Some teaching methods help improve students’ speaking skill at high school

Phases in the speaking learning process - Before you Speak 5-7mins: The purpose of this part is attracting students to the lesson, preparing some knowledge relates to the topic for them

TABLES OF CONTENTS

I INTRODUCTION 2

1 Reasons for choosing the study 2

2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Object of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methodology of the study 3

II DEVELOPMENT 3

1.Theoretical background of the speaking skill 3

1.1 The Importance of Speaking Skills 3

1.2 Some skills and strategies in communication 4

1.3Phases in the speaking learning process 4

2 Real situation 5

3 Problems 6

4 Some solutions for these problems 6

4.1 Applying some skills in speaking lessons 6

4.2 Give students more chance to communicate by English 14

5 Results: 16

6 Experience lessons: 16

III CONCLUSION 17

I INTRODUCTION

1

Reasons for choosing the study

All the languages are used as a mean of communication Therefore,

it is very important to equip students with English- an international

language How can they use it to communicate with other people after graduating from high school is a question for many educators To do it, we – english teachers- have to change the teaching methods as well as the curiculums

Many students cannot communicate well inspite of having known clearly about grammatical rules That means we are teaching english in ineffective ways Why are they afraid of using English to talk with other people while they can get high marks in written tests? Working as an

English teacher at a high school, I realise that there are many difficulties which prevent students from communicating by English Therefore, I

reseach this topic to give some effective methods which help students to learn and use English better

2

Objectives of the study

I research this topic because of some following purposes

First, students can learn speaking lesson more effectively

Second, students can use simple words, phrases and structures to

communicate

Third, teachers can apply some other ways to teach the speaking lessons effectively

3 Object of the study

- The English communication skill of students

4 Scope of the study

- Speaking skill

5 Methodology of the study

- Conducting a survey

- Observing

- Doing experiments

- Checking the results

II DEVELOPMENT

1 Theoretical background of the speaking skill

1.1 The Importance of Speaking Skills

Language is a tool for communication We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech we cannot communicate with one another

In-order to become a well rounded communicator one needs to be

proficient in each of the four language skills viz., listening , speaking, reading and writing, but the ability to speak skillfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages The capacity to express one’s thoughts, opinions and feelings, in the form of words put together in a meaningful way, provides the speaker with these advantages

An effective speaker can gain the attention of the audience and hold it till the completion of his message Speaking skills are important for career success, but certainly not limited to one’s professional aspirations

Speaking skills can also enhance one’s personal life

( Theo

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ /Speaking_Skill)

1.2 Some skills and strategies in communication

a Remember word skill

Remember word is one of the most important and helpful skills for a speaking lesson Remember word skill allows students to remember many words and the content of the lesson rapidly

b Speak Clearly and Slowly

c Prediction skill

Student will predict what is the lesson about before practising speaking and what will happen next

d Using dictionary

Students can look up some new words to understand the lesson easily

e Infering skill

Students can communicate and infer others’ opinion, attitude or implicity

1.3 Phases in the speaking learning process

- Before you Speak (5-7mins): The purpose of this part is attracting

students to the lesson, preparing some knowledge relates to the topic for them It solves the problems of knowledge, culture or countries It also

helps students to predict the information relates to the lesson

- While you Speak(20-25mins): This part aims to develop the students’

speaking competence and comprehension It contains three to four tasks Students are asked to read and do the tasks in order to widen their

vocabulary and improve communicative skills Then, they get the content

of the lesson

- After you Speak (5-10mins): This part helps students to review the lesson

and develop the communicative skills through connecting the lesson with the fact Teacher also test the students’ results and then he or she can

appreciate the whole lesson in this part

Real situation.

We- English teachers- have to cope with the fact that students speak

English very badly today Majority of students cannot use English to

communicate It is paid much attention to by both English teachers and

educators

After conducting a survey at my school, I can determine some

following factors which prevent students from communicating fluently

+ teachers’ teaching methods are not really suitable 43%

The result of the survey conducted in the 2016-2017 new school

year for 129 students from class 10A2; 11B2 and 12C2 shows the rate of

students who can use English to communicate is on the following table

Class number excellent good average Below

average

poor

3 Problems

There are many problems that limit the students’ communication

- Text books

+ Some reading passages are too long and they contain many new words

+ Some exercises are too difficult for most of students

- Teachers:

+ 45 minutes is not enough time to teach a speaking lesson so some

teachers often quit the warm-up part, hardly organize pair or group

activities while they are very important to bring the excitement for

students

+ Some teachers often ask students to read and do all the exercises one by one individually It takes so much time

- Students:

+ The majority of students lack basic knowledge , vocabulary, structures + They cannot concentrate thoroughly on the speech

+ They are passive in gaining knowledge

+ They lack speaking skills, they often imitate the dialogue, so they have difficulties with hard dialogue

+ They speak so slowly that it takes so much time to practice a dialogue

4 Some solutions for these problems.

4.1 Applying some skills in speaking lessons

4.1.1 Disappearing text.

- What is “Disappearing text” ?

- This is controlled activity or less controlled depends on students’ ability

“ This can be done with a list of vocabulary items or phrases, a short text

or a dialogue at any level

+ Write up the text on the board Read out the text and drill

+ Rub off a small part of it Students have to say the whole text again

+ Gradually rub off more and more in bits and each time get the students to say the whole text.

This provides intensive drilling practice as the students have to repeat it so many times However, the game factor also increases motivation to get it right and that gets more challenging as the activity continues”.

( Theo http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/drilling-2)

a Applying process

- To use this skill, after warm-up part and lead –in part , teacher introduces the topic of the lesson and do the following steps:

+ Elicit for students to make a dialogue (if they are good average students)

or give an available dialogue (if they are below average students) This dialogue should be written on the other board at home or can be presented through PowerPoint

+ Practise reading out loud several times

+ Teacher chooses some good students to practise as examples

+ Students practise in pairs several times

+ Teacher checks some pairs

+ Teacher erases some key words or phrases in each sentences

+ Ask students to practise in pairs the dialogue several times

+ Teacher continue checking some pairs

+ Teacher erases all sentences gradually

+ Ask students to practise in pairs the dialogue several times

It is very useful if teacher uses the PowerPoint to teach the lesson in that way

b Apply this skill in the lesson

- In English 12, I applied this skill in an activity The topic of the lesson is ask and answer the questions about the application process to tertiary study

in Vietnam This is an activity whose content is formal so it is suitable for applying this skill After teaching some new words and providing some structures for students, I lead to the topic of the lesson like that

- T says: Now suppose that you have got a friend in England and he / she

wants to study at a university in Viet Nam but he don’t know anything about Universities in Vietnam He / She wants to ask you for some

information

- T elicits to build the following dialogue:

Y: - Hello Can I help you ?

YF -I was wondering if you could tell me about the application process

to tertiary study in Vietnam?

Y - Sure, I can

YF - Well What do I have to do first ?

Y - You have to fill in the application form.

YF - And when do I have to send it?

Y - In March

YF - And what about the GCSE ?

Y - You have to take the GCSE exam in late May

YF - And how long will I have to wait to get the result?

Y - About 2 weeks.

YF - Do I have to take the entrance examination?

Y - Yes, you do It takes place in July

YF - When will I get the entrance examination result?

Y - In August

YF - Thank you

Y - Not at all!

After finishing students’ practice and checking some pairs, teacher

continues asking students to practise the dialogue which was omitted some key words

Y: Hello Can I ………… ?

YF -I was ……… if you could ……… the ……… process to

……… study …….Vietnam?

YF -I was _ if you _ about the process to tertiary _in Vietnam?

Y - Sure,

YF - Well What _ I have to ?

Y - You to fill _the application .

YF - And when I _ to send _?

Y - In

YF - And what _ GCSE ?

Y - You _take GCSE _ in _May

YF - And long will wait to get result?

Y – About _.

YF - _I have to _ the entrance _?

Y - Yes, _ It place _ July

YF - When will get examination result?

Y - In

YF - _

Y – Not _!

And then continue to do the same with the dialogue which has more words omitted

YF - _ if you _ about process _ Vietnam?

Y - Sure,

YF - Well What _ I have ?

Y - You the application .

YF - when to it?

Y - In

YF - what _ GCSE ?

Y - You GCSE in _

YF - And wait to result?

Y - About _.

YF - to entrance _?

Y - Yes, _ It place July

YF - get the _examination ?

Y - In

YF - _

Y !

Students have to remember the words to practise the dialogue It is very good if they can remember all the dialogue

c Some lessons can be taught in this way

This skill is suitable for the activities such as job interviews, tertiary institutions, etc Therefore, we can apply it into these following lessons:

- English 10:

+ Unit 3 - Speaking - task 2.

+ Unit 4 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 16 - Speaking - task 1

- English 11:

+ Unit 4 - Speaking - task 2.

+ Unit 9 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 13 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 16 - Speaking - task 1

- English 12:

+ Unit 4 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 5 - Speaking - task 2.

+ Unit 11 - Speaking - task 1 +task 3

d Some notes when using this skill

This skill is suitable for the class most students of which are average They cannot develop a dialogue base on the given topic by themselves Therefore, depending on the students’ ability, we can

+ elicit for students to make a dialogue

+ give them an available dialogue

+ use it as an activity in pre-speaking or while-speaking

+ use PowerPoint to support the lesson

+ use it in the formal dialogue such as job interviews or tertiary institutions

4.1.2 Information gaps

- What is “Information gaps” ?

- This is less controlled activity and it focuses on students’ fluency more

“Information gap activities are often designed to provide highly

controlled practice of particular structures By swapping information which requires use of a particular language pattern, the students have to solve a problem This problem solving provides a communicative purpose

to what is essentially a drill”.

Example:

The students have a shopping list of fruit they need to buy (6 oranges, 1 kilo of apples etc.)

Student A has the prices of various fruits in one shop, student B has the prices in another shop

They have to ask each other and answer about the prices and complete a grid with the information

The task is then to decide which shop will be the cheaper one for them to buy their fruit in

( Theo http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/drilling-2)

a Applying process

This skill is used to develop communicative demand when people

exchange the information To use this skill, after warm-up part and lead –in part, teacher introduces the topic of the lesson and do the following steps: + Deliver handouts (prepared at home)

+ Instruct students to work in pairs

+ Ask students to work in pairs ask and answer the questions about the information in the handouts

+ Check some pairs

b Apply this skill in the lesson

I applied this skill in task 2 – speaking lesson – unit 13 – English 12

This activity talks about some of the records at the 22nd SEAGames After reviewing some new words and providing some structures for students, I lead to the topic of the lesson like that

- T says: You are going to ask for some information about the records of

the 22nd Sea Games Let’s do it

- Students work in pairs practise these sentences

+ What is the name of the athlete who won the …( Men’s 200

meters ) ?

+ His / her name is ………

+ Where is he/ she from ?

+ He/ She is from……… ( Thailand )

+ What was his / her record?

+ He/ She……… ( ran 200 metres in 20.14 seconds )

Handout A:

Record of the 22 nd SEA Games

Athletics -Men’s 200 m

Women’s Marathon -42 km Erni Indonesia 2 h 52 m 28 s Men’s Long Jump

Swimming -Men’s 1500 m

Cycling -Women’s 25 km

cross- country

Handout B:

Record of the 22 nd SEA Games

Athletics - Men’s -200 m Boonthung Thailand 20.14 seconds Women’s Marathon -42 km

Women’s High Jump

Swimming -Men’s 1500 m Yurita Indonesia 13 m 19.26 s Cycling -Women’s 25 km

cross- country

c Some lessons can be taught in this way

We can apply it into these following lessons:

- English 10:

+ Unit 1 - Speaking - task 1.

+ Unit 14 - Speaking - task 2

+ Unit 15- Speaking - task 2

+ Unit 16- Speaking - task 2

- English 11:

+ Unit 4 - Speaking - task 2.

+ Unit 12 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 16 - Speaking - task 1

- English 12:

+ Unit 4 - Speaking - task 1

+ Unit 5 - Speaking - task 2.

+ Unit 13 - Speaking - task 2

d Some notes when using this skill

This skill is suitable for most of the students However, depending on

the students’ ability, we can ask them to practise the dialogue in other

levels

+ We have to design the background activities logically

+ It is necessary to use some teaching tools

+ This skill is suitable for Post speaking

4.2 Give students more chance to communicate by English.

- Why do students prefer speaking Vietnamese to English?

- With whom do they speak English? What do you speak English for?

In my opinion, beside the factor of using language, environment for using language is one of the most important factors We cannot