Teaching speaking skills through Problem-solving activities to second-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology

30 Table 5: Students‟ comment on the difficulty of speaking skill 34 Table 6: Students‟ self-assessment in their speaking English performance 35 Table 7: Students‟ comment on teachers‟

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG QUỲNH LIÊN

TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES

TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY Dạy nói thông qua các hoạt động giải quyết vấn đề cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không

chuyên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS Field : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code : 60.14.10

HANOI, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG QUỲNH LIÊN

TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES

TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Dạy nói thông qua các hoạt động giải quyết vấn đề cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không

chuyên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code : 60.14.10

Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỤY PHƯƠNG LAN, M.A

HANOI, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… …………i

Acknowledgements…… ……… ……ii

Abstract……… ……… …… iii

Appendices……… ………vii

List of abbreviations……… …… … viii

List of tables and charts……… …… viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… … ….1

1 Rationale of the study……… … … ……….1

2 Aims and research questions of the study……… …….3

3 Scope of the study……….…… 3

4 Significance of the study……… … ….3

5 Methods of the study……….… ….… 3

6 Design of the study……… … ……….4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… 5

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… … … …5

1.1 Communicative language teaching and Collaborative learning….… … 5

1.1.1 Communicative language teaching (CLT)……… 5

1.1.2 Collaborative learning (CL)……… … 7

1.2 An overview of speaking skill……… ……… … 8

1.2.1 Definition of speaking skill……… ….…… … 8

1.2.2 Components of speaking……… … ……… 9

1.2.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity……… …… … 10

1.3 Problem-solving activities in teaching speaking……….…… …… 11

1.3.1 What is the problem-solving activity? ……… … … … 11

1.3.2 Benefits of using problem solving activities in teaching speaking… … …12

1.3.3 Types of problem-solving and procedures of problem-solving activity in speaking lesson……… ….…15

a Types of problem-solving activities……… ……….….15

b Problem-solving activity procedure……… ……… …16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……….……18

2.1 Setting of the study……….……….….…….18

2.2 The learning materials……….……… …… ……19

2.3.2 The teachers……… …….……….…….…20

2.4 Action research procedure……….…… ……….….… 20

2.4.1 Problem identification……….……… …….21

2.4.2 Preliminary Investigation……….…… ……21

2.4.3 Plan of action……….… ……… 22

2.5 Evaluating students‟ speaking proficiency……….… ………… 25

2.6 Methods of data collection……….……… …25

2.6.1 Interview……….………… …… 25

2.6.2 The teacher‟s classroom observations……… …… … …….25

2.6.3 English speaking tests……….………… 25

2.6.4 Questionnaire……….………… ………26

2.7 Data collection procedure……….… ….26

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS and Discussions……… …… 28

3.1 Research question 1: How would problem-solving activities improve students‟ speaking English skill? 28

3.2 Research question 2: What are students‟ attitudes towards problem-solving activities in speaking lessons? 31

a Students‟ attitude towards speaking skills……… ………31

b Students‟ attitude towards problem-solving activities in speking lessons… … 33

c Factors of problem-solving activities affect on students‟ interest in speaking English……… … …… 37

Part C: Conclusion……… …… ………40

1 Conclusion……… … …………40

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study……… ……… ….40

REFERENCES……… …… ……42

APPENDICES……… ……… ……… vii

APPENDICES

Record of Students‟ scores in pre- and post-tests II

Post-intervention survey questionnaire (English version) VIII Post-intervention survey questionnaire (Vietnamese version) XI

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONs

HUBT: Hanoi University of Business and Technology

CLT: Communicative language teaching

CL: Collaborative learning

ESL/ EFL: English as a second or foreign language

List of tables and charts

Table 4: Number of students Number of students increased their score in each component

in post-test

30

Table 5: Students‟ comment on the difficulty of speaking skill 34 Table 6: Students‟ self-assessment in their speaking English performance 35 Table 7: Students‟ comment on teachers‟ problem-solving activities 36

List of charts

Chart 1: Student‟s score of pre-oral test and post-test 29

Chart 5: Students‟ evaluation of the improvement in their speaking skill 34 Chart 6: Students‟ evaluation on problem-solving activities given in their speaking lessons 37 Chart 7: Factors affect students‟ interest in speaking English 38

Part A: Introduction

This chapter is to introduce the rationale and the way she identified the problem facing her students’ English speaking skills Besides, the scope, the objectives, and the research questions as well as the methods and design of the study are also stated clearly

7 Rationale of the study

With the globalization of trade and economy and the continuing increase of international communication in various fields, English has become the most essential language in the world and it is used by most people from many countries for international communication That entitled English as a required language for schools in many countries around the world in general, and in Asia in particular In

a country like Vietnam where English is used as a foreign language and up to 98% Vietnamese students choose to study English (among English, Russian, Chinese, French) as a foreign language subject (Do, 2000 quoted in Canh, 2007), Vietnamese educators and administrators are putting big concern in how to improve the quality

of English learning and teaching Moreover, English language teaching focuses on not only in linguistic competence of the language learners but also in the development of their communicative ability

In this context, Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT), where thousands of students graduate to become businesspeople, knows that English plays

an essential role in their future job as business; hence; with good English knowledge, students are more likely to have better opportunities as well as do a good job after their graduation However, only a few of them can speak in English well after graduation Most of them said that speaking is an important skill and they worries about their slow improvement in their speaking ability, but they do not pay much attention to speaking lessons They are often not interested and engage in speaking activities The reasons may be due to both teachers and learners The teachers teach the students traditionally The activities given for speaking may not

be interesting enough to get students involved in, and offer them few opportunities

find several problems The most frequently found problem is the influence of their native language Other obstacles are the lack of motivation, vocabulary, enjoyment

to practice the foreign language They are also too shy and afraid to take part in conversations.

These require teachers to find and apply more effective speaking activities that in developing learners‟ communicative competence and help students get more involved in speaking lessons To deal with these problems, many learner-learner interactive activities are paid more attention One of them is problem-solving activities Problem-solving is a form of discussion has received a lot of supports from scholars, educators, teachers for many years According to Nunan (1989), communicative problem-solving tasks which learners undertake in small groups can facilitate language acquisition Besides, the communication skill is also improved via talking together to find out a solution for a problem or task given that stimulate the interaction between the student- student and student-teacher Actually, problem-solving works well in creating situation and atmosphere for students to practice, Klippel (1984) claimed that in general, students will have to make suggestions, give reasons, and accept, modify or reject suggestions and reasons given by others in problem-solving activities Other advantage of problem solving is that the ability to communicate and the self-confidence of students increase when they share their information and opinion to reach the solution to a problem In problem-solving activities in which students use target language as a mean to solve a problem also increase their motivation, participation and the use of the L2 The reason for this high interest and involvement lies in the fact that students have to use their cognitive skills and logic to arrive at solutions to problems relevant to their own lives Students learn and acquire the target language by using it for critical thinking and problem solving

For these above reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct an action research on

“Teaching speaking skills through problem-solving activities to second-year

non-English major students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology” with

the aim to investigate if the activities help learners to improve speaking skills

8 Aims and research questions of the study

This research is carried out in order to examine the use of problem-solving activities

to develop the 2nd- year non- English major students‟ English speaking ability at Hanoi University of Business and Technology Additionally, it is planned to explore students‟ attitude towards problem-solving activities applied in speaking lessons

To reach the aims of the study, the two research questions are raised as follows: (1) How would problem-solving activities improve the students‟ speaking skills? (2) What are the students‟ attitudes towards problem-solving activities in speaking lessons?

9 Scope of the study

To improve speaking skill, the teacher can apply diversified methods and techniques However, this study was limited to the application of problem-solving activities group work to enhance English speaking skill for the second-year students who were studying English as a minor subject at Hanoi University of Business and Technology In addition, this researcher also attempts to find students‟ attitudes towards problem-solving activities after the six-week implementation

10 Significance of the study

The study is carried out with the intention to provide teachers of English at HUBT with a deeper understanding of using problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills In addition, it is expected that this study will serve as a source of references for teachers of English on the teaching of speaking skills, especially for those who are searching alternative activities to help their students develop speaking skill and not get bored in speaking lessons

11 Methods of the study

As mentioned above, this research adopts an action research in an attempt to improve students‟ speaking skill and teaching speaking in the teacher – researcher‟s own class In so doing, the method including interview, questionnaires and class observation sheets, oral tests were employed during the process of data collection

12 Design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts as follow:

Part A- Introduction: This part presents the rationale, the aims and the research

questions, the scope, significance as well as the methods and design of the study

Part B- Development: This part consists of three chapters

Chapter 1 – Literature review: In this chapter, relevant literature regarding

speaking skill and problem-solving activities are reviewed

Chapter 2 – Methodology: In this part, the context of the study is introduced, the

problem is identified, the plan of action is presented, and explanations are given to instruments of collection, as well as data and data collection procedure

Chapter 3 – Data analysis and discussions: the data is interpreted, research

questions are answered and major finding are discussed in this section

Part C– Conclusion: In this part, the finding is summarized The limitation of the

research and recommendations are also presented in this part

Besides, the list of references and the appendixes are also parts of this study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the writer attempts to provide a review the theories related to problem-solving activities in speaking lessons All of these serve as a basis for an investigation into using problem-solving activities to teach speaking skills for students

1.1 Communicative language teaching and Collaborative learning

1.1.1 Communicative language teaching (CLT)

It is difficult to define which teaching method is the most effective if you don‟t consider the context in which it is applied because most teaching methods bear both advantages and disadvantages With the aim of my thesis, I only focus on CLT which is considered as one of the most effective method to teach speaking skill with the aim to “develop learners‟ ability and willingness to use the target language appropriately and accurately for the purpose of effective communication (Seils, 1993)

There are many definitions of CLT by different methodologists According to Richards (1998) CLT can be understood as a set of principles about the goal of language teaching, how learners learn language, the kind of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom David Nunan (1989:194), states that CLT as “a system for the expression of meaning Activities involves oral communication, carry out meaning task and using language which is meaningful to the learners…The learners‟ role is as an negotiator and integrator and the teachers‟ role is a facilitator of the communication process Futhermore, he also lists five features to characterize CLT:

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target

language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

but also on the Learning Management process

- An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important

contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities

outside the classroom

In definition of CLT, Littlewood (1981:1) stresses that the most characteristic features of CLT is that it plays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspect of language In other aspects of teaching language, Ho (2004) cities in Littlewood) show that the most common understanding of the communicative approach is that “providing the teachers with communicative activities in the repertoire of teaching skill and giving learners the opportunities in class to practice the language skills taught

The use of problem-solving as a communicative interactive technique in EFL/ ESL has been advocated by several writers According to Littlewood (1990) problem-solving activity is a type of communicative activities that have been designed to provide opportunities for learners to produce language that they have recently learnt In this type of activities, students are encourage to talk together to find a solution to problems or tasks He claims that this type of activity dispenses completely with the need to share information Students now have access to all the relevant facts The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision

Problem solving, in form of discussion, need not be based only on everyday situations that arise inside or outside the classroom The teacher may also present more unusual situations, in order to stimulate the students‟ ingenuity In these activities, students must not only analyze information, but also argue, justify and persuade, in order to reach a common decision They, therefore, provide a context for a still wider range of communicative functions They also make it still more

necessary for students to develop skills in managing the interaction at the interpersonal level This fact often produces a high degree of personal involvement among the participants

To sum up, these show that the communicative approach which offer communicative activities as problem-solving activities may meet the needs and desires of the learners in the connection between the language and it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom

1.1.2 Collaborative learning (CL)

Currently collaborative learning has received much attention of many researchers and become popular over the last decade Many researches in education have demonstrated that students‟ active participation in the educational process increases their learning and retention In an active, collaborative, or cooperative learning environment, students take more responsibility for their own education (Pariseau & Kezim, 2007) CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered approach

In the research: Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity by Johnson, D W., Johnson, R T., & Smith, K A (1991) show that

“Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning” Moreover, it involves the learners in the active exchange of ideas rather than passive learning

Canh (2003) states that collaborative or cooperative learning is closely connected with a variety of concepts and techniques with the aim at fostering the interaction between learners The theory and practice of cooperative learning operate on the basis of the principle that learners not only learn from the teachers but also from each other

Regarding the benefits of collaborative learning, Panitz (1999) states that CL can improve learners‟ attitudes by creating a favorable disposition towards the learning experience through personal relevance and choice A primary benefit of CL is that it

learning process (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) Cooperative efforts among students result in a higher degree of accomplishment by all participants (Slavin, 1987) Students help each other and in doing so build a supportive community which raises the performance level of each member (Kagan, 1986) Besides, another obvious effect on learners is developing students' social interaction skills By asking group members to identify what behaviors help them work together and by asking individuals to reflect on their contribution to the group's success or failure, students are made aware of the need for healthy, positive, helping interactions (Panitz, 1996; Cohen, 1991)

Problem-solving are the most essential activities in our daily life, and most often of these activities are practiced in collaboration with others throughout that lead to a discussion of several ways of solving the problem According to Schoenfeld (1989) (citied in Forman & McPhail 1993), Collaborative problem-solving activities provide a context in which support for, constraints on, and challenges to an individual‟s thinking occur In many of these situations, achieving the solution to a problem becomes secondary to negotiation a shared problem definition and a common means of communication

1.2 An overview of speaking skill

1.2.1 Definition of speaking skill

According to Ur (1996:120), all of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) speaking seems intuitively the most important Moreover, this is speaking that is an important criteria to measure who know a language, Pattison (1992) shows that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language

There are famous methodologists discuss the term of “speaking” Brown and Yule (1989:14) state in their book: “Speaking is to express the needs request, information, service, etc.” The speakers say a word to the listener not only to express what in their mind but also to express what they need Most people might spend their everyday life communicating with others In other words, Nunan

(2003:48) think that “speaking is the productive oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning.”

Regarding to a social context, there is no doubt that speaking is worth as much attention as or even more attention than written skill With the aim to carry out many of the most basis transactions, the speakers need to be able to speak with confidence Bygate (1987) claims definition about speaking that "speaking is a skill which deserves attention as much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages" When students speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations

From the above definitions of speaking, it is obvious that speaking is one of the basic skills that must be mastered by students since it is very important for them to communicate in the class or outside the class Moreover, when students speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations

1.2.2 Components of speaking

According to Canale & Swain (1980), Speaking include four components They are grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competencies Grammar competence is understanding and using grammatical structures accurately and unhesitatingly relative to fluency Sociolinguistic competence includes speech acts such as apologies and compliments Discourse competence involves effective negotiation of ideas within a given discourse Strategic competence is when speakers have mastered language strategies, allowing them to stretch their ability to communicate effectively in their new language

In other words, Syakur (1987) claims that speaking is a complex skill because at least it concerns with components of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency The description is as follows:

 Pronunciation is the students‟ way to utter English well and it deals with phonology

 Grammar concerns with how to arrange to correct sentences in conversation The utility of grammar is to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language

 Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in conversation Without having a sufficient vocabulary, one can‟t communicate effectively

 Fluency and accuracy: Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately suited with professional necessity Basically, being fluent means being able to keep the language coming

1.2.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

To help students not get bored with speaking activities in class time, the teachers of English are required to make activities in order to improve the students speaking skill or to make the teaching-speaking run more easily and interestingly In order to organize speaking activities successfully, it is essential to identify the characteristics

of a good speaking activity Klippel (1985) thinks that an effective speaking lesson needs to have three features:

a Message oriented communication which indicates the moments in foreign language when target language is used as a vehicle of communication

b It has learner – centered activities in which students’ feelings, purposes and ideas are the focus

c In speaking lesson, active learning, cooperation and empathy which emphasize the students’ active participation in the speaking process

According to Ur (1996:120), a successful speaking activity needs to have four typical characteristics:

a Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period of time allocated to the

activity is in fact occupied by learners talk This may be obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses

b Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of

talk active participants All get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

c Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in

the topic and have something new to say about it, or they want to contribute to achieve a task objective

d Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterances

that are relevant, easy comprehensible to teach other and of acceptable level of language accuracy

From their ideas above, we can see that the two authors appreciate highly features

of a successful speaking activity which prioritize the maximization of learners‟ speaking time and equal chance for everybody to speak These characteristics are closely related to the theme of this study in hope that learners involve much, more actively and enthusiastically in speaking lessons

1.3 Problem-solving activities in teaching speaking

1.3.1 What is the problem-solving activity?

In EFL/ESL classroom, the use of problem solving as a communicative activity is now very popular It is a form of interactive and collaborative learning It has been supported by several writers as (e.g Klippel, 1984; Byrne, 1986, Snow, 1996) this type of activity has by now used a lot in the L2 classroom

In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995), a problem is a thing that is difficult to deal with or to understand, and the term of “problem-solving” is defined as the act of

finding ways of dealing with problems In the book: Problem solving in a foreign

language (2010), Heine defines problem-solving as higher-order cognitive process

that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills

In Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (Richards,

J C., Platt, J., & Platt, H 1997) problem-solving activities are defined as simple tasks, often involving word puzzles or simple drawings, used to stimulate pair work and oral discussion among small groups of second language learners The use of such tasks is characteristic of some phases of lessons in the communicative approach

Being citied in Byrne (1986:94) Problem-solving activities consist of „a range of activities which require the learners to find „solutions‟ to problems of different kinds” They are utilized in the class to facilitate communicative skills The

students are often in pairs or groups, and they are encouraged to talk together to find out a solution for a problem or task given

Littlewood (1981: 38) supports problem-solving activities in which learners must not only analyze information but also argue, justify and persuade, in order to reach a common decision He also admits that this type of activity dispenses completely with the need to share information Students now have access to all the relevant facts The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision Having the same idea with Littlewood, Yahya thinks that problem-solving is

“thinking that is directed toward the solving of a specific problem that involves both the formation of responses and the selection among possible responses”

In Keep Talking (1984), Klippel shows that in problem-solving activities, learners

have to find solutions to various types of problems He also stresses that most of the problem-solving tasks often require pair or group work throughout, and lead to a discussion of several ways of solving the problems In fact, the language which is needed for problem-solving activities depends on the topic of each exercise, but in general students will have to make suggestions, give reasons and accept, modify or reject suggestions and reasons given by others

It can be concluded that problem-solving can be implemented as the alternative activities to teach speaking It is one of the most preferable communicative activities in language classes They show not only the competence and knowledge but also the performance of the learner and their communicative skills Questions which require students to be reasonable and logical help students to learn language

in an interesting way In problem solving activities, the problems may be based on real or imaginary situations, and students are expected to find possible solutions for the problems

1.3.2 Benefits of using problem solving activities in teaching speaking

It is acknowledge that problem-solving activities have been used popularly in English speaking classrooms because of a range advantages as follows:

Firstly, problem-solving activities in speaking lessons increase the amount of students‟ participation. Being citied in Snow (1996), during class speaking practice, the more students who can talk at any given time, the better It is known that lessons have limited time, so it is easy for students to get bored very quickly waiting for their classmates' answers That leads to starting doing something different as chatting instead of practicing speaking English Implementing such suitable problems that require learners to use language to solve is one venue instructors can take to increase students‟ motivation and participation in the classroom Ur (1996, 128) refers that solving a problem in speaking lesson works well, producing a high level of participation and motivation; as with many simulation tasks, participants tend to become personally involved; they begin to relate the problem as an emotional issue as well as an intellectual and moral one Moreover, pair or small-group work in problem –solving allows more students to practice speaking than large-group discussions or teacher-centered activities do In other words, Michael

H Long says if we have five or six groups, then there will be five or six times the amount of talking When the teacher divides the learners into groups of four or five, there will be at least six or eight students speaking at the same time

Secondly, problem-solving activities increase language practice opportunities One

of the main reasons for low achievement by many classroom EL learners is simply that they do not have enough time to practice the new language With the aim to offer learners more changes to speak, problem-solving provides the students with the opportunities for individual personal expression (Lawrence, 1972) Moreover,

in order to arrive a decision, students need to interact with each other, so the total individual practice time is available to each student and each student has chance to practice language by exchanging ideas with the other This follows the idea of Rivers (1987) that interaction as the key to improving EFL learners‟ speaking ability In short, problem-solving activities provide equal opportunity to all students

to think, speak and act while discussing to solve problems

Thirdly, problem-solving activities improve the quality of students‟ talk In the research on the quality interaction between problem-solving and Jigsaw tasks, Poupore (2005) refers that the strongest characteristic of problem-solving activity is

to push learners output toward more complete levels, which gave them increased opportunities to play with their linguistic knowledge In this way, students will get chances to interact with other students He also mentions that in problem-solving tasks, students have more freedom to control the task and to control the language that they want to use

Fourthly, students will learn from each other In a class there are always weak and

strong students The foundation of problem-solving activities is collocation in group work, so students have opportunities to share the ideas with their friends That would help the ability of students to overcome independently the language arising

in the process of communication Shumin (1997) said that problem-solving activities foster interaction and collaboration among students that complement the affective factors in the L2 learning He also states: “Self-esteem, empathy, reduced anxiety, and improved attitude and motivation are all fostered when students are engaged in genuine interaction” Teachers themselves benefit from collaborative learning According to Bruffee (1993), by applying this approach, they help students form groups or societies in which students get assistance from one another

to make progresses, and to overcome problems facing them in their new knowledge environment

Fifthly, in a way, students acquire language unconsciously since their whole attention is engaged by the activity By providing personal, social, and cross-cultural issues to define, they sometimes simulate real life situations

Last but not least, with the benefits discussed above, problem-solving activities offer students with opportunities to develop not only their social skills as questioning, responding, giving suggestions, but also other academic skills like critical thinking, decision making, discussing, explaning, ets

In conclusion, the reason why problem-solving activities should be applied in teaching speaking is that they enhances students‟ learning

- Increasing the amount of students‟ participation

- Increasing language practice opportunities

- Improving the quality of students‟ talk

- Learning with peers

- Helping promote students‟ reasoning and decision making

Collaborative problem-solving in small groups also provide a place where:

- learners actively participate,

- respect is given to every member,

- projects and questions interest and challenge students,

- diversity is celebrated, and all contributions are valued,

- students learn skills for resolving conflicts when they arise,

1.3.3 Types of problem-solving and procedures of problem-solving activity in speaking lesson

a Types of problem-solving activities

Problem-solving activities include many different kinds of problem To make an effective speaking lesson using problem-solving activities, the teacher needs to choose problems carefully They are needed to meet two criteria as (1) the problem should engage student interest and (2) require the students to develop and implement the principal concepts of the course in order to successfully solve the problem Many of these problems, that would interest, encourage and require learners to speak with and listen to others, involve processes which the students commonly use in real life

A variety of problem-solving activities can be used to develop speaking skills Below are some of the common ones

Snow (1996) suggests different types of problem solving activities/tasks include:

 Making a decision: Students are required to discuss with their classmates to

make certain decisions to reach final solution for a problem

For example: Your foreign teacher has been offered two jobs upon return home, a stable but boring job in a bank and a riskier but more rewarding job putting out oil-

well fires Which should he or she take?

 Prioritizing a list: the students are asked to discuss to put in order of priority The priority may be preferred, identify, etc

For example: On graduation your group will be given a group ticket to visit three places in the world What are your first three choices and why?

 Listing steps: the students discuss to give a suggested procedure (step-by-step) for doing something

For example: Your English teacher wants to apply for driver‟s license in your country In order, what are the proper steps?

 Making plans: These activities are offered to get students to talk in order to arrive at a decision for a plan

For example: Your school system is short of money and needs to raise more Come

up with a plan to improve funding for education

 Planning campaigns/ advertisements:

For example: Your group has been given the job of selling a new detergent Come

up with a 30-second advertisement to be presented to the class

b Problem-solving activity procedure

A problem-solving group is suggested by Tuckman (1965) quoted in Wright (1987) includes four stages named forming, storming, norming and performing

Stage 1 Forming: In the group, there is some anxiety There is a great deal of

dependence on the leader (the teacher) and a great deal of behavior directed towards finding out the nature of the situation and also what behavior is acceptable

At the same time, group members attempt to find out what the task is, what the rules are for carrying out the task and the methods that are appropriate

Stage 2 Storming: There is now conflict between sub-groups and also rebellion

against the leader Opinions are extreme and there is resistance to group control Role relations are not agreed upon All of this behavior is a resistance to the demands of the task

Stage 3 Norming: The group develops cohesion: norms of behavior emerge and

participants begin to accept group control Conflicts are forgotten and members begin to support each other At this stage co-operation is the rule and there is open exchange of views and feelings about the task and each other

Stage 4 Performing: All individuals‟ problems are resolved and there is a great

deal of interpersonal activity Members‟ roles in the group now lose their rigidity and become more functional At this stage solutions to the problems of the task are found and all efforts are devoted to completing the task

Tuckman (1965) cititied in Wright (1987)

Summary

This chapter, the researcher has just discussed the background of her paper with concepts of the key terms such as Communicative Language Teaching, Collaborative Learning-foundation to carry out problem-solving In the end, an overview of problem solving activities in developing speaking skills has been provided

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In the previous chapter, the literature related to the topic has been reviewed as a theoretical basis for the study In this chapter, four main categories are addressed The first one is the setting of the study, which describes the students’ learning context and learning materials in their second year at Hanoi University of Business and Technology In the second category, the methods of data collection are presented carefully The introduction of the action research participants lies in the next part The most important part of the chapter, which is the procedures of the study, describes in details the problem identification and the plan of action

2.1 Setting of the study

This study is carried out at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT),

a private university in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi It is well-known with providing good training in business and technology Business consists of several different majors such as Banking and Finance, Accounting, Business Administration and Commerce Identifying the importance of English for students‟ job - “better English, more opportunities”, Board of administrators consider English as a compulsory subject to all students regardless the majors they are learning Therefore, the students have to study English during three and a half years at HUBT and to complete 72 credits of English (equivalent to 1080 periods) before taking the Graduation examination by the end of the fourth year The students have to take part

in three English lessons each week Each lesson lasts for approximately four hours They are accessed with the two tests, mid-term test and final one In the mid-term test, they have to do a test with four language skills – listening, reading, writing and speaking The result of the mid-term test accounts for 40% of the total score The final test, computer-based multiple-choice, is in charge of the rest 60% The English course lasts for seven semesters and in the last semester, the students are trained with TOEIC and pass a TOEIC test

2.2 The learning materials

A series of Market Leader (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and Intermediate) by David Cotton, David Falvey, and Simon Kent (2000) have been used as main material for students at HUBT since 2005 “Each book consists of 12 units based on topics of great interest to everyone involved in international business” (Cotton, Falvey, Kent,2000) With the aim to improve students‟ ability to communicate in English, The Market Leader (Pre-intermediate) is used and it is fortunately designed with full of authentic models of spoken language, communicative activities, pair work, and group work to help students practice using the language in the classroom Besides speaking, the book provides input in reading, and listening, with guidance for writing tasks Each unit ends with a motivating case study to allow students to practice language they have worked on during the unit There are also other components such as Practice File, Audio materials, Test File that consolidate and support the work in the main units as well as assess students' progress through the course However, there should be some modifications to the group structuring, especially the tasks, so that the problems of speaking activities such as not even participation, students‟ inhibition, nothing to say, use of mother tongue can be solved, and students can quickly make progress in the process of second language acquisition, as well as meet the course requirement at university

2.3 The participants

2.3.1 The students

This is an action research that was conducted with 31 second-year non-English major students in class TC1626 at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (where the researcher has been teaching) The students were at the age range of 19

to 21, including 21 girls and 10 boys Their level of proficiency in English was roughly attributed to elementary (after one year studying English at university) Most of the students come from different high schools in different regions all over the north of Vietnam

2.3.2 The teachers

As participants of the action research, the teachers who were involved in the study were the researcher herself, who taught class TC1626, and two other teachers who taught in this class too, they acted as observers One of them is MA of Hanoi National University and another is doing an MA course in Hanoi University They all had six to ten years of experience of teaching English to non-major students and they all showed their interest in the lectures on teaching speaking

The following matrix depicts the participants:

Participants No Gender Age Degree Years of teaching (for

- 10 years of teaching English

- 6 years of teaching English (doing MA)

Students 31 10 Male

21 Female

19-21 Learning E for more than 8

years: 18 students

Learning English for more than

5 years: 13 students All completed the elementary

Table 1: Participants‟ characteristics

2.4 Action research procedure

The main stages of this action research will be presented with the following

headings: Problem identification (observing and conducting informal interview),

Preliminary Investigation (analyzing the record of students‟ score of the two

module 2,3 (pre-test), Intervention (the implementation of problem-solving activities in form of pair/group work in speaking lessons) and Evaluation

(evaluation questionnaire and the record of students‟ scores in post-test)

2.4.1 Problem identification

To be teacher of English at HUBT, from her own experience and doing several observations of some speaking lessons in the last module at class TC1626 The writer realized some problems encounter with her students in speaking lessons Firstly, students did not have a good positive attitude towards speaking skill Many

of them seemed to worry about how they can pass the speaking tests, not use it as a tool to communicate Secondly, students were not interested in speaking The reason may lie in the lack of background knowledge and confidence in speaking English; and shyness This caused their involvement in these activities to be reluctant The researcher observed three speaking lessons and found out that about 5 students (approximately 15%) were really active and „talkative and dominant‟ in speaking activities in speaking lessons Most of the students (about 50%) were relatively involved in speaking activities though they were still reluctant as contributing their own ideas The rest (around 35%) were quiet and passive, they seemed to keep silent and listen to the other team members most of the time Moreover, some students were not able to speak out their opinion without looking at the translations which were done by their friends

2.4.2 Preliminary Investigation

Informal interviews with students at TC1626 before the implement were carried out

to explore their attitude towards speaking and problems faced by students in speaking lessons According to result, the researcher found that, most of the students said that speaking English was very important to them for some different reasons as getting a good job in the future, communicating with foreign language, getting good marks in the college, or studying abroad… However, a few interviewees (three out of twenty students) expressed their interest in speaking lessons The students listed out the typical factors that made them getting bored with speaking lessons such as, topics, limited vocabulary and grammatical structures, poor pronunciation, being afraid of losing face, unfriendly teammates,

unequal in language proficiency in working group… The following are some of their ideas (some of which have been translated from Vietnamese into English):

- Sometimes, I am not interested with learning speaking skill because the topics for speaking and discussion are difficult For example, when my teacher asked me to talk about the topic related to the airport This topic is too difficult for me I have never traveled by plane and have never been to any airport so I cannot have enough background knowledge and English words to express my ideas

- I don’t like speaking lesson because I am afraid that my friends laugh at me if I pronounce a word incorrectly or use the wrong words to express my thoughts

- In speaking lessons now, I just say when my teacher asks me I am not keen on working in group because the strong students talk too much, they ignore the weak ones and don’t respect my ideas

- I like learning speaking skill, but sometimes I feel inconvenient because I don’t want to work in groups with people weaker than me at English They are a bit slow

to give opinion Moreover, they speak mother tough a lot and ask me to translate into English

- The teacher talks too much in English and she sometimes does structure not clear enough I can’t understand and I say nothing in speaking lessons

To clarify the problem, the researcher analyzed the oral test scores of the two previous modules of English to discover that the number of students who got good marks (mark 7, 8) in speaking only covers 19.35% (six out of thirty students), whereas the average (mark 5, and 6) took about 70% (twenty one students), and the low shared 9.67% (three students) Many of them consistently unchanged their scores during their two modules of English

2.4.3 Plan of action

This action aimed at studying the effectiveness of problem-solving activities in pair/group to develop the English speaking communication ability and improve their attitude to speaking skill of second-year non-English major students After having indentified the problem, the teacher-researcher prepared plan of action to deal with these problems

Phase 1: Determining students’ needs and setting up a better relationship with students

To make it effective, first, the researcher had a meeting with the two teachers who also taught in this class to discussed students‟ problems and talked about her plan in applying problem-solving activities in speaking lessons The teachers agreed with the implementation of problem-solving activities and gave suggestions on forming groups After that, a small discussion was made to talk about the teaching and learning methods in speaking with students at TC1626, especially aimed at applying pair/group problem-solving activities in speaking lessons Moreover, in order to make students relaxed and open, teacher had small talk to share her learning English experience She also encouraged them to talk about themselves as well as their problems in learning English or in living far from home and motivate the suggestions from their classmates

Phase 2: Forming students in group

In this study, as said in the scope, the author focused on collaborative solving activities in pair/group, so grouping is very important According to Ur (1996: 232), "In group work, learners perform a learning task through small group interaction It is a form of learner activation that is of particular value in the practice

problem-of oral fluency; learners in class divided into five groups get 5 times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization" Basing on their test score in the previous module, the students were formed in groups of 4 or 5 with mix ability (good and weak students were grouped together)

Phase 3: Designing tasks, selecting problems for discussion carefully, and making necessary adaptations that promote students’ involving in activities and develop speaking English proficiency

Conducting a thorough search of course book and basing on the literature review relating to problem-solving in speaking lessons (as discussed in chapter 2), the teacher-researcher designed lesson plans for three speaking lessons in Market

activities for discussion In addition, the teacher selected carefully group/pair problem-solving activities suggested by Klippel, Byrne, and Snow for example: -linking activities: finding connections, finding differences and similarities, problem-posing for extra speaking activities

Phase 4: Implementing lesson plans with adapted activities and self-designed tasks

After preparing the speaking lesson plans with adapted activities and self-designed task, the researcher implement them in six weeks Problem-solving activities were applied in these speaking lessons with the same groups To help students work successfully in group with communicative activities as problem-solving, the teacher applied easy problems for discussion first, and then the difficult ones She also tried

to instruct carefully for the tasks which consisted of remarks and exemplification

To make students pay more attention, the researcher chose randomly a student who was in charge of recording during the group discussion Then, after group discussion finished, one of the members in group had to give their brief report before the class

Phase 5: Observing the class, delivering a questionnaire to students to collect data and doing post-test to measure students’ development in speaking proficiency

During the lessons of the intervention, in speaking lessons, the teacher-observers were invited to observe class TC1626 The researcher designed three speaking lesson plans which were adapted in form of problem-solving activity of three units:

Unit 1: Career, Unit 2: Selling online, Unit 3: Company The lessons were

observed using observation sheet to measure students‟ interest, enthusiasm, level of using language and progress in their speaking performance compared with each lesson After the intervention was completed, the questionnaire was delivered to the students to investigate their attitude towards speaking skill and towards the aspects

of problem-solving activities in speaking lessons

2.5 Evaluating students’ speaking proficiency

The students took the oral test of Module 4 with the same format and criteria as the previous one, and with most of the same examiner

2.6 Methods of data collection

This research is followed an action research form In order to get sufficient data for the study, a number of methods were employed:

2.6.1 Interview (formal and informal): The first instrument is interview which in

Kvale‟s view, qualitative interviews are “attempts to understand the world from the

subjects’ point of view” (Kvale, 1996) Or McNamara (1999) states that interviews

are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant‟s experience The researcher used this interview to find out students‟ attitude toward speaking skill, speaking activities and problems that they are facing in speaking skill

2.6.2 The teachers’ class observation: Another instrument for collecting data

was the teachers‟ class observations before and during the application of solving activities in speaking lessons An advantage of class observation is to give the researcher the opportunity to collect live data from naturally happening in their classroom The pre-observation was carried out before using problem-solving as a communicative activity in speaking lessons in order to check level of involvement

problem-of students in speaking lessons And in the post-observation was conducted during implementation in accordance with the criteria outlined by Ellis (2003), which aimed at recording the students‟ involvement, support and improvement in each speaking lesson

2.6.3 English speaking tests: The two sets of oral tests were employed as a key

instrument to examine the learners‟ English speaking ability and their improvement before and after applying problem-solving activities in teaching speaking The first one was the oral tests of the two previous modules (pre-test) and the oral test module 4 They were designed with two parts and last 5 - 7 minutes and the students were asked to complete the test in pair In the first part, they were asked to read

ability to pronounce smoothly with correct stress and intonation In the second part,

students were asked to role-play a situation (mainly adapted from the Skills and

Case study in Market Leader Pre-intermediate), within 4 - 5 minutes This aimed to

check the students‟ ability to manage in discourse and to participate in a conversation in a simple business context The three oral tests had the same format and criteria for assessing The students were examined by almost the same teachers

in all tests (Appendix)

2.6.4 Questionnaire: Questionnaire was designed and distributed to 32 students

in class TC1626 It contained 10 questions in 3 parts in order to find out students‟ attitude towards speaking skills and problem-solving activities applied in speaking lessons after 6 weeks of implement, the factors of problem-solving activities affects students‟ interest in speaking English To make sure that the students understood clearly the questions, the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese

2.7 Data collection procedure

The process of data collection was carried out during the students‟ fourth module of English of their second year Each module lasts 6 weeks and the students have three lessons per a week

At the earliest stage, some observations speaking class and informal interviews with students at class TC1626 were carried out to identify their attitude towards speaking skills and problems that prevented them in speaking English To clarify the problem, analyzing their oral test (pre-test) scores of the two previous modules of

English was conducted According to the criteria adapted from Language Testing

Lecture by Vu Van Phuc (2007) and Ur (1996) for assessing for speaking The

components for assessment included accuracy (grammar and vocabulary), pronunciation, fluency and interactive communication The students‟ two records of oral tests which were analyzed by the author and two other colleagues to define which were their weaknesses with speaking skill

After that, three observations were carried out by the author‟s colleagues during the application of problem-solving activities in speaking lessons to record their involvement in these activities

When the implements were completed, the students were interviewed and surveyed with a questionnaire with a set of questions with the aim to find out students‟ attitude towards speaking skills and problem-solving activities that form as communicative activities, factors that affected students‟ interest in speaking English At the final stage, the students had to take part in post-test which was designed with the same form of pre-test to examine their English language proficiency

Pre-intervention During intervention Post-intervention

Observation

Observation

Questionnaire

Analyzing speaking test

(M2 and M3- pre test)

Analyzing speaking test (M4- post test)

Table 2: Data collection instruments

Conclusion

To sum up, this chapter presented the setting of the study, the action research procedure, and data collection which included instruments used to collect data and descriptions of data collection procedure

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS and Discussions

In this chapter, data that was obtained from the classroom observation, questionnaire, and English speaking test was analyzed and interpreted to seek answer the two research questions

3.1 Research question 1: How would problem-solving activities improve

students‟ speaking English skill?

The answer to this question was the comparing between students‟ score in pre-test (the score of the two previous oral test) and post-test (the oral test for Module 4) that had the same format and criteria for assessment

Chart 1: Student‟s score of pre-oral test and post-test

As illustrated in Chart 1, it was found that the scores in post test of students at TC1626 (included in the appendixes) were improved significantly The lowest score

of pre-test was 4 (9.67% in M2 and 6.45% in M3), while the lowest score in test (M4) was 5(6.45%) Moreover, while the number of students who got good marks (7 or 8 mark) was only 6 students (19.35%) in pre-test, this number rose to

post-15 students (48.38%) in post-test Particularly, the highest score in pre-test was 8 and there was only one student, but in post test, four students got mark 8 (12.9%) and one students got mark 9 (3.22%)