Luận văn factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at doson high school and some possible solutions

However, this is the concern of most teachers as students’ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggest challenge they are facing, Having been teaching English at Doson High School

TRẢN THỊ THẢO

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING

ACTIVITIES OF 10™ GRADE STUDENTS AT DOSON HIGH

SCIIOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

NIIAN T6 ANITIIUGNG DEN SU TIIAM GIA VAO TIOAT DONG

NOI CUA HOC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒ SƠN

VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHIÁP KHẮC PHỤC

M.A MINOR THESIS

Ficld: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Hanoi, September 2010

TRAN TH] THAO

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF

10™ GRADE STUDENTS AT DOSON LUGU SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE

SOLUTIONS

NHÂN TO ANILTUGNG DEN SU TILAM GIA VAG TIOAT DONG NOT CUA

HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐÔ SƠN

VA MOT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

SUPERVISOR: PHAM MINH HIEN, M.A

Ilanoi, September 2010

1.1 Theoretical background af speaking in second language learning and teaching

1.1.1 Delinitions oŸ speaking e«

1.1.2 Lmportance of speaking

1.3.2 TeacheTs” ÍactOTS co ehiehrerererereeriee

2.2.5.3 Results from class abservations and interviews

SIONS AND RECOMMENDA

3.2.1.1 Varying speaking activities

3.2.1.2 Personalizing speaking topics

3.2.1.3 Using group work to good effct

3.2.1.4 Managing speaking turns 3.2.1.5 Building cooperative almosphore 3.2.1.6 Establishing good rapport with students

3.2.1.7 Combining the textbook with other relevant materials

3.2.1.8 Managing speaking time approprialaly

3.2.2 For students

3.2.2.1 Cooperating wath students

3.2.2.2 Cooperating with teachers 2.2.3 Taking risks à co

PART C: CONCLUSION:

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students

APPENDIX 2: Quastionnaire for teaehars

APPENDIX 3: Pre — treatment interview questions

APPENDIX 4: Past — treatment interview questions

APPENDIX 5: Classroom observation checklist

* Tables

‘Table 1: Students’ learning styles

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 2: Students’ motivation

Table 3: Students’ anndety .seccescseeeesessseneeeeeeians

‘Table 4: Students” language levels

Table

Table 6: Teachers’ techniques of encouraging students

5: Teachers” talking tine

‘Table 7: Students’ evaluation on speaking lessons

Table

Table 9: Students’ suggested techniques to increase their participation

Table 10: Teachers’ assessment and attitudes towards speaking skil

8: Faclors affecting siudonts’ participation

Table 11: Teachers’ opinions about teaching methods

'Table 13: Tcachers" problcms in teaching speaking skill

“Tabls 13: Teachers” current teaching techniquss and activities

Table 14: Factors affecting students’ participation

Table 15; Teachers’ suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement

‘Table 16: The level of students’ participation before and after the treatment

*, Charts

Pic — chart I: Students”

chart 2; Students’ level of participation in speaking activities

Pie

Pie — chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

Pic — chart 4: Students’ assessment of speaking activitics m the lass

Pie

Pie — chart 6:

chart 5; Students’ level of reluctance in speaking lessons

Students’ assessment of the topics in the textbook TIENG ANII 10

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales of the study

In recent years, teaching and leaming English is very popular in Vietnam English

has become a crucial means of communication and il is widely used in different fields of

the society such as international commerce, science & teclnolegy, education and so on

‘Therefore, the goal of leaming English has vetified: students study English not only to pass the exam but also to gel communication competence in order to fire a good job in the

future or to study abroad, It 1s obvious that learning speaking skills is very important

‘Together with new textbooks, new teaching approaches have been applied to inercase tho offectiveness of teaching Fnelish al high schools, Tn the Hight of

communicative language teaching (CLT), students’ participation in classroom activities plays 2 crucial role in the success of the lesson However, this is the concern of most

teachers as students’ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggest challenge they are

facing,

Having been teaching English at Doson High School for six years, I have realized that our students have the same problem, they are nol active to participate in the speaking

activities With the desire to identify the causes and solutions to this problem, I chose the

topic “Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 1" grade students at

Doson Tigh School and some possible solutions” as the tilts of my thasis

This study helps us have a decp undarslanding about the factors affscting students? participation in oral activities In general, it can be affected by a variety of factors coming from teachers’ side, students’ side and classroom condition It will also examine the lechniqn

speaking skills Through this study, the researcher expects to find out some appropriate

solutions to increase students” participation in speaking activities

2 Aims of the sturly

The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking

ss und activities applisd by teachers and investigaic some difficulties in leaching

activities of 10" grade students at Doson High School and find out same possible solutions

To be more specific, the major aims of the study are as follows

- Toidentify factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10" grade

students at Doson High School

- ‘To examine some techniques and activities applied by teachers and students” proferen

- To offer some suggestions for teachers to increase students’ participation in speaking activities

3 Research questions

The study is implemented to answer the following questions

1 How actively are the 10" grade students at Doson High School involved in oral

activities in the class?

2 What are the factors affecting the participation m speaking activities?

3 What are the possible solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking

aclivilics?

4 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used The data was collected by means of:

- Questionnaires

- Classroom observations

- Herviews

Survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers were mainly used

to gather information and evidence for the study

To make the dala more reliable, interviews and classroom observations were conduetsd All the commons, rermazks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the thesis were based on the analysis of the study

5, Scope of the study

Concoming the scope of the study, sone of the following things should be taken into consideration First, the subject of the study are the 10 grade students who are full of energy, desire and time to do the study Second, the study only focuses on oral activities because speaking skill is the most important skill for commmnication Third, the study

concentrates to investigate factors affecting the participation in speaking activities

including teacher factors, student factors and classroom factors hindering students” involvernent, in oral activities and find oul same solutions Finally, both quantitative and

qualitative were used because of their convenience and high reliability

6 Significance of the study

The information of the factors alfecling the participation in s king activities

helpfid for students and teachers of English in general and teachers at Doson High School

in particular, The suggestions to increase students’ involvement help the teachers overcome the challenges and find the ways lo have successfuk lessons TL can’ be denied that the study is of great value to both students and teachers of English

7 Design of the study

The study is divided inlo three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the Conclusion

Part A: Jntroduction- deals with the rationales, aims, methods, scope, significance and design of the sludy

Part B: Development consists of three chapters

Chapter L: Literature review — provides some theoretical background about speaking skill and factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities

Chapter 2: ‘The study — presents the situation analysis, participants, data collection instrument, dala collection procedures and data analysis, The detailed resulis of the research are focused,

Chapter 3: Major findings, discussion and recommendations — shows major findings, discussion and some tecormnendations for teachers lo increase students” participation

in spsaking activities

Part C: Conclusion is a review of the study, suggestions for further research and limitations of thre study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbels, in a variety contexts” (Chaney, 1998:13) Bailey (2005:2) shares the same visw thal “ speaking is the productive, oral skill IL consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”

In addition, Florez (1991:1) defines speaking as “an interactive process of consimeting meaning thal involves producing and reesiving and processing information” (cited in Bailey, 2005:2)

According to Mackey (1965) “ oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right pattems of rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words and inflcotions in the right order to convey the right meaning”, (cited in Bygate, 1987:5)

From the above definitions, it can be concluded that speaking is the produetive skill used lo couvey tneaning,

In social contexts, speaking is particularly useful as il is koy lo onnnuriealiơn Kavi (2006) and Bygate (1987) share the same view that the learners need to have ability

to speak confidently to carry their most basic tansactions In short, because of the importance of oral skill in language teaching and lcarning, it is vital that speaking skill should be paid great attention to,

1.1.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

- The Grammar — translation Method

In the Grammar translation Method, students are taught to analyze grammar and

to translate (usually in writing) from one language to another ‘The main goal of this

is not consistent with the goals of increasing English leamers’ fluency, oral production or communicative compelence

- The Direct Method and Audio - lingualism

‘The Direct Method focused on “everyday vocabulary and sentences” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:9) and lessons were conducted entirely in the largel language More

importantly, the lesson presented new teaching points in speaking rather than m writing

and it was practiced “ in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges belween teachers and students.” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:10 as

cited in Bailey, 2005:17)

In Audiclingualism, speaking is taught by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized dialogues from the textbook According to Bygate (2001:15), “teaching oral language was thought to require no more than cngincering the repeated oral production of structures” (cited in Bailey, 2005:17) In this method, the lesson emphasized

repefition drills in order to familiarize sludenis with the sounds and structural palterns of

the language In short, memorizing patterns did not lead to fluent and effective

communication in real — life situations

- Cammunicative Language Teaching

Al the end of the 1960s, the Audio — Lingual Mcthod tel a drastic allack from beth

Auerican sociolinguisties and British functional linguistics based on the study of language from a wider prospective Ilymes (1972) put forward the term “communicative competence” to refer to appropriale language performance in contras! to “ linguistic competence”, At the same time, Brumtit and Johnson (1979) emphasized “the functional

and communicative potential of language They saw the need to focus on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures” (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:153) CLI features more interaction- based activities such as role plays, information gaps, pair

work and group work In summary, among some approaches of the language teaching

methods, CLT is the most appropriate way for communication

1.2 CLT and teaching speaking

1.2.1 Concept of CLT

To detine CLT, Nunan (1989:194) states:

LT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve

oral comnumication, carrving out meaning tasks and using language, which is

meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners inchiding functional skills as well as linguistics objectives The learner's role is a negotiator and integrator The teacher's role is a facilitator of the comnumication progre

In brief, CLT emphasizes comnmnication in a foreign language and improves the

leamers’ competence through communicative activities

1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT

According to Richards and Rogers (2001:161), CLT has a rich theoretical base and some of the characteristics of the communicative view of language are:

Language is a system for the expression of meaning

The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication

The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative use

The primary umits of language are nol merely ils grammatical and structural features but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in

discourse

Tn Brurnfits’s view (1984:91-93)}, CLT’s characleristics can be surmmarized as follows:

Teaching is leancr - centered and responsive to loarners" necds and interests

The taget language is acquired through iteractive communicative use that

encourages the negotiation of meaning

Genuinely meaningful language use is emphasized along with unpredictability,

risk-taking and choice-making

‘There is exposure to examples of authentic language from the target language

Communicative activities, defined by Harmer (1999) are those that give students

who are somehow involved im both the desire lo communicate and a purpose invalving them in a varied use of language Those activities play an important role in a language classroom as students can do their best to use the language effectively, arriving at a degree

of language autonomy,

Richards and Ropers (2001:165) discuss that the range of exercise types and activities with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises and activities cable toarnors to alan the communicative abjectives of the curriculum, engage Jeamers in communication

1.2.4 Students’ participation in speaking activities

Students’ participation can be understood as students’ involvement in classroom activities and in this casc, oral activitics It consists of intcraction between students and students and students and the teacher ‘he interaction between students themselves arises

in pair work and group work, When they work together, students’ parlicipation can be measured by their sense of responsibility and cooperation

‘As for the interaction with the teacher, students express themselves in class discussion or show their abilily to answer the question raised by teacher or share their

knowledge or porsanal oxperion

In order to have a successful lesson, students’ participation must be active and even However, students’ participation in classroom oral activities can be affected by a variety of factors such as from students, teachers aud classroarn,

1.3 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities

1.3.1 Students’ factors

1.3.1.1 Students’ learning styles

Individual‘s learning style in an educational context indicates the different way he/she approaches new information Keefe (1979) defines leaming style as “cognitive, affective and physiological traits that ars relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the leaming environment” {as cited in Brown, H.D

2007:120), Although we share similar learning patterns, preferences and even approaches,

s information in their own way Willing (1987, as cated in Bailey 2003:169-170) divides leamers into four groups based on their behaviors:

+ concrete learners are inlerested in social aspecis of language Fearing,

- analytical learners would rather work individually on reading and grammar

- communicative learners are willing to communicate with other speakers

According to Brown (1994) the contrast between reflectivity and impulsivity dimension is one factor affecting students’ participation in speaking lesson Reflective Jeamers are slower, more carcful and often weigh all the considerations before speaking out in the class, on the other hand, impulsive leamers are quicker at making decision and inake gambles before a solution is achieved So in speaking lesson, impulsive learners are faster but less aecurate speaker than reflective ones,

As claimed by Ellis (1985:120), extroverted leamers are more willing to interact with others than the introverted, amd therefore they are more successful in oral communication

Sharing the same view with Ellis, Lightbown and Spada list a number of personality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second language learners: extroversion, inhibition, self — csicern, empathy, dominance, talkativencss and responsiveness (1995:54-35)

We can conclude with certainty that if the teacher neglects these difffsrences among students, only some of them can benefit from the classroom activities, It is understandable that not all students participate actively in the activities,

1.3.1.2 Students’ language levels

In Tsui’s tescarch (1996) in HongKong, she fod oul five principal factors aftecting the reluctance of students” participation in class speaking lesson:

- students” perceived low proficiency in English

- students’ fear of mistakes and derision

+ leacher’s intolerance of silence

- uneven allocation of tums

- incomprebensible input

(as cited in Numan 1999-234)

Is it the common problem for Vietnamese high scheol students? Lack of vocabulary,

structures and expressions make students unwilling to speak ‘Therefore, in the classroom

many students jus! sil in silence and do nol participate in the classroom activities

In Burns and Joyee’s view, students have difficulties in pronunciation such as sounds, rhythms and stress pattems of English, lack of social and cultural knowledge, low Froficioney of grammar pattsrns and probloms in Iransferring (rom the native laryguage into the target language, All of these linguistics factors result in break down in processing language and communication

Itis understandable that with limited knowledge students can not confidently speak out much about anything In bricf, the limitations in the students’ language levels can directly affect their participation however much they like the activities We, therefore, should choose the lơpics as well as the kinds of activities of their levels lo encourage their participation

1.3.1.3 Students’ attitudes and motivation

Harmer (1999-51) defines motivation as “some kind of inlemat drive which pushes sơmeone to do things in ordor lo achive someting” According ta Lighthown and Spada

“motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined

in terms of two factors: leamers’ commumicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community”, Tl can be understood that if tearners have favorable altitudes and desire to speak the second language for communication, they will be motivated to acquire the language proficiency

Harmer (1999:51) divides motivation into two types intinsic and extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation is possessed by people having personal interest in doing something On the contrary, extrinsic motivation is caused by such outside factors, not for their own sake, as the need to pass an exam or the hops of fimmeial reward

I all the students just leam Lnglish in order to pass the written exams, they think

In order to do so, we have to understand the sources of motivation as “without knowing where the roots of mativation lie, how can teachers water those tools?” (Oxford

& Shearin, 1994:15) Fisher (1990) points to three major sources of motivation in learning:

- ‘The learners’ natural interests (intrinsic satisfaction)

- The

cher! crmploymnenl, cle (extrinsic reward)

- Suecess in the task (combining satisfaction and reward)

Harmer (1999:51) also mentions that the sources of motivation are diversified Thoy may derive from the society we live in, significant others like the atlitude of parcnts

or old siblings, the teacher and the method The responsibility of the teachers is to increase and direct students’ motivation through setting clear goals, leaming environment and interesting classes, which can directly influence students’ participation,

Besides Harmer, Downs (2000) points out some conditions that help increase students’ motivation, He says that motivation increases when students feel acknowledged and understood, when siudsnis are confident and they can succeed, when language has a communicative purpose, and when students take responsibility for their own leaming Lightbown and Spada (1999:57) reconfinm that if we can make the classroom places where sludenis enjoy coming because of interesting: content, challenging but manageable and clear goals, supportive and non-threatening atmosphere, wo ean make a positive

contribution te students’ motivation

It is clear that motivation plays an important part in the success of language learning, We may nol knew cxactly how much motivation ficter accounts for students? participation but it can be concluded that the degree of motivation is directly proportional

to the level of involvement in oral activities It is true that, the more motivated students are, the more actively they are involved in speaking tasks

1.3.1.4 Students’ anxiety

‘Anxiety, simply speaking, is a kind of troubled feeling in the mind Spielberger (1983:1) defines anxiety as “the subjective fooling of tension, approhension, nervausnsss, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system” (as cited in Brown (2007:161), More simply, it is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-

doubt, apprehension or worry (Scovel, 1978:134) Anxiety is classified into trait amiety,

“q more permanent predisposition to be armxious” while state and situation-specific anxiety

are usually experienced in relation to some particular event or situation (Brown, 2007) Through the ressarch of Torwitz, Torwitz and Cope (1986), they found oul three main causes of language anxiety, communication apprehension, text anxiety and fear of negative evaluation ‘Through their study with 97 college students, they came to a conclusion that the studonis wilh language anxiety found iL more diffienlL ta give their own opinions than the relaxed learners, They also mentioned that the more anxious the students were, the worse they performed in speaking

Clearly, anxiety and speaking performance are olosoly rolaled If the students ars afraid of losing face as making mistakes or being laughed at by other students, they are certain to keep quiet and wait until they are required to speak in oral English lessons Tsui (1996) reconfirmed that students’ fear of making mistakes and derision was one of the causes of reluctance in speaking lessons

In Zhang Xiuqin's research (2006), he found out that anxiety was the main negative factor which prevented sludents from participating in classroom speaking activities, Tligh anxiety leamers tended to withdraw from voluntary participation and reluctant to take risks

He identified some main causes of language anxiety

1 Less proficient English

Students? fear of mistakes and derision

Large class size

Unwilling to take risks

Low lolzrance af ambiguily

Competitiveness

In short, anxiety is obviously an important factor in the second language acquisition

in general and in students’ participation in speaking activitics in particular, Therefore, language educators should strive to promote a non — threatening environment and have techniques to reduce students’ anxiety like: creating a relaxed and safe atmosphere for sludents, avoiding nogative cvaluation of sindgnts in classrooms and commsnt on studenls? behaviors with more encouragement and taking some measures to relax students’ attention

to exams or evaluation.

1.3.2 Teacher's factors

1.3.2.1 Teacher’s roles

With an inoreasing concern about the CLT approach in foreign language teaching and leaming, in which leamers are the centre of the lesson, the roles of a teacher are differen! from those in the other different teaching methods, Harmer (1999:57-62) listed the roles of a teacher as follows:

- Controller: When teachers act as controllers, they are in charge of the class and of the activity liking place in the class Indocd, the role of a controllar really makes s

sc in many educational contexts like when announcement need to be made, when orders has to

be restored, when explanations are given, or when the teacher is leading a question and

answer session However, if a leachor abuses the role, il wilt affcel students’ preties and

opportunities to join oral activities,

- Organizer: Organizing students to do various activities is one of the most mmportant

roles that teachers have to perform This involves giving students information, telling them how to do the activity, putting them into pairs or groups and ending the activities If a teacher does this role successfully, it will encourage students to involve in the class oral

activities,

- Assessor: The role of a teacher as an assessor is of great importance It ean be

understandable that any student after performing an activity wants to know whether he/she has practiced the righl Fnglish or nol Se, a leacher has lo offer feedback, evaluation, correction or grade sludents in variaus ways, but with sensifivily faimess and support

Teachers should be fair and tactful towards students’ reaction, otherwise they can

demativate students from participating in classroom activities

+ Prompler: During oral practic, sludents sometimes have difficulty exprossing ideas

due to their lack of vocabulary, so they ean not proceed the activities, In such situations, teachers can provide them with words or phrasss or give discretion suggestion to help them continues their tasks, however, it should be done sensitively and cneouragingly,

- Participant: According to Harmer, a teacher is not only a person who stands back from students’ activity, lets them get on with their own discussion or just gives feedback or mistake correclion, but also a parlicipant in students’ ackivily As a resnll, iL can help strengthen the relationship between students and teachers, but it sometimes dominates the proceedings due to the knowledge and experience of teachers

- Resource: During the discussion or presentation, students might want to know the

meaning of a phras

or a word, or further information aboul the lopie What the teacher should do is to offer students guidance to look for that information and encourage them to use resource material for themselves, but not spoon- feed the students otherwise they will

be over —relian! on the teacher

- Tutor: When students are working on longer projects, such as pieces of writing or preparation for a talk or a debate, we can act as a tutor to work with individuals or small groups The teacher can go around the ole

ay with a particular group or individual, or offer the general guidance, In that case, students feel more supported and helped, as a result the class atmosphere is greatly enhanced,

+ Observer: We want to observe what students do during their oral communicative activities, therefore we can give them appropriate feedback, It is useful to take note on students’ performance either in their use of actual language or in their use of conversational strategies Observing students can help us judge the success of the materials and activitics used in the class

Unlike Harmer, Bymer(1986:2) stated the roles of the teacher according to the

slages of leaching spenking: the presentation slage, the practice slage and the production

one At the first stage, the teacher acts as an informant He/she prepares the materials and

presents the language as clearly as possible and the students listen and try to understand

Tlowever, leacher’s spending time should be sensible, otherwise sindents do nol have

enough time for their practice

‘At the practice stage, itis time for students to do most of the talking and the teacher

devises and provides the maximum amount of practice The teacher’s role is like the skilful

conductor of an orchestra, giving cach of the performers a chance to participals and

monitoring the performance

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and

guide Students need to be given regular and ficquent opportunities to usc language fiecly,

even if they sometimes make mistakes ‘Ihe most important thing is students have chances

to express their own ideas personally and are encouraged to go on leaming

Above all, the most important role of the teacher throngh slages of speaking Lesserr

is a motivator, Whatever you ate doing im the classroom, your ability to motivate the

students, to arouse their interests and to involve what they are doing will be crucial

Based om the theory about teacher’s roles, we can see that teacher’s roles may

affect students’ participation, therefore in order to encourage students’ involvernent we

should implement appropriate roles

- Boing natural: The toacher should prasent himselCas real person such as the fecting of happiness, sympathy, annoyance or humorous, Therefore, the relationship between students and teacher will be closer, which helps increase students’ involvement and co- operation in the process of teaching and learning

- Being warm: The teacher regards students as his fellow people, respects their porsonal characteristics and is happy to have them around

+ Being pleasant: The teacher’s altiinde towards students expresses his relaxation, friendliness in the relationship with his students, Besides, being pleasant also means being, enthusiastic towards the job of teaching,

+ Being approachable: Au approachable teacher is the one who makes students feel good about being with himn and the one that students can come La sev if they have problems

- Being tolerant: In leaming a foreign language, students’ mistakes are inevitable, The teacher needs to be tolerant with those mistakes instead of oriticizing them tactlessly

To establish » good relationship, it is vilal (hat toachers should be cordial, accepts and tolerant, otherwise it can make students scared and afraid of speaking in the class Tsui (1996) found out that teachers” intolerance of silence is one of five principal factors affecting students’ reluctance in speaking (cited in Nunan, 1999-234), Further more, in his investigation, Oxford (1998) also stated that the teacher’s relationship with the students, the teacher’s attitude or the style conflicts between them are major factors demotivating students’ participation (cited in Domyei, 2001:146)

It should be noted that not every teacher can have all the above charactetistics, but

it can help improve a good rapport between the teacher and students With such good

The teacher’s methodology refers to the approach or method and the teaching isclmiques he uses in the classroom, Through the Iislory we have experienced the existence and development of many teaching methods that can be divided into twa types: teacher — centered and leamer — centered methods ‘I'raditional methods such as the

Grarmmar Translation Method, the Dircel Method are leacher — centered on:

which moslty focus on grammatical and phonological accwacy These techniques are choral repetition,

drilling substitution, content explanation and narrative presentation seem so mechanical

and simple that they will resull in Isarners’ passivertass and Hirnit their parlicipafion in

learning In recent time, in the light of Commmunicative Language Teaching, teacher’s

technique turn from teacher centered method into learner centered method The

teaching technique consist of role-play, problem solving, games, pair work, group work, interview and discussion, cte

However, no teaching method is the best one as each one has its own advantages and disadvarlages In order lo apply a suilable leaching method, the Leacher should take some of the following factors into consideration including learners’ level, interests and purposes Applying the appropriate method can have positive effects on students” leaning

and participation m classroor’s activities

In conclusion, students’ participation ean be affected by teacher's factors inchiding

teacher’ role, characteristics and methodology Teaching method may play a decisive part

in obtaining teaching goals, and in this case, increasing students’ involvement in oral

activities In addition, teacher’ characteristics and lcacher’s rolss in the classroom activilics

play an important role in students’ participation Therefore, in order to reach this goal,

teachers should improve themselves in methodology, knowledge and personality to

motivate students

1.3.3 Classroom factors

1.3.3.1 Classroom atmosphere

IL is cerlain that classroom almosphars affects students’ success in language

leaming, According to Underwood (19873444), both students and teachers take the

responsibility for creating a good teaching and leaming environment with the following

no doubt that the teacher's command of using the target language ean have great influcrioc

on the students’ willingness to speak By doing so, the teacher wants to set the best example and provides a good model for his classes

+ Balancing luency and accuracy: The teacher should balance the snequragement of fuency with the need for accuracy If he focuses too much on accuracy, weaker students will be shy and reticent to speak Then, they will lose the confidence in speaking , and the gap between the weak and other fellow students become bigger

- Using appropriate language; Classroom expressions arc highly appreciated to be used regularly in the class, However, the language should be clear, understandable and it matches students? level:

- Giving encouragement: When students are trying their best to reach the goals, the teacher should give an appropriate comment to encourage them A comment like “Good”,

“Well done”, “Thal’s right” can make sludents feel more confident and motivated, and

moreimportanty they ara cag

- Involving all the students: In Jarge classes, it is very easy to miss some students out

1o speak more offsn

when doing oral practice Underwood suggests some ways of endeavoring to include all

he suuđenls such as using the class Togisier Fist, setting speaking Tules and games to

encourage all students to parhcipate in the activities

+ The place of examination and tests: Students are often nervous and anxious about the cxams and tests, Thus, the teacher shouldn't put too much weight on giving marks or

tests

- Extra-cumicular activities: Extra-curriculum activities conducted outside lesson

times can mks @ significant contribution to maintaining a good atmosphers in the classroom If students have more interesting activities, they will take a more positive attitude towards their studies

1.3.3.2 Classroom size

Accorting to Le Phun Ky (Tsacher’s Fdition, 2002), in a language ctass in which students’ participation contributes greatly to the success of the lesson, the number of students showld be kept small so that interaction between teachers and students and betwoon onc student and another can be maximived, On the contrary, in large chs

students are different in learning styles, preferences and levels of English proficiency

‘Teachers can not pay equal attention to all students ‘he lesson would never be finished and uninvolved sludents would gel borod and start Lo do something clạc

Moreover, Ur (1993:303) shares the same view that teachers of large classes also face with the problem of discipline, creating effective learning for all, choosing suitable materials and activating students, especially silent ones As a result, students” opportunities

to practice arc lessened and only a few good students improve their English, while many average or weak ones make little progress or fall further behind,

In Inief, large classes cause problems not only for Leachers bul alse for students and their learning process The main issue is how to involve all leamers to participate in the leaming process and shorten the gap between their differences

Summary

In conclusion, chapter 1 has presented some theoretical background knowledge related to the topic of the study It has discussed some definitions about speaking skills, an overview of Communicative Language Teaching amd theories of participation Besides, il also discussed factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities including students, teacher and classroom factors, The following chapter will display the detailed description of the methodology, the procedure and the results of the study under the light

of the above discussed theories

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter consi

the first part, an overview of Doson High School, the teachers of English, the students and the materials are mentioned In the second part, there will be a description of the research

sis of twa parts: escarch selling and research methodology lu

questions, participants, data collections Gom the survey questionnaires, interviews and class observation as well as the method of data analysis

2.1 Research setting

21 An overview of Dason High Schi

Doson High School, the research site, situated in Doson District, twenty kilometers far from Haiphong city, was founded in 1969 With 40 years of establishment and development, Doson High School is becoming a reliable arddress for studonts and thair parents in Doson District The school currently has 26 classes with neatly 1200 students ranged trom grade 10 io grade 12 The teaching staff composes of 86 teachers, of whom one ~ third are young and enthusiastic

2.1.2 The teachers

There are six teachers of English curently working at Doson High School Among, them, six ars fermale and one is male, and their age ranks fron 25 to 40, All of them have pot the University Bachelor’s Degree in English, two of them graduated from Vietnam National University, Hanoi — University of Languages and Intemational Studies and the olhers graduated [rom Uaiphong University They are helpful, enthusiastic and willing to

snovations it teaching methodology, Howaver, the ag:

reveals that they are young and have hittle experience of teaching

2.1.3 The students

Although all students started learning English from grads six, thoir English proficiency is very low They study English just to prepare for the tests and exams, so what they need in learning English is to learn grammar lessons and to do exercises It seems that

a lot of students can not communicate successfully despite knowing a lot about English grammar patterns, Besides, the majority of Doson students focus on group A for the Enfrance Exam to University, therefore they have no motivation to study English, capocially speaking skith

2.1.4 The materials and syllahus

‘The main material for teaching Linglish at Doson Lligh School is a new set of

English lextbook approved by the Ministry of Education and Training The textbook T ng

Aah 10 consists of 16 units including five parts: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus, The book was designed according to communicative approach Kor speaking skill, its objective is 10 develop sludents competence and abilily lo exchange information at a simple level about the situations relating to the topics they have leamt Generally speaking, the new English textbook has proved to be more relevant and appropriate to the current context of teaching and learning English at Iigh school in Vietnam However, it is also challenging for both teachers and students because of different students’ English proficiency and teaching - leaning conditions of each school

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Research questions

The final aim of the research is to mwvestigate the factors affecting the participation

in speaking activities of 10" grade students at Doson [igh School and find out some

solutions to increase students’ involvement The study is implemented to answer the following questions

1 Tow actively are the 10" grade students al Doson Tigh School involved in orat

activities in the class?

2 What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities?

3 What are the possible solutions to increase students’ participalion im speaking

aclivitics?

2.2.2, Participants

‘The participants of the study were 120 students who were selected randomly from class 10 C1 to 10 C8 and 6 Leachers of English The rescarch was conducted in the sscond term of the school year All the participants tock part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions In addition to questionnaires, 10 students were interviewed in order to have in — depth data

2.2.3 Data collection instruments

‘The questionnaire for students consists of two main parts with 12 questions Part |

was aboul the stu |S” personal information including gender, age and class Part IT aimed

to find out the level of students’ involvement, their assessment towards themselves, teachers and the textbook, factors affecting the participation in speaking activities and

some suggestions from students

The questionnaire for teachers also consists of two main parts with 13 questions In part I the information of gender, age and years of teaching was described, In part IL , it was

aboui lonchors" altinds towards tcaching speaking skill, their opinions om CLT, factors aftecting students’ involvement and some suggested strategies

2.2.3.2 Interviews

Two interviews (pre — treatment and post — tcalment) were conduelzd in

‘Vietnamese between the researcher and 10 students, Each interview lasted about ten minutes including questions, answers and explanation The interviews were in the form of

an informal conversation compiled in a paper sheet with note taking in order to have complete understandings about students’ problems, preferences and their fecdback,

2.2.3.3 Class observations

Resides survey questionnaires, the pre and posl interviews, the researcher still used class observations to confirm the reliability and validity of the information about factors affecting students’ involvement and the effect of the applied techniques The researcher observed several English speaking lessons before and during the trealment Tn gach lesson,

the information of lcacher’s activilics, leaching techniques (giving instructions, encouragement, comment and feedback) and students’ involvement, preferences and attitudes towards the applied techniques were mentioned in the checklist

2.2.4 Duta collection procedures

The data of the research was collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations Firstly, ths researcher delivered the questionnaires to 6 teachers and 120 students who were sclected randomly, Secondly, after collecting the information from the questionnaires, she started interviews with 10 students to get further information

from students Then, to make sure the validity of the data she observed some English

interviews were carried out to gather information about the effects of using applied

techniques and students’ reaction towards speaking activities

2.2.5 Data analysis

The main source of data is derived from the answers of the two questionnaires for

students and teachers Along with the information via survey questionnaire, interviews and

classroom observation were used to add further data

2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire

The questionnaire was delivered to 120 students, however only 114 answers were

collected and analysed 114 students selected randomly including 46 male and 68 female

ones were at the age of 16

2.2.5.1.1 Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

ok 26%

bad 65%

Chart 1: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

The data from chart 1 shows that only 2% of the students were very good at

speaking skill, 7% revealed that they had good ability while 26% of the participants were

at medium level Surprisingly, 65% of them(74 out of 114) believed that they were bad at

speaking skill From the results, most of the students are at low English speaking level

which may result from lack of practice or low participation in speaking tasks In other

words, to improve speaking skill, students should make use of chances to practise speaking English in the class as well as outside learning environment

2.2.5.1.2 Students’ level of participation in speaking activities

As can be seen from chart 2, half of the students rarely participated in speaking lessons During the lessons, most of them just sat silently and only spoke English when the

teacher called them 31% of participants (36 out of 114) sometimes involved in the lessons

as it depended on the topics or the activities they were in favor 16% were often willing to

speak English and only 3% were always actively involved It can be concluded that the level of participation is very low

Chart 2: Students’ level of partipation in speaking activities

2.2.5.1.3 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

As shown in chart 3, a great number of students (70%) thought that speaking was important even a very important skill 26% of participants stated that it was of little

importance and the smallest percentage (4.4%) underestimated the significance of oral skill In general, most of students highly appreciated the importance English, especially

communication ability However, it seems to be contradictary to the low level of participation in classroom activities

2.2.5.1.4 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class

As can be seen from chart 4, 37% (42 out of 114) found that speaking activities

were all right and suitable for their level 16% thought that they were interested in the tasks,

but surprisingly no one stated that speaking activities were very interesting On the

contrary, nearly half of the participants (47%) found speaking activities not interesting

‘The data from the interviews also added that the speaking tasks were boring and not

creative enough Most of the activities in the lessons came from the textbook without any

changes, which couldn't inspire students’ motivation to study In conclusion, to have a

good speaking lesson it requires teachers to have good teaching technique, knowledge and enthusiasm to design creative and interesting activites with more in — depth information

than the textbook

very interesting Interesting

not interesting

all right 37%

Chart 4: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class

2.2.5.1.5 Students’ evaluation on learning speaking English

*, Learning styles

Items

1 I prefer doing exercise to speaking in the classroom 64 | 56.1%) 50 | 439%

2 Lenjoy practising English at home by myself 40 35% 74 65%

3 I always take every opportunities to speak English 4 3.5% | 110 | 96.5%

4 only speak English when the teacher calls me 96 85% 18 15%

Table 1: Students’ learning styles

The data from table 1 shows students’ passive learning styles 56.1% students prefered doing exercise to speaking in the classroom and 65% enjoyed speaking English at

home by himself/herself Most students (96.5%) never made use of chances to speak

English except being called by the teacher (85%) Therefore, in a large class with limited

time, if teachers do not pay attention to their students’ learning styles and always call

volunteer students, the silent ones will never have chances to raise their voice It's