevant literature review will

be presented in the next chapter

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, I would like to explore: (1) The differences between spoken and written language; (2) Speaking in real life and speaking in classroom; (3) Language competence and performance; (4) Testing speaking; and (5) Using textbooks

2.1 The differences between written and spoken language

I believe that a close examination of the differences between spoken and written language can help us explain one of the obstacles for EFL learners in learning speaking skill

Dash K., Samir in his website www.samirshomepage.zzn.com states that in spoken form a sentence has a less strict construction than the sentence in a written form It is also difficult to divide a spoken conversation into separate sentences and the relationships between one clause to another is less clear in this case as the speaker relies more on hearer’s understanding of the context The speaker also depends upon the ability of the listener to interpret if he fails to provide the exact sound representation to his expression Moreover the speaker is able to rely on features of intonation which tell us a great deal, which can not be given in written punctuation

Similarly, Brown and Yule (1989: 1) define: “ The written language is the language of literature and scholarship It is language which is admired, studied, and rich in excellent exemplification” They also point out that for most of its history, language teaching has been concerned with the teaching of written

language This language is characterized by well-formed sentences which are integrated into highly structured paragraghs

Spoken language, on the other hand, is much shorter in length of utterance and includes simply-structured sentences Word choice is based on informality and comprehensibility rather than formality and sophisticated styles Brown and Yule (1989:1) also state:

Spoken language consists of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciations There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another, and the speakers frequently use non-specific references (they tend to say ‘thing’, ‘it’, ‘this’ rather than ‘ the left-handed monkey wrench’, or ‘the highly perfumed French poodle

2.2 Speaking in real life and speaking in classroom

The distinction between speaking in real life and speaking in classroom is beneficial to understand students’ difficulties in learning speaking skill, which also gives teachers a profound view on how to improve their learning of the skill

2.2.1 The nature of real-life communication

I believe that a good knowledge of real-life conversation can help us understand the natural speaking process as well as reasons for producing exchanging utterances, which provides teachers with a potential view on different measures toward preparing for effective language input and creating real situations for language learners to practice the target language Therefore, understanding the nature of real-life speaking plays an important role in designing communicative activities, which eases the question of how to teach speaking skill effectively Furthermore, it may also diminish artificiality and level up authenticity in language classroom Harmer (1991) summarizes the nature of communication as presented in the following diagram:

wants to say something has a communicative purpose selects from language store

wants to listen to something interested in communicative purpose processes a variety of language

First, we surfacially assume speaking language as something innate We know that in most cases of communication, the need which urges a speaker to produce language proceeds so quickly, naturally and subconsciously that he/ she is not able to be aware of it However, when we have a more careful analysis of its nature, we realize that a speaker always has a reason for communication They have a want to speak, “they feel a need to speak, otherwise they would keep silent” (Harmer,1991: 46)

Second, another facet of a real-life conversation refers to what Harmer (1991) calls “communicative purpose” We utter words not simply because we want to say something Deep inside the want, we have a commmunicative purpose that needs satisfying by what happens after the utterance In other words, we are interested in the intended effects of what we have spoken In the same way, Peccei (1994) analyses that the literal meaning of an utterance is expressed through particular words or structures, and the intended effects are what the speakers really want to aim at Harmer (1991) puts it in another way as below:

Speakers say things because they want something to happen as a result of what they say They may want to charm their listeners; they may want to give some information or express pleasure They may decide to be rude or to flatter, to agree or complain In each of these cases they are interested in achieving this communicative purpose_what is important is the message they wish to convey and the effect they want it to have

(Harmer, 1991: 46)

Last, in order to satisfy their communicative purpose, each speaker will use one

of his or her powerful means of communication, that is language According to Harmer (1991), speakers select from their language store the language they think

is appropriate for their different purposes Speakers are thought to have an infinite capacity to create new sentences (especially if they are native speakers)

Harmer (1991) also makes a generalisation about a listener of language: in all conversations, a listener must have a want to listen to what the speaker is addressing If what the speaker says is none of the listener’s business, he may lose his attention “In order for someone to understand what they are listening to, they must have some desire to do so” (Harmer, 1991: 47) The listener also takes the speaker’s illocution into account As Harmer (1991) explains, listeners are interested in the communicative purpose of what is being said; they want to find out what is being conveyed and what effect they wish the communication to have Whereas the speaker selects from his or her language store to put the ideas into words, the listener processes a variety of language at the same time

“Although the listener may have a good idea of what the speaker is going to say next, in general terms, he/ she has to be prepared to process a variety of grammar and vocabulary to understand exactly what is being said” (Harmer, 1991: 47)

Doff (1998) in his book Teach English gives out a concise definition for the term

Richards (1 9 ) su gests hat co versato s a mulifa eted a tviy In order o appre iate he complex nature of con ersato an co versato al fluency, some

of the most imp rtant dimensio s of co versaton are examined, e.g the

p rp ses of co versato , turn-takin , topics, repair, formal fe tures of con ersato ,an he n to of fluency (Richards,1 9 :67).

In ad iio ,a spe ker n his proc s of pro ucin ut eranc s, he/ she makes fuluse al of his or her co tentschemata an socioln uistc k owled e an he/ she pays atento o lstener s nterest at the same ime Celce-Murcia, M and Olshtain, E (2000) beleve that the spe ker iniiates the intera to wih a communic t ve intento The commu ic tve ntento then ne ds satsfyinthro g verballan uage hatmakes use of he spe ker s an uage k owledge anrepertoire of spe kin ski ls and commu ic to strategies

Simiarly o whatHarmer u derstan s, Celce-Murcia, M and Olshtain, E (2000) are interested in the hearer’s process in decoding the speaker’s language They claims that the he rer, o the other han , brings his or her own set of presu p siio s an ex e tato s to the intera to n order o interpret the spe ker s mes age, an ater re ct to t by changing roles an be omin he spe ker

To sum up, real-life conversation is an interactive, cooperative and reciprocal process in which both listener and speaker have a communicative need and use their own language store to satisfy it At the same time, both of them share the knowledge of content schemata, social linguistics to achieve the communicative

practicing the target language Beneficially, we take our own responsibility for how to naturalize classroom situations and ease the speaking process, create authentic communication for learners The distinction is essentially meaningful

in designing communicative speaking activities because it helps us to clarify the

“articifiality” of the practiced target language in different aspects and consequently suggest a number of principles which can help us successfully take the role of gaping the artificiality and authenticity in language classroom

Talking about cooperative principles which rule over our speaking in real life,

Nolasco,R an Arth r,L (1 9 ) n heir b o “Co versato ” discus he fo r

con ersato s proc ed so smoothly be ause we co-o erate in them The rese rcher has described fo r maxims or principles which develo co-o eratve behavio r.These are:

1.The maxim of qual ty

Make y ur co tributo o e hat s rue.Spe ific ly:

Do n tsay whaty u beleve o be false

Do n tsay anythin for which y u a k adeq ate evidenc

2.The maxim of quantity

Make y ur co tributo ustas nformatve as req ired an no more

3.The maxim of r lation (r levanc )

Make y ur co tributo relevantan imely

4.The maxim of manne

Av id o scuriy and ambig iy

For he first maxim,i s u natural for spe kers o say somethin “false exc ptfor comp lsive iars Actual y when y u say somethin u true, y u always set

y urself a ine of ogic h u hts so hat no o e c n find o t y u are yin , an

y ur spe ch s nter ered b an u natural proc s Foreig ang age clas rooms give such an u natural pra tc o stu ents for hey have o spe k he argetlang age o pra tc rather han ex res heir own nten ed mpl c tures Re lcommunic to se ms to be lost It c n be infer ed that h w to cre te communic t ve ne d so that spe kers re ly want to ex res themselves is

es entalto he questo of how o e ch spe king commu ic tvely

The se o d maxim,“Make y ur co trib to ustas nformatve as req ired an

n more ex lains o e of he mostimp rtantfu cto s of spe king:an o ncininformaton.One of he re so s for peo le’s spe kin s o se k for nformato :

a stran er asks for dire tons, a le rner asks for enrolment proc d re, a pas en er asks for flg t sched le, etc The ne ded informato sh uld be satsfied by pro iding the relevant o e The ab ve analysis more or les

in ic tes he artficialty n an uage pra tc be ause n most c ses e rners give nformaton which s alre dy kn wn o nterlocutors n he argetlan uage.The nterlocutor now an hen d es n t pay atento o he spe ker,just wai s

u tl his or her ar an ed urns an alks There se ms o be a o se ntera tobetwe n them Actualy, “Talk is es entaly a coo eratve u dertaking.”

suc es ful co versato , al he partcipants have o share n vario s aspe ts of

i The aspe ts nclude sele tn he o ics hat wil be alked ab ut havinadeq ate an imely op ortu iies o spe k,fe ln ate se n saying whatne ds

to be said,a hievin a sense of orderlnes an adeq a y ab utwhat s g in oand d in his as o e of a gro p of wo or more,an so o

He also claims “Talk is a reciprocal undertaking Involvement in conversation therefore requires the two (or various) parties to be conscious of each other’s needs” (Ward au h, 19 1: 2) Therefore, to solve he q esto of h w o e ch

spe king skil ef e t vely,we ne d o focus o h w o make e rners have a re l

ne d o spe k

Simiarly,the hird maxim ata hes he nature of a suc es ful co versato o ts relevanc Spe kers share relevant informato amo g them When spe ker pro ides ir elevant mes age, he/ she eiher has a spe ific implc ture or is considered o be “o t” of he co versato Both asked an answered nformato

is a re iproc l proc s which s closely ied However, the spe king pra tc n clas ro m n w and hen oses his relevanc Interlocutors ry o su ply he informaton ne ded n he order of he ask n b oks rather han sten c refuly o the spe kers so as o provide req ired mes age Again a oose ntera to s conseq ent y cre ted

The fourth maxim co siders o scuri y an ambig iy to be av ided in a con ersato Pro ided nformato sh uld be cle r, comprehensible an e sy o

be u dersto d.Itis permited o be ambig o s o ly when he spe ker re ly has a spe ific intento The comprehensibii y s de ided by both ch sen ogic by spe ker an his spe kin skil b nature Some nnately g od spe kers be ome

g od te chers an orators thanks to their abiiy of making themselves

u dersto d In co trast some peo le always fin t hard o ex res hemselves even n heir mother o g e.Cle rly his s a problem of n ate skil Lan uage

te chers have problems n making e rners ex res hemselves be ause:

In some ways speaking can be considered the most difficult skill to acquire since it requires command of both listening comprehension and speech production subskills (e.g , vocabulary retrieval, pronunciation, choice of a grammatical pattern, and so forth) in unpredictable and unplanned situations

(Celce-Murcia, M and Olshtain, E., 2000: 165)

They are even in a harder situation to help those who lack speaking skill Therefore, for one thing, input for a speaking activity should be well-prepared, for a second frequent practice should be carried out to make learners habituated

to the target language

Pattison (1987) also summarizes the differences between speaking in real life and

in classroom as presented in the following table:

List 1 FL (oral) practice in the

classroom

List 2 FL (oral) communication outside the classroom

WHAT: Content of communication

Content or topic is decided by

teacher, textbook, tape,etc The

meaning of what they say may not

always be clear to the speakers.The

content is highly predictable

Speakers express their own ideas, wishes, information, etc freely They are fully aware of the meaning they wish to convey The exact content of any speaker’s message is

unpredictable

WHY 1: Reason for communication

Learners speak because the teacher

asks them to do, because they want

to practise English, because they

hope to get good mark,etc

Speakers have a social or personal reason to speak There is an information gap to be filled, or an area

of uncertainty to be made clear What

is said is potentially interesting and useful to the participants

WHY 2: Result for communication

The “extrinsic motivation” is

achieved as the FL is practiced; the

teacher corrects or accepts,etc

* The FL is spoken; the teacher

The “intrinsic motivation” is satisfied when the aims are reached, when a social contact is created, when a gap

is filled, etc

* Speakers achieve their aims; they

accepts or corrects what is said; a

mark is given, etc

get what they wanted, an information gap is filled, a decision is reached or a social contact is made, etc The result

is of intrinsic interest or value to the participants

WHO: Participants in communication

*A large group in which not

everyone is facing the speakers or

interested in what they say; except

for one person, the teacher, who

pays less attention to what they say

than to how correctly they say it

Several people face each other, are interested in the conversation, respond

to what is said rather than how well the participants are speaking

Two or more people, usually facing each other, paying attention and responding to what is said, rather than

to how correctly it is said

HOW: Means of communication

Language from teacher or tape is

very closely adapted to learners’

level All speech is accurate as

possible and usually in complete

sentences Problems in

communicating meaning are often

dealt with by translation Learners

are corrected if their speech

deviates from standard forms,

whether or not their meaning is

clear Teachers help learners to

express more correctly

Native-speaker output is adjusted to foreigners’ level Meaning is

conveyed by any means at the speakers’ command: linguistic or para-linguistic (gestures, etc)

problems are dealt with by negociation and exchange of feedback between speakers Translation is not always possible Errors not affecting communication are usually ignored Native speakers help foreign speakers

to express themselves more clearly (Pattison, 1987:7-8)

In brief, there exist such axiomatic differences between speaking in real life and speaking in classroom The differences lie in every aspect of a conversation: content, reason, result, participants and means of communication The question

of creating real communication deserves consideration from both textbook and course book writers and language teachers

2.3 Language competence and performance

According to Leon on ht p: efl.htmlplanet.com/ an comp.htm, language competence includes organizational and pragmatic competence The first consists

of both grammatical (vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology) and textual (cohesion and coherence) competence The latter is involved in pragmatic competence which mainly refers to sociolinguistic competence In this part, I only would like to focus on communicative competence with a detail in speaking

In particular, I wanted to investigate reasons for a big gap between language competence and performance of learners The distinction between the two notions is of great importance in designing speaking activities because learners of language usually know a lot about the language rather than use it How to narrow the existing gap between competence and performance, how to activate learners’ competence to the full so that learners can be successful in their speaking with their available language store should be taken into consideration

It is obvious that not always do speakers produce an utterance with correct grammar and well-chosen lexis However, if we ask them to look back and judge what they have just said, they may realize their own mistakes As Cook (1989) says:

Spoken language, as has often been pointed, happens in time, and must therefore be produced and processed ‘on line’ There is no going back and changing or restructuring our words as there is in writing; there is often no time to pause and think, and while we are talking and listening, we cannot stand back and view the discourse in spatial or diagrammatic terms…

(Cook, 1989: 115)

According to Noam Chomsky, the distinguished American linguist, (cited in Hubbard, Jones, Thornton and Weeler, 1991: 133) “many native speakers make many “errors” when speaking (when performing), even though a native speaker has, by definition, a perfect command of his language-perfect knowlegde of grammatical rules, lexis, and the sound system” And he calls the native speaker’s perfect knowledge “competence” Noam Chomsky then makes a distinction between language competence and performance by pointing out that competence is knowing what is grammatically correct; performance is what actually occurs in practice He traces the speakers’ errors in speaking to a faulty representation of competence caused by spychological restrictions, such as memory lapses and limitations, distractions, changes of direction half-way through a sentence, hesitation and so on

In other words, it is understood that learners’ performance can be acted out in both written and spoken forms Competence includes their knowledge of grammar, vocabulary but how much and accurately they can use the knowledge

in their actual speaking and writing is called performance

In short, there is such a big gap between competence and performance in every language learner because it exists as its nature and it is due to mostly the way the learner practices the language Therefore, students’ weakness at speaking can be conclusively traced back to two causes: (1) the existing gap between competence and performance; (2) the inappropriate ways of learning the target language: if

learners are used to acquiring the receptive skill (reading) and ignoring productive skill (speaking), they will be very good at grammar, vocabulary and comprehension reading skill but weak at using them in real communication Therefore, how to habitualize students’ speaking skill, how to narrow the gap between their competence and performance are language teachers’ considerations

2.3.1 Communicative competence

A thought- provoking question for all language teachers is how to help learners communicate effectively in the target language In this part, I would like to point out what communicative competence is, what components contribute to a language user’s communicative competence Besides, components of a successful communicative activity are also mentioned From this knowledge, I

could build up theories toward how to help learners communicate effectively

What is communicative competence? There are a number of definitions given by different linguists Richards, John Platt and Heidi Platt (1993) define communicative competence as the ability to apply the grammatical rules of a language to form grammatically correct sentences as well as to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom In other words, communicative competence consists of three components: first is the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of a language; second is the knowledge of rules of speaking as Richards et al (1993) say: “knowing how to begin and end conversations, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which address forms should be used with different persons in different situations” (Richards, John Platt and Heidi Platt, 1993: 65); t

hird is the ability to know how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, such as requests, apologies, thanks and invitations as well as knowing how

to use language appropriately Ac ordin o Elis, “Communicative competence

is the knowledge that users of a language have internalized to enable them to understand and produce messages in language” (Ellis, 2000:696)

The interactional nature of spoken language is also examined by Bygate (1987) (cited by Nunan, 1992: 30) He distinguishes between motor-perceptive skills, which are concerned with correctly using the sounds and structures of the language, and interactional skills, which involve using motor-perceptive skills for the purpose of communication According to Bygate, learners not only need to develop skills in the management of interaction but also in the negotiation of meaning He points out requirements for the management of interaction They include knowing when and how to take the floor, when to introduce a topic or change a subject, how to invite someone else to speak, how to keep a conversation going, when and how to terminate a conversation and so on Negotiation of meaning also plays an important part in a successful conversation

It refers to the skill of making sure the person you are speaking to has correctly understood you and that you have correctly understood him or her

But in order to become a truly effective oral communicator in another language, there are a number of prerequisites Murcia an Olshtain (2 0 ) beleve hatthe t

linguistic, sociocultural and discourse competencies needed to ensure better oral communication include the following areas, all of which are parts of discourse knowledge:

Knowing the vocabulary relevant to the situation

Ability to use discourse connectors such as well; oh; I see; okey

Ability to use suitable “opening phrases” and “closing phrases” such as

Excuse me or Thank you for your help

Ability to comprehend and use reduced forms (reducing vowel sounds is particularly important in English)

Knowing the syntax for producing basic clauses in the language

Ability to use the basic intonation-or tone-patterns of the language

Ability to use proper rhythm and stress in the language and to make proper pauses

Awareness of how to to apply Grice’s maxims in the new language

Knowing how to use the interlocutor’s reactions and input

Awareness of the various conversational rules that facilitate the flow of talk

(Murcia and Olshtain,2 0 :1 5))

It is believed that communicative competence determines speaking ability However, besides communicative competence we need to consider other competences which may promote language proficiency According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), abilities underlying proficiency are grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competences Those factors are featured

in the following diagram:

(Scarcella and Oxford, 1992: 154)

Diagram 2.2: Speaking proficiency

Therefore, in order to be able to speak in another language and make oneself understood, it is usually not necessary to reach a perfect level of linguistic competence and control There are a number of fa tors, not o ly in uistc

competenc In fact, people can communicate orally with very little linguistic

knowlegde when they make good use of pragmatic and sociocultural factors

conversation management strategies

SPEAKING PROFICIENCY

2.3.2 Oral communicative activities

Many EFL theorists as well as teachers have been citing and using some traditional but effective oral communicative activities According to Nolasco and Arthur (1988), oral communicative activites are those which share the following characteristics:

They (communicative activities) involve using language for a purpose They create a desire to communicate This means there must be some kind

of “gap” which may be information, opinion, affect or reason which students seek to bridge

They encourage students to be creative and contribute their ideas

They focus on the message and the students concentrate on “what” they are saying rather than “how” they are saying it

The students work independently of the teacher

(Nolasco and Arthur, 1988: 59)

Based on the above characteristics, different kinds of oral communicative activities may be introduced:

Exchange personal information

One of the easiest and most interesting forms of communicative activity in the classroom is for students to tell each other about their own lives, interests, experiences, etc When students talk about themselves, there is a “natural information gap”, because everyone has something slightly different to say (Doff, 1998: 218)

Roleplays

In a roleplay, students are asked to be another role in real life situations such as a customer in a shop, an accountant in a company, a tourist at a travel agency, an interviewer or interviewee at an interview for a job, etc According to Doff (1988), when teachers use roleplays in class, they ask students to imagine They may imagine:

A role: they pretend to be a different person (e.g a farmer);

A situation: they pretend to be doing something different (e.g planning a holiday);

Both a role or a situation (e.g a police officer asking about a lost bag)

(Doff, 1998: 232)

Harmer (1991) says that roleplays have certain advantages because students do not have to take responsibility for their own actions and words, and some shy students may become more talkative in roleplays

Games

Games has won its priority in language practice because it can serve several purposes Rivers (1983) believe that games make the classroom enjoyable and natural, and encourage the learners to focus on meaning rather than on form of utterances Many EFL thoerists and teachers agree on the following advantages

of using games in teaching speaking First, a game can act like a task because it

is in games that students focus on meaning of language than form They exploit all their existing language competence to perform, to achieve and to win Second, games naturally create a communicative need because there is always hidden information in a game for competitors to explore Third, games bring a non-threatening atmostphere into classroom and they are suitable for all learners at different levels

Discussions and problem-solving tasks

Discussion and problem-solving task is used in class to facilitate communicative skills Students are arranged in pairs or groups, then they talk together to find out

a solution to a problem or a task given Because it is a task, it orients students to achieving the purpose of communication, making themselves understood, rather than practicing the language Learners are so busy finding out the solutions that they forget that they are learning the language

Those kinds of communicative activities are designed and conducted based on task-based approach Ellis (1994) defines “tasks” as activities that call for primarily meaning-focused language use whereas “exercises” are activities that call for primarily form-focused language use However, he also admits that the overall purpose of tasks is the same as exercises- learning a language- the difference lying in the means by which this purpose is to be achieved “A task” is concerned with pragmatic meaning, i.e the use of language in context, “an exercise” is concerned with semantic meaning, i.e the systematic meanings that specific forms can convey irrespective of context Therefore, when employing task-based approach in teaching speaking skill, teachers can be sure that the learners will concentrate their minds on the accomplishment of the task rather than the language they are using, which facilitates the process of natural speaking

Those are the most popular oral communicative activities easily found in many English language teaching books However, what are the guiding principles in using them, when to use each kind, how to use it in the most effective way are questions which give me a motive to do this research

2.4 Testing speaking

The findings of my research are partly measured by testing speaking The criteria for testing learner’s ability also play a decisive role in judging how successfully a speaker communicates The reliability and validility of a speaking test are also important to the research results Based on these theories, I would like to have a brief study on how to test the speaking skill in an objective, communicative and effective way

2.4.1 Criteria for a speaking test

I would like to mention criteria for testing learner’s speaking ability Skehan (1998) thinks that the purpose of testing second language speaking is similar to that of a driving test The purpose of a speaking test is to collect evidence in a systematic way (through elicitation techniques or tasks) that will support an inference about the construct as we define it from the summary of the evidence (the 'score') However, “language abilities are not easy to measure; we cannot expect a level of accuracy comparable to those of measurements in the physical sciences” (Hughes, 1996: 2)

Among language testers there has always been a lack of consensus regarding criteria, and the difficulty of fitting speaking into the framework of quantitative psychometric testing I agree with Skehan when he states that one of the main problems underlying speaking tests is that "speaking" is a difficult construct to define because:

Speech can be broken down into pronunciation and intonation,

accuracy and fluency, or it can be categorized in terms of strategies, or

it can be regarded as a form of interaction and analyzed using the