Luận văn adapting speaking activities in tieng anh 10 a way to reduce students' difficulties in learning oral skills a case of nong cong ii high school thanh hoa

MINOR THESIS Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills — A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa nề: Thiết

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

—oœEteoca-—

4

NGUYÊN THỊ THU HẢNG M.A MINOR THESIS

Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way

to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills —

A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa

nề:

(Thiết chỉnh một số hoạt động nói trong sách “Tiếng Anh 10” -

cách để giảm bớt những khó khăn của học sinh trong việc học kỹ năng

nói - một trường hợp ở trường THPT Nông Cống II, Thanh Hoá)

Field: English teaching methodology Code: 601410

Cohort: MA 18 — Thanh Hoa

Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

~-œsElw»cs -

⁄

NGUYEN THI THU HANG

M.A MINOR THESIS

Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way

to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills —

A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa (Thiết chỉnh một số hoạt động nói trong sách “Tiếng Anh 10” -

cach dé giảm bớt những khó khăn của học sinh trong việc học kỹ năng

nói - một trường hợp ở trường THPT Nông Cống II, Thanh Hoá)

Field: English teaching methodology

Code: 601410

Cohort: MA 18 — Thanh Hoa

Supervisor : Dr T6 Thi Thu Huong

Hanoi, 2011

fii

ABSTRACT

Teachers of English have fheed many obstacles in developing students’ macro

language skill, and the desire of how to improve the efféctiveness of English speaking lessons

is Teally a strong molivalion for this sludy Tho study aims at investigating the neagssily of adapling English speaking activities, finding how lo adapt ther and then suggesting some

appropriate speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10° to help the 10 form students at Nong Cong

II school have more changes to practice speaking and improve their speaking ability

The subjects involved in the study are 125 10" form students and 7 teachers who arc currently teaching or have taught speaking to [0 form students 'he data collected from

questionnaires, intervicws, notes from elassroom obscrvation and then fesdbacks from both teachers and students reveal that it is vitally necessary to adapt English speaking activities to facilitate Lnglish speaking process and enable students to speak naturally and frequently

effeetiv

rss of English speaking lessons when applice to the Lextbook “Tieng Arh 10° to teach the 10" form students at Nong Cong 2 high school

2 Aims ofthc study

3 Soope of the shudy,

CILAPTER I- LITERATURE REVIEW

1.4.2 ‘The importance of teaching lingtish speaking

5 English speaking and speaking activities 1.5.1 Characteristics of'a successful English speaking activity

16.2 Problems with English spsaking activities - 14

CHAPTER II - AN OVERVIEW OF THE MATERIALS ANT) CURRENT

SITUATIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AT NONG CONG 2 HIGH

TL.1 Briefiniroduotion oŸ Nong Cong 2 hinh sehoot 15

112 Students and their English background knowledge 15 1.3 General description of the curriculum and the textbook “Tieng Anh 10° 16

11.3.3 The curricula ard the toxthook ‘Tieng Anh !0° 19

11.3.4 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10° 19

111.3 Data collection mstrumenis ~ 21

TV.1.L The cffectivensss of commumicalive activitics in

IV.1.2.Sindents’ perceptions of their difficulties in Lnglish speaking lesso

TV.1.3 Necessity of changing or adding English speaking aclivitics

IV.1.4, Teachers’ adaptation of English speaking activities and students’

preference

IV.1.5 Changing or adding English speaking activitics chosen by

PART HI: CONCLUSION

TV.2 Interview

TV.3 Follorr-up class oservation

LV.4, Feedback from students on the adaptation of English

spoaking activities and their effecti

CHAPTER V - SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS OF ENGLISH SPEAKING

1 Summary of the study

TI Limnilalions and suggestions for further rescerch

IIL Suggestions for fiwther research

vii

LIST QF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 1, The four macro language skills

‘Table 1: Description of teachers” work experience

Table 2: Students’ background of Engtiste

Table 3: Students’ perecplions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

Table 4: The English speaking activities adapted by teachers and students’ preference Table S: The English speaking activities for “Tieng Anh 10° chosen by teachers

Table 6: Adapted English speaking activitics’ effectiveness

Chart 1 he effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook “lieng Anh 10 Charl 2 The no

Chait 3 Students’ attitudes towards the adapted English speaking activities and their

ity of changing or adding Engtish speaking activities

effectiveness

ABBREVIATIONS NC2.HS Nong Cong 2 high school

cL Communicative Language Teaching

However, we can not deny # fact that many Vietnamese students afler seven years learning English at schools still feel confused when communicating with foreigners or they even could not say a simple utterance like an offer Obviously, the ability to communicate in a forcign language clamly and offectively contribmles to the success of ho learnor int school and success later in every phase of life

At Nong Cong 2 [ligh School (NC2.LI8), like many high schools in Vietnam, English has

been a compulsory subject in its emriculium for many yours and the Rnglish speaking skill

is one of five official parts in a unit However, due to the demand of the high school graduation exam, which means little altention has been paid to the speaking skill Sometimes, they feet bored with the difficult and uninteresting topics in the textbook

‘Tieng, Anh 10°, With 6 yar — experience in NC2.HS, the author finds that the English lessons with speaking activities adapted or designed by teachers always motivate students and gel them involved in speaking effectively

Moreover, improving speaking, skill for 10th form students proves essential because most students have not learned how to speak English when they were at lower secondary school and their speaking abilily š remely poor

All the above mentioned coms tad to the choice of the study ‘Adapting, speaking activities in ‘Tieng Anh 10° - a way to reduce students’ difficulties in learning oral skills - a case of Nong Cong 2 Ifigh School, Thanh Hoa’

I —_ Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

s

- to investigate students” difficulties in learning English oral skills and the cưrrert sftuation

of teaching the speaking activities lo the 10th form sludents by leachers at Nong Cong 2 High School

- to adapt some speaking activities based on “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce | 0th grade student’s difficulties in learning Lnglish oral skills at Nong Cong 2 high school

TIL Scope of the study

Thus thesis is carried with no hope that can cover all kinds of English speaking activities because this is a board aspect investigated by many authors, The author's attcmpt is only to adapt some difficult speaking activities in “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce student’s difficulties and make them more interested and active in English lessons, thus, improving their speaking ability

TY — Research questions

1 What are students’ difficulties in learning the current English speaking activities

in ‘Tieng Anh 10°?

2 Which speaking lessons (in 16 units of Tieng Anh 10) are difficult for the

students ut NCLHS?

3 What speaking activities in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10"should be adapted ta

reduce students’ difficulties?

¥ Research methodology

To achieve the aims mentioned above, the study employed survey questionnaire for students, interview for teachers and classroom observations to collect information on the students’ difficultics and sccks a way to reducc those difficultics by adapting some unsuitable textbook pre-designed English speaking activities in “Tieng Anh 10”

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER T- LITERATURE REVIEW

EL Material Adaptation

LA Definition

In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective toal for teachers ta follow without any material adaptation because of its intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Material adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies

Masuhara (2004) points out that materials adaptation involve changing existing materials

in some forms so that they become suitable for specific purposes, learners, teachers or siluntions’ Sintilarly, from Torlinson’s point of view (1998: xi), materials adaptation means to ‘make changes to materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a particular type of leamers Adaptation can include reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplemon?’, Another author, Fllis, M (1986: 47) considorod adaptation the process of “retaining, rejecting, te-ordering and modification”

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix), adaptation is the action of employing “one or

more of a number af techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying, modernuzing, localizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”

Materials adaptation means matching materials with the Jeamer’s needs, the teacher's demands and administration’s purpose To adapt materials we have to consider four major factors:

L1.2, Categories of materials adaptation

4.1.2.1 Material adaptation as addition

Matarial adaptation does not always require a great deal of extra work of teachers, As

stated by Madsen and Bowen (1978) and Mc Donough and Shaw (1993), the most natural

form of adaplation is cxlemporization, that is, @ spontancous response om the part of [he teacher lo a problem or an opportunily This might take such forms as the substitution in a course book example of the famuliar for the unfamiliar; the paraphrase of a course book instruction that is unclear ot reference to previously taught items when teaching new items Another form of material adaptation as addition is exploitation which is “the crcative use

of what is alzeady there (e.g text, visual, activity) to serve a purpose which is additional to that foreseen by the textbook writer” For example, a text accompanied by a photograph

may intend to develop comprehension skills and linguistic resources but a teacher might use iL for some additional purposes The piclure mighl be used lo predict the canlent or tnainstorm related vocabulary; the lope and langnage af the tex mighl provide the basis for discussion of students’ own experiences

Extension, the third form of addition, refers to the provision by the teachers of additional imalcrials in order lo improve anderstanding or learning such as fisther cxamples ofa rule

or further items in an exercise

However, we must make a distinction between extension and supplementation, Extension means “tnore of the same”, For example, if the course book contains only one shoit exercise to practice a point which your students find particularly difficult and you devise more items of the same type as the original exereise, this is extension If you give them another exercise from another exercise yourself this is supplementation,

1.1.2.2 Adaptation as change (Modification

Modhfication means changes in different aspects of materials, such as linguistic level, cxereiscs, as mont system and 30 on, Modificalion af matorials is applicable! approptiate in the following situations: Texts are of mapproptiate length Materials are inappropriate to the aim and to the leamers’ age’ experience or materials are unclear, confusing or misteading

1.1.23, Adaptation as reduce/ Simplification

This procedure is employed to make materials less complicated or easier to understand If the language teaching material is found to be difficnlt or mechanical for the target learner,

it (material) can be made suitable for the leamer through the process of simplification

1.1.2.4 Adaptation as deletion/omission

Deletion is an adaptalion procedure which involves removal of some of the linguistic ilems and activities which are found to be extra and unnecessary So, deletion is a proves in which materials are taken out rather than added Materials should be reduced through omission when the following situations are faced such as Jearnors are clear about a language point and are competent in a skill There arz too many tasks on a particular area/point which concerned is not a priority The itenvtask is not well designed or not well- suited to its aim(s) And the topic is not appropriate for learners

More or less, most of the scholars’ vicwpoints I base my thesis on agree on some kinds of change and addition when mentioning “material adaptation”

a

11.3 The purpose of material adaptation

In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective toot for leachers lo follow without any adaptation because of its intrinsic doficioncias such as linguistic inaccuracies, oul-of datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Thus, I favor Madsen and Bowen’s

(1978) and Tice's (1991) view that is the purpose of material adaptation is ta compensate

for those deficicneics

Another purpose of material adaptation, as explained by McDonough and Shaw (1993: 85)

is “to maximize the appropriacy of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the intornal characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular cixcumstances.”

‘A very common technique of “maximizing the appropmacy of teaching materials” is modifying them in such a way that they seem more relevant to leamers’ interests and needs and this is important io all teachers of English because il can activate learners and stimulate their motivation, and increased motivation, in tum, is likely to create a more conductive classroom atmosphere

1.2 Oral communication

Communication between Iman is a complex and ever changing process, When commucation takes place, speakers’ writers, one of the forms of communication is oral communication which is realized by using oral skills

As mentioned above, oral communication skills are speaking and listening In real life, listening is used twice as often as speaking However, speaking is used twice as much as reading and writing (River, 1981), Inside EI-T classrooms, speaking and listening are most often used skills (Brown, 1994)

In oral communication process, the roles of speakers and listeners are interchanged; information gaps between [hem are created then closed with the effort from both sides In organizing classroom oral practice, teachers should create as much information gaps as possible and teachers’ vital duty is to encourage communication which yields information gaps Teachers should also boar in mind the differences botwocn real-life oral communivation and classroom oral commomication As for Pattison (1992) elssroom oral practices have five characteristics: (1) the content or topic is predictable and decided by teachers, books, tapes, etc; (2) Leaners” aims in speaking is: to practice speaking, to follow teachers’ instructions and to get good marks; (3) Leamers’ extrinsic motivation is satisficd, (4) participants are offen a large group, (3) language ftom teachers or tapes are closed adapted to learners’ level

Nunan (1989) provides a list of characteristics of successful oral communication As for him, successfid oral commumication should involve:

(1) Comprchensible prommciation of the largot kmguage (2) Good use of stress, rhythm, intonation pait2rns

(3) Huency (4) Good transationat and interpersonal skitts (5) Skills in taking short and long speaking in turns (6) Skills in the management of interactions

(7) Skills in negotiating mmeaning (8) Conversational listening skills (9) Skills in knowing about the negotiating purposes for the conversations (10) Using appropriale conversational formulas and filters

1.3 Factors causing difficulties in learning oral skills

13.4, Linguistic factor

The spoaking skittis so conirat to our thinking about Fmgunge learning thal whon we refer

to speaking a language we often mean knowing a language MacIntyre and Garder (1991) point out that the skill which procedures most anxiety is speaking ‘itis anxiety comes in part fom a tack of confidence in our general linguistic knowlegde Accordmg to Williamson (2011), this kind of knowledge or “Knowledge of the rules that govern how we encode and decode Linguistic utterances ean be thought of as being organized into three components: the semantic-syntactic knowledge base, the phonological knowledge base, and the phonetic knowledge base”

1.3.2, Socio-cultural factors

1.3.2.4 Social environment for L1/ FL acquisition

Environment, where the target language is not used as LI in the community, provides 12/

EL leamers only limited and sometimes faulty input For such leamers, the only input is

such envirenment ara teachers” or classtmatcs’ talk — both de not spaak 1.2 T.camers in

exposed lo the language only in oom where thay spond less time in contact with the language The limited exposure to the target language and lack of opportunities to practice speaking in such environments result into embarrassment or stress for them when they are required to speak both in and out of the class

£3.2.2, Errors in social setting

„

Although it is clear that language learners can not be without errors, errors can be a source

of anséety in some individuals because they draw allention to the difficully of making

posilive social impressions when speaking a new language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989:

cited in Horwitz & Gregersen, 2002; 562), Exrors in social settings are mostly overlooked

if they do not interfere with meaning because people consider it impolite to interrupt and correc! somebody who is tzying to have a conversation with them, Tnlerlocnlors only reael

to an error if they cannot understand the speech and try to adjust their speech with the speaker in their effort to negotiate for meaning It is only in the classroom environment that fecdback on cirors is provided ficquently; this leads many learners to fiustration and embarrassment by making them conscious of their deticiencies,

4.4, English speaking skills

LAL The nature of language skills

Based on the purpose of analysis and instruction, language is divided into different skill areas, (On the teaching point of view, language skills consist mainly of four macro-skills listening, spouking, reading and writing Those four skills have supportive relationship Among the four skills, listening and reading are perceptive skills while speaking and

writing are productive skills (Byme, 1991:8) They are also divided according to the

manners by which they arc formed The skills which are related to arlicalale organs are called oral skills which include listening and speaking The ones in connection with manual script are named literacy skills which consist of reading and writing All these four

are represented in Figure 1

Oral Skills Receptive skills Listening Spoakinys Productive skills

Litcracy skills

Figure | The four —macro skills

Of the four skills, speaking plays an essential role, Byrne (1991:9) proves that this oral skill

in communication is complementary If one man is good at speaking skill, other skills will be much supported,

To sum up, all the above skills are important tor leamers Whenever they acquire those skills they can have confidence in speaking and using a foreign language But it should be

emphasized that speaking skill can never be scparated with other skills (listcning, reading and writing) All of them are integrated and supportive to each other

1.4.2 The importance of teaching English speaking

It is observed that many Vietnamese leachers of English are good at teaching vocabulary and grammar in order (o translate lexis and lo prepare students for examinations However, organized lessons to practice speaking English can be a big challenge tor both teachers and teachers Many teachers worldwide have to teach mainly grammar and vocabulary because the arcas arc iested in examinations This mcans that speaking is a noglecled language skill

in many classrooms, Students may have a good knowledge of grammar and a wide range

of vocabutary they can use this knowledge to pass the examinations, but they find it difficult to spcak English in the real-life situations

A classroom is not only a place where we lear about the rules of language It is also a place where students can practice using the language in a supportive environment As a resull, we, teachers have to try lo speed up this process This means thal leachers Have ta introduce nev language and help students practice it often

‘Teachers need to use lots of interesting ways to motivate students to speak and improve

their speaking ability Teachors not orily give them naw words (vocabulary) and telf thom how to put words together correetly (grammar) but also give them opportunities to use and practice the language they have learnt, also, providing extra speaking skills

LS Speaking activities

1.5.1 Characteristics of a successful English speaking activity

Aeoording to Ur (1969: 120), a successtul speaking activity consists of the following characteristics:

~ A lot of learners talk: Jearners speak as nmch as possible during the period of time allowed ‘Time taken up with teacher talk or pauses is minimized

+ Even participation every learner takes parl in the spesking aclivity The participants’ contributions are fairly distributed

- High motivation: ‘Lhe topic makes them interested and eager to speak or leamers warl lo fulfitt the task to gel the goal

+ An acceptable Tangnage lever: Lcarners uso relevanl and comprehensible expressions Language accuracy is of an acceptable level

1.5.2, Categories of English speaking activities

Many rescarchcrs diseuss classroom activitics and a lot of activitics arc adapted or designed based on the theory and characteristics of CLT

2

Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “social inleraction activities “In his views, the former includes such tasks as learners noling similarities or differences in scls of picture, discovering missing fealuras in a map or picture, one Jeamer communicating behind a screen to another leamer and giving instructions on how to draw a picture or shape, or how to complete a map, following directions, and solving problems from shred cucs, The latter inchides eunversation and discussion sessions, dialogues and role- plays, simulation, improvisations and debates

Richards and Rodgers (1986: 165) discuss that the range of exercise types and activities with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such cxcrcises and activities enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the corricukum, engage learners

in communication and require the use of such commmmicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction, In their views, classroom aclivilies should

De designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information sharing

Activities may be classtlisd as activities for accuracy thal aim at Iearncrs’ competence im producing right words, phrases or sentences and activities for fluency that aim at learners* capacity to sustain the flow of speech with ease and comfort

In short, speaking aclivilies are various and can bz found in a greal number of resourees: However, in this minor thesis, the author would introduce some most applicable types which have proven the most effective

© Conversation

Conversation serves many functions People nse conversations to establish relationships

through personal expression, to find oul informalion, and ta compare views with other Conversation provides a means for sharing experiences and solving problems

‘Teachers can capitalize on the critical role of conversation im students’ tives and use it to

srlmmee their language learning Through, oxpericnces with Ihe language processes, students can discover a steadily expanding series of topics and purposes for conversation Students should have opportunities to talk about a variety of topics such as projects books, characters, television programs and videos, In conversation, it is important for students to have useful vocabulary, Clarity and precision are the keys to efiéctive word choice in conversation ‘Teachers should not expect perfection from students in the use of undimiliar

or diffienlt words, bal rather should develop a supporlive environment and group Tappor the encourage students to experiment with unfamiliar words

10

«© Discussion

Discussion difters ftom conversation in that it generally has an identifiable purpose, such

as coming to clearer understanding of characters’ roles in a drama or exploring the

possibilities for publishing student writing Discussion is similar lo conversation with rogard to listening carefully, considering what others say, being courteous, and speaking sơ that all can hear Many of students’ conversational abilities will transfer to discussion

Groupings of three to five are good for effective discussion Everyone is able to contribute

to the discussion as a listener and as a speaker In addition, a small group draws out quieter students who many not contribute to larder group discussions,

* Storytelling

Storytelling is an oral sharing of a personal or traditional story, told using the essence of the tradition ftom which it originates As a shared experience between teller and listener, it offered natural languag: exporicnacs for shudenis

Storytelling allows students to intemalize important aspects of story beginnings and endings, settings, characters, and plot lines It provides practice in expressing ideas in thought units, using colorfil and descriptive language, developing ideas in sequence, and choosing cfitetive action words,

‘The speech abilities needed for storytelling are essentially the same as ones required for all speaking activities Storytelling encourages students lo experiment with voice, tone, eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions It also lets them practice techniques for holding audience attention

* Oral reports

In preparing reports, students develop the ability to select material appropriate to classroom topics and to the audicnec, and the ability to collect and organize material (requiring skills in reading critically, taking notes, summarizing, and outlining) Often a

« Teephoning The telephoning is an important tool for persoral, school, and business use because of the

rapid communication it permits, Therefore, there is need to reinforce personal speaking, and listening abilities regarding telephone use

The students should be provided with fimotional and helpfil vooabutary and they nưust have authentic reasons for telephoning when they are practicing, their skills in the English language arts classroom

* Announcements Making announcements can serve as usefull oral speaking practice at any grade level As with other types of speech activities, criteria for waking armouncements should be developed by the class These criteria should address the recommended format and manner

of presentation and serve as guidelines for the students

Aflor the armeuneoments arc made, pocrs or the tcachar might write the student ammouneer

an informal note, commenting on the strengths of the presentation and inchuding one

suggestion for improvernent

* Roke play

Role play provides the opportmity for students to develop and revise their understanding and perspectives by exploring thoughts and feclings of characters in given situations The teacher may take a role, becoming an active participant in promoting independent thinking and co-operative learning

Role play holps siudenls to develop cmpathy as they cxaming others’ ideas, fectings, and points of view as well as oral expression and interpretation skills as they use language to describe perceptions, emotions, and reactions In addition, it also helps students to improve decisionmaking, problem-solving skills § Uy gain experien independence thinking and co-operative learning

* Interviews

An interview is a good way to gain information and provide the participants with practice

in proving speaking and fisioning skills Rosulis of intervicws can be prepared for

work together to understand common problems

Informal debate reflects the learning process Debating allows students to explore ideas and arguments in a non-threatening atmosphere, because presentational guidelines are provided Debaling is an effeolive method of acquiring knowledge, ws arguments niecd lo

be supported by relevant, accurate, and complete information Students who debate informally lsam to recognize the elements of a good argument and to develop further their abilities to spcak confidently

* Ca-pperative learning

Co-operative learning involves students in group collaboration in order to achieve a goal or

to complete a project Although students do not necessarily work together at one table throughout the project, participation by cach group member is necessary to accomplish the task, Success and assessment are based on the performance of the group, as well as on individual contributions and performance within the group

Co-operative teaming experiences are particularly effective at the Middle Level, where students have an innate desire to be accepted, Competitive, individual cfforts arc appropriate at times, however, co-operative learning experiences have the advantage of helping students work together and support each other

1.6 Problems with English speaking und speaking activities

16.1 Problems with English speaking

Everything has tad and good sides, Spanking also has

own problems According lo Brown (1994: 256), the characicristics of spoken language can make oral performance easy as well as in some cases difficult There are following problems with

speaking:

Contraction, clisions, reduccd vowel, ote all forms, 5

English Students don’t leam colloquial contraction can sometimes develop a stilted,

ial problems in teaching spoken

bookish quatily of speaking that in turn stigmalizes them

+ Colloquial language

Colloquisitisin appears both in monogues and dialogues If learners are only exposed lo standard English and’ or ‘textbook’ language, they sometimes have difficulty in understanding and producing words, idioms and phrases of colloquial language

* Stress, rhythm and intonation

This is the most important characieristic of English pronunciation because the stress-Limed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation pattems convey important massages, But the fact that the leamers of English often find it difficult to pronounce English words or stress the righ! syllables, ta follow the Iress-timed thythm and intonation patterns of spoken English

« = Affertive factors

In the process of leaming speaking, students often encounter the risk of saying out things that may be wrong, stupid and incomprehensible At those times, they tend to be anxious because they da not want Lo be juelged by other learners

«= Interaction

The greatest difficulty that the sludonls faec in loaning to speak originatss from the

interactive nature of most communication Engaged in the process of negotiation of

meaning with any discourse constraints, learners have to do the complex task of choosing what to say, how to say, when to say Leaners arc also affccted by their interlocutors’ performance

L6.2 Problems with English speaking activities

a sroorn activities thal develop learners” ability lo oxpross themselves through speech is

an important component of a Ianguage course where CLT is applied However, it is more

exposure to an audience Learners arc often inhibition about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom: wormed about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech allracls

* Nothing to say:

anything to say, or that they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling

wgk inhibited, you ofen hear learnct

* Lows or uneven participation:

Onily one participate can talk at a lime if he or she is lo be heard: and in a large group this means that each one will have only very little talking time This problem is compounded

by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all,

* Mother-tongue use:

In classes all, or a number of the learners share the same mother tongue for many reasons

Firstly, they way tend to use il because il is gasisr Secondly, they feet umnaturat to speak

to one anothar in a foreign language and lastly because they feel less “exposed” if they are speaking their mother tongue If they are talking in a small group, it can be quite difficult

lo gel some class-particularly ths less disciptined or motivated ones lo keep to ths Largat language

‘Through two sections above, we can know most of the difficulties that stndents offen

encounter in tsarning English speaking skill Basing on those views, an action rescarch is

to carried out on adapting some English speaking activities for the ‘Tieng Anh 10° to reduce these difficulties.

CHAPTER II —- AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM AND THE TEXTBOOK

‘TIENG ANH 1¢ AND THE CURRENT SITUATIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

SPEAKING AT NONG CONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA

JILL Brief intraduction of Nong Cong 2 high school

Nong Cong 2 high school is tocated in Nong Cong distriel which is in the rural arca of Thanh hoa it has three grades: 10, 11, and 12, in each of whieh the number of students is nearly the same

As in every high school, English is onc of the compulsory subjects in Nong Cong II high school which is taught in every three forty-tive periods per week, As tor classroom arrangement, the class size is averagely 42 -45, therefore, it is difficult to carry out a communicalive task in such a raixed —ability large class The schoot also has a room with

an overhead projector and a computer with is occasionally used by teachers of all subjects

in teaching festivals that are held twice an academic year

Concerning the toaching staff, there arc nearly sevenly toachers of all subjects, nine of whom are teachers of English whose ages range fiom 30 to 52 Four of them graduated

from the English Department of [long Duc University, ‘Thanh hoa One of them graduated

from French Department and she gol English as Iho 2" Dogree The rest were from Vĩnh University, Nghe An They all have at least 5 years of teaching experience The teachers mostly speak their mother tongue a habit, even in speaking classes This results in the fact that they face difficulties in pronmciation and expressing themselves in the target language

JL.2, Students and their English background knowledge

Students of Nong Cong 2 high school come fom all parts of Nong Cong districL Tt is a poor district because agriculture plays the main role m its economy This heavily affects people’s thinking here According to them, being able to speak their mother tongue (that is Vietnam }) correelly is enough, so i is: ol 1 sary for (hom and their children to learn

to spenk English Although Icarning English at lowe condary schools and high sehools has been considered an official subject among Maths, Literature, Chemistry, Physics, and others, it is not appreciated at lower secondary schools at Nong Cong because English is not included in any entrance or final cxams, Therefore, teachers and students” attitudes towards teaching and leaming English are negative They consider English a minor subject

at school at schools, As a resnlt, stndants do not pay attention to learning Pnglish They

learn it very badly Thus, it is difficult for teachers at NCLLHS to teach them English because the new textbook Tieng Anh 10 at high schaols now writlen based on the English texthooks al lower sccondary schools Teachers have no time to roleach alll the Engfish knowledge students have Jeamed at lower secondary schools, especially speaking skill, they have to follow the syllabus Day by day, both teachers and students feel tired and

bored when having to touch and learning English So it is

reduce these difficulties and improve students’ speaking English ability

11.3 General description of the curriculum of textbook ‘Tieng Anh I0”

113.1 Overall Design

culial Lo find out the way lo

The new textbook Tieng Anh 10 is designed to foster a more communicative approach, learner-centered learning, an emphasis on oral skills, and language for real-life communication, This infention is explicitly presented in the following objectives of the new textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10°:

- To formulate and develop a fundamental and systematic knowledge of English hence learners can usa English as a moaris of cortmmmication at the basic level

- To enable the students to develop their communicative skills in the target language inchiding the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing

The textbook is theme-based designed in which language and the skills are structured round a certain topic or theme ‘Ihe theme provides a context in which language is used so

as lo holp students be able ta asc the approprialc language structures in differnt

commmutticative siluations

The topic and vocabulary are recycled in guided group discussion (ie speaking practice) before students listen to a lecture or tape (Le listening comprehension) A writing task

Thus, all four major language skills together with note-taking, analytical and interpretive skills,

taking the form of narrative, Ictters or reports concludes the theme-based activiti

atc can be practiced

11.3.2, Approaches of the textbook

The need lo use English in aciual communicative conlexl is begiuring to emerge as educators realize thal the tuditional Isaming and teaching styles do not help tearners” communicate with foreigners, both mative and non-native speakers of English, The shift

toward a new way of learning with more opportunities to use the target language, not only

in classroom but also in reality has brought a livelier atmosphere to learning and teaching English in high secondary schools

‘The new textbook “Tieng Anh 10° based on two popular approaches in contemporary English teaching Grammatical phenomenon is considered important to the development of communicative skills, leamer-centered approach and communicative approach The two oriented methods of teaching English is considered by task-based teaching ‘Ihe new method considered learners as the center of other leaching-learning process, promole students’ ability, positive ness, activeness and creative, It is directed toward

commumeative competence through skills Communicative competence is a means of

achieving cormmunicative goal, The teacher im the new (caching context, instead boing dominating authority in the classroom, plays ä role as an assistant, advisor, organizer, helper and enlightener in class to facilitate the communicative process among all the learners so that students could be confident and relaxed Wherzas students got familiarization with pair work and group work, willing to fulfill their tasks (linguistic and communications) positively, actively under the supervision and assistant from their teachers

In conclusion, the text book ‘Tieng Anh 10° is designed to cxploit thoroughly and effectively the modern teaching methods so as to innovate teachers” teaching methods as well as fontilate learners” learning ones Tt alsa provides 4 good source of motivation for students to leam the target language

1.3.3 The curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10°

“Tieng Anh 10° is continously designed basc ơn English 6, English 7, English 8, má English 9 al the level of high socondary school In thịs tosdbook, the leardng ohjeolivos are clear and concise and a detailed overview of the topics, functions, siructriros/ gramrar, and skills within cach unit can be found in the introductory table of contents

The new English textbook — Tieng Anh 10 is theme-bascd designed with 16 units, equivalent to 16 topics divided into 6 themes: Personal information, Education, Community, Health, The world around us Within the frame work of each unit, the

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language input is respectively introduoed wifhin 5 sections respectively: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus.Rach section is designed 1a be taught in one period Those sactions aro thoma-Lased closely related to cach other as follow lo cnsure a smooth transition tiom one to another, (See Appendix 4)

J1L.3.4, Sections for speaking skills in the fextbaok ‘Tieng Anh If

The scetion for spcaking is placed the sccond, afler reading lesson The aims af speaking lesson are to develop learners’ speaking skills on given topic, In each speaking lesson, there are 3 or 4 tasks, Task | and task 2 focus learners’ language input and develop language competencies as well as language specific fanctions such as expressing preferences, talking abour the uses of computer, giving instructions, expressing opinions, asking for and giving information, expressing agreements and disagreements, and making comparison and contrast ef Task 3 — 4 el slurtenis synthesize specific competencis and develop a text for 1-2 minute speaking practice with or without the guidance of the teachers

Althongh đo

textbook Tieng Anh 10 is not without faults Teachers and students report that sometimes,

it is very difficult for them to just follow the pre-designed speaking activities in the

jgned lo renovate the teaching and Ioarning of English in Vietnam, the

textbook This points lo the need lo investigate inla this problem The current study is such

an attempt

The next chapter presents the methodology used in this study

CHAPTER II THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGV

THI.I Research queslionar

The reasearch aims to tind out difficulties encountered by students at NC2HS in their English speaking lessons It also explores how the Linglish speaking activities in the textbook should be adapled to help students learn In bricf, ils purposa is to answer the followang questions

L What are NC2HS students’ difficulties in leaming English speaking activities in

HD.2, The subjects of the study

This is a case study of teaching and learmng at NC2.HS so the research was undertaken with the participation of 125 students and 9 teachers of English The two questionnaires wore prepared to gct information for the rescarch The first was administered to a sample

of 7 teachers of English, of which 2 were male and 5 were faruale Among the ? teachers,

four were teaching grade 10 at the time of delivering the questionnaire, two taught tenth

graders thơ provious academic year, and one did il two yours ago In gonoral, all of Ihem had experience in teaching speaking skill to tenth form leamers with the new textbook

“Tieng Anh 10°, Although using questionnaire with a sample of 7 may appear unceonorical, the need lo corupare Laachor information with student data for validity ean offset this,

Table 1: Description of teachers’ work experience

‘The table indicated that the English staff at NC2.HS had rich experience in teaching English

125 copies of the second questionnaire were delivered to mals and fornale studonis to investigate the problems, They were all 10 graders at XC2.HS There were 63 female and

62 male students with the aged sixteen

Table 2: Students’ lackground of English

Have learnt English for more than 4 years | 15 12.0%

Mosl of the sudcnts came fom countryside (124 students), and only 1 sludent came Lom Thanh hoa city whose family moved to Nong Cong distriet some months before the academic year started Their different living places somehow led to the various levels of English The majorily of them had four-year-experience of Finglish learning The classes and students were characterestics of other classes in the school

‘There were 3 classes of grade ten at the time of class observations and delivering questionaire To have reliable varialie, more than hulf of the classes should be included

in the survey, To be objective, judgmental sampling was not possible because these were not at the same level

1H.3 Data collection instrument

HE3.1 Questionnaires

All of 7 teachers had taught 10" form students with “lieng Anh 10° so they were absolutely familiar with speaking activities presented in the book Thus, the questionnaire was designed for the investigation into their attitudes towards the communicative activities

in the textbook and their desire, if any, to change or add more speaking activities The teachers were also asked about their choice of speaking which should be changed or addled

to the textbook,

‘The questionnaire for 125 students also aims to find out their difficulties and attitudes towards the speaking activilies in the lexthook ‘Tieng Anh 10° as well as those given for prectice by thuir teachers The questionnaire helps the author ta identify the speaking

activities which interest students the most

41H1.3.2, Interview

In this study, the interviews wilh the tcacher informanis were conducted afler the survey information had been obtained to clarify information trom the surveys Each interview lasted 10-15 minutes, All interviews were conducted in Vietnamese in order for the participants to fully articulate their views without being constrained by the use of second language They were then fully transcribed, translate and analyzed by the researcher

41H1.3.3, Follow —up classroom observation

Along with the suvey questionnaires, Ihe class observation is a supplementary instrument which is used to increase the reliability of the obtained information and provide more information relating to the adapted English speaking activities

The rescarcher visits 8 classes of 6 teachers with difficull spaakin lossons (which toachers identified) and how often teachers use difierent kinds of speaking activities

ULI Post-lesson Feedback

Nobody can deny that fecdback is impertant, so the anthor wanls to get teachers and students’ feedback atter teachers taught some adapted English speaking activities by interviewing 3 out of 7 teachers who have taught these adapted English speaking activities and 6 students (3 stadents are good with Tnglish scores from 8) and the rest are had at English based on their average seores) In the post-lesson interviews for feedback on the effzctivenass of the adapted activities, the researcher asked for teachers and students” perceptions of how ihe adapted activilies lave worked in reducing students? difficulties (se2 Appendix 1B and Appendix 1C)

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CHAPTER IV- DATA ANALYSIS TỊ,1 Questionnaires

The questionnaires for teachers and students consist of 5 and 7 questions respectively to

collect information focusing the following categories: (see appendix | and appendix 2)

- The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10

- Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

- Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

- Students’ attitudes towards applying changing or adding English speaking

activities and their effectiveness

- Changing or adding English speaking activities applied by teachers and the

ones chosen by students

IV.L1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10

Question | in both questionnaires asks about the teachers’ and students’ viewpoints on the

effectiveness of the speaking activities presented in 16 units of ‘Tieng Anh 10°

Chart 1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10

Most of the teacher (81.25%) and the students (72%) agree that they are not very effective

when being taught at NC2 HS although the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10° is interesting According the teachers, there are some reasons for this First, some activities in the text

book are not suitable to rural students of NC2 HS, for example some topics are unfamiliar

to them Moreover, those topics are not explained clearly by their teachers both teachers’

and students’ background about socio- cultural factors is not good so they find that activities are not interesting enough to attract their concentration As they explain further,

the activities may be repetitive or simply are not what they like So, in some speaking lessons the author adapled by changing activities in each lask lo be more suilable to her

sludcrits

IV.1.2, Students' perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking shiils

Question 2 in the questionnaire of students asks about their perceptions of difficulties in Engtish spcaking skills,

Table 3: Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills

English speaking activities are repetitive in each speaking | ¡ị„ 99.6% lesson, which make boring

Lack of Linglish vocabulary and grammatical structures 80 61.0% Some Lopics of English speaking activities (in “Tieng anh Hs 02.0% 10°) are not familiar to rural students,

Teachers and students have little socio-cultural knowledge 70 56.0%

Little chance to practice English speaking skills in class 29 79.2%

teachers sometimes can give more information about difficult topics (56.0%), litfle

chance to practice English speaking skills in cass (79.2%), large and noisy class(77.6%), poor classroom conditions(47.2%), teachers speaking much English in class(49.6%) and lack of English vocabulary and grammatical structures(64.0%) make it difficult tor them to learn Linglish speaking skills so it is necessary to adapt those English speaking activities to help therm overeorne these diffienllics.

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IV.1.3, Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

Question 3 for students and question 2 for teachers are designed to investigate both teachers’ and students’ perception of the need of using change or extra English speaking

activities

Chart 2 The necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities

As illustrated in the chart above, 96% of the students and 93.75% of the teachers agree that

changing and adding speaking activities are needed for students to develop their speaking

ability 62% of the students and 75% of the teachers suppose that these activities should be

often performed This reveals the vital necessity of adding or changing speaking activities

in speaking lessons

IV.1.4 Changing or adding English speaking activities applied by teachers and the

‘ones chosen by students

‘The next two questions in the questionnaire for students aim to investigate the types of

changing or extra oral activities the teachers have applied in the classroom with the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10° and the types which students believe to be effective when applied

in this textbook.

Ny a

Types of English speaking activities | Changed by | Supporied by

Table 4: The English speaking activities adapted by teachers and the changing

activities in tasks of speaking lessons in ‘Tieng Anh 10' chosen by students

‘The lable reveals that the teachers lave applied most categories of the speaking

activities above This is very helpful because students can provide the designer with helpful information about the effectiveness of each activity when applied in “Tieng

Anh 10° As seen in the table, students show their most interest in Ue categories of

information gap, discussion, role play and interview Furthermore,

many students (over 30%) are also interested in the kinds of games, co-operative

learning TL sccms to suggest (hat group work alfracts much of students’ attention and heightens their participation, Students who are audienee-shy often find it umeh easier

to express themselves in front of a small group of peers In the course of group

discussion, students will learn from each other, whether consciously or unconsciously, and can correet cach other’s mistakes.

iS} bộ

‘The results also indivate that not many students like oral report, story telling, informal

debate and solving-problem (supported by nearly 15%) The students do nol support

oral report uch maybe because this activily need much lime lo proparg: a report

maker must go along with information searching and preparing, writing up, reading

these activitics scoms very difficult and time-consuming

IV.L3, Changing or adding English speaking activities chosen by teachers and

Ttis very interesting, bat fime-consuming and

Ttis easy to prepare and carry out, {tis also Information gap reasonable for students” language level, 56.35

‘Many students can participate in speaking Discussion activities Students like this way It gives 6875

sluderts high motivation of brains This activily is very useful, Students can

„ practice English phrases or structures in 5

Ttis time-consuming to prepare and practice

oral report I takes much tirre lo prepare andl carried out, B25 Tdlaphonine Itis time-consuming and difficult, 1235

Ttis difficult for stadents and they have to Drama in context cope with the Tack af vocabulary 0

Informal Dette Its time-consuming and difficult 6

Tt helps students work topether and support

Ttis quite inferesting and give stadents high ino — motivation of brains but students sometimes ˆ

Solving — problem 1ack vocabulary of Trnglish and social 1250

a

Knowledge

Itis difficult The activity is profitable and it makes students more contident It is a good way to Interviews provide students chances to practice speaking | 36.25

Table 5: The English speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10° have chosen by teachers

‘As seen in table 5, role play, discussion and information gap are the most favorable

Co-operative learning and interviews are also preferred by the teachers They explained that these activitics are very profitable, casy to prepare, participated by many students

ina speaking period and good tor students to practice speaking English As they explained further, these activities also give students high motivation of brain and make

them more confident when speaking However, the really noliccable pout here is

that games, one of students’ favorite speaking activities, are only supported by

a few teachers Games very interesting and attract students” attention but in the

toacher’s opinions, they arc nol always profitable and very time-consuming The rest

see not to inferest because they are too difficult for students to do, time-consuming,

not very profitable

IV.2 Interview

In order to have in-depth information about difficulties of students in learning English speaking and lessons in "Iieng Anh 10’ which teachers want to adapt, 1 conducted an inlerview afler all teachers did questionnaire Tk means that the interviewees are Leachers who had responded the questionnaire

All interview share the same opinion that, despite the interesting speaking lessons that textbook ‘Tisng Anh 10° brings about, there are some lasks causing difficulties for ther Such as in question 1 and 2, 80% teachers think that speaking lessons in 16 units of Tieng Auh 10 are interesting for their students except for task 2 or 3 of speaking lessons in Unit

1, unit 3, unit 5, unit 8, unit4, unit 6, unit 14 and unit 15, .ete because they think that task

2 ar 3 arc yuite boring or difficulty so i's necessary to adap these tasks with more interesting and effective speaking activities The next question is answered in questionnaire

of teachers; they say that they adapted speaking activities in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10°

as information gap, role play or describing pictures since they arc suitable for rural students at NCI HS Let’s see how often teachers use English speaking activities in class through the following class observation

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IV.3 Follow-up class observation

In8 speaking periods which author visited, English speaking activities such as information gap, role playing, describing pictures and co-operative learning always applied (7 periods) instead of task 2, or 3 in textbook Other English speaking activities such as story telling, solving — problem and telephoning are sometimes or never used in speaking lessons (1 period is used English speaking activities such as story telling, solving — problem and telephoning or no period is used English speaking activities such as informal debate or

announcements)

The class observation also reveals that teachers need to have good preparation for pre- speaking to make the speaking activities more effective such as providing students key

words relating to the topic, giving clear instructions

IV.4 Feedback of students towards applying changing or adding English

speaking activities and their effectiveness

ven Hrather ước not at al

Chart 3 Students’ feedback towards applying changing or

adding English speaking activities and their effectiveness

In answering question | in post interview for students, the majority of the students (93%)

say they like the adding or changing speaking activities and 3% of them say they just like

these activities a little Only 4% of them say they do not like them at all Obviously most of

the students show their positive feedback toward applying the changing or adding speaking activities This can be explained by the fact collected from question 2 for students in the

following table:

Yes | No

a be more interested in speaking English 939% | 7%

D have more chance to practice speaking English 96% | 4%

© improve your speaking ability 91% | 9%

Table 6: Changing or adding English speaking activities’ effectiveness

Anh 10’ to motivate the 10" form students at NC2.IIS in speaking lessons

V1 ROLE PLAY

V.LL Activities I

Application: Task 3 - Unit 6: An excursion

Aims: Giving opinions, expressing agreement and disagreement

Class time: 20 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 66

Suurce: Soction wards and role cards (Sco Appondix 6)

Procedure:

1 Copy and cut the 4 role cards of each people and the 6 section cards

2 Divide the class into group of four (or tlvec if there are only three students Tell) Give

each group one set of role cards and one set of situation cards (tor group of three, leave out role card D)

3 Ask the studants to sit round the table with the sitnations cards face down in a pile in the middle of the table, The cards should be in order fiom 1 to 6 Each student should have a

role card I, 2, 3 or 4

4, Tell the students thal it is Sunday morning and Tirn’s cla is going on a boat on Lake Michigan in Chicago Read the seat plan, You suggest the best seat in each section for each person

S The object of the game is using structures * chink shoud’ or should not because’ or

giving opinions via answ Fes’, ‘No basing on the content of Lextbook “Tieng An 10°

6 The game is finished when they have successfully decided on each people’s seat Ask gtoups their decision on some sections and check with the whole class

1.2, Activities 2

Application: Task 2— Unit 3: People’s background