The role of grammar in effecttive business english speaking for the 1st students at the university of foreign trade hcmc

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES PHẠM THỊ PHƯƠNG HIỀN THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS ENGLISH SPEAKING FOR FOREIGN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

PHẠM THỊ PHƯƠNG HIỀN

THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN EFFECTIVE BUSINESS ENGLISH SPEAKING FOR

FOREIGN TRADE- HCMC

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ART IN TESOL

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN HOÀNG TUẤN, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, January 2008

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify my authorship of the thesis submitted to day entitled

THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN EFFECTIVE

BUSINESS ENGLISH SPEAKING FOR

FOREIGN TRADE- HCMC

In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs

issued by the Higher Degree Committee

PHAM THI PHUONG HIEN

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that, I, PHAM THI PHUONG HIEN, being the candidate for the degree Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s theses 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 the care, loan or reproduction of theses

PHAM THI PHUONG HIEN

To Mrs Le Thi Thanh, the Dean of English Department of Open University,

Ho Chi Minh City, who has given valuable advice on a possible change for a better version

To the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, Ho Chi Minh City, University of Social Science and Humanities for their enthusiasm and devotion during my MA course

To the teachers and my students at the University of Foreign Trade as well as the directors of Samudera Shipping Line Ltd, Jardine Agencies Services and Integrated Logistics SDN companies who heartily responded to my questionnaires and interviews

To Mr Vu Khac Chuong, the Principal of the College of Art Culture and Tourism, the whole staff, my colleagues and my friends for their approval and untiring assistance

To my family, especially my mother and my husband, who with care and love encouraged me to resume my job and finish this thesis

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore whether grammar plays an important role in teaching speaking for the FTU’s first year students, especially effective speaking in business context The study’s purpose is also to show the components under speaking effectiveness, the problems face students in speaking classes as well as what integrated speaking and grammar approach can help, in a diagnostic assessment of learners’ expectation, improve their spoken language development

The research is based on the questionnaires delivered to a population of 160 first year students and five teachers in order to elicit their perception of how important grammar is in effectively teaching speaking skill in business context In addition, interviews for five teachers and three directors will also

be carried out aiming at gathering qualitative data to back up the interpretation

of the data collected from the questionnaires

The data analysis shows several important points: (1) the belief that grammar still plays an important role in speaking classes, especially in business environment (2) the effectiveness of the teaching approach applied in teaching speaking skill in which accuracy and fluency are emphasized; (3) some language barriers the students face in speaking and the ways to overcome those

Accordingly, the recommendations will be drawn out according to the sound basis of all data gained from the above qualitative method

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

CUP Cambridge University Press

EGP English for General Purposes

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

ESP English for Specific Purposes

FTU University of Foreign Trade

GTM Grammar Translation Method

OUP Oxford University Press

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

2.1 Abilities underlying speaking proficiency 29

TABLES 2.1 Summary of the modal verbs used in the text book 24

2.2 Comparison between tapestry approach and traditional approach .38

3.1 The students’ background information 42

3.2 The teachers’ background information .42

3.3 The directors’ background information 43

3.4 An overview of the data collection procedure 49

4.1 Summary of the result of question 2 .50

4.2 Summary of the result of question 3 .51

4.3 Summary of the result of question 4 .52

4.4 Summary of the result of question 5 .53

4.5 Summary of the result of question 6 .54

4.6 Summary of the result of question 7 .55

4.7 Summary of the result of question 8 .56

4.8 Summary of the result of question 9 .57

4.9 Summary of the result of question 10 .58

4.10 Summary of the result of question 11 .58

4.11 Summary of the result of question 12 59

4.12 Summary of the result of question 1 3 .60

4.13 Summary of the result of question 14 .61

4.14 Summary of the result of teachers’ responses 63

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1:BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 English in the world and the development of language teaching methods 1

1.2 English in Vietnam and the requirement of teaching and learning English at FTU 3

1.3 Problem identification 4

1.3.1 Materials and time allocation 4

1.3.2 The teaching staff 6

1.3.3 Teaching and learning facilities at FTU 6

1.3.4 The characteristics of the students and the first-year students’ problem with speaking in business environment 7

1.3.5 The Faculty’s goals and objectives 9

1.4 Scope and limitations of the study 10

1.5 The significance of the study 11

1.6 The structure of the study 12

1.7 Summary 13

CHAPTER 2:LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 What is grammar? 14

2.2 Accuracy and fluency is speaking 16

2.3 The role of grammar in effective speaking 18

2.3.1 Modality 20

2.3.2 Multi-word verbs 21

2.4 Grammar defined in this study 22

2.4.1 Modal auxiliaries 23

2.4.2 Idiomatic expression 27

2.4.3 Phrasal verbs 29

2.5 Components under speaking effectiveness 30

2.4.1 Grammatical competence 32

2.4.2 Discourse competence 33

2.4.3 Sociolinguistic competence 33

2.4.4 Strategic competence 33

2.6 Problem students face in effective speaking 34

2.6.1 Phonological constraint 34

2.6.2 Uneven participation 35

2.6.3 Mother tongue use 36

2.7 The compromise between the traditional and contemporary approaches towards teaching effective speaking 36

2.8 Summary 42

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 43

3.2 Research designs 44

3.3 The subjects 44

3.3.1 Selection of the subjects 44

3.3.2 Characteristics of the subjects 44

3.4 Data collection instruments 46

3.4.1 The questionnaires 46

3.4.2 The interview 49

3.5 Data collection procedure 51

3.5.1 The questionnaires 51

3.5.2 The interview 51

3.6 Summary 52

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Responses to the questionnaires 53

4.1.1 Students’ responses 53

4.1.2 Teachers’ responses 65

4.2 Results of the interviews 68

4.2.1 Teachers’ responses 68

4.2.2 Directors’ responses 71

4.3 Summary 73

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONAND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions 74

5.2 Recommendations 76

5.2.1 Suggested teaching methodology 77

5.2.2 Develop both fluency and accuracy in speaking skill 77

5.2.3 Building students’ self-confidence 79

5.2.4 Remove students’ phonological constraints 80

5.2.5 Some typical exercises for accuracy and fluency speaking skill 81

5.2.5.1 Drill exercises 81

5.2.5.2 Task exercises 82

5.2.5.3 Dramatizations 83

5.2.5.4 Project exercises 83

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaires for students (in Vietnamese)

APPENDIX 5: Questionnaire for teachers (in Vietnamese)

as the aims and the structure of the study

1.1 English in the world and the development of the language teaching methods

It is not an overstatement to say that English has become a dominant language outdistancing any other languages It has been spreading all over the world to

play different functions “In some countries it is the mother-tongue of the majority of the population In others it shares that status with another language

In some it is the mother-tongue of very few of the citizens of the country, but because it is an official language it has to be learned by all educated people In other countries it has little official status but it is widely used because it formerly an official language, or because the country has extensive links with other countries” (cited in How to Teach English, Barry Sesnan: P25)

When we look back at the development of the language in term of the changes

in language teaching methods, the 19th century saw the rise of Grammar Translation Method which dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to 1940s, and in modified form it continues to be widely used

in some parts of the world today However, toward the mid-nineteenth century several factors contributed to a rejection of the GTM Linguists too became keen on the controversies about the best way to teach foreign languages Increased opportunities for communication among countries led to the recognition of the need for speaking proficiency rather than reading comprehension and grammar accuracy which were focused in GTM This reform movement laid the foundations for the development of the new ways of teaching languages and raised controversies that have continued to the present day

The Language Teaching Innovations in the mid-nineteenth century initiated the birth of Direct Method and Audio-lingualism as well as a variety of other teaching methods which had a great impact on teaching and learning activities globally The exponents of these methods believed that “the spoken language

is primary and that this should be reflected in an oral-based methodology” (After Richards and Rodger 1986:8) Yet, one more time these methods had consequently declined after a long period of time of popularity Then communicative language teaching emerged as a young and dynamic field of enquiry “CLT is seen to be not a British, European, or U.S phenomenon, but rather an international effort to respond to the needs of present day language learners in may different contexts of learning” (Sandra J Savignon: 261)

In CLT method, teachers encourage learners to take risks to speak other than memorized patterns Their communicative competence is measured in terms

of fluency, comprehensibility, efforts and amount of communication in a series

of communicative tasks that let them focus on meaning as opposed to formal features As a result, the place of grammar in language classrooms is currently rather uncertain Additionally, there were some recommendations set out by Krasen (1981 1982) and Dulay (1982) to play down the role of grammar in the classroom They believed that there are innate processes which guide L2 acquisition and the influence of the learners’ first language is negligible in grammar However, second language learners can not apply or translate their language’s rules to those of the language they are learning Native speakers of

a certain language, actually, acquire some types of ‘mental grammar’, a form

of internal linguistic knowledge which operates in the production and recognition of appropriate structures in that language The term ‘grammar’ therefore is used to describe the distinction between English and any other languages Teaching and learning grammar has had a long tradition and it is actually still worth learning because it can facilitate effective speaking

1.2 English in Viet Nam and the requirement of teaching and learning English at FTU

Nowadays in Vietnam, learning English is compulsory from secondary level

up to universities Thanks to Vietnam’s “Doi Moi” policy which was implemented in 1986, Vietnam has been rapidly changing itself so as to adapt

to the global economy The Vietnamese government understands thoroughly the necessity of education transformation in which the requirement of learning English as a means of communication and a tool to obtain the advanced knowledge from developed countries in the world is stressed There has been

a growing demand on learning English from students of all kinds of majors and from the society “English has undergone explosive growth, hundreds of language centers have been establish all over the country with an

overwhelming majority of Vietnamese learners studying English” (After Do Huy Thinh, 1996:4)

Like other domestic universities, the Foreign Trade University requires students to learn English beside Japanese, Chinese which are optional However, 95% students choose English as a language subject and all of the students who choose English as a foreign language have to take first-staged communicative English classes in which students are given an introduction in English to international trade It is not the intention to reach a detailed training, but rather an overview of the customs and procedures in the field of international trade The goal of this stage is to give them the practice in mastering four skills reading, listening, writing and speaking in which there is

an emphasis on improving their ability to orally communicate in business contexts

After that the students focus on their majors in the second phase This stage consists of the last two years in which the students have to cover upper-intermediate and advanced professional materials This is an important phase which aims at a good command of written commercial English and of foreign trade transactions Students must be fully aware of most of structural patterns

of English and terms used within contextual frame of reference Fortunately, students at FTU, with their traditional fondness for learning, complete their academic study successfully

1.3 Problem identifications

1.3.1 Materials and time allocation of the English courses

Although a diversity of commercial text books is available to support practically every kind of language program, from general international courses

to country-specific texts, there are few specified books which exactly match different social norms, ethnocentrism, learners’ concerns, needs and feelings Especially, ESP materials, i.e business and foreign trade materials to be mentioned, are all the harder to meet the demand while there exists cultural diversity and socializing, different commercial practices as well as various business conventions

However, in the best possible way, materials applied in the English subject are updated all the time to keep up with the latest trend and development of the language Because Vietnamese academics can not write their own specialized English books, most materials serving in English faculties are commercial ones Therefore, the dean of English faculty at FTU has to select books that are commensurate with the faculty’s goals and objectives as well as in line with the students’ need The top priority for choosing materials in business and foreign trade is to opt for the latest materials As a result, materials for the whole program are allocated into two phases as following:

In this first phase, students have to covers these following books: the first three books are for the first year students and the last three ones are for the second year

• English for Business Communication (intermediate)

• Business Basics (pre-intermediate)

• Grammar and Practice

• Head for Business (intermediate),

• Market Leader – International Management ( upper-intermediate)

• English for Business Study (upper-intermediate)

In the second phase, when students enter their major stage they have to undergo:

• Head for Business (upper-intermediate),

• Market leader – Banking and Finance (advanced)

• New International Business (upper-intermediate)

• Business Correspondence (advanced)

• Export and Export Contracts (advanced)

1.3.2 The teaching staff

There are eleven teachers of English in English department Their ages vary from 25 to 45 Four of them hold MA degrees in TESOL and the rest with BS degrees from FTU, so English is their second major The teachers who are in charge of teaching English to the first year students belong to other universities and educational institutions but they have a good command of Business English and experience of many years teaching EFL and ESP They are dynamic and willing to learn from one another to update their shortcomings in order to fulfill their teaching duties

1.3.3 Teaching and learning facilities at FTU

FTU is relocated in Binh Thanh District, HCMC, which is the second base beside the Hanoi-based headquarter which was first established during 1960s Due to the growing educational and training demand, the second base which was born in Ho Chi Minh City has soon played an important role in training and producing generations of skillful and professional graduates for the country The university has a variety of modernized and well-equipped facilities: large rooms with overhead projector systems, desktops and laptop computers, cassette players and other equipment There is a big library full of books and magazines, and materials of business and foreign trade sectors which facilitate students to do research and widen their horizons All the

classrooms here are large full of natural and artificial light, a good acoustical treatment, and a good electrical power supply

Besides, the university union is dynamic in periodically holding competitions

in many forms such as English eloquent speaking competition on economic and global issues, hot - issue writing competition, Foreign Trade students singing contest, Foreign Trade students beauty contest, art competition and sport events These encourage already active students to present themselves more confident and more successful in their campus and the outside world

1.3.4 The characteristics of the students and the first year students’ problem with speaking in business environment

The students at FTU are generally good, conscientious, competent and diligent

in their study not only in English but also in other subjects This can be proved

by their marks in the entrance examination which are really high compared with other universities in the country Most of the first year students in this university have a quite good grammatical background of English However, they are not accustomed to speaking English in front of the class as the result

of 3 years in high-school learning traditional grammar-translation method Therefore first year students seem to be scared of speaking Moreover, they are often too worried to produce a piece of spoken language naturally without translating it from their mother tongue into English in their mind to make sure that it is correct This constrains their fluency at speaking

Additionally, general English that students learned at high school is so different from what they have to undergo at university, let alone in business terms At FTU, English is used as the language of international business transactions, a particular kind of jargon First year students are certainly not

familiar with what language to use for presenting charts, figures, or dealing with social situation, how to write a business letter, a memo or a report As far

as grammar is concerned, the hardest obstacle that faces students is the using

of idioms which occur in almost every business communication Last but not least, students also have to differentiate the language of making suggestion, presenting, requesting from that of negotiation

In such circumstance, students must be helped to learn in the most realistic and possible way Apparently, effective negotiation is crucial in business context

so students will have no choice but to learn by heart words, or phrases and some grammatical structures or language points which form the meaning they want to express It is helpful for the first year students to experience the classroom way of communicating first and then interact with the outside world

“Communication skills are prerequisite to the acquisition of educational skills and knowledge of a subject The role of the school speech – language pathologist is to prevent, alleviate, and remove communication barriers that hinder the students from profiting from the instruction offered in the classroom.” (Elizabeth A Neidecker)

That is the reason why the students enter the university with the hope that they can be knowledgeable and skillful citizens in their community after 4 years of learning Most of the students feel better and do better in surroundings that are quite comfortable and pleasant which help them learn more effectively

1.3.5 The Faculty’s goals and objectives

In order to meet the students’ requirements mentioned above, the English Faculty at FTU are trying hard to help students master English before they graduate from the University by applying the latest content-based syllabi which focus on four skills and specified professional area, by employing the student-centered class model and communicative teaching approaches in which students are trained to work independently and heuristically Therefore, the task of English teachers is to set a motivation for students by giving them some techniques, which make them find it interesting to communicate adequately in a short time

For a return, after finishing 4 years of studying, students have to match these following objectives:

• The students must be capable of introducing kinds of discourses in their everyday life, business settings; talking to native or other competent speakers of various social and professional types; and communicating successfully on phone (Speaking skill)

• At the end of the last semester, the students must be able to be familiar with writing and replying business correspondence as well as drawing

up sales contracts, writing a fax… sufficiently and correctly in spelling, grammar, word choice, punctuations and other writing conventions (Writing skill)

• The students have to show their ability of listening and understanding native speakers with general comprehension of the message, understanding

calls in order to answer and communicate successfully with them (Listening skill)

• The students have to demonstrate that they can read and comprehend business correspondence, articles, business advertisements, contracts, telegraphs and texts in scanning, skimming and predicting the message (Reading skill)

In short, far from being the necessary to pass the final exam, the students must

be focused on being trained to be ready for their future careers and their social relationships with self-confidence

1.4 Scopes and limitations of the study

Aiming at effective oral communication in business context, the study only focuses on the role of grammar in teaching speaking skill Although we all may know that a great deal of interactional talk consist not of complete grammatical structures which lack a finite verb or a verb group, we can not deny that some grammatical structures especially modal verbs and idioms are very powerful options in the presenting certain meanings Therefore, in the language of business management, grammar plays an important role in perceiving the uttermost effectiveness

The grammar discussed in this study is limited to what includes in the text book, which the first- year students learn in the first stage, named “English for Business Communication” by Simon Sweeney, focusing on five modules: (1) Cultural diversity and socializing, (2) telephoning, (3) presentations, (4) meetings, (5) negotiations in which the use of modal verbs in expressing different speech functions, the use of idioms and phrasal verbs are considered

techniques for achieving goals of successful telephone communication, presentations, dealing with effective meetings and negotiations

Due to the restrictive duration of time allowed, the small sample of respondents engaging in the investigation, and the inexperience of the researcher in collecting and analyzing the data, the result of the study might not be as expected In addition to that all the subjects’ responses are not always reliable; therefore the findings could not be absolutely precise

1.5 The significance of the study

It is obvious that the levels of English of Vietnamese students are increasing these days and learning English is no longer a need to pass the final exam but

a must for their future career and for their further education Universities Vietnam are so aware of the real needs and purposes of English learners that they do their best to match these needs with the best ways of learning and materials In the situation as a whole, FTU’s English faculty compromises the time allocation, the syllabus, the approaches, and the students’ levels in the best combination in order to meet their own goals and objectives

pan-Based on the generality and the long-term solution of the study, the aims of the study are:

1 To define the role of grammar and present the components underlying speaking effectiveness in order to help the FTU students in general and the first year students in particular improve their speaking skill

2 To evaluate the first year students’ existing shortcomings that constrain their speaking competence with the help of the current syllabus, namely English for Business Communication to see what kind of result students can benefit from it

3 To examine the current methodology applied in teaching speaking skill for the first year students so as to give out recommendations

1.6 The structure of the study

The study consists of five chapters Chapter one provides the background, some information about English teaching and learning in the modern world, in Vietnam and at the FTU The facilities and conditions of the university help teachers and students in teaching and learning English This chapter also analyses the first year students’ problems in speaking English, the faculty’s requirement, and the scopes and limitations of the study which will shape the whole research Chapter 2 refers the literature of what extend grammar is useful for the first year students in their speaking skill and its role in the students’ learning process Approaches toward teaching speaking skill will also be taken into account Chapter three mentions the methodology applied in the study including the research questions, the research design, the subjects and the instruments Teachers and 160 first year students in three classes at the FTU are the main subjects for designing questionnaires and interviews In addition to that, three managing directors of three foreign companies in HCMC will be asked to share their experiences and give their comments and attitude towards the FTU’s students’ speaking competence when they work for them Chapter four analyses the collected data and the findings in order to evaluate the role of grammar, the strength and backwards of the current syllabus and methods employed to teach speaking skill for the subjected students Chapter five will end the study with some conclusions and recommendations of how to further improve the students’ speaking potential which is also the aims and objectives of English faculty of the FTU at the moment

1.7 Summary

This chapter has mentioned some information about the development of English teaching and learning so far The physical conditions of the University somewhat benefit the students as well as the teachers to meet the faculty’s objectives The world current trend of teaching English helps to make a change in the way of teaching and learning this language in Vietnam In addition, the appropriate syllabus, the comfortable facilities, the teachers and the students’ effort will add to the students’ success in learning English as well

as other subjects in order to meet the goals and objectives of the University in general and the English Faculty in particular To further understand, the approaches of teaching speaking skill, the conventional and modern notions of teaching and learning the subject and other issues will be discussed in chapter two, the chapter of literature review

in learning to speak.'

In this chapter, chapter two, we would like to review some of the literatures on the role of grammar in teaching speaking i.e should students be grammatically accurate in verbally expressing their English in business context? The chapter also deals with the components of speaking effectiveness and the approaches toward teaching speaking skill

Richards, Platt and Weber, 1985 considered grammar ‘a description of the structure of a language and the way in which linguistic units such as words and phrases are combined to produce sentences in the language’

Similarly, Penny Ur applies the term ‘grammatical’ to units rather than sentences to make it easier for young learners A brief phrase said on its own

can be grammatically acceptable or unacceptable: a tall woman seems right while a woman tall does not The same may be true of single words when we compare went with goed

Here are some other dictionary definitions

• Grammar – rules and patterns which have to be obeyed in order to be communicative and understandable in a given language

• Grammar is a set of rules organizing the proper ways the language is written or spoken as far as the form is concerned

• Grammar is a group of different kinds of language rules used by people

to understand each other correctly

• Grammar is a set of rules that govern the way ideas are expressed in a language, both spoken and written

• Grammar is a branch of science that explains the rules occurring in the language

• Grammar: - a set of rules which help us to create correct English sentences, expressions, ect

- something that shows us the structure of a language, relationship between particular parts of speech

(Cited in Tesol Methodology, the Glamour of Grammar, some view the significance of grammar Bowen and Marks)

‘So grammar is simply formalizes the most widely applicable concepts, the highest common factors of experience: it provides for communicative economy.’ (Widdowson)

2.2 Accuracy and fluency in speaking

Language researchers in an effort make a distinction between meaning and form in oral expression and they make the use of the terms fluency and accuracy Being both accurate and fluent in oral communication is controversial and according to some anti-grammarians, students do not need to master grammar in speaking a foreign language However, the important question is not whether teaching and learning grammar is necessary or sufficient for language learning but whether is helps or not The effectiveness

in oral communication including understanding the exact meaning of a grammatical structure, making good impression on the interlocutor is of paramount importance

As we may know, discussions of Communicative Language Teaching do not often lead to questions of grammatical or formal accuracy Learners would rather pay much attention to the vocabulary as a focus on meaning and their speed in their language production than to the forms of language This has led

to some impression that grammatical accuracy in speaking is not important However, communicative events which are seen as central to language development do require attention to forms because “communication can not take place in the absence of structure, or grammar, a set of shared assumptions about how a language works,” (Sandra J Savignon) and she once again emphasized that “the replacement of language laboratory structured drill with meaning focused self-expression was found to be more effective way to develop communicative ability with no loss of morphosyntactic accuracy.”

Thus, accuracy and fluency now are interwoven in developing oral communication especially in Vietnam where almost students have built their form-focused English base from their early education It can be proved that students can get full marks on the grammatically correct spoken English otherwise their marks will suffer if teachers feel unsatisfactory with the grammar they use

In the other words “the teaching of oral proficiency has come to be seen as the development of a skill in which two fundamental elements need to be integrated – relative accuracy in the use of features, and relative fluency in their development” (The Language and Linguistics, P 3770)

As far as definitions of the terms accuracy and fluency are concerned, in

Linguistic and Language accuracy is defined as ‘the dimension relating to the clarity, appropriacy, and correctness of a particular message in relation to the interlocutors involved and a given linguistic norm’

Whereas fluency is the ability to choose, formulate and execute the expression

of the message in reasonable time What is reasonable in terms of time can vary according to context, intention, preparation, and level of proficiency of the learner In any case, even in first language situations the speed of delivery can vary according to conditions or contexts: in an important interview, technical debate, or presentation, a speaker may well speak at a more measured pace than during casual conversations in the lunch queue Practice will also give rise to improved fluency, even where performance is routine rather than verbatim

(Fillmore 1979)

2.3 The role of grammar in effective speaking

In the light of the discussion above, it seems that the role of grammatical accuracy in natural speaking is not so important Spoken data frequently contain forms that would be considered ungrammatical in writing Such

‘mistakes’ go quite unnoticed in natural talk Bygate (1998) demonstrated that

a great deal of interactional talks consists not of grammatical structures which lack a finite verb or verb group They can consist of any dependent syntactic element including noun, adjective, adverb or verb groups, prepositional phrases, pronouns and subordinate clauses He also suggested that learners should be given the opportunities to practice language below the level of the clause as long as they are understood The following examples will illustrate the point:

Prepositional phrase:

S1: at the door

S2: yes, in the same door I think

S1: besides the man who is leaving

S2: behind him

Adjective group

S1: ah, they are very polite

S2: polite? Really polite that’s one of their characteristics

However, we have not yet accounted for the fact that these phrases or groups

can also combined in a number of pattern We recognize that the phrase at the door or behind him is a well-formed piece of English but not is the door at or at door the Therefore, when second language learners produce these above

conversations, they certainly acquire the basic grammar level such as the structure of expressions or phrases and tenses as well as the way of using conjunction and so forth Hatch (1978:404) affirmed that ‘in second language learning, the basic assumption has been that one first learns how to manipulate structures, that one gradually builds up a repertoire of structure and then somehow, learns to put these structures to use in discourse’

Additionally, Penny Ur stated that grammar does not only affect how units of language are combined in order to ‘look right’; it also affects their meaning Similarly, Widdowson (1979) asserted that grammatical accuracy on its own is

a dead end, unless used to receive and produce interesting and purposeful meanings within the context of real-life language use Therefore, it actually helps if learners know how to use grammatical structures to make meanings in certain situations

Structures regularly shape its nuances of meanings that students must be aware of to produce correctly on their own Angela Downing and Philip Lock,

on their detailed knowledge of Haliday’s theory, presented very clearly the relation of grammar and its usefulness in communication They stated an explicit analysis of English grammar and how grammatical structures act to enable speakers to encode their purposeful and appropriate messages In the light of these findings and because of the sparing framework of the study, the researcher can only introduce some of the grammatical points in the hope of justifying the role of grammar in effective oral speaking

2.3.1 Modality

• The meaning of modality

Modality is the category by which speakers express attitudes towards the event contained in the proposition (Angela Downing and Philip Locke 1995 P381)

From a semantic point of view, when a speaker uses modality, he is not trying

to make an assertion, but rather to modify his commitment to some degree by

expressing a judgment or assessment of the truth of the situation Take it is raining and it may be raining for example; the speaker clearly makes an

assertion when he expresses this proposition and at the same time commits himself to the truth of that proposition On the other hand, when the speaker utters the second one he doesn’t wholeheartedly commit himself to the truth of the proposition

Similarly, a different kind of modification is made when the speaker says I must leave now, you’d better go home, you can stay here In this case, he makes

use of modal expression to impose an obligation, an advice and permission respectively Therefore, from these examples, there are two main types of modal meanings: categorical assertion (it is raining) and moralized assertion (it may be raining) By means of these two main kinds of modality, speakers can carry out two important communicative functions:

(a) to comment on and evaluate an interpretation of reality;

(b) to intervene in, and bring about changes in events

• Realisations of modal meanings: the verbal and non-verbal exponents

(a) Lexical verbs such as allow, beg, command, forbid, guarantee, guess, promise, suggest, warn,… as perfomative

(b) The verbs wonder and wish, which express doubt and wish, respectively

(c) The lexico-modal auxiliaries composed of be or have + infinitive

(d) The modal auxiliaries can, could, will, would… and the semi-modal need and dare

(e) Modal disjuncts such as probably, possible, surely, hopefully, thankfully, obviously

(f) Modal adjectives such as possible, likely used in impersonal constructions

or as part of a Nominal Group as in the most probable outcome of this trial (g) Modal nouns such as possibility, probability, chance, likelihood

(h) The use of remote past as in I thought I’d go along with you, if you don’t mind

(i) The use of non-assertive items such as any as in He’ll eat any kind of vegetables

(j) Certain use of if clause

(k) Certain types of intonation, such as the fall-rise

(l) The use of hesitation in speech

• Phrasal verbs consist of a lexical verb and an adverbial particle They

may be intransitive or transitive and in some cases some verbs + particle combinations can be used transitively and intransitively, which form an ergative pair with a causative meaning in the transitive Look at these examples below:

Terrorist have blown up the power station (transitive)

The power station has blown up (intransitive)

While in others the meaning is related by metaphorical extension or even entirely different:

The radio transmitter gave out signals (= emit) (transitive)

Our petrol supply has given out (= be used up) (intransitive)

• Prepositional verbs are combinations of a lexical verb and a

preposition with which it is semantically associated: look into, call for, deal with, run into ect

Prepositional verbs seem to function as phrasal verbs, but actually they are different in meaning as in the following examples

His former allies turned on him Let’s turn on the light

She’ll never get over the shock I want to get my operation over

I came across some old letter Her voice comes across well

• Phrasal – prepositional verbs consist of a lexical verb followed by two

particles, the first adverbial and the second prepositional: look forward

to, cut down on, ect These verbs function like prepositional verbs,

taking a prepositional complement after the preposition

2.4 Grammar defined in this study

Michael Swan argued that what points of grammar learners need to study depends on their aims and their circumstances Whatever the situation, teachers must make sure to teach the points of grammar as needed in the light

of these factors Therefore, in the situations of business communication, modal verbs are often used to depict politeness, multi-word verbs and idioms exist in almost every conversation in business contexts, especially in making

telephone and negotiations and these three points are presented in turn as follow:

2.4.1 Modal auxiliaries

The modal auxiliaries in English express both types of modal meanings, which have in common the fact that they express the speaker’s attitude to a potential event In addition, a number of other forms are available for the expression of particular modal meanings

Modal auxiliaries are usually used to express the politeness

• Using could, would and might to express hypothetical situation and

possibility

• These are also useful in trying concession to condition in negotiation

• Using might, could and would as qualifiers to avoid being blunt in

business

• Would like, must, am afraid I have to are especially used to perform act

of thanking, begging, requesting They are not only indirect forms more polite than direct forms, but they may be felt sincere

• Using would, could, can, and may in polite requests

Here is the summary of the functions of modal verbs in different contexts

Offering assistance

Asking for assistance Inviting

Responding to an invitation

Declining an invitation

Commenting

on an evening out

Welcome visitors arriving

Meeting someone and small talk

Introducing someone

Can I get you

anything? Could you get me ? Would you be interested in

going to see ?

That would be very nice I’d like to but I am afraid It’s been lovely evening Well come to… Hello, my name’s…from… Please to meet you This is… He?she’s my Personal Assistant Would you like

anything?

Could you help

me arrange a flight to ?

I’d like to invite you to have dinner this evening Is that a good idea?

I’d love/like that That would be nice,

How was your trip? Did you have a good flight?

Can I introduce you to …He

is our Project Manager

If you need a

phone call, please

say

Can you recommend a good restaurant?

Thank you That would

be a pleasure It’s very nice of you to…but I already

have an appointment tonight

Thank you very much for your hospitality

Sorry, I’m a little late… How are things in

anything for you?

I’d like to book

a room for tonight Could you recommend

a hotel?

much

My plane we delayed…

Is this your first visit…?

I’d like to introduce you to…

Handling complaints and other problems Stating reason for

a call

Making an arrangement

Changing arrangements Ending a call Asking for details Apologizing Denying an

accusation

Leaving and taking messages

Offering to help the other way

Asking for repetition

I’m ringing

about…

Could we meet sometime next month?

We’ve got an appointment for next month but…

Right, I think that’s all

Could you tell me exactly what…?

I’m sorry to hear that

No, I don’t think that can be right

Could you give him a message?

Can anyone else help you?

Sorry I didn’t catch your name?

Can I leave him

a message? Can I help you perhaps? Sorry, could you repeat your name?

Could we fix an alternative? Do call if you need anything else What’s the…? Please accept my apology for… I’m afraid that ‘s not quite right Please ask/tell him to call me

back…

Would you like to speak

to his assistant?

Would you please spell your name?

I’d like some

information

about…

What about July 21 st ? Thanks a lot Good bye I would like to apology for… I’m afraid that can’t be true Would you like to leave a

message?

Shall I ask him to call you back?

Sorry, I didn’t catch your name could you spell that, please?

Table 2.1 Summary of the modal verbs used in the text book

Handling questions Structure Timing

Policy on questions/

discussion listing Sequencing

Ending the main body of the presentation Concluding

Inviting questions

Impossible to answer Not understood

I’ve divided my

talk into three

parts…

My talk will be about ten minutes

Right, that is the end of my first part

There are two conclusions/

recommendations

That concludes

my talk… now I’d like to invite your comments

I’m afraid that’s outside the scope of

my talk I’ve come to that later

Sorry, I’m not sure I’ve understood Could you repeat?

My talk will be in

three parts

My presentation will take about two hours but there will be 20 –minute break

After my talk there’ll be time for a discussion and any questions

There are two kinds of… the first is … the second is…

There are two steps involved The first step is … the second step is

That’s all I want

to say for now…

What we need is…

Now we have half an hour for questions and discussions

I don’t think iam the right person to answer that, perhaps Mr…

can help

Are you asking if…?

I’m going divide…

We can see four advantages and two advantages First…

There are four stages to the project At the beginning, later, then, finally

I’d like to end

my talk by emphasizing the main points…

I think we have to… Alright, now, I’d be very

interested to hear your comments

I’m afraid I

do not have much experience in that field

I didn’t catch your question Could you repeat?

Module 3:

presentation

background, then the present situation and finally the prospects for the future…

I’d like to finish with…

I think we have seen that we should…

Would you have any questions or comments?

Sorry, you mean…? Is that right?

Ending the meeting Stating opinions Asking for opinions Interrupting interruptions Handling clarification Asking for Clarifying decisions Delaying

Summarizing Confirmin g action Referring to the next contact

It seems to me… I’d like to hear

from… Excuse me, may I ask for

clarification on this?

Sorry, please let me finish… Could you be more specific? This mean… I think we need more time to

consider this

I think we should end there, just to summarize…

We’ll contact We’ll meet again next month

I tend to think Could we hear

from? If I may interrupt, could

We’ve got to… We look forward to hearing from you…

Module 4:

Meeting

We What do you Sorry to Can I come to that What do you mean What I want to Can we leave this So, to We need to It’s been a pleasure to see

think/feel/believe think about ? interrupt, but…? later? by…? say is until another

day? conclude…we’ve agreed… look at… you today and look forward…

It is obvious that… What is your

view on…?

Do you think so?

My impression is…

Can we leave that to another discussion?

Bargaining Making concessions Accepting Looking ahead Dealing with conflict Rejecting negotiation Ending

s

Breaking of negotiations

I’d like to begin

with a few words

about…

Together we want to develop

a good relationship…

We can agree on that so long as…

If you could…we would consider…

We agree So, next step is… We should focus

on the positive aspects

I’m afraid we can’t

Can we go through the point we’ve agreed?

I think we’ve gone as far as

we can

May I outline our

principal aims and

objectives…

We agree that… That’s not

acceptable unless…

So long as…we could agree to…

That seems acceptable

We need to meet again soon

Perhaps we could adjourn for

a little while

need to do now is…

It’s a pity we couldn’t reach agreement this time

We want to clarify

our position… It is important for both of us

that we agree on…

It’s impossible without… Would you be interested in…? That’s properly all right We need to draw up a formal

contract

I think we need to consider some fresh ideas…

I think if you consider our position, you’ll see that…

It’s been a very useful and productive meeting

Unfortunately, we appear unable to settle out differences

I don’t think it would be sensible for us to…

We look forward to

a successful partnership

It’d be better if we looked for some independent arbitrator

2.4.2 Idiomatic expressions

An idiom is an expression which means something different from the individual meanings of the words which make up the expression (Longman Business English Usage, p.109) The following conversation between the two colleagues

in the company will explain the point

Man: Yes, we have a little difficulty here I think we are barking

up the wrong tree

Woman: I beg your pardon?

Man: I said we are barking up the wrong tree

Woman: Sorry I do not understand

Man: We are wasting our time for that market

Woman: Ok, I understand now, the wrong tree

Man: Yes, the wrong market

Idiom is a notoriously difficult area of foreign language teaching and learning In the example above, if we analyze the lexicon one by one according to their syntactic property and meaning, we will not understand It should be noticed that these are relations of linguistic meaning which arise from people’s general knowledge of the world embodied in their conceptual system and encyclopedic knowledge that speakers of a given language share Obviously, the people of a certain language have their own tacit knowledge of the metaphorical basis for many idioms which are formed by shared everyday knowledge The conventional knowledge is difficult for other people to understand in term of learners of English as a foreign language

Therefore, in order to understand idioms, students must learn the strategy to retain them longer in memory by noticing the occurrence of particular words in a large number of idioms and consider it a cognitive mechanism that links domains

of knowledge to idiomatic meanings

Relating to pedagogical implications, Zoltan Kovecses states:

Teaching students strategies for dealing with figurative language will help them to take advantage of the semantic transparency of some idioms If they can figure out the meaning of an idiom by themselves, they will have a link from the idiomatic meaning to the literal words, which will help them learn the idiom (2002, p.202)

Here are some other examples taken from the text book along with the explanations

• They’ve given me the go-ahead (they’ve given me permission to do it.)

• We’re going flat out to fulfill the order (we are working as hard as we can)

• Let’s recap, shall we? (Let’s repeat the main point)

• They give you an edge over the competition (They give you an advantage

when you compete against other firms)

• You’ve got the edge over your competitors (you are better than your

• Fire away! (Go ahead with your questions)

• Twist their arm a little (Put pressure on them)

• He gained a foothold in the market (he made a beginning in penetrating

the market)

Prepositions and propositional groups can have meanings other than place or time or abstract meanings Let’s examine these examples

• This proposal is far from being successful (this proposal is not successful)

• According to the BBC, the strike is over (= the BBC says)

• Most people are against those changes (= opposing)

• I am reading the book by Iris Murdoch (= is written by Iris Murdoch)

• You’d do anything for the sake of peace and quite (= in order to have)

• Are you in favor of the plan (= supporting)

• Mrs Peterson is in charge of the department (= head of the department)

• We decided against a picnic in view of the weather (= because the weather

was bad)

• I am really into modern jazz (= interested in)

• The show was above criticism (= too good to be criticized)

• We are working towards a United States of Europe (= working to create)

• The party is right behind its leader (= supporting)

• I am really up to my eyes (= get more work to do than I can manage)

2.4.3 Phrasal verbs

As discussed above, phrasal verbs are a kind of multi-word verbs which have a number of related meanings according to their collocation with different nouns and to the contexts in which they are used Particularly, phrasal verbs lend themselves to metaphorical extension Referring to this element, Angela Downing presents ‘ The characteristic of multi-word verbs are their metaphorical extensions of meaning, from concrete to abstract or abstract to concrete; and from one context to another less congruent one’ (1995, p 339) Phrasal verbs consist of many verbs and general reference so they are so easily adaptable in different contexts and can mean almost anything In business settings, especially

in telephone language, phrasal verbs exist in almost every conversation Because

of their metaphorical element, phrasal verbs are hard to be unsystematically understood, students had better study them by heart to make use of them in practice speaking effectively Here are some examples taken from telephone conversations in the text book

• Could you put me through to extension 234 again? (connect)

Certainly, Ok, you are through now

• Sorry about that They cut us off for some reasons (disconnected)

I know Anyway, I can’t make the meeting on the 18th, as I’ll still be here

in Germany, so could we put it off until the 24th? (postpone)

• Can I speak to Mr Moore please?

Please, hold on (wait) I’ll see if she is here today

• I can’t find her number, anywhere

Have you tried looking it up in the phone book? (search for a number in a

book)

• I do not know the times of the trains

Don’t worry I’ll ring up the station (phone)

• I am afraid I can’t hear you It is a really bad line

Ok, I’ll hang up and try again (put the phone down)

• I’m sure he is there

So am I, but sometimes he won’t pick up the phone (answer the phone)

The conclusion that we can draw from what has been done so far is that grammatical structures determine the meanings that do not simply come from lexicon only and can not be arbitrarily understood The crucial question is how to present the structure forms in a way that is clear, simple and accurate to enable students to apply them effectively in practicing and improving their speaking skill

2.5 Components under speaking effectiveness

Language proficiency is not a uni-dimensional construct but a multifaceted modality consisting of various levels of abilities and domains (Carrasquillo, 1994; P65) We all know that beside the linguistic knowledge, learners need to be