Luận văn các hoạt động trong lớp học để khuyến khích khả năng trình bày tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT marie curie, hải phòng ( tiếng anh)

MINOR THESIS CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE 10-FORM STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT MARIE CURIE HIGH SCHOOL, HAI PHONG Các hoạt động trong lớp học để khuyến k

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

~w LO œ

BUI THI ANH TUYET

M.A MINOR THESIS

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE 10-FORM STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT MARIE

CURIE HIGH SCHOOL, HAI PHONG

(Các hoạt động trong lớp học để khuyến khích khả năng trình bày tiếng Anh

của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Marie Curie, Hải Phòng)

Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10

Cohort: MA 15 Supervisor: Lé Thé Nghiép, M.A

Hanoi, 2009

ABSTRACT i

.\0.9)19)1405)9.6/7)./059)616000557Ẽ 5 — ii

9s) 47.0019) 5111175757 11

š 0(9)9360/9019)05 1

1 RATIONALE uu cccccccceessseeecesseseeecssneeeeseseeesessseeeceesecueeseseeaeeesssuueeceseeesessueesessnaes 1 P9) 9619) i009 2 2

3 AIMS OF 15009015 2

-99) 9 0090 2

5 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY 2 3

6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES .cccccccccsssseceessseeeeessceeescseeeceesssaueeesseeeeesseeeeesessnaes 3 rĐ 2/609) 00.71.3090 9) 3

0080 09)5A42809)6),07060 005 7

CHAPTER I: LITERA TURE REVIEĂW QQQQQQQ HQ HH HH cánh 7 I9) 0589)230000/9)11155 7

1.2 FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC 7

1.2.1 Factors 0g (-(3( 002) /.0/ (ca 7

1.2.2 Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self? and ‘language classroom ENIVITOMMEN? .ceccccecescesseseeceesscssnseeecccseceseeaeeccesesseueeeeesesesueusesecsesecaeneeseesessneaeees 10 1.2.3 Classroom Procedure cccccccccescsssessssessnsneeceeeceeescssesesecessneaeeeneeeeseesessesesees 12 IEShSuvbviinivi8 voi 1 13

1.3.1 Social environmert for L2/FL aCQUISIfIOTI - S5 5c S5 cv eeess 13 1.3.2 Errors in oi 7n = 14

1.4 COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES .ccccccsssseeccesssteeesssseesesees 14 L.4.1 PULPOSC 14

1.4.2 Requirement .- 15

1.4.3 Types of communicative classroom actiVIties cccssseeseeeceeeeeeeeeeseesesesees 16 1.5 INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATIƠN - 222cc 18 1.5.1 0i) bi 0 1‹ 1 18

1.5.2 Presentation through reading acfIVIfI€S -ĂccsS s25 19 IS gi si 0800000140277 = 19

1.5.4 Presentation through listening activities - Ăc ScsssSsssesseeses 19 ®0;/ an 0005 21

0; 2300 0M 21 2.] AITNđ - - - SH ni cọ nọ cọ Hi CC cv 21

ˆN (0y: “4 21

2.3 Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at Marie Curie High school, Hai Phong 880 21

2 3.1 Materials nh — 21

2.3.2 Teachers’ method ccccccesssssseccesessseaeeecessseseeaeeeecsesusneeseeesseseeneeeeeseseseaeees 22 2.3.3 Studenfs” TnOfIVAfIOTI c1 ng ng ng ng 22 "co 1 23

"1P vi vn 24

2.6 Data arniaÏyS1S - - - << 50000 HH ng TH 00 010 ng TH 0 0n ng ggk 25 PIN Phi, 090.10 )ì(- i20: v 0n 25

2.6.2 Survey questionnalre Íor sfUud€rifS + << << <2 x11 seeeeessesssee 27 2.7 Discussion nộ cao nh 29

0;/ an 0100001 31

3.1 Information SOULCES 31

3.2 ACTIVIẨICS 1T1 CÌÏ35S SH HH TH ng ng ng 0 0 00c 32 _cẢ ni) 5 40

Esrioi vi trố on 42

cản (0i nẽnẽ 42

“+ h1) 30.2008) ) 06a 42

“Pair work and Group-WOrk 6 42

(A0: cá n8 43

0 44

CONCLUSION 0ã 53 44

1 Summary of the = 44

2 Limitations oi 4¬ 1 45

K3 vi (0i) c0 sẽ 45

;355).60I90-.100777 Ơ 46 ,.ìaa5)I9)8.005257 7 I APPENDIX 2.0 cc ccccccccesssneecsessnececsscaeecesseaeecsscseseessseseeecssceeeeesesaeecseseeaeeeseceeeeesseneseeseenees TI APPENDIX 3 ooo cccee cence eeeeeeeceeeeneeeeeseaeeeeeeanaeeessaaeeeseacaeeeeesaaeeeeeeanaeeesenaeeesesseeeeneaaeeees V

This thesis is concerned with stimulating 10-form students’ presentation in English speaking classroom Specifically, a survey will be taken on teachers of English and 10- form students at Marie Curie High school in Hai Phong city to consider how English speaking lessons are conducted and how students respond to English speaking lessons The thesis also study students’ difficulties when participating in English speaking lessons This thesis also recommends some practical tips and typical classroom activities which were applied by the author and suggested by teachers of English at Marie Curie High school to improve quality of teaching and learning presentation in English.

I would also like to acknowledge the advice, comments I have received from my colleagues

at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong

My thanks also go to 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong who provided me with valuable data for the study so that I can have a better view of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support

Communicative Language Teaching

English as Foreign Language

English Language Teaching

English as Second Language

Foreign Language

First Language

Second Language

This research is motivated by both subjective and objective reasons Subjectively, doing a research on Methodology, especially on teaching speaking is very useful for a teacher of English Objectively, the importance of English in communication is increasingly emphasized, while the present English teaching at Vietnam’s high schools seems to face with an obstacle in improving learners’ communicative competence According to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the purpose of language teaching and learning

is to develop communicative competence in the target language Littlewood also states:

“One of the most characteristic features of Communicative Language Teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”’ However, the traditional method applied at Vietnamese secondary schools does not comply with the textbook at all Most teachers focus on teaching vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing skills They do not pay adequate attention to speaking and listening skills As a result, this leads to some problems Learners can be good at written English but they have difficulty in using it in oral communication Besides, their English is not good enough to use in real communicating situations Moreover, teaching and learning conditions at Vietnamese secondary schools are face with some drawbacks A class of 45 to 50 learners

is not appropriate for language teaching and learning Therefore, a suggested solution is

Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application of communicative language teaching approach in developing the 10” form learners’ ability in presentation at Vietnamese secondary schools in general and at Marie Curie high school in Haiphong in particular

2 OBJECTS OF STUDY

Due to actual English teaching and learning conditions, so far the most widely used English textbooks at Vietnamese high schools have been applied to 7-year English course Thus, the subjects of the study will be the high school students who use 7-year English textbooks For the limitation of the study, it can only focus on the 10” form Marie Curie high school students

Situational survey will be conducted on the students’ learning style and motivation, their problems in English presentation tasks The study will also be conducted on teachers’ techniques to raise students’ ability of presentation

Questionnaires will be given to analyze learners’ attitude towards presentation tasks as well as teachers’ techniques in speaking classes and needs in foreign language teaching and learning

6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Perhaps one of the obvious problems is the lack of students’ interest and active participation in learning activities Traditional methods of teaching in English classrooms have focused on passive learning This problem is probably caused by less exciting and practical activities of teachers The questions to be dealt with are:

How important is presentation to foreign language learning?

What should be done to stimulate the 10" form Marie Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class?

7 DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The study is intended to consist of three parts:

1 Part 1 — Introduction: give reasons for choosing the thesis, objects, aims and scope

of the study as well as the methodology of the study

2 Part 2— Development: will be divided into three chapters:

communicative classroom activities are also mentioned as the basis of the thesis Finally, the thesis discuss the important of integrating skills, the relation between presentation and other skills including reading, writing and listening

Chapter 2: The study gives the data analysis from the survey of 10 teachers of English and 100 students at Marie Curie High school to make the foundation for the activities in chapter 3

Chapter 3: indicates some typical activities and practical tips for teacher to stimulate 10-form students’ presentation in an English speaking lesson and examples for illustration

3 Part 3 — Conclusion: summarizes the study, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

PART IT: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 SOME DEFINITIONS

Presentation is generally defined in different dictionaries is to show and to explain the content of a topic to an audience or to audiences According to Wikipedia — The Free Encyclopedia, presentation is the process of showing and explaining the content of a topic

to an audience The same definition is also recognized by Longman Language Activator (1998: 1017) — To present is to be the person who tells the people watching or listening about the different things what will happen or are happening

For 10-form students, presentation is simplified and limited in a given topic In a typical 10-form English speaking lesson, students are asked to make small presentations based on

a given topic The lesson is normally built up with three tasks:

- Task 1: Students practice sample dialogues to have a general understanding about the topic;

- Task 2: Students participate in group discussion, in which students express their ideas and get to know the others’ ideas on the given topic

- Task 3: From the ideas collected from discussion task, students integrate the ideas

to make a presentation This presentation will be presented by a student on behalf

of his/her group

1.2 FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC

1.2.1 Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety

Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it is associated with learning a second or foreign language, it is termed as ‘second/foreign language anxiety’ It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991) and can be defined as a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated

listening and speaking because both the skills can not be separated

According to Horwitz et al (1986: 127), there are three related performance anxieties: (1) communication apprehension (CA); (2) test anxiety; (3) fear of negative evaluation Due to its emphasis on interaction, the construct of communication apprehension is also relevant

to the conceptualization of foreign language anxiety (McCroskey, 1977) The description

of these components will lay the foundations for the concept of second/foreign language anxiety, providing an insight to comprehend the sources or causes it can originate from

e Communicative Apprehension (CA)

The speaking skill is so central to our thinking about language learning that when we refer

to speaking a language we often mean knowing a language MacIntyre and Garder (1991) points out that the skill which produces most anxiety is speaking This anxiety comes in part from a lack of confidence in our general linguistic knowledge but if only this factor were involved, all skills would be affected equally What distinguishes speaking is the public nature of the skill, the embarrassment suffered from exposing our language imperfections in front of others

One of the most studied topics in the field of speech communication is the tendency on the part of some people to avoid, and even, fear, communicating orally Horwitz et al (1986: 128) define communication apprehension (CA) as “a type of shyness characterized by fear

or anxiety about communicating with people”

Communication anxiety may be specific to just a few settings (e.g., public speaking) or may exist in most everyday communication situations, or may even be part of a general anxiety trait that arises in many facets of an individual’s life (Fiedman, 1980) Learners’ personality traits such as shyness, quietness, and reticence are considered to frequently precipitate CA These feelings of shyness vary greatly from individual to individual, and from situation to situation McCroskey and Bond (1980) found seven factors that could result in a quiet child (this can equally offer explanation of adult CA); (1) low intellectual skills, (2) speech skill deficiencies, (3) voluntary social introversion, (4) social alienation,

(5) communication anxiety, (6) low social self-esteem, (7) ethnic/cultural divergence in communication norms While communication apprehension is one of these factors, the others can lead to communication apprehension

Communication apprehension obviously plays a large role in second/foreign language anxiety People who are apprehensive speaking groups are likely to be ever in more trouble when doing so in a second/foreign language class, where in addition to feeling less in control of the communicative situation, they also may feel that their attempts at oral work are constantly being monitored This apprehension is explained in relation to the learner’s negative self-perceptions caused by the inability to understand others and make himself understood McCroskey (in Apaibanditkul, 2006: 4) labels this kind of apprehension — which Neer refers to as “apprehension about classroom participation” — as classroom communication apprehension

e Test anxiety

An understanding of test anxiety is also important to the discussion of foreign language anxiety Text anxiety, as explained by Horwitz et al (1986), refers to a type of anxiety stemming from a fear of failure Test anxiety is quite common in language classroom at any levels

Unfortunately, for highly anxious students, second/foreign languages, more than any other academic subject, require continual evaluation by the teacher — the only fluent speaker in the class It is also important to note that oral testing has the potential to provoke both test and oral communication anxiety

e Fear of Negative Evaluation

Fear of negative evaluation is an extension of the second component (fest anxiety) of second/foreign language anxiety because it is not limited to test-taking situations; rather, it may occur in any social, evaluative situation, such as interviewing for a job or speaking in second/foreign language class It is also broader in the sense that it pertains not only to the teacher’s evaluation of the students but also to the perceived reaction of other students as

well Besides, students, when making presentations, may be anxious due to their in sufficient background knowledge on the topic discussed

In spite communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation provide useful conceptual building blocks for a description of second/foreign language anxiety, it is more than just the conglomeration of these three components We conceive foreign language anxiety as a distinct complex of self-perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process What makes language learning a distinct and unique process is its interaction with the concept of ‘self’

1.2.2 Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self? and ‘language classroom

e Self perceptions

According to Horwitz et al (1986: 128), perhaps no other field of study poses as much of a threat to self-concept as language study does They believe that any performance in L2 in likely to challenge an individual’s self-concept as a competent communicator, which may lead to embarrassment Laine (1987: 15) indicates that self-concept is the totality of an individual’s thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and values having reference to himself

as object This self-concept forms the basis of the distinction between language anxiety and other forms of academic anxieties The importance of the disparity between the ‘true’ or

‘actual’ self as known to the language learner and the more limited self as can be presented

at any given moment in the foreign language would seem to distinguish foreign language anxiety from other academic anxieties such as those associated with mathematics or science.

11

e Learners’ belief about language learning

As language learning poses a threat to learners’ self-concept, in response learners may generate some particular beliefs about language learning and its use Certain beliefs about language learning also contribute to the student’s tension and frustration in the class For example, the followings are such reported beliefs:

“T just know I have some kind of disability: I can’t learn a foreign language no matter how hard I try.” (Horwitz et al 1986: 123)

“Russian is too hard I'll never be able to learn Russian enough to go to Russia and talk to people’ (Tittle, 1997: 15)

Such beliefs have been found to cast a considerable influence upon the ultimate achievement and performance in the target language In Ohata (2005: 138), a number of beliefs derived from learner’s irrational and unrealistic conceptions about language learning, such as

1) Some students believe that accuracy must be sought before saying anything in the foreign language,

2) Some attach great importance to speaking with excellent native (L1 )-like accent,

3) Others believe that it is not ok to guess an unfamiliar second/foreign language word,

4) Some hold that language learning is basically an act of translating from English or any second/foreign language,

5) Some view that two years are sufficient in order to gain fluency in the target language,

6) Some believe that language learning is a special gift not possessed by all

These unrealistic perceptions or beliefs on language learning and achievement can lead to frustration or anger towards students’ own poor performance in a second/foreign language

e Instructors’ beliefs about language teaching

Just like learners’ beliefs about language learning, some instructor’s beliefs about language learning and teaching have also been found to be a source of anxiety Onwuegbuzie (1999: 220) asserted instructors’ belief that their role is to correct rather than to facilitate students when they make mistakes Further, he stated that the majority of instructors considered their role to be less a counselor and friend and objected to a too friendly and inauthoritative student-teacher relationship The researcher also reported that students realize that some error corrections are necessary but they consistently report anxiety over responding incorrectly and looking or sounding ‘dumb’ or ‘inept’ Young (1991: 429) mentioned the view that the problem for the student is not necessarily error correction but the manner of error correction — when, how often, and most importantly, how errors are corrected

In addition to error correction, some instructors have been reported not to promote pair or group work in fear that the class may get out of control, and think that a teacher should be doing most of the talking and teaching, and that their role is more like a drill sergeant’s than a facilitator’s These beliefs have been found to contribute to learner’s language anxiety (Young, 1991: 428) Recognition or awareness of these beliefs by both the learners, as well as the teachers, is essential for effective reduce of language anxiety in learners

1.2.3 Classroom procedure

Giving a short talk or presentation in the class has also been reported to be highly anxiety inducing, which makes the classroom environment more formal and stressful for the learners Different activities in the classroom procedure, particularly those that demand students to speak in front of the whole class, have been found to be the most anxiety provoking For instance, Koch and Terrell (1991) found that more than half of their subjects in their Natural Approach classes — a language teaching method specifically designed to reduce learner’s anxiety — expressed that giving a presentation in the class, oral skits and discussions in large groups are the most anxiety-producing activities They also found that students get more anxious when called upon to respond individually, rather than

if they are given choice to respond voluntarily In addition, students were found to be more

13

relaxed speaking the target language when paired with a classmate or put into small groups

of three to six than into larger groups of seven to fifteen students Similarly, Young (1991: 429) added that more than sixty-eight percent of her subjects reported feeling more comfortable when they did not have to get in front of the class to speak Earlier, Horwitz et

al (1986: 123) reported the same:

“Sometimes when I speak English in class, I am so afraid I feel like hiding behind my chair When I am in my Spanish class I just freeze! I can’t think of any thing when my teacher calls on me My mind goes blank.”

This suggests that any measure to treat language anxiety should not fail to exploit learning environments where students feel free of anxiety For this, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approaches are often recommended by the researchers to provide such and unthreatening environment where students talk to one another and not exclusively to the teacher

1.3 Socio-cultural factors

In the previous parts, it has been viewed that difficulties in learning L2/FL can explain the potential causes of language anxiety at the output stage of language learning within the classroom setting However, language anxiety may also be an outcome of social and communicative aspects of language learning The following parts will review the literature

on language anxiety from a socio-cultural perspective of language learning and its use

1.3.1 Social environment for L2/FL acquisition

Environment, where the target language is not used as L1 in the community, provides L2/FL learners only limited and sometimes faulty input For such learners, the only input is teachers’ or classmates’ talk — both do not speak L2 well Learners in such environments are exposed to the language only in the classroom where they spend less time in contact with the language The limited exposure to the target language and lack of opportunities to practice speaking in such environments result into embarrassment or stress for them when they are required to speak both in and out of the class

1.3.2 Errors in social setting

Although it is clear that language learning cannot be without errors, errors can be a source

of anxiety in some individuals because they draw attention to the difficulty of making positive social impressions when speaking a new language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989: cited in Horwitz & Gregersen, 2002: 562) Errors in social settings are mostly overlooked

if they do not interfere with meaning because people consider it impolite to interrupt and correct somebody who is trying to have a conversation with them Interlocutors only react

to an error if they cannot understand the speech and try to adjust their speech with the speaker in their effort to negotiate for meaning It is only in the classroom environment that feedback on errors is provided frequently; this leads many learners to frustration and embarrassment by making them conscious of their deficiencies

1.4 COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1.4.1 Purpose

Communicative activities are those which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative end of our continuum Learners are somehow involved in activities that give them both the desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in a varied use of the target language Such activities are vital in a language class since the learners can do their best to use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree of language autonomy Littlewood (1981) favored the opinion that it is quite necessary to consider the following purposes of communicative activities:

e They provide ‘whole-task practice’ In foreign language learning, our means for providing learners with whole-task practice in the classroom is through various kinds of communicative activities, structured in order to suit the learners’ level of ability,

e They improve motivation The learners’ ultimate objective is to take part in communication with others Their motivation to learn is to be sustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it with increasing success

15

e They allow natural learning Languages takes place inside the learners and, as teachers know to their frustration, many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control It is likely, in fact, that many aspects of language can take place only through natural processes, which operate when a person is involved in using the language for communication If this is so, communicative activity (inside or outside the classroom) is an important part of the total learning process

e They can create a context which supports learning Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationship to develop among learners and between learners and teacher These relationships can help to ‘humanize’ the classroom, and to create an environment that supports the individual in his effort to learn Oral communicative activities apply the same purposes, as communicative activities are operated mainly through oral communication

e Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are evenly distributed

e Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective

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

1.4.3 Types of communicative classroom activities

Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types, description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible However, most practitioners of CLT accept the general procedure with the following communicative activities

in their materials and language class provided by Littlewood (1981)

Pre-communicative activities: Structural activities

Quasi-communicative activities

Communicative activities: Functional communication activities

Social interaction activities

e Structural activities

Structural activities focus on the grammatical system, describing ways in which language elements can be combined These activities consist of pronunciation, vocabulary and structure practice

e Quasi- communicative activities

Quasi-communicative activities consist of one or more typical conversational exchanges Some resemble drills, but others are closer to dialogues These quasi-communicative

interaction activities

e Functional communication activities

Functional communication activities are those which emphasize the functional aspect of communication — the ability to find language which convey in intended meaning effectively

in a specific situation The main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively as possible Success is measured primarily according to whether they cope with the communicative demands of the immediate situation Some examples of these activities are questions and answers, open- ended responses, interview based on a text, information-gap activities, role-plays, etc

e Social interaction activities

Social interaction activities are those which place emphasis on social as well as functional aspects of communication Learners must still aim to convey meanings effectively, but must also pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place Success is now measured not only in terms of functional effectiveness of the language but also in terms of the acceptability of the forms that are used In the early stages of learning, acceptability may mean little more than a reasonable degree of accuracy in pronunciation and grammar Later, it will increasingly come to include producing language which is appropriate to specific kinds of social situation Examples of these activities are pair/group-work activities such as simulations, role-plays, and discussions

1.5 INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION

1.5.1 Important of integrating skills

The term “integrated skills” is frequently used as if it was almost synonymous with reinforcement Viewed in this way, the process of integrating language skills involves linking them together in such a way that what has been learnt and practices through the tasks of one skill is reinforced and perhaps extended through further language activities which bring one or more of the other skills into use

Therefore, typically, a piece of spoken language, in the form of a dialogue, will be followed by relating writing activities Indeed, this pattern-oral work leading to reading and writing- has almost become the classical model for the organization of learning materials into “lesson” or “units” The extent to which this is done and the way in which it

is implemented, in the form of teaching materials will be influenced by such factors as the level of the course, the relative importance of skills for the learners, and the view taken of the optimum ordering of the skills, but overall, this kind of skill linking is regarded as pedagogically sound

This consumption can be supported by the importance of integrated skills activities as follows (Donn Bryne, 1987)

1 They provide opportunities for using language naturally, not just practicing it

2 Many pair- and group work activities call for a variety of skills, sometimes simultaneously in order to involve all the learners

3 Learners seem to learn better when they are engaged in activities which involve more than one skill

We are not of course suggesting that single-skill activities are not effective: there will in fact be many occasions when we shall ask the learners just to talk or read or write, because this is appropriate Equally, however, we should be looking for opportunities to knit together, because this is what happens in real life

19

1.5.2 Presentation through reading activities

It is clear that, integrating skills is useful to create or to prepare contexts for practicing and using the intended language item or skill In additions, the use of one skill leads quite naturally to the use of another As a result, reading is likely to lead to speaking To give simple example, if we read an advertisement for a job in the newspaper, we may discuss it with someone else or ring up and enquire the advertising company about the job

More specifically, in the classroom, if we are looking for sources of talk, whether guided

or free, it is apparent that many of these come from reading activities Learners will, of course, need dialogues as conversational models but these are not necessarily the best stimuli for talk A reading text on an interesting or relevant topic may be much more productive, often because the ideas are presented more directly Through reading the learners can also greatly expand their receptive knowledge of the language, especially in the often area of vocabulary

1.5.3 Presentation through writing activities

Similarly, writing activities are sources of talk A writing activity, done collaboratively in pairs or small groups, will be accompanied by a good deal of talk-talk that is needed to

“get something done” For example, to prepare for a discussion, learners in pairs or groups take notes of their ideas and arguments It is the same in problem- solving activities, learners prefer to note down solutions to speak fluently and logically There are many other speaking activities necessarily prepared by writing activities in advance Generally, the writing activities before presenting a topic are very beneficial, especially for language students at elementary level They can write to arrange ideas and memorize words and expressions as well, which will help them to speak more easily and confidently

1.5.4 Presentation through listening activities

Like reading and writing activities, listening activities do create a stimulus for speaking activities For example, students hear a short conversation (or an extract from a long conversation), which provides very few clues as to what the speakers are talking about The learners themselves have to decide who the speakers are, where they are, what they are

talking about and possibly what will happen next This type of listening then, leads on naturally to discussion In another listening activity, learners are given some information, for example about a town (places of interest, facilities, etc.) in the form of a talk or conversation, on the basis of which they have to plan a visit The planning involves discussion and decision-making activities; making choices between places, events; activities for which the background information is made available in the recorded form However, oral communicative activities through listening comprehension require learners

to have a comparatively good listening ability so that learners can catch information and ideas for speaking activities afterwards Therefore, it is necessary for learners to do simple listening activities right from the beginning of the course and then they can gradually do oral communicative activities effectively based on listening comprehension

2.2 Informants

The informants participating in the survey are 100 grade 10" students of two English classes at Marie Curie High school They almost come from Hai Phong city Most of them have been learning English for four years at lower secondary school However, only few students could express intelligibly in English This means that they were beginners in speaking English when they entered high school Few of them can talk about topics required in the English text book

2.3 Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at Marie Curie High school, Hai Phong city

2.3.1 Materials

The English materials used in Marie Curie High school language classes are very limited They are almost only the textbooks compiled by Vietnamese teachers It is hard for students to have authentic materials such as English newspapers and magazines, visual and audio aids Therefore, their English lessons are less exciting The learners also find it hard

to get access to the real “language”

2.3.2 Teachers? method

Most teachers of English, not only at Marie Curie High school, but also in other high schools, tend to focus on teaching grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading and writing skills to help their students get good scores in examinations Besides, they tend to apply traditional techniques of the traditional method, for example, repeating dialogues in the textbooks, giving questions for students to answers Due to this method, the students have little interest in English lessons and their learning is passive and unsuccessful Moreover, their speaking ability is not practiced and improved

2.3.3 Students’ motivation

So far, the major aim of Marie Curie High school students in learning English is still armed

at passing school written examinations In fact, these examinations are mostly based on grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skill Consequently, despite their interest in developing speaking and listening skills for communication, they would rather study the above mentioned language components and skills Therefore, they hardly have opportunities to develop speaking skill in English learning

The second reason, in my opinion, is the names of characters and scenes in the text book Students may not be interested in the book since learning English with Vietnamese names and Vietnamese scenes seem not to make an impression that they are learning “real English” in “English speaking environment” but learning English with the Vietnamese in

Vietnam’s situations

The last but not least, visual aids and audio aids are not always available due to inadequate investment in language teaching and learning in Vietnam Consequently, textbook seems to

be the only source of learning for students and teachers

In general, one of the clearly seem features of the high classroom atmosphere is the lack of interest Most of the classroom activities concentrate on teaching and practicing language structures As a result, during the lesson, the learners do most repetition, substitution, memorizing activities, or answering questions based on texts and so on They do not have

2.4 Methods

The survey questionnaires were used in the research as the main source of information It was conducted with two sets of survey questionnaires for 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school

The survey questionnaire for teachers consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit their views on the following aspects (Appendix 1):

- The role of presentation in English teaching (questions 1, 2, 3, 4)

- The difficulties when teaching cross- cultural knowledge in conversation classes (question 7)

- The useful activities in the conversation class (questions 5, 6)

- The classroom interaction mode in a presentation task (questions 8, 9)

The survey questionnaire for students consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit their views on the aspects as follows (Appendix 2):

- The role of presentation in English learning (questions 1, 2, 3)

- The way they obtain information for presentation task (question 4)

- The motivating activities in the English speaking class (questions 5, 6, 7)

- The difficulties when doing presentation activities in the speaking class (questions 8, 9)

2.5 Data collection

Table 1: Data collected from survey questionnaire for teachers

(Questions 7 has more than one answer)

Table 2: Data collected from survey questionnaire for students