An investigation into classroom opportunities for and constraints on the teaching and learning of english speaking skills at phuong dong university

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---o0o--- NGUYỄN THỊ NGA AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM OPPORTUNIT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

SPEAKING SKILLS AT PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu những thuận lợi và trở ngại trong lớp học của việc dạy và học nói

tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Phương Đông

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

NGUYỄN THỊ NGA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND CONSTRAINTS ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH

SPEAKING SKILLS AT PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu những thuận lợi và trở ngại trong lớp học của việc dạy và học nói

tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Phương Đông

M.A MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Le Van Canh, PhD

Hanoi, 2015

DECLARATION

I, Nguyễn Thị Nga, K22 being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND CONSTRAINTS ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT

PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY is completely the result of my own work for the Degree of

Master at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Le Van Canh, Ph.D for his continuous support, his patience, motivation and immense knowledge His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I could not have imagined having a better supervisor for my thesis

Secondly, I would like to send my thanks to all lectures and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies of Vietnam National University Hanoi for their useful materials, instructions and enthusiasm which are of great importance to this thesis

My special thanks also go to my colleagues and students of Phuong Dong University whose valuable advice, tremendous assistance and cooperation are indispensable for the thesis Without their help, this study could not have been fulfilled

I find myself indebt to my beloved family- my parents, my husband, my sisters and brothers and all my friends who have always stood for me with their consideration and encouragements to help me overcome all problems to complete this thesis

Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my readers for their concern, interest and comments for this study

of Phuong Dong University experience certain opportunities as well as difficulties from themselves and from their teachers when taking part in speaking activities and techniques given by their teachers during speaking lessons Some recommendations to overcome the difficulties are also given in the thesis

It is hoped that this thesis will be useful for both teachers and students of Phuong Dong University in their teaching and learning of English speaking skills

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students’ English learning history

Table 2: Students’ general opinions on language skills

Table 3: Students’ opinions on speaking skill

Table 4: Students’ assessment of their speaking skills

Table 5: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons

Table 6: Students’ participation in speaking class

Table 7: Tteachers’’ instructions in speaking class

Table 8: Teachers’ mistake correction

Table 9: Students’ opportunities in speaking activities during speaking lessons Table 10: Students’ difficulties in speaking activities during speaking lessons

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES iv

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Research methodology 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Structure of the thesis 3

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of speaking skills 5

1.2 Importance of speaking skills in ELT 6

1.3 Approaches to teaching and learning speaking skill 7

1.4 Interaction Hypothesis in second language acquisition 9

1.4.1.Interaction Hypothesis 9

1.4.2.The Interaction Hypothesis and classroom interaction 10

1.5 Patterns of classroom interaction 11

1.5.1.Teacher-learner interaction 11

1.5.2.Learner- learner interaction 12

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 14

2.1 The research context 14

2.2 Methods of the study 15

2.3 Research questions 15

2.4 Participants 16

2.5 Data collection instruments 16

2.5.1 Observation 16

2.5.2 Questionnaire 17

2.5.3 Interview 17

2.6 Data collection procedure 18

2.7 Data analysis 19

2.8 Summary 19

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 20

3.1 Presentation and analysis of data 20

3.1.1 Data from classroom observation 20

3.1.2 Data from survey questionnaire and interviews 22

3.1.2.1 Students’ English learning history 22

3.1.2.2 Students’ opinions on language skills 22

3.1.2.3 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons 25

3.1.2.4 Students’ participation in speaking class 26

3.1.2.5 Teachers’ manners in classroom 28

3.1.2.6 Students’ opportunities in speaking activities during speaking lesson 30

3.1.2.7 Students’ difficulties in speaking activities during speaking lesson 35

3.1.3 Conclusion 39

3.2 Feasible solutions 40

3.2.1 Helping the students to improve their grammatical structures and enrich their vocabulary 40

3.2.2 Eliminating the students’ anxiety 41

3.2.3 Reducing the students’ use of Vietnamese during pair work and group work 42

3.2.4 Allocating enough time for each activity 42

3.2.5 Making the classroom under control 43

3.2.6 Teaching students strategies to develop speaking skills 43

3.2.6.1 Using minimal responses 44

3.2.6.2 Recognizing scripts 44

3.2.6.3 Using language to talk about language 45

PART III:CONCLUSION 46

1 Conclusion 46

2 Limitations of the study 46

3 Suggestions for further study 47

REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX I Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I Appendix 2 : INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS IV Appendix 3 : INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS V Appendix 4: OBSERVATION SHEET VI Appendix 5 : 1st OBSERVATION VII Appendix 6 : 2nd OBSERVATION XI Appendix 7 : 3rd OBSERVATION XIII

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Amid the context of international integration and globalization, English has become an international language and increasingly proved its important role in all fields of life, including education In recent years, Vietnam has eye-witnessed

an upward trend of teaching and learning English, especially when students are fully aware of educational opportunities that they can benefit from the mastery of English

In Vietnam, English is taught as a foreign language that has four skills, namely listening, reading, speaking and writing Among these four skills, speaking seems to be the most demanding but central skill However, students have experienced lots of problems during their speaking learning Despite the fact that some students who have learnt the English language for more than ten years, they are unable to use the language fluently and effectively They are often passive and shy in using English in real communication The reasons behind this problem are various Some students say that they don’t know what to say or afraid of making mistakes Others claim that lack of ideas, vocabulary or stimuli are factors inhabiting them from participating in speaking tasks The teachers of English are also to blame in this situation They may not have provided enough opportunities to students for improving their communication skills Besides, they may not have properly used classroom techniques or strategies in developing English for communication Therefore, all these factors have made the process of teaching and learning speaking skills become irrelevant, boring and sometimes a burden, too

With 3 years of experience in teaching English at Phuong Dong University, I realized that during the process of teaching and learning speaking skill, both teachers and non-major students at my own university have experienced not only opportunities but constraints as well Actually, being aware of this current situation, in some ways, will enable the people involved to continue to benefit from the advantages and try to identify and suggest practical solutions to the problems they have to encounter This awareness will also pay the way for the

improvement of teaching and learning English in order to ensure a better future

of using English as a communicative language for non-major students at Phuong Dong University Therefore, all these aforementioned factors have encouraged

me to undertake a survey research in which I would like to identify the opportunities as well as constraints in classrooms of teachers and students when dealing with English speaking skill at my own university I am inspired to

conduct a study named “An investigation into classroom opportunities for and

constraints on the teaching and learning of English speaking skills at Phuong Dong University”

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study is certainly aimed at finding out the opportunities as well as constraints in classroom which teachers and non-major students of Phuong Dong University have to experience during the process of teaching and learning English speaking skills Specifically, the objectives of the research are as follows:

(1) To investigate the common classroom activities and techniques in teaching speaking skills to non-major students at Phuong Dong University

(2) To explore the learning opportunities that those activities create for students to develop their speaking skills

(3) To find out the constraints on speaking skills of students brought about by those activities

3 Research methodology

Three research questions will be addressed as follows:

(1)What are the teachers’ common classroom activities and techniques in

teaching English speaking skill to non-major students at Phuong Dong University?

(2) What learning opportunities do those classroom activities and techniques create for non-major students to develop their speaking skills?

(3) To what extent do those classroom activities and techniques constrain on non-major students’ speaking skills?

In order to answer the research questions stated above, this study is carried out

on the combination of two different methods, namely quantitative and qualitative methods

As for instrument, classroom observation is carried out to find out teachers’ common classroom practices in speaking lessons Survey questionnaires for students and interviews with both teachers and students are carried out to find out the opportunities and constraints of those practices they have to experience during speaking lessons

As for participants, the study is intended to involve 70 second-year students of Phuong Dong University They come from 3 classes of Finance and Banking Department and now are in the first semester of their second year, working with Starting Skill 2 Moreover, 3 teachers who are directly responsible of teaching English speaking skill for the 3 classes at Phuong Dong University also take part

in the study

4 Scope of the study

This study only focuses on the classroom opportunities and constraints on the teaching and learning of English speaking skills at Phuong Dong University However, in an attempt to make this study more manageable, the study only aims

at the teaching and learning of English speaking skills of non-major students at Phuong Dong University The subjects of the study are restricted to 70 second-year students at Phuong Dong University despite their gender and ability and 3 English teachers who directly teach speaking skill for non-major students of

Phuong Dong University

5 Structure of the thesis

The study is divided into three main parts, and a list of reference and appendices are attached to the end

Part I, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims and objectives, the scope, the research methods and the design of the study

Part II, Development, consists of three chapters Chapter one is the Literature review This chapter provides the theoretical background of the study Chapter two is the Methodology of the study which includes instruments, participants,

data collection procedure and data analysis of the study Chapter three, Results and discussion, states the findings from the study and discusses some recommendations

Part III, Conclusion, gives a brief review of the study, limitation as well as suggestions for further studies

Appendices and references are attached at the end of the thesis

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of speaking skills

There have existed various ways of defining speaking skills in language teaching and learning In fact, many definitions about speaking have been proposed by language experts

First of all, as Nunan (1991:39) argues that mastering English language needs to master the entire skills productive and receptive one Speaking skill occupied an important place in foreign language teaching and learning “To most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important factor of learning a second or foreign language and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language”

According to Ur (1991: 48), “speaking is the productive oral skill It consists

of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning”

Regarding to this matter, Brown (1994) states that speaking is a process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information

In Brown and Yule’s opinion (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciation Usually, there is a great deal

of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another Speaker usually uses non-specific references Johnson and Morrow (1981:70) assert that speaking which is popular with the term “oral communication”, is an activity involving two or more people in which hearers and speakers have to react to what they hear and make their contributions at a speed of a high level In this definition, as a result, the essential components mentioned to exist in speaking are the speakers, the hearers, the message and the response Both the speakers and the hearers should agree on the message and the meaning being talked through acceptable language

Brown and Yule (1983) also point out that the ability to give uninterrupted oral presentation (monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or more other speakers for transactional and international purposes That explains

why speaking skill generally has to be learnt and practiced carefully before giving a presentation

Meanwhile, as indicated by Bygate (1987), in order to speak a foreign language, it is of great importance to have micro-linguistic skills, which means to understand some grammar, vocabulary, and the rules governing how words are put together to form sentences However, these motor- perceptive skills, as Bygate calls them, are not sufficient since while producing sentences We often have to adapt them to the circumstances He then presents the second set of speaking skills: the interaction skills which involve using knowledge and basic motor-perceptive skills in deciding what to say and how to say it, while maintaining the intended relation with others

1.2 Importance of speaking skills in ELT

Needless to say, language, in general, serves as a tool for communication

We converse with others, express our ideas and get to know others’ ideas as well through the use of language, which will take place when there is speech Without speech, we cannot communicate with one another The importance of speaking skills, hence is enormous for the leaners of any language, especially of an international language like English

First of all, the goal of language is communication and the aim of speaking in

a language context is to promote communicative efficiency It is the speaking skills which help learners develop fully their communication, which, according

to Richard A (1991), is the proper aim of language teaching Additionally, as for Larson.C.U (1996), effective communication offers learners a more satisfied and meaningful life, which then help them feel motivated and confident enough to express their opinions Threats, conflicts or nerves, as a result, can be neglected and a friendly relationship will certainly come to them

In the second place, when asserting the importance of speaking skills in ELT , Decaney and Bowen (1968) indicates that only after a reasonable mastery

of spoken form has been achieved should other skills be taught Obviously, speaking skills enforce and bring about the successful acquisition of reading, listening and writing, or in other words, the whole process of English language

learning Communicative use in speaking skills, according to Littlewood (1991), serves as the goal as well as a means of learning which helps learners reach it Once learners have the ability to

communicate well, they will find it much easier to perform other skills

In a nutshell, it is undeniable that speaking skills seem to be a dominant factor in the process of English language learning and teaching Effective speaking ability creates favorable conditions for learners to acquire the language better and efficiently use that language as a real means of communication Speaking ability, indeed, is the very signal that measures the language knowledge

of learners

1.3 Approaches to teaching and learning speaking skill

It is known that the history of language teaching has experienced the change

in methods, which have reflected recognition of changes in the sort of proficiency in learners needs What has changed in a second language teaching is not in the way we teach but in the aim of language teaching and learning (Le,2004)

Teaching a second language use to be aimed at enabling learners to read and appreciate class of literature Therefore any teachers who were able to reach this aim were thought to be good teachers (Le, 1004) For a long time, tradition methods like Grammar Translation Method were used to teach English that made learners become structure competent and communicative incompetent

Nowadays, it is undeniable that most learners of English desire to be able to communicate with others in the language they learn Among the four skills, speaking skill seems to take most responsibility in helping learners shaping a good competence of communicating in English Therefore, parallel with this change in the aims of learning English, modern approaches of teaching speaking have to be changed A number of language teaching methodologists have constantly looked for the most appropriate way to English speaking skill efficiently As a result, many methods and approaches have come into being As illustrated by Murphy (1991), the following are the modern approaches of teaching speaking used after the Grammar Translation Method:

 Silent Way: the way in which teachers rarely speak, while student speaking is focused

 Suggestopedia: very controlled speaking activities which are based upon lengthy written scripts

 Community Language Learning: many peer to peer interactions that contribute to a community spirit among students

 Direct Method: students engage in many controlled, content-explicit, speaking activities

 Natural Approach: initially emphasizes guided speaking

 Communicative Language Teaching: many peer to peer, guided and free speaking activities which are organized around notional, functional and/ or linguistic considerations

 Task-based Approach: activities are centered upon practical tasks for students to perform

In general, it is hard to say which method is the most suitable and appropriate without considering the circumstances in which it is applied However, as added

by Murphy, though not all methods are applicable for young learners, the approaches of Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based Approach seem to be dominant and often widely used for learners

In fact, Task-based Approach is a development within the Communicative Language Teaching approach, as Brown (1994:83) stated “Task-based is a perspective that can be taken without a communicative language teaching framework.” Both methods employ on the belief that it helps to develop the learners’ communicative language ability by learning to communicate through interaction in the target language Thus, the goal of language learning classroom

is to provide students with communicative practices with the aim for learners to acquire language Providing students with communicative activities gives students chances to form and practice communication strategies or string lexical phrases together to express ideas

Moreover, in teaching practice, it is generally observed that negotiation of meaning in communicative tasks may provide opportunities for learners to

develop their strategic competence and fluency but may not necessarily lead to more comprehensible output and the development of greater accuracy As teachers, we need then to ask a question “What will help learners to become more accurate?” when communicating with others One solution might be we need to take away the time pressure in a communicative task and give learners the chance to prepare the content of what they are going to say It is hoped that they may focus more on correct expression

As communicative approaches have developed, teachers have been concerned

to ensure that students not only practice speaking in a controlled way in order to produce features of pronunciation, vocabulary and structure accurately; but also practice using these features more freely in purposeful communication Therefore, the challenge for the communicative classroom is to find activities and procedures for speaking which will prepare students for spontaneous interaction and which will aid the acquisition process Since a particular type of activity may provide for some of these things but not others, there is then the question of how to create a varied program of activities which gives a range of opportunities for speaking practice

1.4 Interaction Hypothesis in second language acquisition

1.4.1 Interaction Hypothesis

The Interaction Hypothesis states that interaction facilitates second language acquisition because conversational and linguistic modifications that occur in discourse provide learners with necessary comprehensible linguistic input In other words, second language acquisition occurs when learners interact in conversation with native speakers or with each other This approach is credited to Long (1996), who sought a way to bring together two major approaches in second language acquisition Hatch (1978) recognized the importance of conversation on the development of grammar Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985) stressed the importance of linguistic input in the target language that is slightly more advanced than what the learner has mastery of The current state of

a learner’s rule-based linguistic knowledge is designated as “i” while the slightly more advanced input is “i+1”.Long believes that what makes input to be

comprehensible is modified interaction, or negotiation of meaning In Krashen’s input hypothesis, comprehensible input remains the main causal variable, while Long claims that a crucial element in the language acquisition process is the modified input that learners are exposed to and the way in which other speakers interact in conversations with learners (Lightbown and Spada, 1993)

Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (1996) posits that interaction focuses on the

“negotiation for meaning” The frequency of occurrence of the target form brings about salience, negative feedback, and input modifications to increase comprehensibility and content predictability These processes include “noticing”

of new forms, new form-meaning connections, gaps in interlanguage, and mismatch between input and output Long (1996) noted that interaction facilitates comprehension and acquisition of semantically contingent speech and negotiation for meaning Long stressed the importance of the interactional modifications that occurs in negotiating meaning In other words, interactive input is more important than non-interactive input (Elis, 1994)

1.4.2 The Interaction Hypothesis and classroom interaction

Classroom interaction is occurred everyday in the classroom activities between the teacher and the learners It is commonly defined as a kind of action that occurs as two or more objects has an effect upon another The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way causal effect

Classroom interactional tasks that stimulate negotiating for meaning may turn out to be those among several useful language-learning activities, for they may

be the easiest ways to facilitate a learner’s focus on form Classroom interactional tasks often contain learner classroom participants, group work, teacher talk, role plays….The communicative language teaching theory reveals that communication and interaction are the purpose of language learning (Richards & Rodgers, 1986) and previous studies on communicative language teaching (Hymes, 1972 ; Nunan, 1991) show that interaction facilitates the learning of language functions as well as of target language forms

Numerous studies have examined the effect of the quantity and quality of leaner classroom participant on their second language achievement, but the results haven not been conclusive For example, Seliger (1977) and Strong (1984) found positive effects, while Allwright’s study (1980) yielded opposite results With regards to the quality of learner participation in class, tasks and group work are involved, Long (1980) and Newton (1991) showed in their studies that the two-way interactional result in increased negotiation of meaning Furthermore, the study by Long, Adams, McLean and Castanos (1976) found that students working in small groups produce better language production compared to learners working individually This suggests that group work offers more opportunities for learners to produce language

1.5 Patterns of classroom interaction

In communication approach of language teaching, classroom interaction became an important feature of second language pedagogy It can occur between the teacher and learners, and between learners themselves, either collectively or individually According to Angelo (1993), classroom interaction comprises of teacher-learner interaction and learner-learner interaction

1.5.1 Teacher-learner interaction

In the classroom, the teacher often asks questions to learners and learners answer the questions and vice versa, or the teacher participates in learning activities These forms are called teacher-learner interaction Generally, such interaction takes place between the teacher and the class or small groups in the class or individuals

In the traditional classroom, the teacher only sits or stands behind a desk, and spends a large amount of time giving lectures and directions whereas students’ roles are sitting, listening and taking notes passively The focus of interaction was predominant between the teacher and learners This one is usually initiated and controlled by the teacher The teacher’s central role is to dominate in terms

of the talking time and of the running of the process The teacher controls the topic for classroom talk, and determines when start and stop talking in the classroom (Cazden, 1988)

In teacher-learner interaction, the pattern Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) is followed The percentage of utterances falling into this three-part structure may be over half (about from 50% to 60%) Since the IRF structure produces a single pattern of interaction where the teacher both initiates and closes the exchange and the student’s output of limited to the response in the second turn This pattern of interaction is a product of the institutional setting of the classroom (Hall, 1998) The talking time for the teacher and students are unequal and the teacher controls the topic and general discourse by directing turn talking through the use of questions Here is a typical example of such pattern in classroom:

“Teacher initiates the first turn: “I”- T: What do you do in your free time? Student respond in the second turn: “R”- L: Listen to music

Teacher follows up at the third turn: “F”- T: Good.”

In this case, the teacher initiates the conversation with a question, and asks a student to answer the question, and then provides feedback to the student’ answer According to Van Lier (1996: 152), this model has been characterized as

a “closed, rather than an open, discourse format “, so it makes the lesson less communicative

1.5.2 Learner- learner interaction

Learner –learner interaction occurs among learners In this form of interaction, the teacher plays as a monitor and learners are the main participants Learner- learner interaction occurs in groups called learner-learner interaction, in pairs called peer interaction

Pair work and group work seem to be dominant in this kind of interaction Many researchers assert that practice is the most beneficial when carried out in collaboration with small groups or peers rather than with the teacher or in a whole-class setting Significantly, students almost always initiate their questions during small-group rather than whole-class activities According to Harmer (2001), pair work and group work increase the amount of talking time available

to every learner in the classroom They allow learners to work and interact independently without the necessary guidance of the teacher, thus promoting learners’ independence This cooperation helps the classroom become a more

relaxed and friendly place Therefore, the teacher should frequently use group work and pair work to maximize each learner’s opportunity to speak and reduce the psychological burden of public performance

In pair work and group work, the need for well-planned and well-designed activities is of great significance (Gillies, 2004) To increase the quality and quantity of such discourse in the classroom, the teacher needs to organize the most beneficial speaking activities that afford the most opportunities for students

to collaborate and negotiate meaning during the interaction Ur (1996) proposed two activities for oral communication: Topic- based and task-based activities

 Task-based activities

In contrast, task-based activities are convergent in nature (Duff, 1986) since learners are required to use the target language as a means to reach specific outcome or consensus This outcome may be open-ended, however, with no single “right” answer During the activity, there is more emphasis on learners through expressing the meaning by using all the target language to ensure comprehension, rather than using particular linguistic features or conversing on a

specific topic This category includes such as role-play, problem solving and

information-gap activities The main objective is to engage in real

communication as Noonan (1989:10) states “a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on meaning rather than form”

In brief, for language learners in classroom setting, interactional language activities occur either between the teacher and other learners or between learners themselves

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology used for this study It includes the research context, the methods of the study, the research questions, the participants, the instruments, the collection, procedure and analysis of data

2.1 The research context

The investigation took place in Phuong Dong University, a private university situated in Hanoi capital of Vietnam For non-major students at Phuong Dong University, they are required to complete 2 different courses : General English (GE) from semester 2 to 5 which accounts for 270 periods and English for Specific Purpose (ESP) for semester 6 with a total number of 60 periods

In the first course- the GE course, English lectures aim it providing students with general knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, phonology as well as developing students’ four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing Four sub-courses are carried out to serve this demand General English 1 (GE1) makes use of the book “Starting skills 1” from Unit 1 to Unit 10 GE2 and GE3 exploit “Starting skills 2” with the first half and second half the book, respectively In GE4, the first 5 units of “Starting skills 3” are used to teach students Two forms of tests are employed after each semester: a written middle-test and a combination of both written and oral test for final test GE1 is designed

to help students reach A1-1 level GE2 is for A1-2 level Accordingly, after finishing GE course, students are expected to get A2 level according to CEFL

In the second course- The ESP course, the students are equipped with the knowledge of terms and structures related to future jobs The textbooks utilized

at this phrase depend on students’ required majors such as English for Finance and Banking, English for Office Administration, English for Tourism, English for Construction and English for Mechanics Those textbooks are designed by teachers at Phuong Dong University themselves with a view to giving students formal instructions on reading, writing and common expressions which can be used in their future workplace At this stage, students also experience both midterm and final test as they do in GE course

2.2 Methods of the study

The study is carried on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative study According to Bouma (1996: 173), “both qualitative and quantitative approaches are essentials to the research process in social sciences”, so the combination of these both methods will help find out satisfactory and sufficient information, thus gaining reliable results

In the first place, according to Burns (1999), quantitative methodology is the one aimed at exploring objectivity and control as it can offer ways of testing hypothesis that are widely accepted or standardized Therefore, to obtain an overview of opportunities and difficulties students encounter during their speaking lesson, a survey questionnaire will be conducted among students of Phuong Dong University In doing so, the researcher hopes to cross check the real-problem of teaching and learning English speaking skill at Phuong Dong University

Moreover, when regarding qualitative research, as qualitative method can offer the researcher with real, rich and deep data (Larsen Freeman & Long, 1991), the researcher decided to carry in-depth interviews with some teachers and students with a view to gaining detailed and profound understanding the opportunities as well as problems in teaching and learning speaking skills at Phuong Dong University Their results would be of great significance for the process of analyzing data

2.3 Research questions

The research is aimed at exploring the classroom opportunities and constraints

of teaching and learning English speaking skills at Phuong Dong University In brief, its purpose is to answer the following questions:

(1)What are the teachers’ common classroom activities and techniques in

teaching English speaking skill for non-major students at Phuong Dong University?

(2) What learning opportunities do those activities and techniques create for non-major students to develop their speaking skills?

(3) To what extent do those classroom activities and techniques constrain on non-major students’ speaking skills ?

in charge of 2 classes which are dealing with GE2

A total number of 70 second- year students also take part in this research They are students from Finance and Banking Department of Phuong Dong University Those students are in 3 different classes and are being taught by 3 above English teachers, respectively Their age varied between 19 and 22 so they belong to the same psychological group However, their length of English learning at school (before entering university) was different, in which some have learned English for 5 years while some have learnt for 10 years As a result, their English levels are also various

2.5 Data collection instruments

In this research, the observation, interview and questionnaire are used as the instruments to collect the data

2.5.1 Observation

Darlington and Scott (2002:74) stated that “Observation is a very effective way of finding out what people do in particular contexts, the routines and interactional patterns of their everyday lives” It is a good way to get at “real life”

in the real word” Moreover, when making use of the observation instruments, the researcher can maximize the usefulness of the hours he spends in classroom observation and participation to get data (Arthea & Verna, 2005: 19) In this study, the observation was conducted three times in three different classes of GE2 Those classes were taught by three different teachers separately The observation took place when 2 continuous periods of speaking lesson were being delivered to students By observing those classes, the researcher hopes to find out

the activities and techniques which were directly applied in teaching speaking by those teachers

2.5.2 Questionnaire

Another technique that is employed in this research is questionnaire A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents In this study, reference materials as well as data collected from observation provided the researcher of the study with some very helpful information to design the survey questionnaire The questionnaire was conducted with a view to gaining information about relevant opportunities and difficulties students have to experience during their English speaking lessons in classroom Specifically, the survey questionnaire which was written in English consists of 10 questions Question 1 was to identify students’ English learning history Question 2,3,4 was aimed at students’ opinions on language skills Question 5 focused on students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lesson Question 6 helped identify students’ participation in speaking lesson Question 7,8 demonstrated teachers’ manners in speaking classroom Question 9 and 10 dealt with specific opportunities and difficulties students encountered in their speaking lessons The questionnaire was administered to 70 non-major students of Phuong Dong University In each question from 1 to 8, they were asked to tick the most suitable option while in question 9 and 10, they could have more than one option

2.5.3 Interview

In addition to the survey questionnaire, the researcher also needs another instrument to help her run the research smoothly According to Esterberg (2002) cited in Sugiyono (2008:319) interview is a meeting of two persons to exchange information and idea through questions and responses, resulting in communication, and joint construction of meeting about a particular topic Moreover, Fraekel and Wallen (2006) state that the purpose of interviewing is to find out how they think or feel about something In this study, two semi-structured interviews which included 4 items for teachers and 4 items for students were used in order to get more information of the speaking techniques

used in classroom by teachers and then the opportunities and constraints students have to cope with when teachers applied these techniques to teach students English speaking skill The data collected from the interviews would help clarify and supplement the statistical results from the survey questionnaire above As for the interview with teachers, the respondents were three teachers who were directly teaching speaking skills to non-major students at Phuong Dong University These teachers were the ones in charge of three English classes in which the observation above was conducted They were interviewed to give detailed information about the techniques used in speaking class and the opportunities as well as difficulties they have to experience when applying these techniques As for the interview with students, five among 70 students were chosen randomly to take part in the interview with a view to giving detailed information about the benefits and difficulties they could have during their speaking lessons In addition, in order to capture the complexities of the student respondent’s individual perception and experience, the five student interviews were conducted in Vietnamese while three teacher interviews were conducted in English At the beginning of each interview, both teachers and students were explained clearly about the nature of the study The length of each interview was from 10 to 15 minutes The answers were recorded and common themes of the answer were carefully analyzed

2.6 Data collection procedure

In the first phase, the observation was carried out in three times in three classes

of Phuong Dong University during their first semester of the academic year 2015-2016 These classes were chosen randomly and they were learning General English 2 at that time Three different teachers were responsible for three classes separately, which helped the researcher gather various information about speaking techniques used by those teachers in classroom Each observation took place in 2 periods of speaking lessons which accounts for 100 minutes Moreover, the topics of speaking lessons in each observation were also different due to the time it took place In the observation, classroom procedures were noted The observation sheets were used to record teachers’ teaching and

student’s learning in the speaking classroom in terms of teaching techniques and the way those techniques are exploited and carried out by both parties

Together with the class observation, survey questionnaires were administered

to students in the second phase 70 students from those three classes were asked

to complete the survey questionnaire at home and returned one day later so that they would have as much time as they needed

After the collected data were analyzed, the author conducted two structure interviews, one conducted in English with these three teachers and one conducted in Vietnamese with five students who were chosen randomly from these three classes The interviews were targeted to get more detailed explanation

semi-to the reasons for the use of teachers’ speaking techniques in classroom Additionally, the opportunities as well as problems in implementation these strategies are expected to find out during the interview with these teachers and students The interviews were all tape-recorded to free the interviewer to enjoy naturally in the discussion and allow the content to be interviewed in details

2.7 Data analysis

The data gathered from class observation, students’ questionnaires answers and interviews with both teachers and students were sorted and analyzed statistically to get the answers for the research questions In addition, to avoid inconsistency or potential bias, data were categorized by the researcher alone For descriptive convenience, the researcher used pseudo-initials for student interviews (L, N, D, K, T) and for teacher interviews (C, H, M)

2.8 Summary

In short, this chapter has described in detail the research context, the methods

of the study, the research questions, the participants, the instruments, the collection, the procedure and analysis of data The findings will be described and discussed in the next chapter-Chapter three: Results and Discussion

CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Presentation and analysis of data

3.1.1 Data from classroom observation

By observing three English speaking classes for non-major students at Phuong Dong University, the researcher found out some following activities and

techniques which teachers applied to deliver their lessons.( See Observation

Diary in Appendix 5, 6, 7)

 Question-answer

First and foremost, question- answer technique seems to be the most common technique for the teachers at Phuong Dong University when teaching speaking All three teachers who had been observed applied this technique many times during their lessons They claimed it was a good way to get students’ attention and arouse interest from the start of the lesson They would start with a question at the beginning of the lesson to revise the last lesson They also would raise a question at the halfway of the lesson or would end up the lesson by giving

a puzzle to solve Students were given time to work individually to find out the answer to each question Anyone who had the answer could raise their hand and speak With the correct answer, students received good comments and applause from the class or good marks from the teachers If their answers were wrong, however, the teachers would give chances to another student When applying this technique, the teachers hoped to motivate students to actively participate in their lesson

and practice their conversation By this way, the teachers hoped that students had

a chance to interact with each other and freely express their opinions

 Group work

During the speaking lesson, the researcher also found out that students were often required to work in groups Two in three teachers observed made use of this technique during their lessons They divided the class into groups of four or five and told them to do the given tasks The task could be a discussion of an issue or just a small gap-filling exercise To these teachers, group work could offer students chances to cooperate, to share and listen different points of view or opinions , and to learn to reach a final decision for the whole group

 Guessing topic

This technique was often used in the middle of the lesson Three teachers gave students time to look through the conversation in the book which was suggested by some words and pictures Then they were supposed to guess the main content of the conversation The teachers would choose one of these students to answer questions about the conversation they had looked at After that, students would listen to the tape to check whether they were correct or not This technique was expected to help student stimulus their thinking and their eagerness to the lesson

 Game

The teachers also used game in their speaking lesson The game can be used flexibly, either at the beginning or at the end of the lesson During the observation, two in three teachers made use of game to make their lessons more interesting The teacher started her lesson by playing a small game which helped students revise their knowledge related to the last lesson This game made students active, enjoyable and ready for the coming lesson, which in turn created the motivating atmosphere for the class

 Song

Last but not least, using song in teaching speaking class is another technique that the teachers at Phuong Dong University relied on In this case, when ending up the lesson with the topic of Work and Business, song-based activity was a useful aid for students to recall the pronunciation as well as the meaning of some jobs in the song “Be what you wanna be” The teacher believed

that when listening to the song, students were motivated to pronounce these English words correctly, learn new vocabulary and reduce the level of boredom

in the class,

3.1.2 Data from survey questionnaire and interviews

3.1.2.1 Students’ English learning history

The first question is aimed at finding out students’ English learning history When being asked about whether they had any experience of learning English before entering university, 100% of the students taking part in the survey questionnaire gave the answer “yes” to the question Specifically, their time of learning English ranged from five to ten years before going to University It is quite understandable when English has nearly become a compulsory subject in Vietnam education system Students spend quite a lot of time learning English at school or even attend extra classes in some English centers outside classroom From this result, a conclusion can be drawn out that second-year students at Phuong Dong University are familiar with English long before going to university

Table 1: Students’ English learning history

3.1.2.2 Students’ opinions on language skills

 Students’ general opinions on four language skills

As can be seen from the table 2, it is noticeable that listening skill is the most difficult skill for non-major students at Phuong Dong University 55,7% of the

students understand very little or even nothing when listening to the tape Moreover, speaking skill is considered as the most difficult skill for 22,8% of the participants while the percentage of the students who had the most difficulties in

reading and writing skill makes up of 4,3% and 7,2 %, respectively

Listening skill Speaking skill Reading skill Writing skill

Table 2: Students’ general opinion on language skills

 Students’ opinions on speaking skill

Very important

Important A little bit

important

Not important at all

Table 3: Students’ opinion on speaking skill

Surprisingly, the statistical result from Table 3 showed that students in general attached a considerable importance to speaking skill, that is, up to 70% of the students believed that speaking skill is a very important skill while 20 % and 7% of them stated speaking skill is important and a little bit important, respectively Such high rating of students’ opinion on speaking skill may derive from their perception of the demands of today’s society where the ability to communicate well in English means a necessity As a matter of fact, a good command of language in particular and English in general seems to serve as a valuable ticket for those who want to seek well-paid jobs in future A good speaking skill poses a great advantage when students study, work or even travel

in foreign countries Moreover, the National Foreign Languages Project creates a massive impetus on learning English, especially on speaking skill among students when they are supposed to use English confidently in their study, daily communication and work by 2020 Hence, students’ high appreciation on the importance of speaking skill would be a great advantage as they would spend much time and effort improving their communication skill In contrast, the negative attitude on speaking skill among 3 % of the respondents who paid no attention to speaking skill and didn’t regard it as a necessity, to some extent, may cause certain drawbacks to their English learning process

 Students’ assessment of their speaking skills

Good Not very good Bad Very bad

Table 4: Students’ assessment of their speaking skills

Looking at Table 4, we can see that students were varied in their own assessment of speaking skill Indeed, fairly high participants (51,1%) confessed that they were bad at speaking skill 8,9% of the students found their speaking skill very bad meanwhile the percentage of the respondents reckoned their English speaking skill was not very good accounts for 35,8 % Only a small number of the participants (4, 2%) believed in their good speaking skill In fact, when realizing their own ability of English speaking skill, it is hoped that students would invest more time and effort to have proper ways of learning so as

to improve their drawbacks towards an English proficiency in speaking

3.1.2.3 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons

Quite interesting

Boring Very boring

Table 5: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons

Regarding students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons, it can be seen from the statistics in Table 5 that 45,7% of the informants found speaking activities in speaking lessons very interesting whereas 40 % of them supposed they are quite interesting Only 14, 3% of the students thought speaking activities are boring, not interesting enough to motivate their attraction Interestingly, none of the respondents claimed activities in speaking lessons very boring Actually, non-major students at Phuong Dong University almost feel

satisfied with activities designed for their speaking lesson They have chances to experience not only different tasks in their course book but also interesting activities created by their own English teachers, which builds up a strong motivation for students to enjoy their lessons Specifically, when being asked about activities in English speaking lessons, both teachers and students showed

their positive attitudes One teacher revealed: “I have tried to create many

activities for students to do with the hope that they will feel relaxed and comfortable during the lesson And in fact, from my observation, students always show their strong interest in those activities when they actively take part in and complete the given tasks” (C) Another student also added to the point: “I am really fond of speaking activities during my lesson I find it very interesting With these activities, our lesson would be a lot of fun, raising general learners’ motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place

to be”.(L) From these opinions, it can be seen that in general, students at

Phuong Dong University have strong interest in speaking activities during their speaking lesson, which would stimulus them to take part in oral English lessons

3.1.2.4 Students’ participation in speaking class

Only take part in the activities I like

Passively take part in when I am asked

Do other things instead

Table 6: Students’ participation in speaking class

Knowing what the students really do in the speaking class is very interesting and meaningful Together with students’ interest in speaking activities mentioned above, it is of great importance to realize whether students show their active participation in those activities or not The figure from this table presents the actual participation that students have in speaking classes From the evidence,

it can be seen that 44, 3% of the students actively take part in speaking activities

34, 3% of them expressed they take part in the activities which they find interested in Meanwhile, the percentage of students reluctantly participating when being asked accounts for 14, 3 % and only 5, 7 % do other things in speaking class There might be several reasons to explain their responses First of all, some teachers interviewed revealed that the better the students are at speaking, the more actively they take part in speaking class In fact, interest seems to matter a lot in students’ active participation and activities in their class Obviously, if students are good at English, they always express their interest and show their high motivation in activities during their lessons, whereas, students with low competence of English often feel bored and less motivated in their oral English lessons Therefore, it can be concluded that insufficient ability to speak English cause the lack of concentration on the part of students in speaking class Secondly, on the other hand, speaking activities created in class also affect students’ participation According to one student interviewed, he expressed his

opinion: “When something isn’t interesting, most people seem to ignore it, while

they will be willing to talk as much as possible when it comes to their interest”

(K) Indeed, if classroom activities are attractive and suitable enough, they will attract students to take part in the lessons Otherwise, they will make students feel bored and do other things instead From the analysis above, with the percentage of 44, 3 % students actively taking part in speaking activities, it can

be concluded that speaking techniques and activities are quite attractive and suitable which make most of the students feel satisfied and willingly participate

in speaking class