An investigation into factors that hinder the participation of Univeristy students in English speaking lessons = khảo sát các yếu tố hạn chế sự tham gia của sin20150227.PDF

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS L2: Second Language M.A: Master of Arts B.A: Bachelor of Arts CFL: College of Foreign Language VNU: Vietnam University TOEIC: Tests of English for International Com

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES iv

LIST OF FIGURES iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the Study 2

6 Design of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking 4

1.1.1 Definition of speaking 4

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill 4

1.1.3 Nature of speaking 4

1.1.4 Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity 5

1.1.5 Learners’ participation 6

1.2 Factors hinder students’ participation in speaking activities 7

1.2.1 Students’ factors 7

1.2.1.1 Students’ learning styles 7

1.2.1.2 Students’ attitude and motivation 8

1.2.1.3 Students’ second language level 9

1.2.1.4 Personality 9

1.2.1.5 Students’ anxiety 10

1.2.1.6 Gender differences 11

1.2.2 Teachers’ factors 12

1.2.2.1 Teachers’ teaching methods 12

1.2.2.2 Teachers’ knowledge 13

1.2.2.3 Teachers’ characteristics 14

1.2.2.4 Teachers’ roles in speaking activities 15

1.2.3 Teaching and learning conditions 17

1.2.3.1 Physical conditions 17

1.2.3.2 Classroom climate 18

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 19

2.1.An overview of the current situation of learning and teaching speaking at English department, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University 19

2.1.1 Introduction of English section, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University 19

2.1.2 The Syllabus and Materials for Speaking 19

2.2 Methodology 20

2.2.1 The subjects 20

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 21

2.2.3 Data collection procedures 22

2.3 Results and Analysis of Data 22

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 36

3.1.Major findings and discussion 36

3.2 Recommendations for increasing students’ participation in speaking activities 38

3.2.4 Building a cooperative atmosphere in class 39

3.2.5 Helping students to be confident 40

3.2.6 Being enthusiastic, friendly, helpful and tolerant 40

3.2.7 Creating interesting and appropriate topics 40

3.2.8 Forming a habit of speaking English in the class 41

PART C: CONCLUSION 42

1 Conclusion 42

2 Limitations and suggestions for further research 43

REFERENCES I APPENDIXES III

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L2: Second Language

M.A: Master of Arts

B.A: Bachelor of Arts

CFL: College of Foreign Language

VNU: Vietnam University

TOEIC: Tests of English for International Communication

ESP: English for Special Purposes

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Factors prevent students’ participation in speaking lessons

Table 2: Students’ attitude when participating in speaking activities

Table 3: Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons

Table 4: Speaking activities teachers often use to increase students’ participation Table 5: Speaking activities teachers often conduct in speaking lessons

Table 6: Activities motivate students to take part in speaking lessons

Table 7: Activities teachers use to increase students’ participation

Table 8: Suggestions for teachers to increase students’ participation

Table 9: Teachers’ attitudes towards unwilling students

Table 10: Students’ participation

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure1: Students’ interest in speaking English in class

Figure 2: The frequency of students’ speaking in class

Figure 3: Students’ evaluation on the topics of speaking in class

Figure 4: Students’ confidence when speaking in class

Figure 5: Degrees of the difficulties students feel when joining in speaking activities Figure 6: Difficulties teachers have to face when teaching speaking

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This part will focus on five smaller parts The first part is the rationale of the study, which introduces a brief overview of speaking, particularly, related to the participation of university students in English speaking lessons, the reasons for our choice of the topic and the purposes of our study The second part is the objectives of the study The third part presents the research questions of the study The fourth part is the scope of the study and the last one is the design of the study

1 Rationale

No one can deny the importance of English in life English has become the vital device for communication in all fields The final goal of study English is to master this language in communicating The Communicative Approach teaching requires developing language learners‟ four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing However, speaking is seen as the center skill and the most demanding of the four skills (Bailey and Savage (1994:7))

There is a fact that many Vietnamese students can write and read English well but they cannot speak fluently and correctly Most of the students find speaking difficult, even uninteresting After several years of teaching English, we have found that the university students are quite passive in speaking English They do not actively participate in speaking activities Certainly, students‟ participation can be affected by a variety of factors coming from teachers‟ side, students‟ side and others including classroom environment, types and contents of activities, etc Unfortunately, this is not only the situation in my university but also the case for many other universities in Vietnam

This has given me the desire to conduct a research to identify the factors that hinder students‟ participation as well as to find out the techniques and activities to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University

2 Objectives of the study

The study is carried out to find out the factors hindering the university students‟ participation in speaking lessons, and why these factors have negative effect on university students‟ participation in classroom speaking activities Based on the findings, the researcher will analyze activities and techniques often used by the teacher to increase students‟

participation Furthermore, the researcher will give some suggestions for teachers to stimulate students in speaking English and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in teaching speaking English for university students

3 Research questions

The study will answer the following questions:

1 What are the factors affecting university students‟ participation in speaking lessons?

2 What should teachers do to increase students‟ participation in class speaking activities?

4 Scope of the study

First, the subjects of this study are second - major students of English at Ba Ria - Vung Tau University Second, the study only covers the speaking skill Third, the study focuses on finding out the factors including teachers‟ factors, students‟ factors and learning – teaching conditions hindering students‟ participation in classroom activities

5 Methods of the Study

In the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used The data will be collected by means of questionnaire, interview and classroom observations After the data is collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn and some suggestions will

be made in the thesis

6 Design of the study

The research consists of the following parts:

Part A: Introduction

This part deals with the rationale, objectives, significance, research questions, methods, scope and the design of the study

Part B: Development

This part includes 3 chapters

 Chapter 1: Literature Review

The first chapter provides a theoretical background of speaking including definition of speaking, the importance of speaking, nature of speaking, characteristics of a successful speaking activity and learners‟ participation In addition, this chapter also provides factors affecting students‟ participation in classroom speaking activities including teacher‟s factors such as teaching techniques, teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ characteristics, and teachers‟ roles

in speaking activities, students‟ factors such as personality, learning style, attitude and

motivation, different genders of students and students‟ anxiety, and learning and teaching conditions such as physical conditions and classroom climate This is viewed as the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter

 Chapter 2: The study

This chapter will present methodology adopted to collect data for the research, which consists of descriptions of setting, research questions, data collection, data procedures, data analysis and participants involved in the study

 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion

The data of this chapter will be collected form questionnaire, interview and observation, which reveals (1) how these factors hinder students‟ participation, (2) techniques used for speaking lessons, (3) some suggested solutions

Part C: Conclusion

The conclusion will include the summary, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking

1.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is a skill which language teachers, quite rightly, believe is particularly important By speaking, individuals can express needs, opinions and feelings, understand and ask questions

According to Donough and Shaw (1993), speaking is a skill which enables people to produce utterances when communicating to achieve a particular end This may involve expressing ideas, wishes or opinions, negotiating or solving problems, or establishing or maintaining social relationships

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non – verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney, 1998:13)

Thus, speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving, and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purpose of speaking Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary ("linguistic competence"), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language ("sociolinguistic competence") A good speaker synthesizes these skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act

1.1.2 The importance of speaking skill

It is difficult to say which skill is the most important among four language skills However, speaking seems the most important and the closest to the goal of language teaching: communicative competence Pattison (1992) confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the language Besides that, Ur (1996:120) states, “of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important.”

1.1.3 Nature of speaking

Speaking is one of the features that distinguish us from the animals because it is the common way to convey information from this person to another through using language

Language is a complicated phenomenon and language learning is a complicated process, so speaking a foreign language is a complex skill

The nature of speaking has been discussed by many researchers Byrne (1976:8) clarifies, “speaking is a two-way process between speakers and listeners involving the productive skills of understanding” Byrne (1995: 10) gives a diagram to show what happens

in a speech situation and incidentally, therefore, what is involved in oral activity

Initiate Speak

Oral ability

Listen Another author- Bygate (1987) shows that in order to be able to speak a foreign language, learners not only need to understand some grammar, vocabulary but also know how

to use knowledge as well as language on deciding what to say and how to say

One more thing concerning the ability to speak is that of fluency and accuracy Accuracy involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, fluency can be thought as the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously (Roger Gower, 1995:99) Furthermore, Nunan (2003:55) wrote, “accuracy is the extent to which students‟ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language, fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently”

1.1.4 Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity

Classroom activities would be an important component of a language course Successful speaking activities in class can result in great improvement of students‟ speaking skills According to Ur (1996: 120), there are four characteristics for a successful speaking activity

First, students talk a lot It means that learners always have to be the center of all speaking activities and teachers only play the role as guides

Secondly, participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority

of talkative participants; all learners get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

Thirdly, motivation is high Interesting topics and new things will attract learners to take part in speaking activities They are eager or excited to speak and really want to express their feelings as well as opinions in order to contribute to achieving a task objective

Finally, language is of an acceptable level Students express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and an acceptable level of language accuracy

In short, if we want to have a successful speaking activity or if we want to get students talking, we need to meet all the above criteria

1.1.5 Learners’ participation

Students‟ participation can be seen in learners‟ verbal or written responses to tasks, their concentration, or through their contributions to classroom discourse Participation can also be gauged from other signals such as when learners pay attention, smile, and raise their hands to answer a teacher‟s question For example, students participate in speaking lessons by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions Ellis (1994) considers participation from the point of views of both quantity and quality Quantity refers to the mount

of learner classroom participation A number of correlational studies have examined the relationship between amount of learners‟ classroom participant and second language (L2) proficiency The results are mixed

It is believed that L2 classrooms in which there is negotiated interaction between students and teachers result in more language learning, because it produces the linguistic conditions for classroom learners to access comprehensible input and produce comprehensible output According to Ellis (1993:8) comprehensible input is one of the most important ways in which learners obtain new information about the language, while Wong – Fillmore (1985) notes that the teacher may be the only really competent English speaker available to provide comprehensible input About comprehensible output, Swain‟s (1985) claims that in order to acquire a language successful, the learners must not only be given opportunities to produce the language but they must also be pushed into making their meaning clear

One of the factors that seems to determine the quality of learner participation in classroom environment is the degree of control the learners exercise over the discourse Cathcart (1986) found that situations where learners had control of the talk were characterized

by a wide variety of communicative acts and syntactic structures, meanwhile the situations where the teacher had control seemed to produce single – word utterances, short phrases and

formulaic chunks Also, the differences in the quality of learners‟ participation depended on the kinds of activities they were involved in

1.2 Factors hinder students’ participation in speaking activities

Students‟ participation usually means students speaking activities in class, for example, answer and ask questions, make comments and join in discussion It is also shown through interactions between students and students, between teacher- students when working together Students‟ participation can be affected by various factors coming from students, teachers, and classroom In the following section, some of the factors will be discussed

1.2.1 Students’ factors

1.2.1.1 Students’ learning styles

Successful language learners are usually people who have a personal learning style or positive learning strategies It means that good learners must have some awareness of their preferred techniques, and modify them in the light of their own or other people‟s experience

Learning style is an individual‟s natural, habitual, and preferred way of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills Skehan defines learning styles as

“ cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the environment” (Skehan, 1991) Learning

styles, according to Spolsky, B (1998: 108) are terms to describe identifiable individual approaches to learning situation

Recently, Harmer (2001) emphasizes the importance of understanding that there are different individuals in our class if we are to plan suitable kinds of activities for them Different individuals may have different learning styles, prefer different kinds of works, and expect different degrees of care and attention from the teacher

Every student has a learning style; therefore, there is no particular teaching or learning method that can suit the needs of all learners If the teachers do not take care of or neglect the differences among students, for example, teachers only pay attention to good students meanwhile the rest students do not get benefit from their teachers This makes them feel uncomfortable This is one reason for the fact that when an activity is in progress, not all students participate in actively

1.2.1.2 Students’ attitude and motivation

There has been a great deal of research on the role of motivation and attitude on second language learning Attitude and motivation have a close relationship “A learners‟ attitude affects the development of motivation” (Spolsky, B 1998: 23)

To understand the learners‟ motivation, we should make clear about students‟ attitude

In Chandrasegaran‟s research (1981), attitude refers specifically to states of emotion and thought relating to the English language, to the learning of English and to the Culture of English-speaking people Gardner, (1985:8) adds that individual‟s attitude is an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basic of the individual‟s belief or opinion about the reference Gardner believes that there are two kinds of attitude: attitudes to the people who speak the target language, and attitudes to the practical use to which the learners assumes he or she put the language being learnt

Attitudes do not have direct influence on learning but they lead to motivation which helps to determine the level of proficiency achieved by a learner

Motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined “an affective factor alongside culture shock” (Schuman, 1978) Lightbown and Spada (1999) define motivation in terms of two factors: learner‟s communicative needs and their attitude towards the second language community

Gardner and Lambert (1972) identified motivation as integrative motivation and instrument motivation Integrative motivation refers to an interest in learning a second language; for example; want to learn English in order to communicate with people of other cultures who speak it And instrument motivation refers to the practical value and advantages

of learning a new language, for example, want to learn language because it will be useful for practical goals such as reading novels, newspapers or passing an entrance exam, etc

Motivation can also be divided into two kinds: extrinsic and intrinsic Extrinsic motivation comes from the learners‟ desire such as: to get external reward, to pass an exam, to get a good job or to avoid of punishment Intrinsic motivation comes from the learners‟ internal factors such as the enjoyment of learning process itself or by a desire to learn the target language

No one can deny the importance of motivation towards the success in learning a foreign language According to Caroll (1962), motivation decides the amount of time a learner will spend on the task of language learning She claims, “The more motivation a learner has, the

more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language” Lalonde (1982) also makes a conclusion that motivation is an important factor that helps to determine the level of proficiency achieved by a learner

Clearly, motivation plays an important role in the success of language learning in general but we may wonder how much or to what extent motivation accounts for students‟ participation in oral activities We may not give the correct answer but we can see that if learners perceive a goal and if that goal is really attractive, they will be strongly motivated to

do whatever necessary to reach that goal Therefore, the more motivated students are, the more actively they will participate in oral activities

1.2.1.3 Students’ second language level

It is undoubted that students‟ levels in a class are not alike There are two levels of language: the basic interpersonal communicative skills and the cognitive academic language proficiency The basic interpersonal communicative skills concept represents the language of natural, informal conversation Basic interpersonal communicative skills are used by students when talking about everyday things in concrete situations, that is, situations in which the context provides cues that make understanding not totally dependent on verbal interaction alone (Cummins, 1992)

According to Harmer (2001), in a class with the different language levels of students, teachers may meet some difficulties in choosing a suitable teaching method, language as well

as organizing activities for students He also suggests that there are some techniques and exercises that are suitable for some students but less appropriate for others

Another factor related to students‟ language level that may hinder students‟ participation in speaking activities is their pronunciation of the second language Most of the students who are learning English have difficulties in pronunciation, which makes it difficult

to communicate in the target language

Thus, students‟ participation can be affected by their own language level We, therefore, should choose the topics as well as techniques which are suitable for their level This will surely encourage their participation in all speaking activities

1.2.1.4 Personality

According to many language teachers, the personality of their students considers a major factor contributing to the success or failure in language learning Lightbown and Spada (1999) list a number of personality characteristics such as: extroversion, inhibition, self –

esteem empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness Hedge (2000) defined that extrovert learners are more willing to participate, more willing to experiment and take risks Although their language was not good enough, they were not afraid to make mistakes and try

to communicate And for introvert learners, they feel more comfortable when they work individually (Harmer, 2001)

Brown (2000) argues that personality is one of the affective factors that are equally important for explaining differential success among second language learners While extroversion is associated with risk-taking, introversion is subsumed under the concept of self-esteem In addition, students from Galvan and Fukada‟s (1997/1998) study explained they were unable to participate in class because they were not used to a student-centered class setting Myers (1962) also suggested that extroverts tend to prefer learning situations that afford interaction while introverts tend to prefer small group Barrett and Connot (1986) stated that introverted students are least involved in school activities and have lower academic achievement

1.2.1.5 Students’ anxiety

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines anxiety as the state of feeling nervous

or worried that something bad is going to happen Empirical research shows that anxious foreign language students are less willing to participate in learning activities, and have lower performance than non – anxious students (Gardner, 1991)

Young (1991) presented six types of sources of foreign language classroom anxiety such as: personal and interpersonal anxieties, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language learning, instructor-learner interactions, classroom procedures, and testing Besides that, Bailey also identified sources of anxiety, including test and learners, perceived relationship with their teachers

When anxiety occurs relating to the use of second language, it seems to be restricted mainly to speaking and listening, reflecting learners‟ apprehension at having communication automatically in the target language We can see anxiety in speech in a greater degree of pausing, in a lack of coherence, and in an increased number of false starts

Horwitz and Cope have identified three components of foreign language anxiety They are: communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope 1986) He also explains that students who exhibit communication apprehension do not feel comfortable communicating in the target language in front of others

because they have limit about knowledge of the language, especially in relation to speaking and listening skills Students who experience fear of negative evaluation do not consider language errors as a natural part of the learning process, but like a threat to their image, and a source for negative evaluations either from the teacher or their partners As a result, they become silent and withdrawn most of the time, and do not participate in language activities (Ely, 1986) Students who experience test anxiety consider the foreign language process, and especially oral production, as a test situation, rather than an opportunity for communication and skills improvement

In brief, sufficient evidence shows that anxiety is an important factor in learning second language in general and in students‟ participation in speaking activities in particular It seems to be a factor that distributes in differing degrees in different learners

1.2.1.6 Gender differences

The relationship between gender differences and language learning has been mentioned in some research When studying prototype of gender and its reflection on speech communication competence between the two genders, Song Haiyan (1998) shows that obvious differences exist between male and female in terms of language use, for instance, females are inclined to passiveness and not imposing their own will upon others, etc Larsen-Freeman (2000) believed that in the process of first language acquisition, at least at the early stage, female students excel male ones Furthermore, Hu Zhuanglin (1989: 199) pointed out it was generally believed that male and female are born with different linguistic advantages, for example, the male learn to speak faster and better but slower than the female

Homes (1986) found some results when he carried out the research on the relationship between sex and language such as men talked more and took more frequent turns at talk, interrupted more often, withheld responses to women‟s topics and withheld self-disclosure Contrast to men, women tended to be more often than men to use speech strategies which supported other speakers‟ contributions, initiating topics and providing feedback and information for others to participate

Clearly, all these above studies make us believe that sex differences may have a great effect on students‟ participation Understanding the different learning styles and strengths and weakness of male and female can help teachers better understand and work with students with disabilities and gifts and talents

In conclusion, those are the main factors coming from students‟ side that may hinder students‟ participation in classroom activities The degrees of effect of the above factors may

be different for each student The first factor is students‟ learning styles The second factor is students‟ motivation and attitude The third factor is students‟ language level including knowledge of English proficiency and knowledge of other fields The fourth one is students‟ personality One more factor is students‟ anxiety The language anxiety of students may affect their participation because foreign language speaking anxiety in the English classroom may stem from fear of making mistakes and the consequent fear of negative evaluation, and students‟ perception of low ability in relation to their peers The last one is the gender diffrence

1.2.2 Teachers’ factors

1.2.2.1 Teachers’ teaching methods

Stern (1983) lists out some main teaching methods as follows:

 Grammar-translation or traditional method: This method is used for the purpose of

helping students read and appreciate foreign language literature Most of the interaction in the classroom is from the teachers to the students There is a little student initiation and little student-student interaction Consequently, students learn rules of grammar and vocabulary without much feeling of progress in the mastery of the target language This cannot motivate them to learn of the target language because they have little opportunity to express themselves through it They just learn what they have to learn without any creativeness As a result, students who are passive recipients become structurally competent but communicatively incompetent

 Audio – lingual method: The first point of this method is to develop students'

listening comprehension and fluency in speaking in the target language Students are encouraged by the sense of being able to use what they have learned very early The success or failure of this method depends largely on the qualities of the teachers and the availability of resources The teacher must be a fluent speaker as most of his/her work is done orally in the target language

 Direct method: The Direct Method is based on the direct involvement of the student

when speaking, and listening to, the foreign language in common everyday situations Consequently, there is lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language

 Reading method: This method is characterized by teaching through reading

comprehension Vocabulary is emphasized in this method

 Audiovisual method: This method allows students to learn through meaningful

utterances and contexts in a visually presented scenario Students can also learn by watching images and listening to sounds

Recently, with the ever – growing need for good communication skill in English, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has given as a replacement to the earlier structural methods CLT focuses on meaningful tasks rather than on language form, which helps heighten learners‟ motivation in learning a language because they do not often concentrate their mind on the forms or grammatical items of the target language One more fact is that in CLT, there are different kinds of tasks to make teaching and learning more communicative

Thus, mentioning the above methods will help us know their advantages as well as disadvantages and choose a suitable method to teach our students Choosing an appropriate teaching method for a certain class may create a lot of opportunities for students to take part in class activities

1.2.2.2 Teachers’ knowledge

What a teacher knows is one of the most important influences on what is done in classrooms and ultimately on what students learn Breach (2005) shows that the teacher is a fountain of knowledge and their main responsibility is to impart knowledge to students Grossmann (1990) points out the categories of teachers‟ knowledge including general pedagogical knowledge, subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of context Ferguson (1997:85) affirms that teacher should have knowledge of the culture and values of the discipline, knowledge of the epistemological basis of the different disciplines and knowledge of the genres and discourse patterns

Thus, being a teacher, we should have:

 General pedagogical knowledge: Teacher should understand how to moderate

discussions, design group work, organize materials for student use, utilize texts and media, etc

 Linguistic knowledge: Teachers need a basic working knowledge such as knowledge

of the nature and functions of language, knowledge about the systems and structure of English such as: phonetics, syntax, semantics, discourses, etc

 Specialist knowledge: English teaching in Vietnam can be divided into two types:

Teaching General English and English for Special Purposes (ESP) ESP teachers teach special content due to the demands of the fields involved like business, tourism, technology, informatics, accounting, etc In order to teach ESP, besides general knowledge, teachers must have the knowledge of the subject he (or she) teaches

Clearly, teachers need to understand the subject matter deeply and flexibly to teach all students They need to see how ideas connect across fields and to every life This kind of understanding provides a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge that enables teachers

to make ideas accessible to others

1.2.2.3 Teachers’ characteristics

Besides the knowledge and teaching methods, teachers‟ characteristics may have a great influence on students‟ participation There are two sets of qualities that characterize a successful professional teacher: professional characteristics and professional competences (Whitty, 1996: 89–90) Professional characteristics include professional values, personal and professional development, communication and relationships as well as synthesis and application Professional competences include knowledge and understanding of children and their learning, subject knowledge, curriculum, the education system, and the teacher‟s role

Barry (1993) shows some characteristics a teacher should have that help increase students‟ involvement in classroom activities in general:

 Being natural: The teacher should express himself (or herself) as a real person He should express his real feeling when he is sad or happy or angry, etc especially, he should be

a good sense of humor when humorous situations occur

 Being warm: The teacher should consider students to be like his fellow people, respect students‟ personal, family and community identities

 Being tolerant: The teacher should be tolerant with students‟ mistakes Instead of shouting at them and criticizing them when they make mistakes, the teachers should find out the effective ways to encourage them to speak

 Being pleasant: It means that teachers‟ attitude towards students express his relaxation, friendliness and enthusiastic

 Being approachable: An approachable teacher means that he (she) makes students feel good being about with him/her and students can see whenever they need his/her help or advice

Moreover, the teachers should be sensitive to individual and group needs and feelings

He should be fair to his profession and assess students on their performance instead of personal rapports and likings

Therefore, besides the command of teachers‟ knowledge and teaching methods, teachers should have these above characteristics The teachers‟ characteristics may create a comfortable and an interesting learning environment for students

1.2.2.4 Teachers’ roles in speaking activities

Teacher role refers to the different functions a teacher can have in a class The role usually implies the relationship between the teacher and learner, particularly in terms of the autonomy learners have over their learning

Pine and Boy (1997) express “pupils feel the personal emotional structure of the teacher long before they feel the impact of the intellectual content offered by that teacher” It is evident that teachers‟ performance will have an influence on their students A teacher who lacks self-esteem will find it difficult to develop self-esteem of his students A teacher who does not lead

a warm atmosphere at class will find low learning spirits of students So the teachers‟ roles are very critical in language teaching According to Harmer (2001), a teacher can have the following roles:

 The teacher as a controller

The teacher plays the role of controller when he is totally in charge of the class He controls not only what the students do, but when they speak and what language they use

 The teacher as an assessor

Clearly, a major part of a teacher‟s job is to assess the students‟ work, to see how well they are performing or how well they performed The teacher will correct students‟ errors and mistakes His function, it is suggested, is to show where incorrectness occurs and help the student to realize what has gone wrong and how to put it right

When assessing students‟ performance, the teacher waits until an activity or task has been completed and then tells the students how well they did The teacher tells the students at what degree they have come up to our expectations and points out their mistakes so that they can avoid the next time

 The teacher as an organizer

The main aims of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are going to talk about, give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over

The organization of an activity and the instructions the teacher gives are of vital importance since if the students have not understood clearly what they are to do, they will not

be able to perform their task satisfactorily

 The teacher as a participant

There is no reason why the teacher should not participate as an equal in an activity especially where activities like simulations are taking place Teachers should not be afraid to participate since not only will it probably improve the atmosphere in the class, but it will also give the students a chance to practise English with someone who speaks it better than they do

 The teacher as a resource

During the proceedings, students may ask the teacher the meaning of word or phrase, the information about the topic they are given Being a resource, the teacher should always be ready to offer help if it is needed, especially in speaking activities

 The teacher as a manager

Students are given opportunities to use language freely Sometimes students can make mistakes, but mistakes are unimportant because in order to encourage students‟ talk we should focus more on fluency than accuracy The more important is that students have chance to use language as they wish, to express their own ideas Moreover, they become aware that they have learnt something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning So, what is needed is flexibility, tolerance, patience on teacher‟s part and, above all, an understanding of the learners‟ difficulties

 The teacher as a tutor

During lessons, students need support in analyzing problems and synthesizing relevant knowledge They may misunderstand some aspects of the newly acquired information, use

terms and concepts which are not truly understood, fail to recognize the coherence of the subject matter In this case the teacher can go around the class and give suggestions to students The teacher guides students to identify the key issues, checks the understanding and achieves their learning goals

 The teacher as an observer

The teacher observes what the students do, especially in oral communicative activities

so that he (she) can give them useful feedback When observing students, the teacher should

be careful not to be intrusive by hanging on their every word, by getting too close to them as students may be distracted from the tasks they are involved in

In brief, students‟ participation can be hindered by the factors coming from teachers such as teaching methods, teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ characteristics and teachers‟ roles in classroom activities Each factor plays an important role in students‟ participation

1.2.3 Teaching and learning conditions

as limit what and how students learn However, a well-arranged classroom environment is one way to more effectively manage instruction because it triggers fewer behavior problems and establishes a climate conducive to learning

The spatial structure of the classroom refers to how students are seated, where the students and teacher are in relation to one another, how classroom members move around the room, and the overall sense of atmosphere and order Weinstein (1992) suggest that classrooms should be organized to accommodate a variety of activities throughout the day and

to meet the teacher‟s instructional goals In addition, the classroom should be set up to set the stage for the teacher to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of students

Hammer (1992) emphasized that physical conditions had great impact on students‟ learning as well as their attitude towards the subject matter Physical condition affects students‟ motivation The large class, the poor facilities will decrease the relationship between teacher and students, and their motivation Thus, arranging the physical conditions in classroom is a need if we want to increase students‟ participation in classroom activities

1.2.3.2 Classroom climate

Classroom climate is referred to as the learning environment, or by a term such as atmosphere The impact of classroom climate on students and staff can be beneficial for or a barrier to learning Classroom climate is a perceived quality of the setting It emerges from the complex transaction of many immediate environmental factors (e.g, physical, material, organizational, operational, and social variables), as a major determiner of classroom behavior and learning Understanding how to establish and maintain a positive classroom climate is seen as basic to improving schools in general and students‟ participation in particular One important factor is how teachers attend or respond to students‟ behaviors Lightbown and Spada (1999) pointed out that students seem to feel anxious and less constrained but more secured to take part in learning activities in supportive, cooperative and encouraging atmosphere

A proactive approach to developing a positive classroom climate requires careful attention to (1) enhancing the quality of life in the classroom for students and staff, (2) pursuing a curriculum that promotes riot only academic, but also social, and emotional learning, (3) enabling teachers to be effective with a wide range of students, and (4) fostering intrinsic motivation for classroom learning and teaching

In conclusion, this chapter has presented relevant literature, which has helped to form the theoretical framework for the study It has discussed the concepts and issues concerning about speaking skill Besides that, the factors that hinder students‟ learning in general and students‟ participation in particular were also discussed In the next chapter, we will display the detailed description of the methodology and the procedures of the study

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 An overview of the current situation of learning and teaching speaking at English department, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University

2.1.1 Introduction of English section, Ba Ria – Vung Tau University

The English section of Ba Ria-Vung Tau University was founded in 2006 It is considered to be the biggest group in the Faculty of Foreign languages There are 12 teachers

of English whose ages range from 25 to 40 All of them graduated from the English Department The College of Foreign Languages of and International Studies (CFL), Vietnam National University (VNU) Five of them have got Master of Arts degree (M.A) Five are doing M.A and the rest hold Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A) Besides teaching professional subjects for major-students, teachers of English in the department teach TOEIC for non-major students coming from other faculties

Ba Ria-Vung Tau University is a private one The students‟ academic results at entrance examination are very low The levels of English proficiency of the students of English section at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University are generally different Most of the students come from rural areas such as Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, etc with a little chance for speaking English As a result, when they entered university, it is quite difficult for them to become confident in speaking English as expected

2.1.2 The Syllabus and Materials for Speaking

At Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, English majors have to study four skills in seven semesters Each semester contains 15 weeks, the students have 3 speaking periods peer week and each period lasts for forty-five minutes Speaking syllabus is designed to help students develop English-speaking skill both accuracy and fluency By the end of the course, the

students must be able to communicative effectively in job-related situations as well as daily life, establish, and maintain relationships with members of the target community They will be able to present their ideas about personal and social issues in English The main topics include getting acquainted, communication, education, healthy, money and technology

In term of methodology, teachers usually use the communicative method of teaching Students often play the key role in the lesson, being the main speakers Teacher only acts as an advisor during communication activities

The testing-assessment includes assessment on two mid-term tests during the course of study, a final oral test, assessment on attendance and class participation It can be specified as follows: class attendance and participation (10%), mid-terms test (30%) and final examination (60%) The final test is often designed with two parts and lasts about 10 – 12 minutes In part

1, students are given a topic or issue and prepared it for 5-7 minutes The second part is the presentation or discussion on the topic

The chosen textbooks are Let Talk 3 by Leo Jones & Mosaic 1 - speaking by Brenda Wegmann & Miki Knezevic The books are laid out with plenty of authentic models of spoken language, and communicative activities to help students practice using the language in the classroom Most importantly, there are many pairwork and groupwork activities in the books However, the activities are not well-structured enough and some topics are uninteresting, which cause problems during class activities such as not even participation, students are inhibited to speak, students have nothing to say or they use mother tongue, act

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 The subjects

The subjects of this study were students and teachers at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University There were 50 students who took part in this study They were second-year-English majors, studying for their Bachelor of Arts Degrees Their ages ranged from 18 to 22, the average being 20 They had 3 Speaking lessons per week Although they have learnt English for over seven years at school, their English proficiency has been very low They are only good at grammar, not speaking They can do grammatical exercises very quickly and well but they cannot speak fluently They are not used to working in peers, groups or taking responsibility for their learning They often feel shy in the public as most of them come from countryside and have little social contacts

There were 9 teachers involved in this study Eight of them were females and one was male Most of them had over 4 years of experience as English teachers Some have taught English for over ten years English teachers at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching Most of them have a high appreciation to teaching speaking However, they have to face a lot of difficulties in teaching speaking because students seem to be passive in all speaking activities

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

The main instruments used in this study to collect data were questionnaire, interview and observation

Two questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students, were delivered to the nine teachers and 50 second-year major of English from Ba Ria-Vung Tau University respectively The researcher mainly used the close- ended questions in the questionnaires

2.2.2.1 Questionnaire for students

The first questionnaire, consisting of 12 questions, was delivered to 50 second-major students of English at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (Appendix 1) The aims of them were to elicit:

(1) The students' attitudes towards speaking skill (questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

(2) Factors making the students reluctant to speak English in class (questions 6,7)

(3) The students‟ difficulties in speaking activities (questions 8, 9)

(4) The students‟ attitudes about teaching techniques to increase participation in speaking activities (questions 10, 11, 12)

2.2.2.2 Questionnaire for teachers

The second questionnaire, which includes both multiple – choice and open – ended questions, was delivered to 9 English teachers (Appendix 2) The purpose of this questionnaire was to identify:

(1) Teachers' attitude towards speaking skill (question 1)

(2) Difficulties teachers have encountered in teaching speaking at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (question 2)

(3) Teachers' attitude towards unwilling speakers (questions 3, 4)

(4) Factors making the students reluctant to speak English in class (questions 5)

(5) Their current teaching techniques and communicative activities used in class to increase the students‟ participation in speaking activities (questions 6, 7, 8)

2.2.2.3 Class observation

This is a method to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire The researcher observed

10 speaking periods I designed a checklist for what I wanted to observe (See appendix 5) The checklist for observation included kinds of activities that the teacher uses, students‟ attitudes toward the teacher‟s activities, their participation in the activities and general comments on the effect of lessons

2.2.2.4 Interview

This is a method of collecting necessary and reliable information The researcher interviewed 5 teachers and 10 students to get their ideas about the research issues beyond the questionnaires

2.2.3 Data collection procedures

The questionnaires were handed out to 9 English teachers and 50 learners at Ba Vung Tau University to collect information The responses to each question were calculated and converted into percentage for analysis and discussion

Ria-The researcher observed ten speaking lessons lasting 135 minutes During the lessons, the researcher focused on the students‟ and teachers‟ activities and interactions between the students and the teachers or among the students and noted down the information on the observation sheet

2.3 Results and Analysis of Data

The research was mainly based on quantitative approach The data was converted into statistical numbers and percentages The results were presented by means of numbers and tables or charts

2.3.1 Teachers and students’ perception on learning speaking English

2.3.1.1 The importance of speaking skill in English classes

 Question for students: What do you think about the importance of speaking skill?

 Question for teachers: How important is speaking skill to your students?

The questionnaire‟s results showed that most students and teachers admitted the importance of speaking skill Surprisingly enough, 94% of the students and 100% of the teachers gave speaking skill much importance in learning English 60% of the students and 77.8% of the teachers found it “very important” and 34% of the students and 22.2.% of the teachers found it “important” These results also proved that the students and teachers at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University were well aware of the necessity and the particular role of speaking skill among the four language skills

2.3.1.2 Students’ interest in speaking English in class

 Question: How do you feel interested in speaking English in class?

Figure 1: Students' interest in speaking English in class

As shown in the above pie chart, most students did not like to speak English in class 40% of the students answered that they had no interest in speaking English, 30% of the students had little interest in speaking English In contrast, only 10% enjoyed speaking in class In general, students‟ interest at Ba Ria-Vung Tau University in speaking English was low That was the reason for their poor participation in speaking activities which could be realized from the answers to the question 7 (Appendix 1); only 20% of the students were eager and excited to speak English Besides, many of them agreed that if the teacher was friendly, enthusiastic, and understood students as well as knew how to encourage them, they would feel more interested in speaking; and if the topics were interesting and exciting, they would also take part more in speaking activities

2.3.1.3 The frequency of students’ speaking English in class

 Question: How often do you speak English in English classes?

Figure 2: The frequency of students‟ speaking English in class The above chart reflects the frequency of speaking English in class As we can see, 14%, 20%, 36% and 30% of the students always, usually, sometimes and rarely respectively spoke English in class In small talks with the researcher, some students confirmed that they spoke English in class because it was the best time that they could express their opinions in English

2.3.1.4 Students’ evaluation on the topics of speaking activities in class

 Question: How do you find topics of speaking activities in your class?

Figure 3: Students‟ evaluation on the topics of speaking in class When answering this question, surprisingly about half of the respondents stated that topics of speaking in class were boring 30% of the students thought that the speaking topics in class were difficult for them Only 10% claimed that the topics were interesting

2.3.2 Factors that hinder students’ participation in speaking activities

2.3.2.1 Students’ confidence when speaking English

 Question: Do you feel confident when speaking in front of the class?

Figure 4: Students‟ confidence when speaking English in class

The above chart shows that 20 % of them felt unconfident and twenty students (50%) felt a little nervous when they have to speak English in front of the class According to the interview with the students who felt shy and unconfident, most of them answered that they were afraid

of making mistakes and losing face before other students This resulted in their low level of participation in speaking activities

2.3.2.2 Factors hinder students’ participation in speaking activities

 Question for students: Which factors prevent you from participating in speaking activities?

 Question for teachers: What factors often hinder yours students’ participating in speaking activities?

(No = 50)

Percentage (%)

Teachers (No = 9)

Percentage (%)

Grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

mistakes

Table 1: Factors prevent students‟ participating in speaking lessons From the obtained figures, 100% of the teachers and 52% of the students agrred that teachers‟ boring teaching was one of the most important factors hindering students‟ participation in speaking lessons According to them, teacher‟s good teaching methods, and behaviors, sense of humor; enthusiasm and tolerance, etc, would encourage students to speak more The second choice, accounting for 88.9% of the teachers and 34% of the students, was uninteresting lessons They admitted that uninteresting lessons decreased students‟ participation in speaking activities The third choice (44% of the students and 88.9% of the teachers) was the fear of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation mistakes The classroom atmosphere was one of the important factors that decided the degree of students‟ participation (for 20% of the students and 55.5% of the teachers) They confirmed that if the students had to learn in an uncomfortable atmosphere and a narrow room, they would feel difficult to move and unpleasant to interact with others

Surprisingly, 16% of the students and 77.8% of the teachers blamed students‟ reluctance of speaking for low proficiency in English When answering the researcher‟s questions, one

student said: “I don’t want to join in speaking activities in class although I know that class is

a good environment for me to practice speaking But I feel unconfident because I don’t have enough vocabulary, knowledge relating to speaking topics to express my ideas Besides, I am afraid of poor pronunciation” Another complained, “My English knowledge is not good enough That’s why I don’t participate in speaking activities in class” In addition, some other