Luận văn the application of communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10th graders in son tay high school hanoi

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High School-Hanoi” with the h

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSLTY OF LANGUAGES AND ENTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

——tzee42‡>———

LE PHUONG LAN

THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR 10" GRADERS

IN SON TAY HIGH SCHOOL-HANOL

(ONG DUNG CAC HOAT DONG GIAO TLEP DE PHAT TRLEN KY NANG NOI

CHO HOC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT SƠN TAY-HA NỘI)

MLA MINOR THESIS

Field : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Code : 601410

HANOL 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSLTY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

———z+Kwe##>~———

LÊ PHƯƠNG LAN

THE APPLICATION OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR 10™ GRADERS

IN SON TAY TIGHT SCTIOOL-TTANOT

(UNG DUNG CAC HOAT DONG GIAO TIEP DE PHAT TRLEN KỸ NĂNG NÓI

CHO HOC SINH LGP 10 TRUGING THPT SON TAY-HA NỘI)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Vield : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code : 601410

Supervisor: Prot Dr Hoang Van Vân

HANOTL 2011

1 Rationale of the study

2 Aims of the sturly

3 Research questions

4 Scope of the study

5 Design of the study

DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

LL UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING

1.1.1 Spoken language versus written language

1.1.2, Lmplications tor teaching

1.2 TEACHING SPEAKING

1.2.1 The speaking needs and goals of language students

1.2.2, Approaches to teaching speaking

1.2.3 Principles for teaching speaking

1.3 COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

1.3.1, What are communicative activities?

1.3.2, Purposes of communicative activities

1.3.3 Types of oral communicative activities

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

1.3.3.4, Problem solving

13.3.5, Simulation and role-play

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH SETTING

2.1.4, An overview of Sen Tay ITigh School

2.1.2, The teachers of English in Son Tay High School

2.1.3 The students in Son Lay High School

2.1.4, The current situation of English teaching and learning in Son Tay

High Schoal

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS

2.2.1 Description of the subjects

2.2.2 Data colfection instruments

2.2.3 Procedures

2.2.4, Methods of data analysis

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 DATA ANALYSIS

3.1.1 Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire

3.1.2, Results of students’ survey questionnaire

3.2 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.2.1, Findings from classroom observation

3.2.2, Findings from survey questionnaire

3.3 SUMMARY

Chapter 4: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Some kinds of effective communicative activities

4.2 Some considerations and suggestions on using

communicative activities

CONCLUSTON REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at Son ‘Tay High Schoo! in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and leaning fram the traditional approach-grarmar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar mules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on

communivation abilily Nonetheless, the toachers of English at Son Tay High School find ib difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the class size, the students’ language

devel, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLI Moreover, the majority of

the (cachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grarmuar-Translafion thethod, which impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach,

Asa teacher of English at Son Tay Iigh School in [anci, | often receive similar questions fiom many students For cxample, “I can understand grammar and sentence structures well, but | feel embarrassed to talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of teaching, there are a Tol of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves to the teachers On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiel and lavy during speaking lessons ILis very difficult to amake them participate in spouking activitics” Thereforg, the idea af doing something +useft for my colleagues and students has wped me to conduet the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching speaking By doing the study, T can know more abont the challenges m teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Son Tay Iligh Schoal

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of

communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High

School-Hanoi” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills far Grado 10th at, Son Tay High School

1.3.3.4, Problem solving

13.3.5, Simulation and role-play

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH SETTING

2.1.4, An overview of Sen Tay ITigh School

2.1.2, The teachers of English in Son Tay High School

2.1.3 The students in Son Lay High School

2.1.4, The current situation of English teaching and learning in Son Tay

High Schoal

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS

2.2.1 Description of the subjects

2.2.2 Data colfection instruments

2.2.3 Procedures

2.2.4, Methods of data analysis

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 DATA ANALYSIS

3.1.1 Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire

3.1.2, Results of students’ survey questionnaire

3.2 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.2.1, Findings from classroom observation

3.2.2, Findings from survey questionnaire

3.3 SUMMARY

Chapter 4: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Some kinds of effective communicative activities

4.2 Some considerations and suggestions on using

communicative activities

CONCLUSTON REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at Son ‘Tay High Schoo! in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and leaning fram the traditional approach-grarmar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar mules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on

communivation abilily Nonetheless, the toachers of English at Son Tay High School find ib difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the class size, the students’ language

devel, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLI Moreover, the majority of

the (cachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grarmuar-Translafion thethod, which impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach,

Asa teacher of English at Son Tay Iigh School in [anci, | often receive similar questions fiom many students For cxample, “I can understand grammar and sentence structures well, but | feel embarrassed to talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of teaching, there are a Tol of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves to the teachers On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiel and lavy during speaking lessons ILis very difficult to amake them participate in spouking activitics” Thereforg, the idea af doing something +useft for my colleagues and students has wped me to conduet the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching speaking By doing the study, T can know more abont the challenges m teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Son Tay Iligh Schoal

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of

communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High

School-Hanoi” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills far Grado 10th at, Son Tay High School

2, Aims of the study

The aims of t udy arc to addbess the following issues:

© The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of leaching and learning speaking skills,

» The application of some uscfil communicative activities to improvz

English speaking ability for 10“ graders

3 Research questions

To achieve these aims, the following Iwo Tesearch questions are addressed:

1 What communicutive activities can make the speaking lessons more effective?

2 What obstacles have the teachers and students faced in their speaking lessans?

4, Scape of the study

This study is concemed with the application of comnrunicative activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10" at Son Tay High School ‘Ihe researcher is not

planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Son Tay High School,

just on the students in grade 10“ in order to tind out what communicative activities are

applied and the obstacles experienced by these students and teachers of English then offer

some recommendations with the hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be

improved

5 Design of the study

Apart from acknowledgement, abstract, table of contents and appendices, this thesis

is structured in three main parts narncly: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

‘The first part “introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

study and its design

The second part “Development” includes four chapters

Chapter 1, Theoretical Background, begins with the literature on understanding speaking,

including the comparison of spoken language with written language and implication for

leaching, Then comes the lileraim: on teaching speaking wilh the speaking needs and goals of language students, some approaches to teaching speaking and principles for teaching speaking The rest of the chapter is on communicative activities, its purposes and its different types

Chapter 2 is composed of two sections The first section presents the local situation in Son

‘Tay High School The second section provides the research methods that involve

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of

Master of Art

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at Son ‘Tay High Schoo! in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and leaning fram the traditional approach-grarmar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar mules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on

communivation abilily Nonetheless, the toachers of English at Son Tay High School find ib difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the class size, the students’ language

devel, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLI Moreover, the majority of

the (cachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grarmuar-Translafion thethod, which impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach,

Asa teacher of English at Son Tay Iigh School in [anci, | often receive similar questions fiom many students For cxample, “I can understand grammar and sentence structures well, but | feel embarrassed to talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of teaching, there are a Tol of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves to the teachers On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiel and lavy during speaking lessons ILis very difficult to amake them participate in spouking activitics” Thereforg, the idea af doing something +useft for my colleagues and students has wped me to conduet the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching speaking By doing the study, T can know more abont the challenges m teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Son Tay Iligh Schoal

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of

communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High

School-Hanoi” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills far Grado 10th at, Son Tay High School

1.3.3.4, Problem solving

13.3.5, Simulation and role-play

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 RESEARCH SETTING

2.1.4, An overview of Sen Tay ITigh School

2.1.2, The teachers of English in Son Tay High School

2.1.3 The students in Son Lay High School

2.1.4, The current situation of English teaching and learning in Son Tay

High Schoal

2.2 RESEARCH METHODS

2.2.1 Description of the subjects

2.2.2 Data colfection instruments

2.2.3 Procedures

2.2.4, Methods of data analysis

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 DATA ANALYSIS

3.1.1 Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire

3.1.2, Results of students’ survey questionnaire

3.2 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.2.1, Findings from classroom observation

3.2.2, Findings from survey questionnaire

3.3 SUMMARY

Chapter 4: IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Some kinds of effective communicative activities

4.2 Some considerations and suggestions on using

communicative activities

CONCLUSTON REFERENCES

2, Aims of the study

The aims of t udy arc to addbess the following issues:

© The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of leaching and learning speaking skills,

» The application of some uscfil communicative activities to improvz

English speaking ability for 10“ graders

3 Research questions

To achieve these aims, the following Iwo Tesearch questions are addressed:

1 What communicutive activities can make the speaking lessons more effective?

2 What obstacles have the teachers and students faced in their speaking lessans?

4, Scape of the study

This study is concemed with the application of comnrunicative activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10" at Son Tay High School ‘Ihe researcher is not

planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Son Tay High School,

just on the students in grade 10“ in order to tind out what communicative activities are

applied and the obstacles experienced by these students and teachers of English then offer

some recommendations with the hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be

improved

5 Design of the study

Apart from acknowledgement, abstract, table of contents and appendices, this thesis

is structured in three main parts narncly: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

‘The first part “introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

study and its design

The second part “Development” includes four chapters

Chapter 1, Theoretical Background, begins with the literature on understanding speaking,

including the comparison of spoken language with written language and implication for

leaching, Then comes the lileraim: on teaching speaking wilh the speaking needs and goals of language students, some approaches to teaching speaking and principles for teaching speaking The rest of the chapter is on communicative activities, its purposes and its different types

Chapter 2 is composed of two sections The first section presents the local situation in Son

‘Tay High School The second section provides the research methods that involve

Master of Art

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

2, Aims of the study

The aims of t udy arc to addbess the following issues:

© The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of leaching and learning speaking skills,

» The application of some uscfil communicative activities to improvz

English speaking ability for 10“ graders

3 Research questions

To achieve these aims, the following Iwo Tesearch questions are addressed:

1 What communicutive activities can make the speaking lessons more effective?

2 What obstacles have the teachers and students faced in their speaking lessans?

4, Scape of the study

This study is concemed with the application of comnrunicative activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10" at Son Tay High School ‘Ihe researcher is not

planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Son Tay High School,

just on the students in grade 10“ in order to tind out what communicative activities are

applied and the obstacles experienced by these students and teachers of English then offer

some recommendations with the hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be

improved

5 Design of the study

Apart from acknowledgement, abstract, table of contents and appendices, this thesis

is structured in three main parts narncly: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

‘The first part “introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

study and its design

The second part “Development” includes four chapters

Chapter 1, Theoretical Background, begins with the literature on understanding speaking,

including the comparison of spoken language with written language and implication for

leaching, Then comes the lileraim: on teaching speaking wilh the speaking needs and goals of language students, some approaches to teaching speaking and principles for teaching speaking The rest of the chapter is on communicative activities, its purposes and its different types

Chapter 2 is composed of two sections The first section presents the local situation in Son

‘Tay High School The second section provides the research methods that involve

DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

LL UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING

1.1.1 Spoken Tanguage versus written language

Communication between humans has its own characteristics The speaker speaks and the writer writes because they want to say something and they have a communicative plspose For example they may want to give information abpul some special events, they

aay want to make a claim or they may want to arpue In addition, both the speaker and the writer select the language they think is appropriate for their purpose of communication However, there are significant differences between spaken language and written language:

‘Understanding the different characteristics between the two modes of communication is

‘very important for educators, in order to design an appropriate curriculum in teaching integrating skills and thus to promote learners’ language acquisition

Spoken and written language scrve different social purposes, therefore they have different characteristics and have their own systematic patterns and language forms Tarmer (1996), Burns (1997) and many other scholars have distinguished the different features between spoken and written language The first and perhaps the most obvious difference between spoken and written language is that “speech and writing are typically used in different kinds of siluations” (urns: 8), When we speak, we are usually interacting dircetly with others such as talking on the phoue or chatting with Gionds in the eale, The Janguage produced during talk is spontaneous and relatively unplamied Speakers have less time to plan than writers do and they often have to produce what they want to say on the Tun, As @ conscquenes, speakers tend to hesitate, use more informal ar cveryilay lamignage, make mistakes or change the topic in the middle of the conversation, Speakers use a mmmber of linguistic devices, which are called: parataxis and hypo taxis formulaic expressions and ellipsis (Burns: 18)

‘Harmer (1996) states that the significant different feature between spoken and

written language concerns the need for accuracy and the level of accuracy Writers are usually elon aud not in crcot contac! with the audionee As a resull, they do nol reecive immediate feedback tiom the reader and sometimes get no fzedback at all Native speakers constantly make “mistakes” when they are speaking ‘They hesitate and say the same thing

2, Aims of the study

The aims of t udy arc to addbess the following issues:

© The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of leaching and learning speaking skills,

» The application of some uscfil communicative activities to improvz

English speaking ability for 10“ graders

3 Research questions

To achieve these aims, the following Iwo Tesearch questions are addressed:

1 What communicutive activities can make the speaking lessons more effective?

2 What obstacles have the teachers and students faced in their speaking lessans?

4, Scape of the study

This study is concemed with the application of comnrunicative activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10" at Son Tay High School ‘Ihe researcher is not

planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Son Tay High School,

just on the students in grade 10“ in order to tind out what communicative activities are

applied and the obstacles experienced by these students and teachers of English then offer

some recommendations with the hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be

improved

5 Design of the study

Apart from acknowledgement, abstract, table of contents and appendices, this thesis

is structured in three main parts narncly: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

‘The first part “introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

study and its design

The second part “Development” includes four chapters

Chapter 1, Theoretical Background, begins with the literature on understanding speaking,

including the comparison of spoken language with written language and implication for

leaching, Then comes the lileraim: on teaching speaking wilh the speaking needs and goals of language students, some approaches to teaching speaking and principles for teaching speaking The rest of the chapter is on communicative activities, its purposes and its different types

Chapter 2 is composed of two sections The first section presents the local situation in Son

‘Tay High School The second section provides the research methods that involve

DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

LL UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING

1.1.1 Spoken Tanguage versus written language

Communication between humans has its own characteristics The speaker speaks and the writer writes because they want to say something and they have a communicative plspose For example they may want to give information abpul some special events, they

aay want to make a claim or they may want to arpue In addition, both the speaker and the writer select the language they think is appropriate for their purpose of communication However, there are significant differences between spaken language and written language:

‘Understanding the different characteristics between the two modes of communication is

‘very important for educators, in order to design an appropriate curriculum in teaching integrating skills and thus to promote learners’ language acquisition

Spoken and written language scrve different social purposes, therefore they have different characteristics and have their own systematic patterns and language forms Tarmer (1996), Burns (1997) and many other scholars have distinguished the different features between spoken and written language The first and perhaps the most obvious difference between spoken and written language is that “speech and writing are typically used in different kinds of siluations” (urns: 8), When we speak, we are usually interacting dircetly with others such as talking on the phoue or chatting with Gionds in the eale, The Janguage produced during talk is spontaneous and relatively unplamied Speakers have less time to plan than writers do and they often have to produce what they want to say on the Tun, As @ conscquenes, speakers tend to hesitate, use more informal ar cveryilay lamignage, make mistakes or change the topic in the middle of the conversation, Speakers use a mmmber of linguistic devices, which are called: parataxis and hypo taxis formulaic expressions and ellipsis (Burns: 18)

‘Harmer (1996) states that the significant different feature between spoken and

written language concerns the need for accuracy and the level of accuracy Writers are usually elon aud not in crcot contac! with the audionee As a resull, they do nol reecive immediate feedback tiom the reader and sometimes get no fzedback at all Native speakers constantly make “mistakes” when they are speaking ‘They hesitate and say the same thing

Master of Art

Master of Art

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

Master of Art

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at Son ‘Tay High Schoo! in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and leaning fram the traditional approach-grarmar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar mules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on

communivation abilily Nonetheless, the toachers of English at Son Tay High School find ib difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the class size, the students’ language

devel, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLI Moreover, the majority of

the (cachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grarmuar-Translafion thethod, which impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach,

Asa teacher of English at Son Tay Iigh School in [anci, | often receive similar questions fiom many students For cxample, “I can understand grammar and sentence structures well, but | feel embarrassed to talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of teaching, there are a Tol of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves to the teachers On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiel and lavy during speaking lessons ILis very difficult to amake them participate in spouking activitics” Thereforg, the idea af doing something +useft for my colleagues and students has wped me to conduet the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching speaking By doing the study, T can know more abont the challenges m teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Son Tay Iligh Schoal

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of

communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High

School-Hanoi” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills far Grado 10th at, Son Tay High School

information about the subjects, data collection instruments and procedures Also the micthods of data analysis are mention

Chapter 3 presents major findings and discussion

Chapter 4 gives recommendations for more effective application of Communicative Activities in developing students’ speaking skills

‘The third part is the conclusions of the study.

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

‘The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at Son ‘Tay High Schoo! in 2006 has marked real renovation in language teaching and leaning fram the traditional approach-grarmar translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar mules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on

communivation abilily Nonetheless, the toachers of English at Son Tay High School find ib difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the class size, the students’ language

devel, and additionally, students are not acquainted with CLI Moreover, the majority of

the (cachers were trained under the strong influence of the Grarmuar-Translafion thethod, which impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook follows the communicative approach,

Asa teacher of English at Son Tay Iigh School in [anci, | often receive similar questions fiom many students For cxample, “I can understand grammar and sentence structures well, but | feel embarrassed to talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of teaching, there are a Tol of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves to the teachers On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the colleagues: “Students seem so quiel and lavy during speaking lessons ILis very difficult to amake them participate in spouking activitics” Thereforg, the idea af doing something +useft for my colleagues and students has wped me to conduet the research

Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for teaching speaking By doing the study, T can know more abont the challenges m teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Son Tay Iligh Schoal

The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The application of

communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10° graders at Son Tay High

School-Hanoi” with the hope to make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills far Grado 10th at, Son Tay High School

2, Aims of the study

The aims of t udy arc to addbess the following issues:

© The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of leaching and learning speaking skills,

» The application of some uscfil communicative activities to improvz

English speaking ability for 10“ graders

3 Research questions

To achieve these aims, the following Iwo Tesearch questions are addressed:

1 What communicutive activities can make the speaking lessons more effective?

2 What obstacles have the teachers and students faced in their speaking lessans?

4, Scape of the study

This study is concemed with the application of comnrunicative activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10" at Son Tay High School ‘Ihe researcher is not

planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Son Tay High School,

just on the students in grade 10“ in order to tind out what communicative activities are

applied and the obstacles experienced by these students and teachers of English then offer

some recommendations with the hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be

improved

5 Design of the study

Apart from acknowledgement, abstract, table of contents and appendices, this thesis

is structured in three main parts narncly: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

‘The first part “introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of the

study and its design

The second part “Development” includes four chapters

Chapter 1, Theoretical Background, begins with the literature on understanding speaking,

including the comparison of spoken language with written language and implication for

leaching, Then comes the lileraim: on teaching speaking wilh the speaking needs and goals of language students, some approaches to teaching speaking and principles for teaching speaking The rest of the chapter is on communicative activities, its purposes and its different types

Chapter 2 is composed of two sections The first section presents the local situation in Son

‘Tay High School The second section provides the research methods that involve

Information about Teachers’ CLT training

‘The teachers’ time of using communicative activities

Kinds of cormmmicative activities teachsrs usually use in their English teaching process

Major obstacles teachers encounter when they apply cornmunicative activitios in thair English toaching Some strategies the teachers have applied to overcome these obstacles

The reasons for spoaking of studsnts in classroom Kinds of communicative activities that students were fond of