recommendations to improve speaking skills for the fourth year students of english

TABLE OF CONTENTSRecommendations to improve speaking skills for the fourth-year students at Faculty of English FOE, Hanoi Open University HOU... How to enhance English speaking skills pr

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-GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES

Hanoi - 2013

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced

by me from any other person's work without acknowledgement and that report

is originally written by me under the strict guidance of my supervisor

Date submitted: April 26th ,2013

Student (signature)

Phạm Ngọc Phương

Supervisor (Signature)

Nguyễn Thanh Bình,M.A

At this stage of research accomplishment, I would like here by to extend

my profound gratitude to my supervisor Mrs Nguyen Thanh Binh M.A from whom I have received enormous kindness and guidance

Also, I am very grateful to all the teachers at the English Faculty of Hanoi Open University for their interesting and useful lectures which have built in me a firm foundation with immense ideas for the fulfillment of this paper

In particular, my special thanks go to my parents who have, as it always goes, encouraged and supported me so much in all respects

Last but not least, I should also express many thanks to my dear friends who have shared with me a lot during my studies and my research work as well

Hanoi, April 26th ,2013

Phạm Ngọc Phương

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the fourth-year students at Faculty of English (FOE), Hanoi Open University (HOU)

DECLARATION 3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Definitions of speaking 4

1.2 Speaking English as a skill 5

1.3 Importance of speaking 5

1.3.1 The role of speaking inside and outside class 6

1.3.2 The relationship between speaking and other skills 6

1.4 Types of speaking skills 7

1.4.1 Interactive 8

1.4.2 Partially interactive 8

1.4.3 Non-interactive 8

1.5 Process of speaking 8

1.5.1 Breathing stage 9

1.5.2 Phonation stage 9

1.5.3 Resonation stage 9

Total renovation 10

1.5.4 Articulation stage 10

1.6 Factors affect the process of speaking 10

1.6.1 Grammar accuracy 11

1.6.2 Fluency 11

1.6.3 Pronunciation 11

1.6.4 Vocabulary 12

1.7 Summary 12

CHAPTER II: PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE FOURTH-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS 14

2.1 Data collection 14

QUESTION 18

ANSWER 18

A 18

B 18

C 18

D 18

11 18

16 18

15 18

22 18

12 18

12 18

13 18

32 18

3 18

13 18

15 18

16 18

7 18

22 18

14 18

15 18

23 18

19 18

3 18

15 18

23 18

13 18

6 18

18 18

2.3 The problems and limitations of the fourth-year students in Speaking English 19

2.3.1 The lack of vocabulary 19

2.3.2 The confusion of pronouncing and using grammar 19

2.3.3 The lack of self-confidence 20

2.3.4 The lack of background knowledge and culture 21

2.4 Summary 22

CHAPTER III: SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS 23

3.1 Background knowledge 23

3.2 Developing English style 23

3.2.1 Good eye contact 23

3.2.2 Positive face-saving strategies 25

3.2.3 Good personal appearance 26

3.3 Improving self-confidence 26

3.3.1 Joining the English - speaking clubs 27

3.3.2 Speaking to native people 27

3.3.3 Well preparing for the topic 27

3.4 Group work 28

3.4.1.Working in pairs 28

3.4.2.Working in groups 28

3.5 Warm-up activities in speaking 31

3.5.3 Telling stories 32

3.5.4 Playing games 32

3.5.5 Word games 32

3.7 Individual work 34

3.7.1 Improving grammar 34

3.7.2 Improving pronunciation 34

3.7.3 Vocabulary enlargement 35

3.7.4 Improving speaking through reading 36

3.7.5 Improving speaking through listening 36

3.8 Self-consciousness of improving the speaking skills 37

3.10 Summary of the chapter 39

PART C: CONCLUSION 40

APPENDIX 1

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 1

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Language is the tool of communication, while speaking is the most important part of language communication and it is the basic path to understand others Listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear To speak successfully to spoken language, we need to

be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions and not simply to understand the words themselves Many students of English in Vietnam in general and ones at Faculty

of English, HOU in particular do badly in this field, they find it difficult to get good marks in English speaking comprehension, especially in understanding the implied meaning of conversation

When learning English, people have to learn four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Among those, speaking skills are particularly important They are used the most regularly because speaking skills and human being cannot be separated from each other People use speaking skills to express their ideas and to communicate

However, speaking skills require a long process of practicing and are affected by many factors How to enhance English speaking skills promptly and effectively is a hard question for any Vietnamese learners, especially for the students of Faculty of English at Hanoi Open University Most students still find it difficult to be a good speaker The problem is: the students are lack of vocabulary, self-confidence and the background knowledge of culture

As a senior students who has some experience in learning English, T choose this study to help learners improve their English speaking ability naturally

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to improve the speaking skills for the fourth year student at Faculty of English - Hanoi Open University As a result, the

main aims of this thesis are:

-Giving a brief overview of the previous materials relating to speaking skills

- Raising some problems encountered by the fourth-year students English when practice speaking

- Proposing recommendations for developing the skills

3 Scope of the study

Due to time limitation and the length of the paper, I would like to focus

on speaking skills, the common errors and make a few suggestions to solve problem on speaking skills This is why I have chosen recommendations to

improve speaking skills fourth-year students of English at Hanoi Open

University as the subject for the graduation paper

4 Research questions

These objective could be summarized into some research questions as follows:

• What is the speaking?

• What are the problems of the fourth-year students in speaking English?

• What have the fourth-year students done to improve speaking skills in English?

5 Methods of the study

At the study involves in finding out problems faced by the fourth-year students of English and to aid them develop speaking skills, the data collection mainly focuses on:

 Survey questionnaire

 Classroom observations

Then the data will be synthesized and analyzed to help find out students’ problems and the tips for improving their weakness

6 Design of the study

The graduation paper is divided into three parts and three chapters

 Part A: Introduction

This part includes rational, aims, scope, research questions, methods and design

of the study

 Part B: Development

This part contains three main parts:

 Chapter I : Literature review

 Chapter II : Problems encountered by the fourth-year students of English in speaking English

 Chapter III : Suggestions to improve English speaking skills for the fourth-year students

 Part C: Conclusion

This final part is to summarize or restate main points of the graduation paper

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

Speaking play a very important role daily life and communication to others People speak to each other " to exchange ideas and to make others see what they mean " In learning English, speaking is not only one important skill but also used most regularly inside and outside class in order to learn, chat or convey ideas to others Thus, speaking is worth learning and practicing in a routine But what is speaking? The part below will provide various definitions about speaking

1.1 Definitions of speaking

The most common features of speaking have been shown in this simple definition: the articulating sounds conveying thoughts, opinions All of these are used by speakers in every communication, which creates understanding between speakers and listeners

According to Merrian, the author of the book "Webster online dictionary" (2002):

"Speaking is uttering words or articulating sounds with the ordinary voice Speaking is the way to convey thoughts, opinions, and emotion orally or

to express oneself".

In other words, we genuinely hope to achieve a particular end through

communicating speaking People talk and interact to express their ideas, wishes,

or desires By communication, they may negotiate to solve a particular problem;

or establish and maintain social relationships, friendships so on

Obviously, speaking is an important skill by which the speaker and listener can exchange ideas, express themselves and it is impossible to participate in any part of the speaking process without implying the existence and functioning of its other parts

1.2 Speaking English as a skill

By gates, in his book also assumed that:

"Speaking is in many ways as undervalued skill Perhaps this is because

we can almost all speak, and so take the skill for too much granted However speaking is a skill that deserves attention every bit as much as literary skill, in both first and second languages" (1991, p.19).

Some people think that speaking is a very simple skill He or she may know grammar rules well, have a large vocabulary, and then he can speak English fluently and smoothly without practicing much This is an extremely wrong idea

Looking on the surface, speaking seems to be simple; however, as being seriously considered, it becomes a complex skill that requires some factors: how

to use grammar and vocabulary properly while speaking, how to give right response to each communication, how to get others' interest when you talk and

so on

In other situations, when one has oral communication with a stranger, speaking is the only skill that helps him to show the stranger his language competence rather than other skills For those reasons, everyday practice and severe consideration of speaking should be done so that the fourth-year ones can

you can speak to groups of people with self-confidence and credibility The better your communication skills, the greater success you can achieve The importance of

communication skills cannot be understated.

Communication is truly achieved when the sender and the receiver share

an understanding of the communicated message Many times, this is easier said than done

Communication has two parts The first is the communicator and how effectively she can convey her message to the listener The second is how well the listener of the communication receives the message There should be little or

no misunderstanding, misinterpretation or confusion – if there is, the communication is not successful

1.3.1 The role of speaking inside and outside class

As a student of English foreign language, we have opportunities to approach English as a main subject Students communicate or discuss about a certain topic to get information, knowledge or simply to get good marks in examinations by practicing in class But the most important role of speaking class is to give students chances to talk, practice and develop their critical thinking, then progress their language skills Finally, they can confidently communicate in public and get effective speaking outside the class

On the other hand, speaking outside class, such as practicing speaking at home or talking to foreigners, also helps communicate inside class more easily These two activities have its roles to supplement to each other Thus, students should pay attention to combining them all the time

1.3.2 The relationship between speaking and other skills.

In learning English, speaking and other skills are inseparable and tightly interconnected together to create successful communication When speaking regularly, speaker can consolidate his grammar, remember words, structures more clearly, or enlarge his vocabulary by brainstorming to get ideas or noting the words he doesn't know, and then look up in a dictionary

According to Raymond Zeuschner:

"There is a direct relationships between speaking and writing You first

When one regularly does writing, it will give him an interesting ideas then support his speaking If simple sentences as well as complex ones in writing are used regularly in speaking, this will much help speakers arrange ideas and express their opinion "Being skilled at one can help you to be skilled

at the other"

Unlike the productive skills like reading and writing, speaking is a receptive skill In the learning of speaking, one can enrich his vocabulary and improve the fluency as well as accuracy in spelling, intonation for speaking When reading aloud, the response to English words and the skill of guessing new words are bettered Then students can apply new words in their speaking

Similarly, when listening, we hear sounds, pay attention to them, remember them, and finally imitate them It is the same case in linguistics In fact, we cannot speak well if we cannot listen well and vice versa, we cannot hear clearly if others pronounce badly Thus, speaking and listening must be practiced together in some ways, maybe by repeating what you have just listened or try to express the main ideas of the recording in your own words and thinking

In conclusion, speaking and three other macro English skills are closely attached to one another Therefore, to master one skill, for instance speaking skills, learners should combine it with the other skills to be able to approach the high level of language

1.4 Types of speaking skills

Speaking is the productive skill in the cral mode It, like the other skills,

is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words

There are three kinds of speaking situations in which we find ourselves.

Normally, there are 4 types stages of speaking process and the branches

of the four stages speaking process.

1.5.1 Breathing stage

Breathing stage, this stage have an phrase and involved The phases are inhale and exhale while the involved are lungs and Diaphgram

1.5.2 Phonation stage

The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the

subfield of phonetics Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by

which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology and speech production in general Other phoneticians, though, call this process voicing , and they use the term phonation to refer to any oscillatory

state of any part of the larynx that modifies the airstream, of which voicing is just

one example As such, voiceless and supra-glottal phonation are included under

this definition, which is common in the field of linguistic phonetics

• Renovate in stages

Pros: Distribution of the costs over several years and correspondingly

easier financing and possibly even tax optimisation In addition, the residential property can generally be used during the construction period

Cons: Overall construction costs are higher, energy savings are

achieved only in stages, use of the living area is impaired over a longer period

and the Minergie certification will likely be possibly only after all parts of the building have been renovated Note that if there is inadequate coordination of building steps, you can run into problems with building physics.

• Total renovation

Pros: Overall lower construction costs, optimal coordination of saving measures, quick energy savings, and from a scheduling standpoint an overall shorter time during which living is impaired A total process also often allows for Minergie certification, which can lead to subsidies and better mortgage rates

energy-Cons: Financing must be arranged for the total construction cost all at

once, and this can have negative tax implications Depending on the extent of the project, it can happen that the real estate is not inhabitable during part of the construction work - but perhaps it's possible to combine the most intensive work with an extended holiday trip

1.5.4 Articulation stage

The fourth stage or the last one is the articulation stage, this stage is composed of two such as articulators and point of articulators Those two have branches, on the articulators the lower jaw, lower lip, velum, unvola and the last tongue while the point of articulators the upper teeth, upperlip, upper alveolar ridge, velum and lastly the hard pallet

1.6 Factors affect the process of speaking

To speak English fluently, nicely and satisfactorily requires lots of elements such as grammar, accuracy, fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, self-confidence, etc These factors play the very important roles in speaking as they show the speakers' competence in English, their ability and profession of speaking It also contributes to the appreciation of listeners to the speakers' level For those reasons, I would like to carefully consider the factors of grammar accuracy, fluency, pronunciation, and vocabulary as the main

requirements for speaking effectively.

1.6.1 Grammar accuracy

Speaking with grammar accuracy means speaking without errors of grammar, and using the suitable words for specific situations Some students can get good marks in grammar tests but when speaking, they make very simple mistakes like: "she don't go to school yesterday" instead of "she didn't go to school yesterday" or say "sorry, can I help you?" to help others but not "Excuse

me, can I help you?"

When speaking is grammatically accurate, speakers can show their level

in English to others and make the listeners satisfied Speaking with grammar accuracy is also an important criterion for teachers to assess his or her students' level in English Therefore, students need to practice speaking a lot for giving their speech with the exact grammar

as they are being decided and as they are being understood" (Bygates, 1987)

Fluency is the ability to combine units of speech together with facility and without inappropriate slowness or undue hesitation This is stated as a penomenon of communicative competence and distinguished from strategic competence The author pointed out that time factor affects much to the communicative process of speakers Hence speaker should try to overcome the time factor by the fillers or to practice the skills as much as possible so that he can speak fluently to express his ideas

1.6.3 Pronunciation

Students often encounter problems in pronunciation such as word and sentence stress, intonation, and the linking of the two words, for example, students should use right intonation to express interest or enthusiasm, so important for conveying the feeling behind words and expressions.

"Stress and intonation within spoken sentences are also crucial for academic students to practice, because pronunciation is often a weak point for

2006)

When speaking, students usually forget the pronunciation, stress, and intonation, which make their speech not professional and limit them from developing the speaking skills

Pronunciation is very fundamental to the progress of speaking skills If students wish to speak English fluently and effectively, they need to practice the right pronunciation for each word before they can speak the sentences naturally and professionally

1.6.4 Vocabulary

Vocabulary plays the vital role in speaking English as it is the main parts

to establish the sentences Many people cannot write down or express their thinking or emotion in English due to the lack of vocabulary, or simply they do not know how to apply what they have learned in each situation

Little wood affirms the appearance of words in spoken sentences:

“ There are a number of words and phrases used only mainly in spoken English

So the amount of vocabulary is varied in sentences in speaking” (1981, p.34)

It means that spoken language, vocabulary is the main part to build up the speech Thus, vocabulary should be better and varied in order that students can give a vivid speech

1.7 Summary

In this chapter, a brief overview of the previous materials about speaking was presented that include the definitions of speaking, the confirmation of its importance; speaking and its relationship to three other skills; and some factors affecting the development of speaking skills.

At the same time, I also express my own opinions about speaking as a consideration In the next chapter, I will provide my analysis of data collected from survey questionnaires and class observation, after that, point out some problems and the limitations of fourth-year students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University in speaking English

CHAPTER II: PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE FOURTH-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH IN LEARNING

SPEAKING SKILLS

A productive skills like speaking is sometimes difficult for the fourth-year students Therefore, they have to face a lot of trouble when practice speaking skills which were not paid much attention at Hanoi Open University In this chapter, the methodologies of the research and the problem of the fourth-year students in speaking English are presented in order to find out the suitable methods to improve their weakness

2.1 Data collection

2.1.1 Survey questionnaires

In this part, survey questionnaires (see Appendix) is used as the main tool

to collect data 15 questions are designed and each question has 4 answers A, B,

C, and D are given to 60 students in the fourth-year at Faculty of English to attain the answers that will be carefully studied and will be a invaluable help to find out problems and limitations the fourth-year students, since then propose strategies and tips to overcome them and develop speaking skills The questionnaire focuses on finding:

• Students’ attitude to speaking

• Their difficulties in practicing speaking

• Their methods of learning speaking skills

2.1.2 Class observation

Classroom observation has many valid and important educational purposes The goals of this action is to gather additional information which is believed to be a necessary contribution to make the analysis from data collected

by the survey questionnaire become more convincing and authentic

2.1.3 Subject and setting

My survey questionnaire is handed out to 60 students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University The study is carried out to progress speaking skills for English majors who are in the fourth-year level and very interested in speaking English At university, it requires practicing of all four English skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing As a result, the fourth-year students feel strange to the productive skills like speaking Therefore, I decided to do my study of developing speaking skills for the fourth-year students.

2.2 Data analysis

Questionnaire is divided into 3 groups:

Group 1: From question number 1-5 These questions are designed to check the attitude towards speaking skills

Group 2: From question number 6-10 These question are designed to check the problems of the fourth year students in speaking English

Group 3: From question number 11-15 These question are designed to check what the fourth-year students have done to improve speaking skills in English

2.2.1 This table will show the collected figures for group 1: questions 1-5, see

agreed that speaking skills are very important and just one student 1,7% disagreed with this idea

Before speaking, the preparation is very important We can see that most

of the students 65% would go through the questions and guess what the topic is about Besides, 15% of the students would ask some new words before speaking

As the figures in the table 1, 51,7% of the students answered that they sometimes self-studying English speaking skills at home They also rarely 26,7% of the students make conversations in English Only 21,7% answer that

D On the other hands, the number of the fourth-year students at HOU say that over 45% they rarely make conversation in English, 21,7% think that they only sometimes and the dominant figure shows that the fourth-year students have answer 16,7% for the both of A and D

2.2.2 This is the table of result of question in Group 2 From question

number 6 to 10, see Appendix-page 64,65.

Table 2:

The table shown that, most of the students 63,3% feel that it is very interesting when talking to other people in class On the other hand, 11,7% of the students said that it is uncomfortable Besides, students said that they want

to make conversations in any places or in classroom because the speaking environment will be very exciting They can talk to each other whenever they want, with their classmates or anyone who want to practice English speaking skills However, as the figures in the table 1, we can see that students have some difficulties on their conversations relating to a lot of problems such as lack of self-confidence and lack of vocabulary are 16,7% , lack of knowledge in culture

3,3% and 63,3% say that they answer all of them - the figure quite much more

at FOE, HOU

Moreover, as we can see very clearly in the table above that 71,7% of students say that they often make mistakes relating to vocabulary When they talk about a topic, they can not use different words, just repeat some words again and again This will be make their speech uninteresting

Last but not least, this is the matter which almost Vietnamese students are make mistakes It is pronunciation Pronunciation plays an important role in the process of learning speaking skills However, 78,3% of the students said that their pronunciation is very normal

2.2.3 Group 3: From question number 11 to 15, see Appendix-page 65,66.

a reading books, stories, novels…, skill, in which 25% say speaking is listening

to music and 36,7% - the most answer C while only 11,7% choose D On the other hands, in question 12, only a small quantity of 20% think they usually learn non-verbal language via books or some resources of information and the most students say they sometimes by over 53,3% opposite 5% of the students choose D, and the rest of the students say they rarely learn its Thus, in question

13, the dominant figure shows that the fourth-year students have ways

remember vocabulary by other ways, the number of the students choose D is the most, by approximately 36,7% And then, answer A and B have a range of students the same, over 25% and 26,7% But only answer C is less students in 11,7% Moreover, in question 14, the students say grammar affect you when speaking English is very much, it is about 25%.Then, some students think that it

is quite much by over 38,3% opposite its is answer D, about 5% and grammar affect you when speaking English to the students at HOU not very much by approximately 31,7% The last question, in question 15, the figure of the students say the best ways to improve their self-confidence are joining an English speaking club about 38,3% then answer B is learning experience from other over 21,7% Next then, they think taking part in outside activities by over 30% and at the end, they can take part in having a part time job to improving speaking skills and self-confidence, it is about 10%

2.3 The problems and limitations of the fourth-year students in Speaking English

2.3.1 The lack of vocabulary

The lack of vocabulary seems to be a popular problem to fourth-year students They may express ideas vididly in their mother tongue; however, expressing it in English is a big difficulty Therefore, they speak repeatedly words or talk in around about way about one topic This makes the conversation boring and dissatisfies the listeners

Sometimes students cannot find the English words to talk, some students stop to think about the words but it takes too much time As a result, most of them immediately speak out Vietnamese instead of trying to explain it in the English way Gradually this action will lead to the regular use of Vietnamese and a habit in a speaking class which makes the lesson less professional

2.3.2 The confusion of pronouncing and using grammar