Appropriate classroom activities for effective teaching of business English speaking skill necessary for Vietnamese businessmen = Những hoạt động trên lớp t

However, ESP teachers at the Department have had no recent research available investigating about the requirements of the real workplace in Vietnamese context to decide what should be th

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

Certificate of Originality of Study Project Report ……….…i

Acknowledgments……….… ii

Abstract……… ……… iii

Table of Contents ……… iv

PART1: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1.1 Rationale for the study ……….…1

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions:……… 2

1.3 Scope of the study:……… 3

1.4 Significance of the study:……….… 4

1.5 Methods of the study:……… 4

PART2: DEVELOPMENT ……… 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 5

CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESEARCH………… 7

2.1 PHASE 1: NECESSARY B.E SPEAKING SUB SKILLS……… 7

2.1.1 Subjects: 7

2.1.2 Instrument 7

2.1.3 Instrument construction and development: 8

2.1.4 Data Collection 8

2.1.5 Data analysis 8

2.1.6.Findings: 8

2.2 PHASE 2: APPROPRIATE ACTIVITIES……… 9

2.3 PHASE 3: ACTION RESEARCH ……… 9

2.3.1 Problem identification and action plan:………9

2.3.1.1 Research design:………9

2.3.1.2 Research Sample ……… ….10

2.3.1.3 Setting of the study: ……… 10

2.3.1.4 Design of the activities: ……… … 11

2.3.2 Methodology: ……….……… 11

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS OF ACTION RESEARCH, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE ACTION ……….……… 11

3.1 Summary of findings:……… … … 11

3.2 Implications and future action: ……… 12

PART 3: CONCLUSION………… ……… ….13

3.1 Conclusions ……… ……….… 13

3.2 Summary of implications ……… ….14

3.3 Limitations of the research and suggestions for further study……… 15 REFERENCES……… I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EAP English for Academic Purpose

EBP English for Business Purpose

EFL English as a Foreign Language

EGAP English for General Academic Purpose

EOP English for Occupational Purpose

ESAP English for Specific Academic Purpose

BAU Business and Administration University

PART1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study:

In Vietnam, the accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) assisting the country in integrating further into the global trading system

since 2006 has brought up more potential international business deals than ever before These opportunities have strengthened the motivation and also set out the urgent requirements for Vietnamese businessmen to acquire a good command of Business English to interact in real-life workplace

“English has emerged as the world’s prominent linking language in international business communication and individuals from around the world are learning English in order to fulfill this linking role” (Babcocks, 2001, p 377) Therefore, Vietnamese learners who major in BE require effective language skills in this area if they want to be successful in either the increasingly dynamic and demanding job market or the international business and commerce

According to Council of Europe (2007), the language learning is considered to be the most necessary when language needs are identified at the future work place Specifically, Stapp (1994) suggests that for effective teaching and learning in a BE course, the first principle is to select teaching and learning materials that reflect the needs of the target workplace so that learners can reach qualification that helps them to be prepared for a career in business The second principle is to devise and /or choose the appropriate activities that will promote learning the skill

In fact, the Department of Business English, National Economics University (NEU) is going to reform their content and the methods of speaking course for students of BE starting from school year 2010-2011 so

that it can meet students’ future job requirements However, ESP teachers at the Department have had no recent research available investigating about the requirements of the real workplace in Vietnamese context to decide what should be the focus of a course on BE speaking while BE speaking skill is defined in relation to some core business performance areas consisting of various sub-skills according to Dudley-Evans and John (1996) The researcher is assigned to carry out the survey investigating which BE speaking sub skills are necessary for Vietnamese businessmen Besides, how these sub-skills are taught effectively is a major concern The teachers of BE Department at NEU usually wonder what activities to choose for a specific time of the course

Therefore, the rationale for choosing to investigate this issue lies in the necessity of teaching and learning for real communication; and also in the importance of applying appropriately the “how” in teaching BE speaking skill through classroom activities

For all these reasons that the researcher hope that after the BE speaking sub-skills that are necessary for Vietnamese businessmen in their workplace are examined and appropriate classroom activities suggested by Vietnamese teachers at university level for teaching those sub skills are investigated, the effectiveness of the mostly suggested activities will be successfully dealt with in an action research

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions:

This current study is aimed at developing BE programs, so that these programs will be able to provide lessons that are relevant to the real situations and can serve students’ career objectives in the targeted workplace Hence the specific following goals are expected to be accomplished in undertaking the current study First, the study only aims at the BE speaking

skill necessary for Vietnamese businessmen Hence, the BE speaking skills often used at work by businessmen in Vietnam will be investigated Second, appropriate activities mostly suggested by teachers from Department

sub-of BE at university level will be examined Third, by an action research I would like to find out how effective are the mostly suggested activities in teaching speaking skill The aim is to improve students’ BE ability in order to speak more fluently, accurately and interactively with greater confidence in the professional world dominated by English Therefore, the research questions that the present study seeks to answer are:

1 What sub-skills in BE speaking are necessary for Vietnamese businessmen?

2 What kinds of classroom speaking activities are appropriate for teaching these sub skills?

3 How effective are the speaking activities in helping students develop

BE speaking skill?

1.3 Scope of the study:

The present study only investigated the BE speaking skill that is necessary for Vietnamese businessmen so it focused on the often used sub-skills in the BE speaking in the first questionnaire to answer the first research question In addition, the subjects for the investigation about the often used sub-skills of BE speaking skill in the first questionnaire are sales personnel in import-export companies in Hanoi who have chances of more frequent communication with foreigners in English and who are required to be competent in BE communication (Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2009) Third, the subjects of the second questionnaire are only the 1st and 2nd year teachers of Department of BE in four universities majoring in business in Vietnam including National Economics University, Foreign Trade University,

Trade University, and Business and Administration University Fourth, the study only focused on investigating classroom activities that were mostly suggested by teachers from Department of BE at university level Its findings would not be necessarily generalized to all activities suggested by the subjects Finally, the action research was conducted with a small number of students at intermediate level of the second year at the Department of Business English, National Economics University to explore the effectiveness of the mostly suggested classroom activities

1.4 Significance of the study:

In decades of offering ESP courses in Vietnam, only few research studies have been conducted in Vietnamese context Among those, there is too little research available to help to define, and to strengthen course focus

as well as activities organization It is hoped that this study will be able to fill

a few gaps and lead to further research in the area

1.5 Methods of the study:

In this study, the researcher used mixed methods With an aim to support the research with reliable and valid data, qualitative approach was used together with quantitative one in three phases of the study

In phase 1, a survey questionnaire was conducted among selected sales personnel in import-export companies in Hanoi who have chances of more frequent communication with foreigners in English to explore the sub-skills

of BE speaking often used by Vietnamese businessmen

In phase 2, another survey questionnaire was conducted on the 1st and

2nd year teachers of Departments of BE in four universities majoring in business in Vietnam including NEU, FTU, TU, BAU to investigate the

classroom speaking activities that are appropriate for teaching of the sub skills

In phase 3, an action research was applied to a sample of students at intermediate level of the second year at the Department of Business English, NEU to explore the effectiveness of the suggested classroom activities The data collection tools in this phase included teacher’s journal, students’ interview and questionnaire

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, related literature on ESP, BE, needs analysis, teaching

BE, CEFR, BE speaking skill, classroom activities to develop speaking skill has been reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the current study

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has become one of the most prominent areas of teaching English as a foreign language today It “requires the careful research and design of pedagogical materials and activities for an identifiable group of adult learners within a specific learning context” (Johns and Dudley-Evans, 1991) and is “designed to meet specified needs of the learners” (Strevens, 1988)

BE can be seen as a branch of ESP “BE is difficult to define and limit

in a linguistic term (Evans and St John, 1998, cited by Donna, 2000, p 102) The term is part of ESP (Donna, 2000) According to Jones and Alexander (1989), BE is not a special language It is simply English used in business situations This is probably the working definition of BE used in the practical work of this study

Dudley-Evans and John (1996) claim that needs analysis is a defining feature of ESP In the area of BE, where many courses are tailor-made to meet participants’ needs, it has a vital role Need analysis may indeed be even more fundamental to BE than to English for Science and Technology, as learners’ needs may vary much more Dudley-Evans and John (1998) define needs in terms of "target needs”, meaning what the learner needs to do in the target situation

In the Project for teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system of Vietnam to 2020 approved by the Prime Minister in 2008, CEFR is selected as the standards for language teaching in

Vietnam The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

(CEFR) was put together by the Council of Europe in Europe Therefore, CEFR is also applied as a framework of assessing and teaching BE speaking skill for Vietnamese learners in this study CEFR gives qualitative aspects of spoken language use with reference to vocabulary range, pronunciation, accuracy, fluency and interaction The action research will be done with

students of Level B1 and B2

Dudley-Evans and John (1996) note that the BE speaking skill is defined primarily in relation to core BE speaking performance areas such as taking part in meetings, giving presentations, socializing and negotiating The following figure illustrates the components of the core BE speaking performance areas

Socializing

skills

Negotiation skills

Meeting skills

Presentation skills

Sub skills:

holding and ending a meeting, summarizing, interrupting, dealing with arguments

Sub skills:

starting and concluding presentation, describing products

or process, presenting visuals, analyzing business trends

Core BE speaking performance areas

Figure 2: Core BE speaking performance areas and sub skills (adapted

from Dudley-Evans and John (1997, p 36))

Speaking activity in the classroom is defined as “an important component of a language course” developing learner´s ability to express themselves through speech (Council of Europe, 2007) According to Thornbury (2005), classroom speaking activities are considered to be

appropriate for effective teaching when they can ultimately help students

improve their speaking skill Speaking activities that are outlined in the rest of this chapter attempt to provide and maximize the effectiveness of the speaking learning processes (Thornbury, 2005): Using noticing-the-gap, Acting from a Script, Questionnaires, Information Gap, Jigsaw puzzle, Card game, Guessing game, Discussion, Dialogue, Simulation, Role-play, Drama

CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESEARCH 2.1 PHASE 1: NECESSARY B.E SPEAKING SUB SKILLS

This phase is aimed at examining the BE speaking sub skills often used

at work by businessmen to answer the first question research: “What skills in BE speaking are necessary for Vietnamese businessmen?”

sub-2.1.1 Subjects:

Businessmen in 318 import-export companies in Hanoi Capital were selected from the Annual Report by Ministry of Industry and Trade (2009)

According to the Table determining sample size from a given population

constructed by Krejcie & Morgan (1970), the determined number of the subjects was 175 (p 608)

2.1.2 Instrument

The questionnaire was used to collect the data for the study It was constructed in rating form The questionnaire consisted of the following two parts:

Part 1 was the lists of the BE speaking sub skills found in published

materials mentioned in the literature review

Part 2 was the open-ended section for suggestions on the sub skills the

subjects mostly used at work

2.1.3 Instrument construction and development:

Step 1: Pilot study: The initial questionnaire was edited for the pilot study and tried out with 10 businessmen representatives

Step 2: Questionnaire revised: On the basis of the pilot subjects’

responses, the questionnaire was later revised using the subjects’ suggestions

to ensure that it really addressed the research question

Step 3: Data gathering: The revised questionnaire was used to gather the data

2.1.4 Data Collection

The data collection was conducted in August, 2009 The questionnaire was conducted in the workplace where the subjects normally performed their jobs The steps in collecting the data are as follows:

Step 1: The researcher mailed 200 questionnaires to the subjects The

reason for mailing 200 questionnaires (over the study’s sample size of 175) was to prepare for some questionnaires not to be returned

Step 2: After the deadline, the researcher received 178 returned

questionnaires All of these returned questionnaires were used in later analysis

at work recommended by the subjects

2.1.6 Findings: The three most necessary BE sub skills for Vietnamese

businessmen were exchanging information, telephoning and bargaining

2.2 PHASE 2: APPROPRIATE ACTIVITIES

This second phase is aimed at examining the appropriate activities for teaching the three BE speaking sub skills mostly used at work by

businessmen to answer the second question research: “What kinds of speaking activities are appropriate for teaching these sub skills?” The subjects were

83 teachers of the 1st and 2nd year of Department of BE in four universities major in business in Vietnam including NEU, FTU, TU, BAU They were asked to complete the questionnaire by ticking the appropriate activities that they experienced in closed questions and recommending more in open questions

Findings: discussion, guessing game, role play, and information gap

for teaching exchanging information; card game, jigsaw puzzle and role play for teaching telephoning; and using noticing the gap, information gap, and simulation for teaching bargaining were mostly considered appropriate by more than 65% of the subjects (Burns et al., 2003)

2.3 PHASE 3: ACTION RESEARCH 2.3.1 Problem identification and action plan:

is often undertaken in a university setting and refers to a disciplined inquiry done by the teacher with the intent that the research will inform and change her practices in the future, or can help not only the teacher herself but also

her colleagues (Ferrance, 2000, p 9) Third, action research is mostly appropriate for this study because it involves “small-scale intervention” when specific problems are identified; specific actions are implemented to bring about the changes and solutions to solve the problems (Nunan, 2005) Finally, the context of the research can satisfy the requirement of doing an action research when teachers and students can collaborate with each other to reflect on the effectiveness of the classroom activities In brief, the action research approach is carefully chosen for and applied in the study with a hope

to find a way to determine effectiveness of actions taken in teaching to improve the BE program

Mixed methods

According to Johnson et al (2007), mixed-methods include both quantitative and qualitative features in the design, data collection and analysis when one single method cannot provide them with various dimensions of the research problem (p 112)

2.3.1.2 Research Sample

The research was conducted with 25 students at Pre- Intermediate level

of the second year at the Department of Business English, National Economics University research in the second term of the school year 2009-

2010 for my action research

2.3.1.3 Setting of the study:

Department of Business English - NEU was first established in the school year 2006-2007 with an aim to produce dynamic businessmen with major in both English and economics meeting the demand of the fast-growing country in the era of economic globalization and informatization

Because of its outstanding significance, the teaching of the speaking skill in the Department of Business English forms for itself a unique set of requirements They must be capable of improving students’ accuracy vocabulary range, pronunciation, fluency, accuracy and interactive communication (Council of Europe, 2007) As a result, an action research is called for to investigate how effective the activities are for improving students’ BE speaking skill

2.3.1.5 Design of the activities:

The action research was carried out in second semester of the school year 2009-2010 The course of action research consists of 10 lessons with each activity per lesson One lesson lasts for 45 minutes All the investigated activities are discussion, communication games, role play, and information gap for teaching exchanging information; communication games and role play for teaching telephoning; and using noticing the gap, information gap, and simulation for teaching bargaining

2.3.2 Methodology :

Research question:

The action research seeks to find answers to the question: “How effective are the speaking activities in helping students develop BE speaking skill?”

Methods of data collection:

The research was done with the help of the following instruments

+

Interview Questionnaire

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS OF ACTION RESEARCH,

IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE ACTION 3.1 Summary of findings:

All the activities the teacher practised with the students were useful

and contributive at different levels In the lesson of exchanging information, information gap activity helps students have an excellent interaction and pronunciation, while role play improves student’s grammar and pronunciation Both guessing game and rating activity are good for their

fluency with excellent use of discourse markers For effective teaching of

telephoning, all of the investigated activities- card game, jigsaw puzzle and role play develop students’ grammar, wider range of vocabulary and therefore pronunciation of new words However, jigsaw puzzle is obviously

more successful in improving students’ fluency with appropriate length and

relevant contribution All the activities for teaching bargaining- information gap, using noticing-the-gap, and simulation are appropriate for students’

development in grammar and vocabulary with new and useful terms

Nevertheless, noticing-the-gap, and simulation are excellent in helping their

fluency and interactive communication

Reflection: Different activities in practicing BE speaking in the classes which

are interactive and interesting won the appreciation from both teachers and

students

3.2 Implications and future action:

In teaching exchanging information, to engage students’ attention in speaking classes, and motivate them to be active, it is advisable to arrange students to have group discussion and instruct them clearly the rules and requirements of the discussion For this activity, teacher should encourage

students to build up a collection of proverbs and sayings to stimulate socializing and to be more persuasive in presenting and rebutting arguments

to discuss information (Thornbury, 2005)

For effective teaching of telephoning skills, vivid and inspiring activities should be applied because students need to use their imagination when they can’t see others on the phone and also because telephoning have highly standard etiquettes which are quite dry (Hadfield, 1990) Thus activities with visual tools such as card game or jigsaw puzzle can arouse students’ interests and also provide them support with emerging language skills

In terms of teaching bargaining in negotiation, it is recommended that, technology can enhance negotiation learning because it allows analysis and retrieval of raw data on negotiation experience, minimising students’ defensiveness and resistance to improvement (Pilbeam et al., 1992) It is necessary to use videotaping, such as using video extracts from movies to assist review, reflection and assessment or use discussion boards and other techniques to assist reflection and class discussion Besides, it is advisable to use simulations to consolidate learning Simulations help integrate negotiation theory and hard skills Besides, they are a useful way to unfreeze past practice while also teaching new skills for dealing with people in difficult situations (Fisher, 1981) To teach bargaining effectively requires a teaching strategy which combines simulations with other games, cases and readings; to layer or add on complexity one step at a time; two-party negotiation; constant reflection to draw out bargaining lessons

PART 3: CONCLUSION 3.1 Conclusions:

With a view to investigate appropriate classroom activities for

effective teaching of BE speaking skill necessary for Vietnamese businessmen, the study was conducted to find out the sub-skills mostly used

at work by Vietnamese businessmen, and to look into possible influence of classroom activities on the outcome of speaking in those sub skills for 2ndyear students in DBE, NEU

After the survey questionnaire phase was done, the BE speaking skills often used at work by Vietnamese businessmen were found to be exchanging information, telephoning, and bidding bargaining In the next phase, another survey questionnaire was conducted to find out the kind of speaking activities which are suggested by the BE teachers to be appropriate for effective teaching of these sub skills The findings of appropriate activities suggested for teaching of exchanging information were guessing game, rating activity, translation, definition, role-play and discussion; for teaching of telephoning were card game, jigsaw puzzle and role-play; and finally for teaching of bargaining were information gap, using noticing-the-gap and simulation

The action research was focused in the third phase to investigate how effective the speaking activities are in developing students’ fluency, accuracy, and interactive communication However, all the activities the teacher practised with the students were useful and contributive and all of them developed different areas of speaking as a language skill

3.2 Summary of implications:

In order to use appropriate classroom activities for effective teaching of exchanging information, telephoning, and bargaining, it is recommended to put the following suggestions into consideration First, in teaching exchanging information, to engage students’ attention in speaking classes, and motivate

them to be active, it is advisable to arrange students to have group discussion The teacher should encourage students to build up a collection of proverbs and sayings to discuss information For effective teaching of telephoning skills, vivid and inspiring activities such as card game or jigsaw puzzle with visual tools should be applied With the activity role play the teacher need to put students' chairs back to back approximate a telephone situation In terms

of teaching bargaining (negotiation), it is necessary to use videotaping, for example, to assist review, reflection and assessment or use discussion boards and other techniques to assist reflection and class discussion Finally, the teacher should combine simulations with other games, cases and readings; layer or add on complexity one step at a time; and encourage constant reflection to draw out bargaining lessons

3.3 Limitations of the research and suggestions for further study

First of all, the objectivity of the action research may be questioned as the researcher is also the teacher in the research However, as claimed by Hoyle (1972, p 24, quoted in Stenhouse 1988, p 144, cited in Rea-Dickins and Germaine, 1992:66), “Ultimately, it is the teacher who has to operationalize on innovation at the classroom level” Being an insider helps the researcher with a thorough and insightful understanding of the use of activities in teaching BE speaking skill Moreover, she uses interview and questionnaires to ask for ideas of students studying the sub skills and students’ checklist for more objective assessment and utilizes her self-report

to record ongoing features of effectiveness of the activities The researcher had her belief that the combination of both quantitative and qualitative method would generate objective and good results in her research

Second, the validity of the research would be better guaranteed if more participants were involved in the action research Nevertheless, the various

sources of information and different ways of collecting it can hopefully be a good substitution for the limited number of participants in the research Hence, the researcher uses data triangulation and methodological triangulation to make up for it

The focus of the further study can be the teaching of BE speaking according to student’s needs or the appropriate activities suggested by students However, due to the time matter, the researcher only focuses on the most appropriate activities suggested by BE teachers for teaching the BE speaking sub skills often used by Vietnamese businessmen It is highly recommended that further study on the issues raised to create a more perfect design of curriculum and activities in BE speaking, should be given more

time