Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of the first year non-english major students at Haiduong medical technical university and some possible solutions

ABSTRACT The study was carried out in the hope of investigating some factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in speaking activities at Haiduong Medical

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o -

NGUYỄN THANH THUỶ

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL

UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

( NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT Y TẾ HẢI

DƯƠNG VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẢ THI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 0111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -o0o -

NGUYỄN THANH THUỶ

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF THE FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HAIDUONG MEDICAL TECHNICAL

UNIVERSITY AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

( NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT Y TẾ HẢI

DƯƠNG VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẢ THI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 0111

SUPERVISOR: Dr TRẦN THỊ THU HIỀN

Hanoi, 2015

DECLARATION

I certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the work of others The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study

Hanoi, August 20th 2014

Signature

Nguyen Thanh Thuy

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In completion of this thesis, first of all I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien for her experienced guidance, invaluable advice, and encouragement since the very beginning until the completion of the thesis

I am indebted to all the lectures of Vietnam National University, Hanoi – Faculty of post-graduate studies for their valuable lectures which help me to orient the topic

I also wish to acknowledge the great support and precious help with the data collection and analysis of my colleagues and students at Haiduong Medical Technical University Without them, I could not have completed my thesis

Finally, I would like to thank my family, my dear friends from the master course who gave me support and encouragement during the time the study was carried out

ABSTRACT The study was carried out in the hope of investigating some factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in speaking activities at Haiduong Medical Technical University The respondents were 12 English teachers and 165 first year non-English major students In this paper, the researcher used two data collection instruments: questionnaires and interviews for both teachers and students The findings showed that factors affecting students’ involvement originated from students, teachers, classroom and materials’ sides On the basis of the findings, the study also provides some possible solutions for the teaching and learning process

of English concerning the effective factors to maximize the students’ involvement in speaking activities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Significance of the study 2

7 Structure of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1.1.Speaking in second language learning and teaching 3

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 3

1.1.2 Characteristics of speaking 3

1.1.3 The roles of speaking in language teaching and learning 4

1.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking 5

1.3 CLT and teaching speaking 6

1.3.1 Concept of CLT 6

1.3.2 Characteristics of CLT 6

1.3.3 Conditions of Applying CLT 7

1.3.3.1 Authentic materials 7

1.3.3.2 Teachers 8

1.3 Student’s participation in oral activities 8

1.3.1 Concept of students’ participation 8

1.3.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 8

1.3.2.1 Students’ factors 8

1.3.2.2 Teacher’s factors 13

1.3.2.3 Classroom factors 15

1.4 Summary 17

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Context of the study 18

2.2 Methodology 19

2.2.1 Participants 19

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 19

2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaires 19

2.2.2.2 Interviews 20

2.2.4 Data collection procedures 20

2.3 Summary 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 21

3.1 Data analysis 21

3.1.1 Results from students’ survey questionnaire and interview questions 21

3.1.1.1 Students’ assessment of their speaking ability 21

3.1.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 21

3.1.1.3 Students’ level of participation in speaking activities 22

3.1.1.4 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class 23

3.1.1.5 Students’ evaluation on learning speaking English 23

3.1.1.6 Students’ assessment of the topics in the textbook 26

3.1.1.7 Students’ evaluation on the teachers 26

3.1.1.8 Factors affecting students’ participation 28

3.1.1.9 Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation 28

3.1.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire and interview 29

3.1.2.1 Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill 29

3.1.2.2 Teachers’ assessment about students’ speaking ability 29

3.1.2.3 Teachers’ method and activities 30

3.1.2.4 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 31

3.1.2.4 Teachers’ suggestions to increase students’ participation in oral activities 32

3.2 Findings and discussion 33

3.2.1 Students’ level of participation in class speaking activities 33

3.2.2 Students’ factors 33

3.2.3 Teachers’ factors 34

3.2.4 Classroom factors 34

3.2.5 Material factors 35

3.3 Suggestions 35

3.3.1 The students 35

3.3.2 The teachers 36

3.3.3 The materials 37

3.3.4 The classroom 38

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Summary of the study 39

2 Limitations of the study 40

3 Suggestions for further research 40

REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

HMTU: Haiduong Medical Technical University

M.A.: Master of Arts

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 1: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability 21

Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 21

Chart 3: Students’ level of participation in speaking activities 22

Chart 4: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class 23

Chart 5: Students’ assessment of the topics in the textbook New Headway pre-intermediate-the third edition 26

Table 1: Students’ learning styles 23

Table 2: Students’ motivation 24

Table 3: Students’ anxiety 25

Table 4: Students’ opinion about teachers’ method and characteristic 26

Table 5: Teachers’ techniques to encourage students 27

Table 6: Factors affecting students’ participation 28

Table 7: Students’ suggested solutions to increase their participation 28

Table 8: Teachers’ attitude towards speaking skill 29

Table 9: Teachers’ assessment of students’ speaking ability 29

Table 10: Teachers’ method and activities 30

Table 11: Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 31

Table 12: Teachers’ suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities 32

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

These days, English is very popular in Vietnam English has become a crucial means

of communication and it is widely used in different fields of the society such as international commerce, science & technology, education, medicine and so on That is why, English teaching and learning have become a great necessity for Vietnamese people Especially, learning speaking gains a great stature as the need of communication is paid much more attention

However, in some places in Vietnam, English teaching has been strongly influenced

by traditional methods Teachers as well as students pay too much attention to the grammar items Teachers mainly focus on explaining the grammatical rules and structures to students who are considered as passive recipients As a result, those students are often reluctant in speaking activities

In recent years, English teachers have changed their teaching methods and focused on teaching speaking to the students One top concern of most teachers is students’ ineffective participation in speaking lessons The reasons for that are various Tsui (1996), after carrying a research in Hong Kong, lists five principle factors affecting the reluctance of students’ participation in classroom speaking lessons: students’ perceived low proficiency in English, student’s fear of making mistakes and derision, teachers’ intolerance of silence, uneven allocation of turns, and incomprehensible input (as cited in Nunan, 1999:234)

Having been teaching English at Haiduong Medical Technical University (HMTU) for seven years, the author of this paper has realized that most of the students do not often enjoy speaking periods, and they do not actively contribute the speaking lessons They always keep quiet, passively take note, some listen to better students speaking but do nothing while some other students even discuss in Vietnamese That is the reason why

the topic “Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities for the first year

non-English major students at Haiduong Medical Technical University and some possible solutions.” was chosen as an attempt to find out the reasons for the above

problems, and propose some suggestions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities

2 Aims of the study

The study investigates current teaching and learning of speaking skill for and of the first year non-English major students at HMTU to identify factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in speaking activities and from that gives some possible solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities

3 Research questions

To achieve the aims which are mentioned above, the following research questions were raised for exploration:

1 What are the factors affecting the students’ participation in speaking activities?

2 What are the possible solutions to increasing these students’ participation in speaking activities?

4 Scope of the study

The current research concentrates on investigating factors affecting the first year non-English major students’ participation in oral activities and from that gives some possible suggestions

to increase students’ participation in oral activities at HMTU All of the attempts working with other types of students, other skills at other institutions are out of the scope of the study

5 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used The data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews Survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers were used to gather information and evidence for the study To make the data more reliable, interviews for teachers and students were conducted All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the thesis were based on the analysis of the data collected

6 Significance of the study

The information of the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities is helpful for students and teachers of English in general and teachers at Haiduong Medical Technical University in particular Suggestions to increase students’ participation may help the teachers overcome the challenges and find ways to have successful lessons

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into three parts:

Part A (Introduction) presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods,

significance and structure of the study

Part B (Development) includes three chapters:

Chapter 1 (Literature review) gives some theoretical background about speaking skill and factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities

Chapter 2 (Methodology) presents the context of the study, participants, data collection instrument, data collection procedures

Chapter 3 (Data analysis, findings, and suggestions) includes data analysis, finding, the author’s discussion, and suggestions

Part C (Conclusion) presents major findings of the study, its limitations and some

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speaking in second language learning and teaching

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Of the four language skills ( listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking is considered a productive skill It is also a difficult skill for non-major English students

in Vietnam in general and for the first year non-major English students at HMTU in

particular According to Chaney (1998:13), speaking is “the process of building and

sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols, in a variety contexts”

In addition, Brown (1994) defines speaking as a process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information In Brown and Yule’s opinions (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 They also add that spoken language is made by using the loosely organized syntax, and non-specific

words, phrases and filters such as oh, well, uhuh, and so on

From the above definitions, speaking is making use words, knowing and being able to use language; expressing in words and making speech Therefore, we can infer that speaking is the ability to make use of words or a language to express oneself in actual communication

1.1.2 Characteristics of speaking

As for Bygate (1987:12), in most speaking the person to whom we are speaking is in front of us and able to put right if we make mistakes He/She can also generally show agreement and understanding – or incomprehension and disagreement Unlike readers

or writers, speakers may need patience and imagination, too While talking, speakers need to take notice of the other and allows listeners chance to speak it It means that

we take turns to speak Brown (1983) and her colleagues point out that a listener gives

a learner models to utilize when acting as a speaker In addition, being a hearer first helps the learner appreciate the difficulties inherent in the task It is clear that giving speakers experience in hearer’s role is more helpful than simple practice in task in

which a speaker is having real difficulties in appreciating what a particular task required

Speaking has the following characteristics:

Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Language functions ( or patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations can be identified and charted

Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of

language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary ( “linguistic competence”),

but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language

(“sociolinguistic competence”)

Speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in

a given speech act

Bygate (1987) considers speaking as an undervalued skill in many ways The reason is that almost all people can speak, and so take speaking skill too much for granted He also asserts that speaking skill deserves attention every bit as much as literacy skilled Learners often need to be able to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their most basic transactions Bygate also highly appreciates speaking by stating that speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt

To sum up, it is undeniable that speaking is key to communication By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency

1.1.3 The roles of speaking in language teaching and learning

It can not be denied that in our daily lives, people spend more time speaking rather

than writing or reading According to Larseen-Freeman (1986) “The goal of language

teaching is to develop communicative competence” That means people learn a

language to communicate well in that language Bygate (1987) considers speaking as

an undervalued skill in many ways The reason is that almost all people can speak, and

deserves attention every bit as much as literacy skilled Learners often need to be able

to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their most basic transactions In the study of Ur (1996:120), speaking seems intuitively the most important of all four skills Speaking is regarded as the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) shared the same opinion that when people mention knowing

or learning a language, they actually mean that they are able to speak the language From the above reasons, teaching and learning speaking skill is vital and should be paid much attention to

1.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

- The Grammar – Translation Method

For many decades the predominant method of language instruction was the translation method This method is rooted in the teaching of the nineteenth century and was widely used for the first half of the last century to teach modern foreign languages (Richards and Rodgers (2001) In the Grammar – translation Method, students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate (usually in writing) from one language to another The main goal of this method has been for students to read the literature of a particular culture This method does not really prepare students to speak English, therefore, it is not entirely appropriate for students to improve their speaking skills In conclusion, the Grammar – translation Method is not consistent with the goals of

grammar-increasing English learners’ fluency, oral production or communicative competence

- The Direct Method and Audio – Lingualism

The Direct Method focused on “everyday vocabulary and sentences” (Richards and

Rodgers (2001:9) and lessons were conducted entirely in the target language More importantly, the lesson presented new teaching points in speaking rather than in

writing and it was practiced “ in a carefully graded progression organized around

question and answer exchanges between teachers and students.”

In Audio-Lingualism, speaking is taught by having students repeat sentences and recite

memorized dialogues from the textbook Bygate (1987:15) states that “teaching oral

language was thought to require no more than engineering the repeated oral production of structures” In this method, the lesson emphasized repetition drills in

order to familiarize students with the sounds and structural patterns of the language In

short, memorizing patterns did not lead to fluent and effective communication in real –

life situations

- Communicative Language Teaching

At the end of the 1960s, the Audio – Lingual Method met a drastic attack from both American sociolinguistics and British functional linguistics based on the study of language from a wider prospective Hymes (1972) put forward the term

“communicative competence” to refer to appropriate language performance in contrast

to “ linguistic competence” At the same time, Brumfit and Johnson (1979) emphasized “the functional and communicative potential of language They saw the

need to focus on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures” CLT features more interaction- based activities such as role plays,

information gaps, pair work and group work In summary, among some approaches of

the language teaching methods, CLT is the most appropriate way for communication

1.3 CLT and teaching speaking

1.3.1 Concept of CLT

According to Nunan (1989:194), “CLT views language as a system for the expression

of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners including functional skills as well as linguistics objectives The learner’s role

is a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is a facilitator of the communication progress Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic.”

Nunan also asserts that in communication process, learners are negotiators and integrators whereas teachers are facilitators

1.3.2 Characteristics of CLT

Language is not simply a system of rules It is now generally seen “as a dynamic

resource for the creation of meaning” (Nunan, 1989) This point of view really

supports CLT

CLT’s goals are (a) making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and (b) developing procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication ( Le Van Canh, 2004)

Richards and Rogers (2001:161) confirms that CLT has a rich theoretical base and some of the characteristics of the communicative view of language are:

- Language is a system for the expression of meaning;

- The primary function of language is to allow interaction and communication;

- The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative use; and

- The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse

In Brumfits’s view (1984:91-93), CLT’s characteristics can be summarized as follows:

- Teaching is leaner – centered and responsive to learners’ needs and interests;

- The target language is acquired through interactive communicative use that encourages the negotiation of meaning;

- Genuinely meaningful language use is emphasized , along with unpredictability, risk-taking and choice-making;

- There is exposure to examples of authentic language from the target language community; and

- There is a whole language approach in which the four traditional language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) are integrated

In brief, CLT has served as the dominant approach to language teaching since the demise of the Audio-Lingual Method

1.3.3.2 Teachers

Teacher’s role is also one of the most important components in applying CLT In CLT class, teachers are not only facilitators of students’ learning but also advisors of the students’ wonderings Sometimes, they can act as a co-communicator to engage in the communicative activities along with students Teachers are the initiators of classroom activities but they do not always interact with the students They give the students chances to express their individuality by having them share their ideas and opinions

As for Littlewood (1981) this helps learners integrate the target language with their won personality and feel more emotionally secure with it

For the ones who never or rarely attend any language courses on CLT, training or retraining in CLT is always necessary because teachers’ competence decides the success or failure of applying CLT

1.3 Student’s participation in oral activities

1.3.1 Concept of students’ participation

In Howard, Short and Clark’s opinion (1996: 8-24), participation is the student’s active engagement in the classroom to promote effective learning The student’s activities may include reciting in class, having conversations with the instructor or their classmates, doing written outputs, and sharing ideas with others It means a participative learner is one that is not passive Moreover, Sylvelyn, Judith and Paulin (2009) define participation as students who actively engage in classroom discussions,

rather than be passive learners who simply take in knowledge

In order to have a successful lesson, students’ participation must be active and even The author, with nearly ten years of teaching experience, acknowledges that students’ participation in classroom oral activities can be affected by a variety of factors such as

from students, teachers, classroom and materials

1.3.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities

1.3.2.1 Students’ factors

a Students’ language proficiency level

In Vietnam, a common problem of language learners is a shortage of vocabulary, structures and expressions As a result, they are unwilling to speak In the class, many students just sit in silence and do not participate in the classroom activities

Nunan (1999:234) points out factors affecting the reluctance of students’ participation

in class speaking lesson as follow:

- students’ perceived low proficiency in English

- students’ fear of mistakes and derision

- teacher’s intolerance of silence

- uneven allocation of turns

- incomprehensible input

Rod (1985) reports that proficiency consists of the learners’ knowledge of target

language; it can be synonymous with “competence” Proficiency can be viewed as

linguistic competence or communicative competence Second language proficiency is usually measured in relation to native speaker proficiency

In Burns and Joyce’s view (1997), students have difficulties in pronunciation such as sounds, rhythms and stress patterns of English, lack of social and cultural knowledge, low proficiency of grammar patterns and problems in transferring from the native language into the target language All of these linguistics factors result in break – down in processing language and communication

In fact, if students’ language proficiency is rather low, they will not be confident to participate in speaking lesson Moreover, if students are of different language proficiency levels, teachers may cope difficulties choosing a suitable teaching method, and activities used in class

b Students’ learning styles

It is undeniable that learning style has a great influence on students’ participation in speaking lesson Individual‘s learning style in an educational context indicates a different way he/she approaches new information Brown (2007: 120) defines learning

style as “cognitive, affective and physiological traits that are relatively stable

indicators of how learners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment”

As can be seen from Willing’s classification, if the majority of students in one class belong to concrete and authority – oriented groups, the degree of participation in oral

activities of this class will be low

According to Brown (1994) the contrast between reflectivity and impulsivity dimension is one factor affecting students’ participation in speaking lesson Reflective

learners are slower, more careful and often weigh all the considerations before speaking out in the class, on the other hand, impulsive learners are quicker at making decision and make gambles before a solution is achieved So in speaking lesson,

impulsive learners are faster but less accurate speaker than reflective ones

As claimed by Ellis (1985:120), extroverted learners are more willing to interact with others than the introverted, and therefore they are more successful in oral

communication

Sharing the same view with Ellis, Lightbown and Spada list a number of personality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second language learners: extroversion, inhibition, self – esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and

responsiveness (1999:54-55)

A study conducted by Galvan and Fukada (1998: 29-49) finds that students who are outgoing participated more than introverts The study also determines that participants who self-reported as having passive personalities are least likely to initiate a question

or volunteer an answer to teacher’s question

We can conclude with certainty that if the teacher neglects these differences among

students, only some of them can benefit from the classroom activities

c Students’ attitudes and motivation

It is clear that students’ attitudes and motivation plays an important part in the success

of language learning Harmer (1999:51) defines motivation as “some kind of internal

drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” Lightbown

and Spada (1999) propose that “motivation in second language learning is a complex

phenomenon which can be defined in terms of two factors: learners’ communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community” It can be

understood that if learners have favorable attitudes and desire to speak the second language for communication, they will be motivated to acquire the language

proficiency

Harmer (1999:51) divides motivation into two types intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation is possessed by people having personal interest in doing something On the contrary, extrinsic motivation is caused by such outside factors, not

for their own sake, as the need to pass an exam or the hope of financial reward

If all the students just learn English in order to pass the written exams, they think that participating in speaking activities is not necessary In this case, a big question for the language teachers is how to inspire students’ personal interests in the speaking

lessons?

In order to do so, we have to understand the sources of motivation as “without knowing

where the roots of motivation lie, how can teachers water those roots?” (Oxford &

Shearin, 1994:15) Fisher (1990) points to three major sources of motivation in

learning:

- The learners’ natural interests (intrinsic satisfaction)

- The teacher/ employment…etc (extrinsic reward)

- Success in the task (combining satisfaction and reward)

Harmer (1999:51) also mentions that the sources of motivation are diversified They may derive from the society, significant others like the attitude of parents or old siblings, the teacher and the method The responsibility of the teachers is to increase and direct students’ motivation through setting clear goals, learning environment and interesting classes, which can directly influence students’ participation

According to Sass (1989: 86-88) there are many factors affecting student’s motivation

to work and to learn: interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence However, not all students are motivated by the same values, needs, desires, or wants Some students will be motivated by the approval of others, some by overcoming challenges

In conclusion, motivation and attitude play an important role in teaching and learning

as “positive attitudes and motivation are related to success in second language

learning” (Gardner (1975) Whatever factors affecting students’ motivation, it is a

duty for each language teacher to increase students’ motivation in speaking lesson

d Students’ anxiety

Anxiety is one of several affective factors which can influence attention and hence lead to deterioration in language performance There are different types of anxiety A distinction can be made between trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situational-specific

anxiety Scovel (1978) defines trait anxiety as “ a more permanent predisposition to be

anxious” It is perhaps best viewed as an aspect of personality State anxiety can be

defined as apprehension that is experienced at a particular moment in time as a response to a definite situation (Spielberger, 1983) It is a combination of trait and situation-specific anxiety This latter type consists of the anxiety which is aroused by a specific type of situation or event such as public speaking, examinations, or class participation

Psychological definitions of anxiety refer to a “transitory emotional state or condition

characterized by feelings of tension and apprehension and heightened autonomic nervous system activity” (Spielberger, 1983:24), a state which can have both negative

and positive effects, and which motivates and facilitates as well as disrupt and inhibits cognitive actions such as learning

There are a lot of reasons for assuming that an anxious learner will not be a good one Anxiety will distract from the task of attending to and remembering new items; it will discourage from the practices that will establish items A number of earlier studies failed to find evidence of the effect of general anxiety on second language learning Bailey (1983) analysed the diaries of 11 learners and found that they tended to become anxious when they compared themselves with other learners in the class and found themselves less proficient Bailey also identified other sources of anxiety, including test and learners’ perceived relationship with their teachers Ellis and Rathbone (1987) reported that some of their diarists found teachers’ questions threatening These and other possible sources of anxiety (like communication apprehension, tests, fear of negative evaluation) in the foreign language classroom are reflected in the questionnaires which a number of researchers have devised to measure learner anxiety such as Gardner and Smythe (1975)

In Zhang Xiuqin‘s research (2006), he found out that anxiety was the main negative factor which prevented students from participating in classroom speaking activities High anxiety learners tended to withdraw from voluntary participation and reluctant to take risks He identified some main causes of language anxiety:

- Less proficient English

- Students’ fear of mistakes and derision

- Large class size

- Unwilling to take risks

- Competitiveness

In short, there is sufficient evidence to show that anxiety is an important factor in second language acquisition in general and in students’ participation in speaking

activities in particular “The students’ anxieties, if unacknowledged and unaddressed,

prevent interaction in the learner group and hinder the acquisition of the second language” (McCoy, 1979:185) Therefore, language educators should strive to

promote a non-threatening learning environment and “user-friendly” oral exams which

students could prepare for well in advance, in order to prevent negative interactions between language anxiety and other personality variables such as learning styles, motivation, and personality types Teachers themselves could eventually discover and apply the most effective techniques in controlling anxiety

1.3.2.2 Teacher’s factors

a Teacher’s characteristics

To establish a good relationship, it is vital that teachers should be cordial, acceptant and tolerant, otherwise it can make students scared and afraid of speaking in the class Tsui (1996) found out that teachers’ intolerance of silence is one of five principal factors affecting students’ reluctance in speaking (cited in Nunan, 1999:234) Further more, in his investigation, Dornyei (2001:146) also stated that the teacher’s relationship with the students, the teacher’s attitude or the style conflicts between them

are major factors de-motivating students’ participation

It should be noted that not every teacher can have all the above characteristics, but it can help improve a good rapport between the teacher and students With such good interaction during the lesson, it both creates a positive environment for learning and

enhances students’ participation in the activities

Although “the perfect set of personal qualities and characteristics for an effective

teacher has not been found” (Barry, 1993:94), it would be true to say that in order to

involve students in classroom’s activities, teacher firstly should be one that students respect and lay their trust on The teacher’s prestige will make students feel safe in the lesson and willing to participate in the activities To support this point, Barry (1993)

mentions some characteristics that a teacher should have:

- Being natural: The teacher should present himself as real person such as the

feeling of happiness, sympathy, annoyance or humorous Therefore, the relationship

between students and teacher will be closer, which helps increase students’ involvement and co-operation in the process of teaching and learning

- Being warm: The teacher regards students as his fellow people, respects their

personal characteristics and is happy to have them around

- Being pleasant: The teacher’s attitude towards students expresses his relaxation,

friendliness in the relationship with his students Besides, being pleasant also means being enthusiastic towards the job of teaching

- Being approachable: An approachable teacher is the one who makes students feel good

about being with him and the one that students can come to see if they have problems

- Being tolerant: In learning a foreign language, students’ mistakes are inevitable The

teacher needs to be tolerant with those mistakes instead of criticizing them tactlessly

To sum up, not all teachers have all those factors However, teachers should try to create a close relationship with students to encourage students to participate in speaking activities

b Teacher’s methodology

The teacher’s methodology refers to the approach or method and the teaching techniques he uses in the classroom Through the history we have experienced the existence and development of many teaching methods that can be divided into two types: teacher – centered and learner – centered methods Traditional methods such as the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method are teacher – centered ones which mostly focus on grammatical and phonological accuracy These techniques are choral repetition, drilling substitution, content explanation and narrative presentation seem so mechanical and simple that they will result in learners’ passiveness and limit their participation in learning Thuy (2008) also states that Vietnamese students’ passiveness in learning is the product of traditional teaching In recent time, in the light

of Communicative Language Teaching, teacher’s technique turn from teacher – centered method into learner – centered method The teaching technique consist of role-play, problem solving, games, pair work, group work, interview, discussion, and

so on Harmer (1991: 12) finds that classes in which the teachers present a variety of activities are far more likely to ensure students’ continuing interest and involvement in learning, whereas classes in which the teachers continually give the same activities are

However, no teaching method is the best one as each one has its own advantages and disadvantages In order to apply a suitable teaching method, the teacher should take some of the following factors into consideration including learners’ level, interests and purposes Applying the appropriate method can have positive effects on students’ learning and participation in classroom’s activities

In conclusion, students’ participation can be affected by teacher’s factors including teacher’ role, characteristics and methodology Teaching method may play a decisive part in obtaining teaching goals, and in this case, increasing students’ involvement in oral activities In addition, teacher’ characteristics and teacher’s roles in the classroom activities play an important role in students’ participation Therefore, in order to reach this goal, teachers should improve themselves in methodology, knowledge and personality to motivate students

1.3.2.3 Classroom factors

a Classroom size

Large classes cause problems not only for teachers but also for students and their learning process In Hayes’ definition (1997), any class with over 40 students can be considered a large class Teaching large classes is difficult for both teachers and students in many reasons First, teaching large classes requires more work for the teacher as there are more learners to assist Then, it is not easy for teachers to motivate all students, make all of them concentrated, to have them involved, and to get them promptly responded Moreover, large classes are often more difficult to control because of the number of learners Noise is greater, and discipline problems are more likely to become uncontrollable Next, many of techniques and materials we use in smaller classes are difficult to use with larger classes because of students’ different learning preferences, different English proficiency level If there is littler classroom space, for example, arranging seats in groups can be difficult or impossible

In short, large classes cause problems for both teachers and students Therefore, students should actively participate in the lessons and teacher should choose suitable method or techniques to improve the situation

b Classroom atmosphere

Many teachers do not take classroom atmosphere into consideration when they conduct their classes, but the atmosphere is an essential part of learning in a classroom

According to Underwood (1987:34-44), both students and teachers take the responsibility for creating a good teaching and learning environment with the

following points:

- Giving a sense of purpose: All the students are provided opportunities to talk and

listen to each other and they have clear objectives to achieve in and after the lesson

- Ensuring that English is spoken: It is important to use English as the classroom

language right from the beginning and make sure that you want to conduct the lesson

in English Therefore, students will form the habit of speaking English in the class There is no doubt that the teacher’s command of using the target language can have great influence on the students’ willingness to speak By doing so, the teacher can set the best example and provides a good model for his classes

- Balancing fluency and accuracy: The teacher should balance the

encouragement of fluency with the need for accuracy If he focuses too much on accuracy, weaker students will be shy and reticent to speak Then, they will lose the confidence in speaking , and the gap between the weak and other fellow students become bigger

- Using an appropriate language: Classroom expressions are highly appreciated

to be used regularly in the class However, the language should be clear, understandable and it matches students’ level

- Giving encouragement: When students are trying their best to reach the goals,

the teacher should give an appropriate comment to encourage them A comment like

“Good”, “Well done”, “That’s right” can make students feel more confident and

motivated, and more importantly they are eager to speak more often

- Involving all the students: In large classes, it is very easy to miss some students

out when doing oral practice Underwood suggests some ways of endeavoring to include all the students such as using the class register list, setting speaking rules and games to encourage all students to participate in the activities

- Decreasing the pressure of examination and tests: Students are often nervous

and anxious about the exams and tests Thus, the teacher shouldn’t put too much weight on giving marks or tests

- Increasing extra-curricular activities: Extra-curriculum activities conducted

atmosphere in the classroom If students have more interesting activities, they will take

a more positive attitude towards their studies

In conclusion, creating a positive and engaging classroom atmosphere is one of the most powerful tools teachers can use to encourage students’ learning and prevent problem behaviors from occurring Therefore, it is important to make sure the classroom atmosphere comfortable in order to ensure productivity

1.4 Summary

This chapter has reviewed the role of speaking in foreign language teaching and learning It is obvious that teaching and learning speaking skill is vital and should be paid much attention to In addition, CLT and other approaches are also revised in order to show that CLT approach is the most effective way to teach speaking skill This chapter also provides issues of students’ participation in speaking activities, accompanied by the relevance of the present study The research methodology employed in the present study will be presented in the next chapter

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Context of the study

Haiduong Medical Technical University is located in the economic center of Northern Delta, which is 57 kilometers west of Hanoi capital The university belongs to the Ministry of Health with more than 50 years’ experience of training nurses and medical technicians at different levels The students graduating from the university are highly appreciated by health services in terms of professional skills The university currently

has more than 4,000 students and 300 officials and lecturers

At HMTU, students have to study four English courses Each course lasts 60 periods

(50 minutes per period) The English textbooks used at HMTU are “New Headway

pre-intermediate-the third edition” (John and Liz Soars 2011 ) for course 1, 2 and

“New Headway intermediate-the fourth edition” (John and Liz Soars 2012 ) for

course 3, 4 Each of these books consist of 12 units including seven parts: language focus, vocabulary, everyday English, reading, listening, speaking and writing The

topics in the material focus especially on friends, lifestyles, entertainment, plans and

arrangements, travelling, work, world, fear etc Each week students have 4 English

periods and they continuously learn in 15 weeks Besides, textbook Nursing 1( Tony

Grice 2011) is also used in the combination with the textbook above This course

book provides the students with the knowledge of terms and structures related to their future profession In fact, these textbooks do not require learners to have much grammar knowledge because its objective is to practice speaking and listening skills Although the objective of English course for freshmen at HMTU is that students are able to listen, speak, read, and write in the target language, progress tests and final tests are in written form Therefore, students and even teachers spend most of their time on grammar and reading comprehension to help students pass their exams

Besides, freshmen of HMTU do not have the same level of English language proficiency Although most of the students at HMTU have been learning English since they were at grade six, their English proficiency is very low The result of the placement test for the first-year students showed that more than 50% of the students are at beginning level of proficiency At the university, they only learn grammar and

do exercises to pass paper tests consisting of writing and reading skills Therefore,

result, it seems that they often feel reluctant to take part in speaking activities and a lot

of the students can not communicate with their friends and teachers in English class successfully

If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most important factor in the teaching process There are 12 English teacher currently working at HMTU Most of them are young with the age ranging from 25 to 35 and have at least three years of experience in English teaching Seven of them have acquired an M.A degree and four of them are doing an M.A course at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi They are helpful, enthusiastic, and willing to make renovations in teaching methodology 2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Participants

The participants of the study were 165 first-year non-English major students and all 12 English teachers at HMTU These students were selected randomly in classes from English 1011.1 to English 1101.8 The research was conducted in the second term of the school year All the participants took part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions In addition to questionnaires, 10 students and 5 teachers were interviewed in order to have in-depth data

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

2.2.2.1 Survey questionnaires

To reach the purposes of the study, survey questionnaires have been chosen as main instrument for data collection for this particular research because they help collect large amount of information without consuming too much time ( Nunan, 1992) There are two questionnaires used in this study (one is for the students and the other is for the teachers) The questionnaires consist of close, open–ended, and checklist questions The questionnaire for students consists of two main parts Part I is about the students’ personal information including age and years of English learning Part II aims to find out the level of students’ involvement, their assessment towards their proficiency, teachers’ methods, the materials, factors affecting the participation in speaking activities and some suggestions from students

The questionnaire for teachers also consists of two main parts Part I is about the information of age and years of teaching In part II , it is about teachers’ attitude

towards teaching speaking skill, their current teaching methods, factors affecting students’ involvement and some suggested strategies

2.2.2.2 Interviews

Besides survey questionnaires, the researcher used semi-structured interviews for teachers as a supplementary data collection method Semi-structured interviews were employed for reasons that they could bring the interviewer great flexibility to focus more on remarkable points (Nunan, 1992) Five teachers and ten students were invited

to the interview and kindly requested to answer the interview’s questions

2.2.4 Data collection procedures

The procedures were divided into two stages:

In the first stage, the respondents were all introduced how to complete the questionnaires carefully and also expected to complete every question Then, the researcher delivered the questionnaires to 12 teachers and 165 randomly selected students The participants were asked to complete in class in 30 minutes Each participant completed the questionnaire without discussion with the others The questionnaires are also translated into Vietnamese in order to help all the students understand and answer all the questions more easily

In the second stage, the author started interviews with five teachers and ten students to get further information In the best attempt to build a scientific methodology, the

researcher hopes to achieve a reliable and valid data of the study

2.3 Summary

In this chapter, the author presents the context of the study, the teaching and learning conditions at HMTU In addition, the background of the study, research questions, the participants, data collection instruments and data collection procedures are presented In the best attempt to build a scientific methodology, the researcher hopes to achieve a reliable and valid data of the study

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1 Data analysis

3.1.1 Results from students’ survey questionnaire and interview questions

3.1.1.1 Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

very good 0%

good 3.03%

so so 9.09%

bad 82.43%

very bad 5.45%

Chart 1: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

The result in chart 1 shows that there were no very good students at speaking skill The number of students with good level at English speaking skill only made up 3.03% while 9.09 % of the participants assumed that their speaking was so so More than three fourth of them admitted that they were bad ( 82.43%) or very bad (5.45%) at speaking skill In addition, during the interview 7 out of 10 students revealed that they desired to speak English but they have difficulty finding words or making correct sentences Whereas, 9 out of 10 students stated that they were not willing to speak because of their pronunciation From the results, it can be concluded that most of the students are at low English speaking level

3.1.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill