(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) an action research on developing speaking skill throught oral presentations with reference to the coursebook talk time for the second year non major students at hanoi university of industry

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ TÂM AN ACTION RESEARCH ON DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH ORAL PRESENTATIONS WITH REFER

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UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI THÔNG QUA THUYẾT TRÌNH THEO CUỐN SÁCH “TALK TIME” CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ 2 ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI)

MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60 14 10

HANOI – 2012

TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com

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UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ TÂM

AN ACTION RESEARCH ON DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH ORAL PRESENTATIONS WITH REFERENCE TO THE COURSEBOOK “TALK TIME” FOR THE SECOND YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI THÔNG QUA THUYẾT TRÌNH THEO CUỐN SÁCH “TALK TIME” CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NĂM THỨ 2 ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI)

MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: ĐINH HẢI YẾN, M.A

HANOI – 2012

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6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

Table of Contents iv

List of Abbreviations vii

List of Tables, Charts and Figure viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 The rationales of the study 1

2 The scope and significance of the study 2

3 The aims of the study 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 The design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Speaking skill 4

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 4

1.1.2 Approaches to speaking 5

1.1.3 Differences between spoken and written language 6

1.1.4 The importance of teaching speaking skill 7

1.1.5 Types of classroom speaking performance 7

1.2 Oral presentations 8

1.2.1 Definitions and characteristics of oral presentations 8

1.2.2 The importance of oral presentation skills 9

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1.2.4 Procedure for using oral presentations as a class activity 11

1.3 Sub-conclusion 12

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Action research 13

2.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of action research 13

2.1.2 Why action research? 13

2.1.3 Phases in action research 14

2.2 The current situation of teaching and learning English at HaUI 16

2.3 The coursebook “Talk time” and the syllabus 18

2.4 Participants 19

2.5 Data collection instruments 19

2.6 Data collection procedures 20

2.7 Data analysis 20

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Results from the questionnaire 21

3.1.1 Students’ attitudes toward the use of oral presentations in English lessons 21

3.1.2 Students’ suggestions to increase the effectiveness of oral presentations in English lessons 24

3.2 Results from the students’ journals 27

3.2.1 Students’ overall performance during oral presentations 27

3.2.2 Students’ suggestions to make a better presentation 29

3.3 Results from the observation sheet 31

CHAPTER 4: IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 35

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(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.action.research.on.developing.speaking.skill.throught.oral.presentations.with.reference.to.the.coursebook.talk.time.for.the.second.year.non.major.students.at.hanoi.university.of.industry(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.action.research.on.developing.speaking.skill.throught.oral.presentations.with.reference.to.the.coursebook.talk.time.for.the.second.year.non.major.students.at.hanoi.university.of.industry(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.action.research.on.developing.speaking.skill.throught.oral.presentations.with.reference.to.the.coursebook.talk.time.for.the.second.year.non.major.students.at.hanoi.university.of.industry(LUAN.van.THAC.si).an.action.research.on.developing.speaking.skill.throught.oral.presentations.with.reference.to.the.coursebook.talk.time.for.the.second.year.non.major.students.at.hanoi.university.of.industry

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4.1 For students 35

4.1.1 Planning, preparing, rehearsing and presenting 35

4.1.2 Setting up a good mood for the presentation 37

4.2 For the teacher (s) 38

4.2.1 Establishing a supportive and low-threat learning environment 38

4.2.2 Improving students’ non-verbal skills 38

4.2.3 Improving students’ verbal skills 39

PART C: CONCLUSION 41

1 Summary of the findings 41

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 42

REFERENCES 43

APPENDIXES I

Appendix 1 I Appendix 2 V Appendix 3 VII Appendix 4 VIII

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

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LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURE

Tables:

3 Students’ general beliefs in the usefulness of oral presentation 21

4 Students’ general belief about their own ability to do oral

presentation

23

6 Result of the first observation of students’ presentations 31

7 Result of the second observation of students’ presentations 32

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 The rationales of the study

Obviously, English is one of the most important and powerful languages in the world No language, ancient or modern, can be compared with English in respect of its international status It is interesting to note that about half of mankind has chosen it as a means of communication with those who do not share the same language as them It is means of international communication in the sense that it helps in interlinking the people living in other countries of the world

In Vietnam, Ministry of Education and Training has put more emphasis on teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English than ever before It is explicitly stated in the project entitled “Teaching and Learning Foreign Language in national education system, period 2008-2020” that “by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youths whoever graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities are capable of using a foreign language independently and confidently in communicating, studying and working in an environment

of integration, multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism, making foreign languages the strength of Vietnamese people to serve the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country” (Ministry of Education and Training, 2008, Decision No 1400/QD-TTg) To this aim, speaking as a communicative skill deserves more attention in teaching a foreign language With the recognition of the importance of developing speaking skill for students, Hanoi University of Industry has implemented a new program which lasts four semesters and focuses on teaching English extensively for communication The coursebook “Talk time” has been used for the fourth semester to help students master their speaking and listening skills Experiencing one term teaching this book last year, the researcher encountered quite a few problems in terms of the syllabus and the low English proficiency

of the students In addition, after making reference to the other teachers who also teach this coursebook, the author found out that all of classes still applied teacher-centred approach

to the teaching and learning of English As a result, teacher talking time was much greater than student talking time in class Consequently, students’ speaking ability is not good enough To solve her own problems and give the students a chance to work independently and practise their English speaking skill, the author would like to do a small research on

“An action research on developing speaking skill through oral presentations with

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reference to the coursebook “Talk time” for the second-year non-major students at Hanoi University of Industry”

2 The scope and significance of the study

This study mainly focuses on the impacts of oral presentations on the second year students’ performance in English lessons Besides, their attitudes towards making oral presentations

in class are also one of the concerns of the study After that, some suggestions to help students improve the effectiveness of their presentations and speaking skills are offered The study involves the participation of 42 second year non English-majored students of Faculty of Accounting at Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) They have experienced four semesters studying English at this university

Conducting this study in a very specific context, I hope that, to some extent, the effective integration of oral presentations will make my students’ speaking and presentation skills much better and the current situation of teaching and learning English with the coursebook

“Talk time” at HaUI will be generally improved

3 The aims of the study

This study is designed to bring a new air into English classes for the second-year students

at HaUI In general, it has three purposes Firstly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral presentations on the students’ performance in English lessons Secondly, it aims at finding students’ attitudes towards the use of oral presentations in the classroom Finally, it is to provide the teachers with some suggestions to make best use of oral presentations in their teaching with a view to better their students’ speaking skill

4 Methods of the study

The theoretical background of the study is based on the theories and ideas presented in many books and articles published by various writers on language teaching in general and oral presentations in particular

This study employs three data collection instruments including questionnaire, students’ journals and observation sheet By administering a questionnaire to a group of people, a huge amount of information can be collected in a limited amount of time It is also proved

to be cost-effective and time-saving In addition, students’ journals provide extensive data

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for the study Furthermore, teacher’s observation sheet is used to reflect students’ improvement in speaking and presentation skills

5 The design of the study

The study consists of 3 parts:

Part A, introduction, briefly states the rationales, the aims, the scope and significance, methods and design of the study

Part B, development, includes 4 chapters:

 Chapter 1, literature review, presents the theoretical background related to speaking skills and oral presentations in English

 Chapter 2, methodology, presents an overview on current situation of teaching and learning English in general and the coursebook “talk time” in particular Furthermore, a description of syllabus and the coursebook is clearly presented The justification of the use of data collection instruments is also included in this chapter

 Chapter 3, results and discussion, is devoted to the data analysis and discussion of the findings

 Chapter 4, implications and suggestions, offers some pedagogical suggestions for the students and teachers of English at HaUI

Part C, conclusion, summarizes the key points and the limitations of the study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter briefly presents the previous and current literature on speaking skill and oral presentations Besides, it also describes how oral presentations help improve students’ speaking skill in an ESL classroom

1.1 Speaking skill

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

In terms of the direction and modality, speaking is a productive oral skill which is generated by learners in language teaching Speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning According to Florez (1999, p.1), speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” It is often “spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving” (1999, p.1) but it is not completely unpredictable

Scott (1990, p.70) adds that “speaking emphasizes the use of language above the level of the sentence” and that “the learner is now concerned with using language, not English usages” The ultimate goal of learning a language is actually to be able to communicate, not to know language grammar rules or language usages Therefore, learning to speak involves developing a number of skills and different types of knowledge about how and when to communicate

Brown and Yule (1983) propose a useful distinction between two basic language functions These are the transactional function, which is primarily concerned with the transfer of information, and the interactional function, in which the primary purpose of speech is the maintenance of social relationships They also highlight another basic distinction between monologue and dialogue when considering the development of speaking skill The two authors state that the ability to give an uninterrupted oral presentation (monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or more other native speakers for transactional and interactional purposes Therefore, presentation skills should be learned and practiced carefully

To conclude, it is totally wrong that knowing the grammar rules of a language means that one can speak that language The speaker has to possess a variety of knowledge about

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language use and culture to convey the right meaning and about when to speak appropriately

1.1.2 Approaches to speaking

Traditionally, language teaching aimed at helping learners develop linguistic competence – that is, helping students master the sounds, words, and grammar patterns of English It was thought that they could eventually put them all together and communicate

In the mid-1970s, the notion of linguistic competence came to be viewed as a component

of the broader idea of communicative competence That is “the ability of language learners

to interact with others speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their ability to perform

on discrete-point tests of grammatical knowledge” (Savignon, 1991, p.264) There are some important and prominent models of communicative competence but all of them include sociocultural competence, or the ability to use language appropriately in various contexts, strategic competence, or the ability to use language strategies to compensate for gaps in skills and knowledge Another important element of communicative competence is discourse competence, that is, how language is tied together, which includes both cohesion and coherence

These four components - linguistic competence, sociocultural competence, strategic competence and discourse competence - have several practical implications for EFL and ESL teachers Since communicative competence is a multi-faceted construct, it is important to understand the complexities learners face when they are speaking English One of those is balancing fluency and accuracy Accuracy refers to “the ability to speak properly- that is, selecting the correct words and expressions to convey the intended meaning, as well as using the grammatical patterns of English” (Bailey K.M, 2005, p.5) Meanwhile, fluency is “the capacity to speak fluidly, confidently, and at the rate consistent with the norms of the relevant native speech community” (Bailey K.M, 2005, p.5) Discussing this issue, Scarcella and Oxford (1992, p.156) have seen many educators who believe that in a communicative class, “it is not necessary to teach conversational features

or push students to communicate accurately” and that “fluency can be developed by simply providing students with lots of conversational practice” On the contrary, Ur (1996) believes that both fluency and accuracy are taken into consideration, apart from other factors This is a good balance Brown (1994, p.254) also shares the same idea that “both

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fluency and accuracy are important goals to pursue in CLT” Nonetheless, the balance between fluency and accuracy is also dependable on the purpose of the course, the English level of students and the context of learning and teaching In fact, while students are at the beginning and pre-intermediate level of language learning, that is, they are learning to master grammar rules, acquire essential vocabulary items and search for the right words in their mental processes, accuracy and fluency often work against each other

1.1.3 Differences between spoken and written language

Recognizing the differences between spoken and written language are of great importance

to the language learners Sometimes speaking in a way that things would normally be written, or writing in a way that people speak can lead to strangeness, unnaturalness or inappropriateness because there are many differences between written and spoken language

One of the first things is that “when speech is written down it appears far more disorganised and chaotic than written language yet in real spoken interactions speakers are readily able to understand and respond to each other” (Burns A & Joyce, H 1997, p.7) That indicates that speech has its own systematic patterns and structures – they are somewhat different from those in written language Formulaic phrases or set expressions such as “I don’t know”, “you know”, “I mean” are often used in spoken language to help the speakers put forward their opinions There are also many slang words that are popped into spoken language, that depending on the context are not strictly correct in written language

There is far less repetition when referring to the main topic, so a written version of a speech will be much shorter Furthermore, “writing also tends to stick more to consistent grammatical structures” (p.8) Since written texts can be revised and thought out more thoroughly than spoken language, they can present communicative ideas in a precise, well- ordered and presented in a more sophisticated way engaging higher level vocabulary and ideas than is often presented in spoken language Conversely, spoken language can sometimes be more communicative than written language Speakers can use tone or body language to add a significant amount of information to the listeners

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In short, spoken language is generally less formal and less precise than written language However, it can transfer more information than written language due to extra cues such as body language and tone

1.1.4 The importance of teaching speaking skill

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language since speech is the most basic means of human communication Ur (1996) also points out that “of all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important, people who know a language are referred to as “speakers”

of that language, as if speaking includes all other skills of knowing” (p.120) As aforementioned, with the emergence of communicative competence, the focus of language teaching is spoken language “The term “communicative” has often been interpreted as relating to speaking only, and in some cases, this has meant that the teaching of speaking has taken precedence over the teaching of reading and writing” (Hammond et al, 1992, cited in Burns, A (2002, p.54))

From the awareness of the role of speaking skill, it is easily recognized that teaching speaking skill is so important It creates motivation for students in the process of learning a foreign language because many of them view that learning a language is to use that language to communicate and express ideas The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the learners’ success in schools and later in every phase of life Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to teaching speaking

1.1.5 Types of classroom speaking performance

According to Brown (1994, pp.266-268), there are six categories of speaking performance that students are expected to carry out in the classroom They are imitative, intensive, responsive, transactional (dialogue), interpersonal (dialogue) and extensive (monologue)

 Imitative speaking performance is carried out in the form of imitation drills when learners listen to the teacher or a tape and repeat what is heard The author believes that “drills offer limited practice through repetition They allow one to focus on one element of language in a controlled activity” (p.266)

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 Intensive speaking is one step beyond imitative speaking It includes any speaking performance that is designed to practise some phonological and grammatical aspect

of language

 Responsive performance is understood as short replies to the teacher’s or students’ questions or comments Brown (1994) supposes that these replies are usually sufficient and do not extend to dialogues, so they can be meaningful and authentic

 Transactional (dialogue) is an extended form of responsive language It is carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging information or messages Conversations are considered to have more of a negotiative nature than merely responsive speech

 Interpersonal speaking performance is carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information These conversations are a bit challenging for learners because they can involve some or all of the factors, namely, colloquial language, slang, ellipsis

 Extensive (monologue) is for learners at intermediate to advanced levels They are required to give extended monologues in the form of oral reports, summaries or short speeches, which can be planned or delivered without preparation

1.2 Oral presentations

1.2.1 Definitions and characteristics of oral presentations

Oral presentations are defined as “brief discussions of a focused topic delivered to a group

of listeners in order to impart knowledge or to stimulate discussion” (“Guidelines for Oral Presentations”, 2001) When somebody is speaking about some topic in front of a group of people, that means he or she is making a speech or giving a presentation It is often assumed that only VIPs have chance to make a speech However, the fact is that almost everyone may face the necessity of giving a presentation, regardless of his or her occupations In class, students can also make a speech or give a short presentation Their listeners or audience are their teacher and classmates This activity is then called classroom presentation

Iftimie, N.M and Chang A.N (n.d, p.83) give a more detailed definition on oral presentations They claim that “making an oral presentation means preparing and

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delivering a speech on a specific topic in a clear, concise and logical form” From this definition, it is clearly seen that there are three four elements of oral presentations-that is, content, delivery, language and organization

According to Clark, D (2010), a good presentation firstly has content That is, it contains information that people need Secondly, it has structure with a logical beginning, middle and end It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it Thirdly, a presentation is characterized by packaging: it must be well prepared Finally, a good presentation has human element in it It will be remembered much more than a report because it has a person attached to it

1.2.2 The importance of oral presentation skills

In a broader perspective, presentation skills play an increasingly important role for students’ future job prospects They are not only a must for faster growth in the organization but also a necessity to be in the eyes of management to get responsible assignments When people can speak clearly, concisely, and convincingly, they will gain enormous confidence, which as Emden and Becker (2004, p.2) put it “will result in an even better presentation next time” and “the newfound confidence may affect other areas of work” Moreover, through mastery of speech, individuals come to fully effective in organization, in the management and expression of ideas and arguments (Powell, 2003)

In a narrow perspective, oral presentations help improve students’ vocabulary, grammar, speech delivering ability and strategic competence They also often provide practice in speaking for the presenter Firstly, while preparing a presentation, the presenter has to think twice before choosing which words, phrases or structures to use or what sentences to make Later on, when delivering the presentation, he also has to recall such knowledge in order to make an accurate speech Therefore, his vocabulary and grammatical knowledge is revised and improved all the time throughout his presentation Secondly, the speech delivering ability is much improved through making presentations because the speaker has

to look for the way to deliver his speech so that the audience would most likely to understand and enjoy it Lastly, presentations help improve strategic competence The presenter should find the most appealing ways of beginning, developing and closing his speech to draw his audience’s attention In other words, the presentation skills and the strategic ability are tightly linked to each other

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In a word, presentations help improve communicative competence in particular and speaking skill in general, in a surprisingly effective way To a greater extent, presentations help develop learners’ command of English

1.2.3 Types of oral presentations

In terms of the manners of delivery, Dwyer (2000, pp.198-199) offers a thorough description of five presentational forms or speeches, as he calls them as the followings:

 The impromptu speech is unexpected and delivered without preparation Consequently, it is important for him or her to think clearly and speak briefly and straight to the point

 The manuscript speech is structured and read It is suited to longer, more difficult presentations such as technical and legal ones, a press release or a speech that will

be reported However, it is important to keep and maintain eye contact with the audience by using wide margins, large type and double spacing

 The memorized speech is learned and recalled It is suited to short talk The speaker should try to memorize the introduction carefully If he or she tries to memorize a long talk, he or she may get lost or lose confidence

 The briefing is a short oral summary or report of a plan, event or operation Its aim might be to inform, propose or justify solutions or persuade the audience

 Team briefings are most often used for staff meetings, reports to supervisors or managers on progress, results or problems As the name suggests, team briefings refer to team members working together for their presentation

In terms of the speaker’s intention, there are three types of presentations including entertaining, persuasive and informative

 An entertaining presentation simply tries to gain and keep the audience’s attention The speaker wants the listeners to have a good time and to be amused or interested

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most commonly used type of presentation in classrooms and in scientific conferences at universities

To conclude, an oral presentation can be one of the above-mentioned types Each type of presentation has its own characteristics However, a presentation is sometimes mixed up by several types At universities, students can work individually or be grouped to present a new topic of the lesson in front of the class or share their ideas about an issue

1.2.4 Procedure for using oral presentations as a class activity

Oral presentations have been used in teaching to improve learners’ speaking ability for many years This issue has also been discussed by scholars, researchers and practitioners

As a matter of fact, the purposes of oral presentations, according to Underhill, 1987, Miller, 1994, are to help language learners develop their fluency and increase their confidence when speaking Underhill (1987, p.47) suggests that “in a less formal situation, mini presentations may be a routine part of the daily teaching schedule” Each day a learner takes turns to make an oral presentation to the rest of the class At the end of the

presentation, he/she is supposed to deal with any questions raised by their friends It is the

learner’s job to conduct the whole activity without the intervention of the teacher The presentation may be taped either for marking or for subsequent classroom analysis

Miller (1994, pp.280-281) shows the procedure for oral presentations carried out as a class activity as follows:

1) At the beginning of the semester, have students organize themselves into small groups

2) Generate topics for discussion in one of three ways:

 Have the students suggest topics

 Prepare and suggest topics to the class

 Have students (or yourself) research and suggest topics related to their field

of study

3) Make sure each group has a different topic, which can vary depending on the level

of the class and the interests of the students

4) Discuss strategies for presenting topics in English and encourage group members to agree or disagree with the ideas of other members during the upcoming discussion Let students know that after each group discussion, one member will be chosen to

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present the groups’ ideas to the class It is important not to tell the group in advance who is going to speak in front of the class so that all students take part in the group discussion

5) Have one member of each group present the ideas to the others for a group discussion lasting about 12-15 minutes, while you listens and circulate among groups to help with language problems (Try to intervene as little as possible so students are encouraged to speak freely)

6) Once the time has expired, choose one person from each group to stand up and present the group’s ideas to the whole class for 2-3 minutes

7) Encourage students in the class to ask the presenter/group questions

In short, oral presentations, if properly guided and carefully planned, will provide a positive learning experience and long life skills in the students’ future careers Students need to be supplied with linguistic skills as well as non-linguistic ones to make a good presentation and master their speaking skill

1.3 Sub-conclusion

In summary, this chapter has presented some background theories related to speaking skills and oral presentations including the definitions, the characteristics, the importance and some types of speaking performance and oral presentations It gives the researcher the framework to follow throughout the thesis

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides background information about action research, the current situation

of teaching and learning English of non English-majored students with the coursebook

“Talk time” and a description of the methodology employed to collect data for the study

2.1 Action research

2.1.1 Definitions and characteristics of action research

For many years, action research has captured the attention of practitioners and administrators and is becoming increasingly significant in language education It is defined

in a number of different ways Frost (2002) claims that “action research is a process of systematic reflection, enquiry and action carried out by individuals about their own professional practice” (cited in Costello, 2003, p.3) Bassey (1998, p.93) shares the same view and defines it as “an inquiry which is carried out in order to understand, to evaluate and then to change, in order to improve some educational practice” In other words, it allows teachers to study their own classrooms – for example their own teaching methods, their own students, their own assessment – in order to better understand them and be able

to improve their quality or effectiveness According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988), there are three major characteristics of action research Firstly, it is carried out by practitioners (classroom teachers) rather than outside researchers Secondly, it is collaborative Lastly, it is aimed at changing things (cited in Nunan, 1992, p.17)

In short, action research is referred to as a process or an inquiry carried out by the educators to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context

2.1.2 Why action research?

It is necessary to do researches into classrooms to improve and develop teaching and learning Teachers need to know what is exactly happening in their classes, what students are thinking, why they are reacting in the way they do, what aspects they need to focus on and how they should change in these aspects and then they will know what is beneficial to their students

As a teacher, the author does not have an ambition to change and solve big problems of the university or the education system This study addresses her own problem in her teaching and this kind of research gives her opportunity to better understand, and therefore, improve

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her own teaching practices It also provides her with alternative ways of viewing and approaching her teaching questions and problems and with new ways of examining her own teaching practices

2.1.3 Phases in action research

Gerald Susman (1983, p.102) identifies five phases in conducting in this kind of research

as in the following figure

Figure 1: Action research phases

2.1.3.1 Diagnosing

In English lessons, the author found that the students were quite passive in their learning They did not contribute actively to the lessons and they often kept quite It seemed to her that she spoke almost all the time in class It was clear that teacher-centred approach was still applied to the teaching and learning English in HaUI in general and in this class in particular As a result, the students’ speaking ability is not good

DIAGNOSING Identifying or defining

a problem

SPECIFYING LEARNING Identifying general findings

ACTION PLANNING Considering alternative courses of action

EVALUATING Studying the consequences of an

action

TAKING ACTION Selecting a course of actions

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2.1.3.2 Action planning

To solve her own problems, the author worked out several alternative ways which could be applied in this context to improve her students’ speaking skill and give them opportunity to work independently and responsibly They are role-play activity, discussion activity, information-gap activity, oral presentations Finally, she decided to choose oral presentations as a learning activity to help her solve her problem

2.1.3.3 Taking action

Students were required to make presentations in class in groups of three on one of the topics in the coursebook

 They chose the group members at the first period of the course

 The teacher provided a list of topics for them to choose or they could choose their own topics which they were interested in but it had to be related to the lesson and agreed by her

 Each presentation was allowed to give in about 15 minutes In other words, each presenter had 5 minutes for their part of presentation

 Each representative of the groups drew the lots to decide which topics they would make their presentations on

 Students could use the computer and the projector equipped in the classroom It meant that they had to prepare PPT slides for their presentations

The teacher devoted the first period to give students detailed instructions on how to prepare for the presentation, how to entrust tasks for each member of the group to ensure that all of them had to raise their voice in their presentation, and how to make an effective presentation, in which presentation skills were discussed More importantly, she told them about the criteria for their performances (see Appendix 2) She had to make sure that all of the students understood exactly what they had to do by asking them some questions to check

A unit which consisted of two different topics (see table 2) would be learned in 6 periods:

3 on Monday morning and 3 on Wednesday morning The procedure of a presentation was carried out as follows A group made presentation on a topic relating to the lesson and then some minutes were spent on asking and answering questions and discussion Students were

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