An investigation into the use of useful expressions to enhance speaking skills for the third year students at hanoi university of business and technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES _________________  LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE US

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

_



LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CỤM TỪ HỮU ÍCH

GIÚP NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH DOANH CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

_



LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CỤM TỪ HỮU ÍCH

GIÚP NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH DOANH CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the others‟ work The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library

Hanoi, May 2017

Lê Hồng Phượng

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of some people, and in some ways, I would like to thank everyone who has taught me, inspired me, challenged me, and supported me during the process of conducting this thesis

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor, Duong Thi Nu, Ph.D, for her great assistance as well as her dedicated guidance she gave

me while I was carrying out my project

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all lecturers

in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures and professional dedication which have inspired me to conduct this thesis

I would also like to express my thanks to my colleagues at Faculty of English, my third-year students at Faculty of Management at Hanoi University of Business and Technology for their willingness to participate in the research Without their help, this project could not be completed

Last but not least, I am most thankful to my family and my closed friends who have always inspired and encouraged me all the time

Hanoi, May 2017

Lê Hồng Phượng

ABSTRACT

The majority of second language learners encounter problems when they speak in the target language For the number of the students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, the matter might be a big obstacle Because of their various and low levels before entering the school, the students find it difficult to master speaking skills in English In this project, the researcher conducts an investigation in the use of useful expressions to the third-year students within 8 weeks The research was formulated as an action one which used a questionnaire as

a research instrument to collect quantitative and qualitative about students attitudes and the effectiveness of using useful expressions in learning speaking skills As can

be seen from the qualitative and quantitative data, difficulties, limitations and challenges still occurred during the research; however, to some extent, the students made much progress in their speaking competence The results suggested the use of useful expressions as one of the effective ways to teach and learn speaking in English

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives 2

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Method of the study 3

1.6 Design of the study 3

PART 2 - CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of terminology 5

1.2 The role of speaking in language learning 5

1.3 Components of speaking competence 8

1.4 Different techniques used to teach pronunciation 10

1.5 The role of useful expression or fixed expression in developing speaking skill 10

1.6 Previous studies 11

1.6.1 Lexical bundles 11

1.6.2 Idiomatic expression 13

1.6.3 Useful expressions 14

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15

2.1 Context of the study 15

2.2 The study 17

2.2.1 Participants 17

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 17

2.2.3 Questionnaire 18

2.2.4 Pre-test and Post-test results 20

2.2.5 Analysis techniques 2.2.6 Data presentation and analysis 21

2.2.7 Procedure 21

2.3 A statement and a sample of assessment ……….24

2.3.1 Assessment requirements and criteria 24

2.3.2 The principles for grading 24

2.3.3 A sample of assessment 25

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS 27

3.1 Students‟ general attitude towards using useful expressions in learning speaking skill 27

3.1.1 Students‟ attitude towards interest in using useful expression in learning speaking skill 27

3.1.2 Students‟ opinion towards the suitability of using useful expressions in speaking lessons 29

3.1.3 Students‟ opinion towards the practical aspect of using useful expressions in speaking lessons 30

3.1.4 Students‟ opinion towards their improvements after learning useful expressions 31

3.1.5 Students‟ difficulties in doing the project 32

3.2 The effectiveness of the research 33

3.3 The pre- test‟s and post-test‟s results 34

PART 3:CONCLUSION 39

1 Recapitulation 39

2 Main findings 39

3 Limitation of the study 40

4 Suggestions for further study 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This part is dedicated to introducing the rationale of the study, the problem to

be addressed in the study, the aims and objectives of the study, and the research questions to be answered It will also present the scope of the study and an overview

of the methods and the design of the study

1.1 Rationale

Speaking skills is one of crucial parts of second language learning and teaching “The ability to speak in a foreign language is at the very heart of what it means to be able to use a foreign language” (Louma, 2004) The mastery of this output skill in English is a priority for many second language or foreign-language learners In this global era, English is utilized as an international medium of communication and it helps people to work and cooperate in a common language It

is the fact that the learners are often evaluated their success in the language learning

as well as the effectiveness of their English course through their spoken language proficiency Unfortunately, speaking skill is a complicated and multifaceted skill which is not easy to be improved and takes a long time to make progress Up to now, various approaches to teaching speaking, therefore, have been recommended

to help deal with this issue

In most universities in Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject which equips students for effective workplace communication after their graduation It goes without saying that at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (hereafter HUBT), a private university, it is not an exception

Being a teacher of English at English Department at HUBT, the author has had an opportunity to teach English mainly for communication in four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing Thanks to approaching all students from the freshmen to the seniors at all levels in all majors, the researcher herself has found that her students have a number of problems with speaking skill They are not willing to speak due to many reasons such as poor pronunciation, being afraid of making mistakes, lack of vocabulary and not having a language environment to

practice English and so on

During the first few courses, the author had many frustrations because even some of her students had motivation to learn English, they could not make progress

in speaking skill Some students said to her “I can understand your English, but when I speak to „real people‟ I can‟t understand them” The writer has decided to introduce some changes with the desire for motivating and supporting her students

to learn English speaking skill better through an action research whose result will be presented in this thesis entitled “An investigation into method of English teaching speaking skill using Useful Expressions for the third-year students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology.”

The third-year students who are selected to be the participants in this study have already had two years learning English at HUBT as well as they soon have to gain a TOEIC certificate to graduate Furthermore, in order to seek for jobs in an international workforce environment when Vietnam joined global organizations like WTO, TPP and soon Asian Union, learners especially need to be accustomed to and use common phrases, useful expressions which are familiar with people in the workplace context Hence, they are able to communicate well with their seniors, colleagues, or clients Hopefully, the study will also help to facilitate her teaching, especially teaching speaking skill which she is interested in

1.2 Aims and objectives

The aim of the current study is to investigate the effectiveness of the method

of teaching speaking skill using Useful Expressions for the third-year students at HUBT This fundamental aim can be achieved when the two following objectives are met The first objective of the study is to seek for the effectiveness of using useful expressions for the students‟ improvement The other one is to explore the students‟ attitudes towards using useful expressions technique

1.3 Scope of the study

In order to improve students‟ speaking skill, teachers can use varieties of techniques However, this study merely focuses on studying the effectiveness of teaching useful expressions to improve students‟ speaking skill

This action research is applied in five consecutive speaking lessons The action is carried out for the third-year students of all majors in a class of about 30 students at HUBT within 8 weeks The collected data are analyzed and discussed to figure out how using useful expressions contribute to enhance students‟ speaking skill

1.4 Research questions

This study is conducted to find the answers for the following questions:

1 What is the students‟ attitude towards useful expressions?

2 To what extent does the use of useful expressions enhance speaking skill for the students from the teacher and the students‟ perspectives?

1.5 Method of the study

Action research is employed in this study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this research The data were collected by means of:

- Questionnaires

- Interviews

The questionnaire is designed to gather data about the students‟ ideas on the intended criteria Information gathered from interviews with teachers will be note-taken, analyzed and used for providing more information

These two research instruments are used in three phases of the action research for preliminary investigation, exploration of the effects that the action creates, and reflection on the action phase

1.6 Design of the study

A part from the Introduction and Conclusion, the study is organized into three main parts: Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion

In the first part, Introduction consists of the rationale, aims, research questions,

significance of the study, scope of the study, and the design of the study

In the second part, chapter 1 - Literature Review mentions the theoretical

background of the study and the review of the previous studies

The next chapter - Methodology describes the overall picture of how the research is

carried out from the first step of determining the research design to the last step of gathering the results

The chapter 3 is Results and Discussion This part reports the statistical results and

the analysis of the data

In the last part, Conclusion closes the study by summarizing the whole study with

concluding remarks and offering some limitations and suggestions for further studies

Besides, the list of References and the Appendixes are also parts of this study

PART 2 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is a collection of researches related to the field we are studying It is a summary of research that has been published about a particular subject It provides the reader with an idea about the current situation in terms of what has been carried out, and what we know Sometimes it includes suggestions about what needs to be done to increase the knowledge and understanding of a particular problem These researches are from professional journals which we can trust that the authors are trained professionals, and others have examined their work

1.1 Definition of terminology

Useful expressions:

Researchers tend to use different words with similar definitions to talk about fixed or useful expressions, for example Wiktorsson (2002) prefabs, Grant and Nation (2006) figurative as well as Nation and Meara (2002), and Wiktorsson (2003) use the term “multi-word units” Gluckberg (2001) proposes that fixed expressions include, in order of relative frequency: compound, idioms, names, clichés, songs, books, and movie titles, quotes and familiar foreign phrases

From the author‟s perspective, useful expressions in English are fixed expressions that are used frequently in speaking to express a concept or idea They are a standard form of expressions which have taken on a more specific meaning than the expression themselves They are different from proverbs in that it is used as

a part of a sentence

1.2 The role of speaking in language learning

Speaking is fundamental to human communication Let us think of all the various conversations we have in a day and compare that with how much written communication we do in one day In our daily lives, most of us speak more than we write When communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech, we cannot communicate with one another The importance of speaking skill, therefore,

is extremely enormous for the learners of any language

If a person would like to become a well-rounded communicator, he or she needs to

be proficient in each of four language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Of all skills, the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with a couple of distinct advantages When we attend a job interview, present a topic, negotiate a contract with our clients and so on; becoming an effective communicator is obviously a great benefit When we share our views with others, the joy we get is uncountable and the better understanding about life and ourselves

as well Especially, in some cases, speaking skills can support someone‟s profession well or even lead to their career success

One of the highest levels of speaking is to present a certain matter in front of the huge audiences; in other words, it is public speaking We can take a look the campaigns to become the American President candidates The winners are those who can make argument about particular matters, and above all is the ability to persuade the public to trust him or her who can make his or her vision and strategy become true in the future Their arguments are the combination of factors including presenting the ideas clearly and persuasively, arguing, discussing, negotiating, making concession, and so on These factors are essential skills in speaking Hence, speaking is a skill that we can learn; we can practice to become a master communicator

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language Nevertheless, “speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills” (Bailey & Savage, 1994)

In the current landscape of globalization, information available through the Internet would become more accessible to students (Goh, Goh, & Burns, 2012) As a result, more and more teachers in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) countries are being encouraged to teach English through English Many learners themselves are also keen to develop their speaking abilities, so as to secure better jobs and places in overseas universities The development of good speaking (and listening) skills is no longer a bonus for language learners, but an essential aspect of their language-

proficiency development because it can have a direct impact on the personal and professional success of many of them

Goh et al (2012) also claim that speaking for communication is generally recognized in ESL classrooms as an indispensable tool for thinking and achieving academic success For the second language speakers enrolled in academic or professional programs, training in communication skills is often available to learners through English –for- Academic- Purposes (EAP) courses or English – for – Specific- Purposes (ESP) programs These courses typically focus on presentation and seminar skills, profession-specific speaking skills, and lecture note-taking skills ESL learners in primary, middle, and secondary school contexts also need to use speech to develop thinking skills that are specific to different subjects in the school curriculum, and the ability to do this empowers the learners to engage critically with their social and physical world

According to Wolvin and Coakely (1996), the connection between language learners‟ speaking abilities and their academic learning is much formal learning through the spoken language Through the medium of English, being able to speak (and listen) in the language of instruction will greatly facilitate students‟ participation in class and the learning of the subject matter To be able to speak English, the second language learners have to develop various pragmatic competencies Learners need to learn how to initiate and maintain conversations, to sustain group discussions, describe feelings and give reasons in an acceptable manner, and ask for more information or assistance (Brice, 1992) In other words, one of the fundamental reasons why second language learners need to develop good speaking skills is to engage in effective day-to-day classroom communication

With the same viewpoint, Goh et al (2012) claims that it is important for the second language learners to develop speaking skills that enables them to use spoken English effectively in various contexts of learning It is also not uncommon to find the second language learners being perceived as less able or intelligent, simply because they cannot use the language to express their understanding, doubts, and opinions clearly Inability to speak and listen effectively in their second language

can cause some learners to abstain from participating in class When even daily communication becomes a problem, it is not surprising that many second language learners cannot participate in the discourse of academic learning As a result, they are further disadvantaged in schools because they cannot demonstrate ways of using the “mainstream” language valued in formal education (Cummins, 2000)

In a broader perspective, Grainger (2004) claims that when teachers help learners develop their ability to use spoken English for academic learning, this ability is not merely limited to expressing and comprehending basic speech functions in the classroom Learners have to develop abilities for using speech as a way of both engaging with ideas and subject-specific thinking, and communicating facts and opinions clearly through in increasingly abstract use of oral language They also need to develop effective skills that will help them participate successfully in “inter-thinking” when working with others in group The ability to use oral language to convey abstract concepts during group work will also contribute to their ability to understand and express abstract ideas in the written language Being able to use oral language well to engage with their learning of the various academic subjects can help language learners succeed academically and reap the benefits of an education delivered through the second language

Second language learners who attend school or tertiary institutions where teaching is conducted in the target language can engage effectively in the discourse

of an academic environment if they have good speaking abilities Inability to do so can cause learners to be disadvantaged in a system where not only proficiency in the target language is desirable, but also the ability to control the academic register in the spoken mode is highly valued Speaking skill also directly benefits learners because it can facilitate the second language acquisition

All things considered, it is quite clear to say that the ability to speak a language is extremely important in daily communication and classroom communication as well, especially in academic learning

1.3 Components of speaking competence

Depending on the aim of the test to assess the speakers‟ ability to communicate

effectively, components of speaking competence are utilized in various ways

In IELTS, the interviewer may consider this ability in four different criteria: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation This assessment is famous for its academic reputation which is recognized worldwide In terms of Fluency and Coherence, this refers to how good the candidate is at keeping talking at the right speed and how good they are at connecting their ideas together This is a fairly general criteria which includes evaluating the relevance of the candidate's answers For the Lexical Resource, this relates to how much vocabulary the candidate has and how well they use it As well

as the rules of language at a word level, this criteria considers the communicative functions of speech and the social meaning of speech The next criterion, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, this refers to how many structures the candidate has and how well they use them Again, as well as the rules of language, this criteria considers the communicative functions of speech The last one, Pronunciation, this refers to how well the candidate pronounces the language As well as considering the communicative effect of the candidate's pronunciation, there is evaluation of how much strain it causes on a listener, and how noticeable their accent is

In HUBT, to measure learners‟ speaking competence, basically, those components above are almost used; however, they are assessed at a lower level There are five main categories used to assess students‟ communicative competence: Vocabulary, Grammar, Fluency, Pronunciation, Content and Useful expressions The first category Vocabulary, this refers to their use of words and the range of accuracy of the vocabulary they choose to use It is not only how they select words but also how well they utilize them will be considered The second category Grammar, the variety of grammar and how correctly they use are both judged by their teacher Therefore, the range of tenses as well as the appropriate use of them is important in all parts of speaking test About the third one Fluency, this measures student‟s ability to speak without too many pauses and hesitations About Pronunciation, this is not only the way students pronounce individual words but the whole sentences which are considered The teacher will be considering how easily their students can understand what he or she saying The

last category Content, this is the way to develop and organize their ideas relating to the mentioned topic

In terms of Vocabulary, the way learners choose and utilize words and phrases is extremely important When learners would like to say something for any particular objective like asking for and giving information, expressing agreement and disagreement, making suggestions and recommendations and so on, there are a variety of fixed expressions which are to be considered a hint to be given to be suitable for each context These are examples:

Objectives Asking for information Asking for opinions

Fixed

expressions

 Could you tell me ?

 I‟d (also) like to know ?

 Could I ask you _?

 I was wondering if you could give me

 How do you feel about that?

 What do you think?

 What‟s your view?

1.4 Different techniques used to teach pronunciation

Up to now, there have been many different techniques applied to teach pronunciation all over the world such as discussions, role play, simulations, information gap, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews, story completion,

reporting, picture describing and so on

1.5 The role of useful expression or fixed expression in developing speaking skill

Expression is a part of every language (Boers, 2008) claims that all languages have idioms and are full of them Native speakers have a tendency to utilize expressions spontaneously without thinking of the figurative meaning It is natural that non-native speakers find several expressions not easy to understand

Because of the difference between spoken language and written language, the speaker has barely time to make plan what they are going to say, therefore, the sentences are shorter and less complex, and may contain grammatical and syntactical mistakes The speaker must also produce his utterance within severe constraints, he does not know in advance what will be said to him and hence what his utterance will be a response to yet If the conversation does not flag, he must

respond quickly The rapid formulation of utterances which are simultaneously

“right” on several levels is central to the spoken communicative skill (Taylor, 1983)

Obviously, the pressure of time dramatically affects the language we use The possible solutions which help speakers reduce this pressure are considered are the speakers should use devices to facilitate production and devices to compensate for difficulties And some of the facilitation and compensation devices are using of time creating devices and using of idiomatic or conventional expressions called formulaic In this investigation, the author utilizes useful expressions as a kind of technique which may help learners facilitate their spoken language

With the current textbook Market Leader which has numerous communicative situations in business including presenting a product, negotiating a contract, making arrangements, taking part in meetings, managing meetings, introductions and networking, considering options, getting information on the phone and so on People spend great deal of their time interacting with more people and each of these situations requires a different register according to the formality of the moment

1.6 Previous studies

In communication, it is wrong in ways if we select individual words and put those words together in correct order to make sentences Words tend to stick together, thus, there are sets of words to use to talk about specific topics That means we tend to be working with sets of words rather than single words These sets can be anticipated by us like sets of words to use talk about school or companies Nevertheless, several relationships are almost impossible to anticipate and these are word relationships that linguists label lexical bundles, idiomatic expression, and structured conversation

1.6.1 Lexical bundles

According to Neely and Cortes (2009), lexical bundle is sequences of words which are frequently re-used, and therefore become “prefabricated chunks” that speakers and writers can easily retrieve from their memory and use again and again

as text building blocks Biber and Conrad (1999) also claimed that a lexical bundle

is said to be a sequence of three, four, five or more contiguous words in the

classroom talk that occurs above a threshold frequency

Lexical bundles are defined as groups of words that occur repeatedly together within the same register They are “simply extended collocations that appear more frequently than expected by chance, helping to shape meaning in specific contexts and contributing to our sense of coherence in a text” (Hyland, 2012) Lexical bundles are crucially important for determining the success of language users within specific discourse communities and for the construction of discourse in all university registers in particular Previous research has shown that lexical bundles are especially prevalent in university classroom teaching They can

be classified in terms of their formal linguistic aspects and their functional role in texts According to Bogart, (Biber, Conrad, & Cortes, 2004) identify three main discourse functions for lexical bundles: stance expressions, discourse organizers and referential expressions

In terms of developing speaking skill, Biber and Conrad (1999) said that lexical bundles are the sequences of words that most commonly co-occur in a register They are not usually fixed expressions, and it is not possible to substitute a single word for the sequence; in fact, most lexical bundles are not structurally complete at all

Many bundles in conversation contain the beginning of a main clause followed by the beginning of an embedded complement clause Those lexical bundles can build discourse building blocks, with the following slot being used to express the content specific to each individual situation Based on the explanation lexical bundles can help them to build a specific content of conversation in certain situations

In frequency of use of lexical bundles, there are almost 4,000 different lexical bundles in conversation, and about 3,000 various lexical bundles in academic prose In conversation, three-word bundles occur more than 80,000 times per million words and four-word bundles over 8,500 times per million words In academic prose, three-word bundles occur more than 60,000 times per million words, and four-word bundles over

5,000 times per million words (Conrad & Biber, 2004)

In terms of lexical bundles in conversation, Biber and Conrad (1999) mentioned 14 main categories of lexical bundles which fits with transactional

speaking They are personal pronoun + lexical verb phrase as in “I don‟t know what …”, “ I don‟t know how …”; pronoun/ noun phrase + be as in “It‟s up to you”, “It‟s going to be…”; Wh-question fragments as in “What do you mean”,

“What‟s the matter with” and so on

1.6.2 Idiomatic expression

In terms of idiomatic expressions, they are defined as an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the Cacciari and Tabossi (2014) It means that idioms cannot be inferred from their constituent parts On the other hand, they are also defined as expressions, words, or phrases that have a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native speakers This meaning is different from the literal meaning of the idiom‟s individual elements In other words, idioms do not

mean exactly what the words say They have, however, hidden meanings

They are frequently used in both spoken and written language According to some estimates like Polio, Barlow, Fine, & Polio (1977), native speakers of English may use as many as 20 million idioms in their lifetime (Vasiljević, 2013)

Cooper (1998) also claims that since idiomatic expressions are so frequently encountered in both spoken and written discourse, they require special attention in language programs and should not be relegated to a position of secondary importance in the curriculum Idioms bring cultural and historical information and broaden people‟s understanding and manipulation of a language Idioms appear in every language, and English has thousands of them They are often confusing because the meaning of the whole group of words taken together has little, often nothing, to do with the meanings of words taken one by one In order to understand

a language, we must know what the idioms in that language mean

Fromkin (2003) shares the same view that idioms expressions are a part of every language‟s vocabulary and are based on that language history, heritage, and culture Learning idiomatic expressions helps non-native speakers of a language become more fluent, and sound more native-like Furthermore, acquiring the knowledge of idiomatic expressions is an effective way for learners to become more knowledgeable and better

aware of the culture and customs of that particular language The importance of idioms

also lies in the fact that it is an everyday routine of the native English speakers‟

language Learning idiomatic expressions by non-natives leads them to better English

proficiency, help their second or foreign language seem to be more native speakers

Therefore, learning English idiomatic expressions not only enhances one‟s second or

foreign language skills but helps non-native speakers of a language understand that

target language better (Yule, 2006)

According to Maisa and Karunakaran (2013), no translator or language

teacher can afford to ignore idioms if a natural use of the target language is an aim

In short, lexical bundles, idiomatic expressions or useful expressions are parts in

learning language They help learners acquire language more deeply and naturally

The learners using these expressions become alike to native speakers

1.6.3 Useful expressions:

To be frank, there have not been many researches relating to the useful

expressions Recently, the research on “Useful expressions for implementing

cooperative learning in English” of results of groups of four authors M Asakawa,

A.Kanamaru, T Plaza and C Shiramuzu from different schools and universities in

Japan

The results of the questionnaire suggested students generally considered the

list to be helpful in establishing smoother English language communication with

their classmates The results also suggested that the list helped build confidence and

contributed to increased motivation among the students The individual comments

in the questionnaire further indicated that students felt the list played a significant

role in helping them during discussions or at least say something such as a quick

response

The effectiveness of the list which the author provided helped students move

beyond the list phrases to articulate their ideas The students felt that the list

contributed to learning beyond the specific phrase presented While the phrases on

the list mainly facilitate learners linking one utterance to another, thereby

smoothing interactions, the list also may have contributed to students to students‟

belief in their ability to convey their messages in English during the conversation

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In the previous chapter, the theoretical matters related to the topic have been covered In order to see how they work in real learning environment, this research was carried out with the following steps:

1 Doing the entry test to the students

2 Teaching useful expressions to students

3 Doing the test after a period of teaching time

4 Delivering the questionnaires paper to the students

5 Collecting the completed questionnaires and analyzing the data

In the first step, the author designs the pre-test to check the students‟ speaking skill

at the time of research

In the second step, this is a real action The teacher has an opportunity to apply the new technique for students

In the third step, the teacher delivers the post-test for students to get the result after applying to teach useful expressions

The next step, students are asked to answer some questions relating to the lessons which have been taught

The final step, the researcher gathers questionnaires and interprets the data

This chapter describes only the first four steps The last step will be presented in the next chapter That is, main contents of the chapter include the context and subjects of the study, the research questions, the data collection instruments, the data collection procedure, the data analysis procedure Also, this chapter mentions the advantages and disadvantages when the researcher used those instruments and data analysis procedure

2.1 Context of the study

This study draws on the research carried out at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, a private university located in Vinh Tuy ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, Vietnam HUBT is famous for giving opportunities of studying for students related to two major fields: business and technology These fields cover

three groups of various majors like Economics – Business, Technology and Foreign Languages Of all, Management and Accounting are the most popular majors in HUBT There are thousands of students enrolling in these fields with their full of expectation annually Thanks to these expectations, the university always makes the effort to meet students‟ requirements

In order to fulfill the needs of the current job in competitive market at present, the university‟s priority and policy are mainly focus on English and Information - Technology beside the other major subjects Therefore, English is considered to be an extremely essential to all major students and non-major students

as well In the HUBT‟s curriculum, English is designed for students to learn lasts a half and three years Also, the school always seeks for new methods to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English Every year, the English faculty carries out adjusting, renewing or even substituting textbook and course book In the recent years, the university‟s infrastructure has changed dramatically in order to provide equipment and teaching aids for teaching and learning English effectively such as radio sets, computers, loud speakers and projectors in all classrooms Beside such multi-media classrooms, the reference books, the interactive video and audio are also available in the library Furthermore, the computer rooms are fully- equipped with free Internet access These facilities support students in improving and practicing their English skills both in class and outside

With the university‟s priority of accentuating students‟ accomplishment in learning English, the school always up-to-dates the new tendency of learning method A typical example is that, students at HUBT are provided the English online program It brings students chances to practice English on their own anytime and anywhere, even they are not at school This is a good way for learners to overcome their shyness and weaknesses when communicating with foreigners face

to face As a matter of fact, in comparison with non-major students from other colleges, their English competence tends to be better

For the third-year students, English is taught three or four lessons per week Each lesson covers 12 periods including 4 skills, namely listening, speaking,

reading and writing Besides, students are provided the grammar and skills sections

to complete their knowledge

As regards the teaching, lecturers at HUBT normally have a meeting at the beginning of the new school year so that they are informed all the latest information about the schedule, syllabus, course book, regulations and principles relating to the class Assessing forms including attendance marking, mid-term and final scoring for students also are provided Another point to note is that teachers of English graduated from various universities in Vietnam Furthermore, most of them are young, dynamic and dedicated Nonetheless, some of them were not trained to be teachers Or to the teachers at the age of fifties or more, they find it difficult to pronounce English exactly Or to some teachers who were not trained to be teachers of English at the beginning, for instance, they were teachers

of Russian, for those inexperienced teachers, several pedagogical situations may happen like classroom management or their expertise such as pronunciation that can negatively affect their students‟ performance

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Participants

The participants in the study are selected randomly are 30 students who major in Management at HUBT Most of these students have studied English at least seven years and they completed their second year at school curriculum last semester They are currently the third-year students; therefore, they are supposed to

be familiar with the learning and teaching styles at HUBT

The 30 students of Faculties of Managing participating in the study are assumed by the researcher to be more studious than those at other faculties because

of their current academic and future career requirements Thus, this study does not necessarily present the whole population of the university Because of the scope of the study, the author tries to investigate the effectiveness of learning speaking through a questionnaire and interview

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

To reach the major objectives of the study, a survey questionnaire was utilized as a main tool for data collection in this research because it is considered to

be a “useful instrument for to collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the

researcher, and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze” (Cohen,

Manion, & Morrison, 2013)Therefore, it would certainly be valuable for helping the researcher explore the effectiveness through learning speaking Moreover, this research tool is also relatively more comfortable, time-saving and economical to administer Hence, using a questionnaire is one of the solutions to the methodological problem Though the use of questionnaire has some weak points,

for instance, “participants think the researcher wants to hear, or indulge in flattery”, Ellis (1985) highlighted that questionnaires have provided an insight into

self-the personal nature of language learning, particularly classroom language learning

Though the questionnaire is the major instrument, this study comprises the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods The qualitative data is obtained from the interviews with students and teachers of English when developing and fulfilling the questionnaire In order to make sure that the participants can understand clearly the content of the questionnaire, the researcher provided the Vietnamese version of questionnaire items as well The explanation was elicited if necessary

In addition to the use of survey questionnaires and private interviews, the researcher also utilizes the adaptive pre-test and post-test from the Intermediate Market Leader textbook (David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, the 3rdedition, Pearson Education Limited 2012) The useful expressions which the author selects to teach are according to the topic of each lesson These lessons belongs to topics such as, socializing: introductions and networking, starting and structuring presentations, dealing with figures, social English and getting information on the telephone The main tasks throughout the lessons are listening individually, working

in pairs or in groups, playing in roles and making presentation

2.2.3 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was used to find out the students‟ advancement toward utilizing the useful expressions to improve their speaking skills and the ways they learn and practice The questionnaire was designed with both open-ended and closed questions The questionnaire consists of title, “thank you” part, instructions, questionnaire items and additional information The questionnaire for students was

in both versions Vietnamese and English so that it was easier for them to understand

and avoid any misunderstanding of the questions This will ensure the validity and reliability when the author collects the data

Students were delivered the questionnaire at the end of the course The author introduced the objectives of the research, some detailed information and say

“thank you” to students in advance Besides, in order to get the reliable information and data, students were guided clearly before and while they were asked to answer the questionnaire They were required to finish the questionnaire during the break time which last about 15 minutes in the classroom at university

The questionnaire consists of 18 questions regarding the effectiveness towards using useful expressions to learning speaking skill The participants are also required to give their interest in learning speaking

This section of the questionnaire also based on a 5-point Likert scale with a desire to have the unity with the previous section of learning strategies The scale ranges from (1) strongly agree to (2) agree, (3) not sure, (4) agree and (5) strongly agree By this scale, number 5 inferred a student who is highly motivated by the given reason while number one means the other end of the spectrum Meanwhile, even-numbered scales (such as four options) without the middle value “force people

to choose”, make them “frustrated” and; hence, responses collected may not be accurate (Losby & Wetmore, 2012) In addition, in spite of more discrimination of 7-point type, the difference is not so much Moreover, the researcher supposes that

7 is a bit lengthy for when the time for handing out and completing the questionnaire was limited while the questionnaire was not short With above reasons, the researcher believes that this study‟s adaption is reliable enough to conduct

Specifically, question 1 was asked about learner‟s attitude about the interest when using useful expressions to learn speaking skill Students answer question 2, 3 about the suitability they use useful expressions to learn speaking skill Question 4,

5 and 6 focused on the practical aspect of using useful expressions in learning speaking skill and other skills Question 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 talked about the students‟ improvements after using useful expressions to learn speaking skill The last three questions were open-ended ones asking about difficulties that participants meet while they did the research as well as their lessons, and their suggestions for better lessons and further researches which they refined from their experience

Content Number Questions

Interest Q1 The interest when using useful expressions to learn

speaking skill

Suitability

Q2 The suitability of useful expressions with the

participants‟ levels Q3 The suitability of the useful expressions practice

other skills such as listening

Q11 Better knowledge when using useful expressions

appropriately in different communicative situations in business

Q12 Overall speaking skill improvement due to the use of

the useful expressions

Difficulties Q13 The difficulties that the students met during the

research

Suggestions

Q14 Students‟ suggestions to help the teacher and

classmates use useful expressions in learning speaking Q15 The improvement for further researches

2.2.4 Pre-test and Post-test results

The pre-test and Post-test were formed and adapted from text book (the 3rd edition

Intermediate Market Leader, Pearson Education Limited, 2012) used for teaching and learning speaking skill The advantages of using tests adapted from this book are well-organized structure, updated information, official knowledge and time saving

2.2.5 Analysis techniques

After all the questionnaires were returned, the researcher entered the data into the SPSS statistics software, version 20 which addresses the entire analytical process The base software involves the following statistics that was applied in her study

2.2.6 Data presentation and analysis

The collected data were presented in an SPSS file The 15 questions in the questionnaire became 15 variables in the SPSS file Then, for the responses, the questionnaire items were ranked into 5 various categories, namely 1-Strongly agree (SA), 2-Agree (A), 3-Not sure (NS), 4-Disagree (D), 5-Strongly Disagree (DA) Hence, up to now, this chapter has presented in detail the context, the subject, the instruments, and the procedure of collecting data and analyzing data of the whole study The following chapter will deal with the Data Analysis

2.2.6 Procedure

The research is planning as eight-week work It consists of in-class practice lessons and the pre-test and the post-test

In-class practice lessons:

Firstly, the students did the pre-test to know their current speaking levels Then the students attended classes to practice speaking skills by using useful expressions weekly After 7 weeks, students were asked to do the post-test to see the effectiveness and the improvement of the technique used at the 8th week

Time Teacher’ activities Students’ activities Target

Week 1 Introduce, explain and

deliver the pre-test

Get introduced to the research aims and do the pre-test

Introduce the research and deliver the pre-test

Week 2 Practice the situation 1-

Topic: Organization (Unit

Be introduced the topic

Introduce the topic relating to

4)

Explain the requirement

Ask some students how to

do the task

Give the feedback and

help students do the task

Give the time for students

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Answer T‟s questions Guided to practice the situation 1

Do situation exercises

Organization

At the end of lesson, students can use these useful expressions of Socializing:

Introduction and networking efficiently

Week 3 Give the situation 2-

Topic: Advertising (Unit

5)

Explain the requirement

Ask some students how to

do the task

Give the feedback and

help students do the task

Give the time for students

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Be introduced the topic

Answer T‟s questions Guided to practice the situation 2

Do situation exercises

Introduce the topic relating to

Advertising

At the end of lesson, students can use these useful expressions of

Starting and structuring a presentation

efficiently

Week 4 Give the situation 3-

Topic: Money (Unit 6)

Explain the requirement

Ask some students how to

do the task

Be introduced the topic

Answer T‟s questions Guided to practice

Introduce the topic

relating to Money

At the end of lesson, students can use these useful expressions of

Give the feedback and

help students do the task

Give the time for students

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

the situation 3

Do situation exercises

Dealing with figures

efficiently

Week 5 Give the situation 4-

Topic: Cultures (Unit 7)

Explain the requirement

Ask some students how to

do the task

Give the feedback and

help students do the task

Give the time for students

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Be introduced the topic

Answer T‟s questions Guided to practice the situation 4

Do situation exercises

Introduce the topic

relating to Cultures

At the end of lesson, students can use these useful expressions of

Explain the requirement

Ask some students how to

do the task

Give the feedback and

help students do the task

Give the time for students

to discuss and practice

Be introduced the topic

Answer T‟s questions Guided to practice the situation 5

Do situation exercises

Introduce the topic

relating to Human Resources

At the end of lesson, students can use these useful expressions of

Getting information

on the phone

efficiently

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 7 Review topics and useful

expressions

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Do situation exercises and practice

Review topics and useful expressions

Week 8 Deliver the post-test and

collect the data

Listen and take notes of

the feedback about

difficulties and suggestions

from the students

Do the post-test Give the feedback to the teacher about the difficulties and suggestions

Deliver the post-test and collect the data

2.3 A statement and a sample of assessment

2.3.1 Assessment requirements and criteria

Students are assessed at 2 stages of the course: the entry test and final term tests

In assessing speaking skill via interview, Luoma (2004) provides three frameworks

as “linguistically oriented, communication-oriented and situation-based” In which, linguistically oriented consists of Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation In addition, there are some criteria to assess the oral skill such as Intonation and Stress, Cohesion and Content

In this project, the most criteria are useful expressions to be utilized in Vocabulary

in speaking part

2.3.2 The principles for grading

The key assessment scales are divided into 5 bands from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest Descriptors for each criterion are provided for bands 1, 3,

5, 7, and 9 and indicate is expected to demonstrate at each band The descriptors for band 5 and above generally indicate performance of at least passing level

2.3.3 A sample of assessment

The marking scale and speaking assessment criteria have been mentioned in section 1.3 Components of speaking competence in Chapter 1 Literature Review This marking scale is the combination of IELTS speaking band descriptors and the criteria in assessments at HUBT

Speaking assessment scale

Evidence of accuracy in elementary constructions, but only partial control

Handles elementary constructions accurately most

of the time, but does not have thorough control; some more complex structures

Occasional errors

frequency and complex structures, no patterns of error

Vocabulary

Rote utterances and

memorized material

Ability to use vocabulary related primarily

to immediate environment and self

Ability to use general vocabulary for general interest topics and circumlocution

Broad vocabulary and

a variety of communicative strategies

Fluency Extremely

limited

May evidence considerable groping and usually speaks

Able to link sentences into paragraphs

Ability to link paragraphs and speak with ease

in discrete

or isolated sentences

connectors with only occasional grasping for words

Pronunciation

Some intelligibility expected

Errors frequent but generally comprehensible

sympathetic listener used

to dealing with foreigners

Generally comprehensible

Never interferes with meaning

Content

Create with language, initiate, maintain, and bring to a close

simple conversations

by asking and

responding to simple

questions

Some informal settings and a limited number

of transactional situations

Predictable, familiar topics related to daily activities

Most informal and some formal settings Topics

of personal and general interest

Most formal and informal settings Wide range of general interest topics and some specials fields of interest

and expertise

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

The previous chapter presents the study which includes the concept of the study, the methods of data collection, the participants, and the research procedure This chapter presents the data analysis The chapter begins with the findings related

to the using useful expressions in speaking skills The chapter concludes with the discussion of the findings

3.1 Students’ general attitude towards using useful expressions in learning speaking skill (Research question 1)

With the aim at investigating students‟ general attitude towards using useful expressions in learning speaking skill which includes their difficulties and lessons when implementing the project, all the questionnaires were collected and analyzed both descriptively and interpretively The results shown below are rather significant

to the research

This section will be presented into 5 major categories: (1) attitude towards interest in using useful expressions in learning speaking skill, (2) attitude towards suitability of using useful expressions, (3) opinion towards the practical aspect of using useful expressions, (4) opinion towards improvement after learning useful expressions, and (5) students‟ difficulties in doing the project

3.1.1 Students’ attitude towards interest in using useful expression in learning speaking skill

In the questionnaire, the first question was made to investigate students‟ general attitude towards using useful expressions to learn speaking skill The first question asked the participants whether the use of useful expression in learning

speaking skill or not There were five choices for them

Figure 3.1.1 Useful expressions improve speaking skill

The data appears to suggest that majority of the students here suppose that useful expressions improve their speaking ability There were 21 participants who agreed with the answer and 2 of respondents who strongly agreed So in total the number of the respondents who thought that useful expressions improved their speaking skill was 23 meanwhile only a small number (1 respondent) strongly disagreed Moreover, just 3 of the participants were not sure about the attitudes to the effectiveness of using useful expressions improve their speaking ability