Attitudes of teachers and first year non english major students at hanoi university of industry towards the use of visual AIDS in english speaking lessons

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES TRƯƠNG THỊ THANH HOÀI ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND FIRST-YEAR N

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

TRƯƠNG THỊ THANH HOÀI

ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS AND FIRST-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY TOWARDS THE USE OF VISUAL AIDS IN ENGLISH

SPEAKING LESSONS (Thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên tiếng Anh

trường đại học Công Nghiệp Hà Nội đối với việc sử dụng

giáo cụ trực quan trong các giờ học nói tiếng Anh)

M.A Minor thesis

Field: English teaching methodology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgements ……… i

Abstract ……… Iii Table of contents ……… Iv List of abbreviations ……… Vii List of tables and charts ……… viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION ……… 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study……… 2

3 Significance of the study……… 2

4 Scope of the study……… 2

5 Methods of the study ……… 2

6 Organization of the study ……… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT ……… 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 4

1.1 Attitudes ……… 4

1.1.1 Definitions of attitude ……… 4

1.1.2 Components of attitude ……… 4

1.1.3 Relationship between belief, perception and attitude ……… 5

1.2 Speaking skills ……… 5

1.2.1 Definition of speaking ……… 5

1.2.2 Speaking in relation to three other skills ……… 6

1.2.3.The role of speaking in communicative language teaching … 8

1.3 Visual Aids ……… 9

1.3.1 Definitions of visual aids ……… 9

1.3.2 Benefits of using visual aids in teaching speaking……… 9

1.3.3 Types of visual aids ……… 11

1.3.3.1 Chalkboards and whiteboards ………

1.3.3.2 Pictures ………

1.3.3.2.1 Wall pictures ………

1.3.3.2.2 Wall charts………

1.3.3.2.3 Flash cards ………

1.3.3.2.3.1 Picture flash cards ………

1.3.3.2.3.2 Word flash cards ………

1.3.3.2.4 Work cards and work sheets ………

1.3.3.3 Realia ………

1.3.3.4 Authentic printed materials ………

1.3.3.5 Overhead projectors ………

1.3.3.6 Computers and videos ………

11 12 12 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 15 15 16 1.3.4 Studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context 16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ……… 17

2.1 The context of Hanoi University of Industry……… 17

2.1.1 Teachers ……… 17

2.1.2 Students ……… 17

2.1.3 Teaching and learning facilities ……… 18

2.2 The study ……… 18

2.2.1 Research questions ……… 18

2.2.2 Selection of participants ……… 18

2.3 Instruments ……… 19

2.3.1 The questionnaires ……… 19

2.3.2 The direct interviews ……… 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……… 22

3.1 The data analysis ……… 22

3.1.1 The participants’ age, gender and years of experience ……… 22

3.1.2 Research question 1 ……… 23

3.1.2.1 The teachers’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons ……… 23

3.1.2.2 The students’ attitudes towards speaking and visual aids in

speaking lessons ………

25 3.1.3 Research question 2 ……… 26

3.1.4 Research question 3 ……… 29

3.1.5 Research question 4 ……… 30

3.1.6 Research question 5 ……… 32

3.2 Discussion and findings ……… 35

PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ………… 38

1 Conclusion of the study ……… 38

2 Recommendations ……… 38

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study ……… 41

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1 Survey questionnaire for teachers

Appendix 2 Survey questionnaire for students

Appendix 3 Interview for teachers

Appendix 4 Interview for students

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

PageTable 1 Teachers’ age, gender, years of experience, qualification……… 22 Table 2 Students’ age, gender, years of learning English ……… 22 Table 3: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons … 23 Table 4: Teachers’ attitudes toward speaking and visual aids in speaking lessons … 25 Table 5: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from teachers’ view points 27 Table 6: Frequency of teachers’ using specific visual aids from students’ view points 28 Table 7 Purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking skills from teachers’ view points 31 Table 8 The purposes of visual aids in teaching speaking from students’ view points 31 Chart 1: Favorite types of visual aids used in speaking lessons from the view points

of teachers and students ………

26 Chart 2: Teachers’ techniques of using visual aids ……… 29 Chart 3 The students’ favorite activities when learning speaking through visual aids 30 Chart 4: Teachers’ difficulties in using visual aids to teach speaking ……… 32 Chart 5: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking through visual aids ……… 33

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In recent years, English has become an important language It is not only spoken by most native speakers but also the second and official language in many countries Since Vietnam joined the WTO (the World Trade Organization), teaching and learning English as a foreign language has taken an important part and English has become a compulsory subject in

most national curriculum

It is undeniable that the goal of learning and teaching English is to make students master the communicative activities As for the students at Hanoi University of Industry in general and the freshmen in particular, learning speaking skill is a really important task Most

of the students at HaUI are non-English majors so they often find speaking the most challenging to them to acquire English In fact, what students are wondering is always haunted

in the researcher’s mind most of the time, which urges her to find a suitable solution to motivate them in English speaking lessons

Among proper solutions, using visual aids to teach speaking has been proved to be an effective way When mentioned the importance of visual aids in learning and teaching a language, Bowen emphasized that “learning is a complex process and visual aids are a great help in stimulating the learning of a foreign language The students must use his ears as well

as his eyes but it is the eye that is primary channel of learning” (1982, p1) Chamberlain (1980) also pointed out that 83% of the information received by the brain comes through sight and only 11% comes through hearing This means in the learning process, what students see and touch will be perceived in their mind better than what they can hear only Visual aids can create many communicative situations to encourage students to speak and make teaching and learning easier and more pleasant as well as more productive A teaching lesson which is provided with an appropriate type of visual aids will be an active one in which all students are willing to speak the given topic For example, a map can be fully made use in asking and giving direction lessons or a real object, a picture can be a good illustrator in describing lessons

For the reasons mentioned above, the researcher chooses “Attitudes of teachers and

first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry towards the use of visuals aids in English speaking lessons” as the title for this research with the hope that it will

reveal the application of visual aids in teaching speaking and some benefits of using visual

aids in teaching and learning English speaking skills What’s more, some suggestions of exploiting visual aids more effectively to teach speaking skills will be given with the hope of providing useful source and reference for teachers at HaUI in particular and for all teachers of English in general to motivate their dear students in English speaking lessons Last but not least, it is expected that the research would be a certain contribution to the improvement of

teaching speaking skills for first-year non-English major students at HaUI

2 The aims of the study

- To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward speaking skills

- To investigate the teachers and students’ attitudes toward the use of visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skills

- To investigate the application of visual aids in the field of teaching speaking skills

- To explore the benefits of using visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skills

- To explore the problems faced by teachers and first-year non-English major students at HaUI

- To give some recommendations to exploit visual aids more effectively

3 Significance of the study

This study helps point out the teachers and students at HaUI’s attitudes toward visual aids in teaching and learning speaking skill Particularly, this study is carried out with the hope

to provide an insight into current teaching situation of using visual aids in English speaking lessons to teach first-year non-English major students at Hanoi University of Industry Last but not least, it is hoped that the study would make some suggestions of applying and exploiting visuals in teaching English speaking so that the teachers can have proper adjustment to their

teaching methods

4 Research scope of the study

This paper is restricted to mention the visuals which can be used for teaching and learning speaking Some other kinds of visual aids such as teachers’ gestures, facial expression are not intended to be covered because they are mostly used in teaching vocabulary

This paper only focuses on types of visual aids such as boards, pictures, realia, video, etc which are well applicable to particular conditions at Hanoi University of Industry

5 Methods of the study

To reach the aims of this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are made used of Data are collected from the survey questionnaires and direct interviews The quantitative data obtained from survey questionnaires were then analyzed statistically Direct

interview was carried out to supplement the survey questionnaires Both of the two methods are hoped to bring about valid and reliable data

6 Organization of the study

The study consists three main parts:

Part one: Introduction which provides specific reference to the rationale, aims,

significance, scope, methodology, and organization of the study

Part two: Development which includes three chapters

- Chapter one: Literature review which gives the brief view on attitudes, the basic theoretical background of speaking skills and the overall view of visual aids

- Chapter two: Methodology that gives the research questions and describes an insight into research methods to find out the answers to research questions This chapter also gives the brief view on the subjects, the procedures and the instruments to collect data employed to seek for the answers to the research questions

- Chapter three: Data analysis and discussion show the data collected from the survey questionnaires and the interview Also, these data will be discussed in this chapter

Part three: Conclusion which reviews the main findings of the study, offers some

recommendations of using visual aids to teach speaking skills effectively as well as some suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

This chapter discusses the theory and research into which this study bases on Some basic concepts related to attitudes, speaking skills, visual aids are addressed to provide the

theoretical background for the study

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Attitudes

1.1.1 Definitions of attitude

Over the course of decades of research, there are various definitions of attitudes proposed According to Jung, attitude is a “readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way” (1971, p.687) Richard R Bootzin, Gordon H Bower, Jennifer Crocker, Elizabeth Hall point out that an attitude is “an evaluative response to a particular object, idea, person, or group of people This response reflects an individual preference or aversion.” (1991, p.628) Triandis, H (1971) supported these ideas by defining attitudes as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, and situation.) They encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions, beliefs and are based upon our experiences

From these above definitions, a conclusion can be drawn that attitudes are a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something People can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object, meaning that they simultaneously possess both positive and negative attitudes toward the item in question These definitions seem to be comprehensive and significant for this study, since the researcher, to some extent, aims at investigating teachers and first-year non-English major students’ evaluation of the use of visual aids in English speaking lessons

1.1.2 Components of attitudes

Attitudes are judgments In discussion of components of attitudes, traditionally, they are

considered to have three components According to Fazio, R.H (1986), most attitudes are the result of either direct experience or observational learning from the environment; they develop

on the ABC model (affective, behavioral, and cognitive):

- An affective or emotional component: An individual's degree of preference for an entity, how people feel about the object E.g “ I feel good when I am around my friend”

- A behavioral component: A verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual It means how people act toward an object E.g “I try to hang out with my friend whenever I get the chance”

- A cognitive component: A cognitive evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual's beliefs about the object It is about people’s knowledge, beliefs and thoughts about the object E.g “I think my friend is kind, charming, and humorous”

1.1.3 Relationship between perception, belief and attitude

There is close ties among belief, perception and attitude According to Richard R Bootzin, Gordon H Bower, Jennifer Crocker, Elizabeth Hall (1991), beliefs and

perception are just inside the brain, they are not in action Belief is the root or foundation of a person’s way of thinking In normal life, people do not question or filter their belief They take their beliefs as it is It includes the values that they have

Perception is the method or way of thinking or point of view Some people called it paradigm It is the filter of any input based on their beliefs

Attitude is what people act or react How people perform their thinking is their attitude Their action is depending on their attitude They usually do not see their own action (except in front of the mirror or in their own movie) Their action is just a show-off of their perception and their belief In other words, what people act or react is directly influence by their way of thinking, their values, and their beliefs

Also, people are aware of their own beliefs, their own way of thinking, their own values, and what they are doing Unaware reaction means a reflex action from subconscious level go directly to their action Without awareness, they will do everything in reflex They do not think on what they are doing With awareness, they can think before they are acting or reacting because their awareness controls the three levels: belief, perception and attitude

Many problems in people’s life often come from the relation with other persons They cannot control other person but they can influence others through their own change in attitude, their words, their action or their reaction

In conclusion, attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing,

or event It has three components: Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Attitudes have close relationship with belief and perception These are valuable theoretical background that helps the researcher approach the aims of the study

1.2 Speaking skills

1.2.1 Definition of speaking

Communication is a very important part of human civilization Webster (1983, p.266) says that communication is “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.” Communication using language can be conducted in two ways: orally (speaking) and in a written form (writing) Despite the fact that these two means of language communication are equally important, “it is speech, not writing, which serves as the natural mean of communication between members of community” (Byrne, 1976)

Speaking is actually a natural activity, which appeared in our daily life thousands of years before script was invented No one knows when people started to speak as speaking requires nothing except people themselves

Chaney (1998, p.13) views speaking as the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in variety of contexts Meanwhile, Bygate (1987, p.1) states that speaking is a popular form of expression “which uses the “colloquial” register” Literary skills are on more prized than speaking because “speaking is transient and improvised and can therefore be viewed as facile, superficial or glib”

What’s more, Brown (1994) defines speaking as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information River basing on

speaking’s characteristics considers “speaking” as “basic to some of most interesting and

exciting activities.” (1996, p.207)

From these above definitions of speaking, it can be concluded that speaking refers to a process

of interaction in which people can exchange their opinions, thoughts, and emotions This process can happen in various situations through verbal and non-verbal symbols and it can create different attractive and exciting activities

Speaking skill is man’s ability in using language as a means of communication Bygate states

that: “we do not merely know how to assemble sentences in the abstract: we have to produce

them and adapt them in the circumstances This means making decisions rapidly, implementing them smoothly and adjusting our conversation as unexpected problems appeared in our path.” (1987, p.3) He highly appreciates speaking skill by stating that

speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt

Clearly those learners do not learn by heart every word, sentence and then gather them in the abstract but they learn how to speak in a particular situation This means speaking skill helps learners learn language as a means of communication in a real life It can develop learners’ ability to speak fluently, correctly and clearly so that they can speak out in every situation 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

1.2.2 Speaking in relation to the three other skills

It cannot be denied that the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing are equally important in communication as well as in teaching and learning language They have a very close relationship with each other so that they should not be shown in isolation The four skills can be divided into two skills in two groups: productive and receptive skills Productive skills involve speaking and writing because the author has to produce his own language in communicative process and receptive skills involve reading and listening because people just receive language from others

Byrne, D (1976, p25) represented the relationship among four skills in the following diagram

It is important to remember that “receptive” does not mean passive in both listening and reading Successful oral communication must combine the success of both productive and receptive skills Listening should be paid due attention to because if language learners cannot control over what is said to them, communication will break down immediately Doff, A (1988) said that there are two main reasons for teaching listening comprehension First, we cannot develop speaking skill unless we also develop listening skill In order to have a successful conversation, students must understand what is said to them, the ability to understand spoken English may become very important To develop this ability, students need plenty of practice in listening to English spoken normal speech Second, “listening to spoken language English is an important way of acquiring the language of “picking up” structures and vocabulary In a situation where learners are living in a country where English is the first language, they have plenty of “expose” to the language, they hear it all the time and can acquire it more easily than learners who do not hear English spoken around them So we need

to give these learners many opportunities to listen to spoken English as possible

According to Widdowson, H.G (1990), speaking and listening are said to relate to language expressed through the aural medium and reading and writing are said to relate to language expressed through the visual medium He also suggested another way representing these skills by referring not to the medium but to the activity of the language users Thus, speaking and writing are said to be passive and receptive skills He expressed these notions in the below simple diagram

Productive/ active Receptive/passive

However, according to him, it is not especially helpful and might be passively misleading to represent the language skills in this way When considering the usage “The terms aural/ visual and productive/ receptive refer to the way language is manifested rather than to the way it is realized in communication”

Therefore, in order to be successful in speaking as well as learning foreign language, learners should pay attention to all skills because the purpose of learning language processes the ability

of communication

1.2.3 The role of speaking in communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching was founded in the early 1960s and has become a popular approach of teaching foreign language in Vietnam especially in English classes There are different definitions given by language theorists

“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 They include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives The learner’s role is a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is a facilitator of the process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic” (Nunan, 1989, p.194)

In communicative language teaching, speaking is regarded as one of the key outputs for English learners “Of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as speakers’ of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing… Classroom activities that develop learners’ ability to express themselves through speech would therefore seem an important component of a language course” (Ur, 1991, p.120)

According to Canale and Swain (1980), the goal of CLT is to develop communicative competence that can best serve the needs of the learners Communicative method mainly focuses on activities in which students have chances to determine what they want to say independently of the teacher Roger Scott (1981:67) emphasized the important role of speaking in CLT that “the communicative approach makes sure that the interactions which take place in the classroom replications of or necessary prerequisites for, in communication is more important than learning the rules of language above the level of the sentence.”

Therefore, it is very essential for learners to achieve communicative competence in learning language courses Students must improve their abilities to communicate freely and easily in the real life in a particular situation In order to be successful in teaching and learning oral communication, the teacher plays a very important role, not as a person who provides prompt that triggers utterance or a certain structure from students but as a person who can set

up the condition for communication to take place

1.3 Visual aids

1.3.1 Definition of visual aids

According to Dictionary of English language and Culture, visual aids are defined as

“something that people can look at to help them understand, learn, remember, etc such as a

picture, map, photograph, or film Visual aids are often used as materials in education.” (1998, p.1490)

In short, visual aids are anything visible to learners that the teacher uses for different teaching purposes in the class They can be objects, pictures, drawings, cards, even cut-outs taken from newspapers, textbooks, etc With the instructions from the teachers, students can exploit them and perceive knowledge

1.3.2 Benefits of visual aids in teaching speaking

Visual aids are proved to be beneficial in teaching a foreign language Bowen M (1982) stated that during the learning process, visual aids are great helping stimulating the learning of foreign language The students must use his eyes but it is the eye that is the primary channel of learning” Visual aids are indeed increasingly making great contribution to language teaching and learning in general and to speaking in particular There has been a great deal of studies on the benefits of visual aids in teaching speaking They can be summarized as follow:

- Visual aids as a means to provide situations

According to Lee and Coppen (1970, p1), the main virtue of visual aids is to “help to provide the situation (context) which light the meaning of the utterances used” Bowen (1982, p1) stated that visual aids can “enrich the classroom by bringing in topics from the outside world” There is a point above the idea that once teaching foreign language is contextualized with the help of visual aids, students will have chance to learn the language in real situation In addition, the creative and imaginative abilities of students can also vary those situations thus comments, guesses, interpretations and arguments are made Therefore, the learning process becomes more easily and more naturally As a result, students are not only able to speak the target language well inside the classroom, they also communicate successfully outside the classroom

- Visual aids as a factor of motivation

Motivation plays an important role in second language acquisition success Brown (1990, p.161) claimed that in second language learning “a learner will be successful with the proper motivation” Thus, learners who are interested in learning tend to do better than those who are not Visual aids can create active learning atmosphere which helps students feel more

confident and feel free to take risks and to have sufficient opportunities to speak Andrew Wright (1991) also supported this idea that “visual aids affect students in some ways and cause him or her to want to listen and to speak” Lee and Coppen (1970, p.1) stated that it is visual aids that “can bring more variety and interest into language lessons” Colorful, interesting, lively images will catch students’ eyes, attract them at once, dispel their intrinsic shyness and activate them to talk without the fear of making mistakes

Visual aids are obviously the stimulus to form learners’ motivation They can refresh the atmosphere, warm up the atmosphere by living and interesting images that attract students’ attention and interest Speaking lessons with new ideas, comments, arguments, etc will become more exciting when all students are willing to talk and discuss about the given topics

- Visual aids as a tool to maximize students’ opportunity to practice

Visual aids can be used as an effective tool to create opportunity for students to practice Andrew Wright (1991) showed that “visual materials help to direct and promote conversation

in group” In addition, Bowen, M (1982, p.1) pointed out visual aids could “allow the teacher

to talk less by diminishing the important of the verbal stimuli provided by the teacher’s voice and allow the students to talk more” With their presence, they attract students’ attention and reduce the verbal stimuli provided by the teacher’s voice Therefore, the teacher talks less and students have opportunity to talk and discuss more Students have more chance to develop their fluency by communicating regularly in class As a result, both of their communicative skill as well as their language will improve much

- Visual aids as an assistant to help learners remember best

When exploited appropriately, visual aids are helpful for students to remember long According to Bowen, visual aids provide students with “a new dimension of dramatic realism and clarifying facts which might pass unnoticed or be quickly forgotten” (1982, p.1) As mentioned above, visual aids can create real circumstances in which language items are used Language items that are used in each situation are obviously memorized longer than without them As a result, students will absorb the language without being aware of it They will understand the meaning and the usage of the language items naturally and recall what they have lent easily In a nutshell, with the help of visual aids, students can remember the language items for a long time

In conclusion, visual aids are proved to be useful in teaching and learning speaking Clearly, what students can see has a profound influence on their learning process Therefore, if

being exploited suitably, visual aids may become good sources to maintain learners’ motivation, create contextualization and help students memorize longer as well as give more chances of practice speaking

1.3.3 Types of visual aids

In general, the following aids are not all kinds of visual aids but the very common ones

of which possible benefits can be exploited in English language teaching and learning or to be more specific, in teaching and learning speaking Of course, there are many others visual aids which are not dealt with in this paper Some of them require special preparation of equipment and are not suitable for language teaching at HaUI such as funnel board, magnetic board, etc Furthermore, some other kinds of visual aids such as teachers’ gestures, facial expression are not intended to be covered because they are mostly used in teaching vocabulary These types

of visual aids can be divided as follow:

1.3.3.1 Chalkboards and whiteboards

Chalkboards are said to be the most common and useful visual aids for teachers Their colors are usually black or green They are available, inexpensive Some chalkboards are magnetized allowing pictures, word cards, etc to adhere to the surface if magnets are placed

on top of them

Whiteboards are increasingly more common It is easier to keep them clean than chalkboards They need pens that are specialized for whiteboards It is also easy to stick pictures and cards to their surface What’s more, images can be projected onto their surface from a projector

One prominent advantage of chalkboards and whiteboards is they do not depend on other factors like electricity supply Teachers can use chalkboards and whiteboards whenever they like to teach a lesson They can serve different teaching purposes such as setting a scene for a debate, telling a story, etc However, the effect of using them depends on the way teachers use them to make the lessons much more interesting

Here are some characteristics of chalkboards and whiteboards

- The whole class can see it

- Texts and pictures can “grow” in front of the class

- Texts and pictures can be erased, added to or substituted quickly

- Parts of the boards can be obscured

- Texts or pictures on paper or card can be propped against the board, stuck to it or hung over it

- A white cloth or a sheet of paper can be stuck to the chalkboard or hung over it to act

as a projection screen

- Several people can work on the board at one time

(Andrew Wright and Safia Haleem: 1991: p.5, 6)

1.3.3.2 Pictures

Pictures are considered one of the most useful visual aids for teachers to teach speaking They can function as a stimulus as they encourage students’ imagination and memory The most useful contribution a picture can make is to contribute to the students’ understanding of a more general context which is made of pictures Apart from the pictures in the textbooks that the teachers often make use of, they can prepare the pictures by themselves to serve their different teaching purposes There are various kinds of pictures such as wall pictures, wall charts, flash cards, work cards, paintings, etc However, in this paper, some types of pictures which are popular and easy to design and use especially in large and crowded class are focused on

1.3.3.2.1 Wall pictures

“A wall picture is simply a large illustration of a scene or event, or a set of scenes or events.” (Bowen, 1982, p13) They are large enough to be seen by all the students

Characteristics

- They contain many details and they can show a complicated scene

- The whole class can see them

- They can be used more than once and for different teaching purposes if they are kept carefully

- They can be hung on display

For example: This wall picture will be useful for the speaking lessons of “Asking and giving directions”

1.3.3.2.2 Wall charts

“A wall chart is a large diagram or picture display card Most wall charts consist of combinations of visual and verbal material Their aim is to give information on a topic.” (Bowen, 1982, p.13)

Wall charts are usually complex, with printing too small to be seen by the students from their seats They are ideal for pair and group work in intermediate and advanced classes Therefore, Bowen (1982) stated that word cards can be prepared to accompany the charts so that students may work together to prepare a presentation before the whole class and/ or to prepare a wall display” (1982, p.15)

1.3.3.2.3 Flash cards

1.3.3.2.3.1 Picture flash cards

Picture flash card is one of the most flexible of the media According to Wright and Haleem (1991), Picture flash cards are pictures mounted or drawn on cards approximately 15

cm by 20 cm They are used in oral work for cueing responses to questions or in more open communicative work for stimulating conversation, story telling, etc

A picture flash card has a picture on one side only However, both sides can be used and the cards can be folded or cut in various ways with particular teaching purposes in mind

As for a classroom use, picture flash cards “are more suitable for the representation of a single concept, such as an object or an action It is best to use picture flash cards for the revision and practice of previously taught language, rather than for the presentation of new items (Bowen: 1982, p.28)

For example: Teachers can use two picture flash cards of sausages and eggs to help students practice the use of “would prefer”

1.3.3.2.3.2 Word flash cards

According to Bowen (1982), word flash cards are cards on which words have been printed and they can be held up rapidly or “flashed” by the teacher before the class

Word flash cards are usually 8 cm in height and 10 cm in width but the length varies according to the number of letters in the word to be printed on the card

Characteristics:

- Word flash cards are inexpensive

- They are easy to make, store and carry to classes

- Teachers can hold, prop and stick them on the board or any objects in the classroom They can display a number of cards at the same time

- Teachers and students can easily handle and use them at the appropriate moment For example: The teacher can make use of these following word flash cards to have students practice the speaking task: Talk about your daily life

WASH FACE GET UP BRUSH TEETH

HAVE

BREAKFAST

GET DRESSED

COMB HAIR

GO TO SCHOOL

STUDY ENGLISH

1.3.3.2.4 Work cards and work sheets

Work cards (about 15 cm x 20 cm) and work sheets are for individual students use or for use by students working in a small group They can include visual as well as text Good course books can provide a lot of these kinds of material Besides, magazine pictures, drawings, maps and diagrams can also be important parts of work cards at all levels and used for different purposes

Characteristics:

- Work cards can be made by teachers or students or taken from authentic printed materials

- Two sides of the cards can be used for presenting different information This separation

of the information is useful in some types of activities

- They can create interests and enable students to work more or less independently of the teachers

1.3.3.3 Realia

Realia or real objects are available inside or outside the classroom brought to the class

by the teachers or learners They offer a great help to the teachers in designing various language activities for their students to take part in They can be a toothbrush, a pen, a clock, a newspaper, a box of color pencils with different sizes and various materials

1.3.3.4 Authentic printed materials

“Authentic printed materials include anything written and printed in English: newspapers, magazines, publicity, technical instructions for equipment, holiday brochures, etc.” (Andrew Wright and Safia Haleem: 1991, p.84)

Characteristics:

- There are various and free materials for the teachers to choose

- They can make the students curious because they are not originally produced for schools

- They can be copied and stuck onto cards to reuse

- The complexity of the language may cause difficulty for the students if the teachers expect them to understand every word

1.3.3.5 Overhead projector

Overhead projector is now getting more popular It is a very useful kind of visual aid Light from a powerful bulb passes through and is focused onto a mirror, which throw the light onto a transparency screen

Characteristics:

- The whole class can see the project image

- Overhead projector can supplement or substitute for the chalkboard while still allowing the teacher to face the class

- Material can be kept and used in the following lessons

- Texts and pictures can be modified in front of the class

- The teacher can cover part of what is on the overhead projector transparence with a piece of paper or cardboard and present the information’s they want

1.3.3.6 Computer and video

Today, with the development of technology, computer and video are becoming more and more popular They are indeed good source of visual in teaching and learning English They can bring in colorful images and vivid movements Furthermore, they provide large amount of information in a brief of time Therefore, they motivate students to actively join in language learning tasks and help them improve not only speaking but also listening and reading skill

In conclusion, there are diversified kinds of visual aids that both teachers and students can take advantage of in speaking lessons The value of visual aids depends on how much they contribute to the lessons They will actually be of great help if exploited suitably

1.3.4 Studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context

In Vietnam, visual aids have also appealed several researchers Although most of their

BA or MA graduation papers do not have chance to be published because of subjective or objective reasons, they are of great value in practice especially in the researchers’ current situation of teaching and to all the people who concerns in the research as well as those interested in the discussing matters

In accomplishing this research, the author has also read numerous studies dealing with the topic However, most of these papers focus on exploitation of the effectiveness as well as the benefits of visual aids in language teaching and learning For example, “Using visual aids

to motivate tenth form students in their learning to speak” conducted by N T Nhung (2003)

or “Using visual aids as an effective way to improve communicate competence of upper secondary school students in Hanoi” by T.X Thu (2002) or H Linh’s (2008) graduation paper on “Using realia in teaching grammar to tenth form students in Hanoi high schools”, etc There is a need for a study that investigates teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the use of visual aids in English speaking lessons Therefore, this study was conducted to bridge the gap

In this chapter, some theoretical background knowledge and views on attitudes, definitions and the role of speaking skills in CLT, definitions, types, benefits of visual aids as well as studies concerning the use of visual aids in the Vietnamese context have been reviewed The analysis and

discussion of the data collected from the questionnaires and interviews addressing to the research questions will be given in the next chapters

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter introduces the context of Hanoi University of Industry where the study is conducted Then the research methodology chosen for achievement of the aims and objectives will be discussed in details

2.1 The context of Hanoi University of Industry

Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) was officially established in December 2005 on the basis of Hanoi Industrial College, one of the leading vocational colleges in Vietnam where

thousands of skilled workers and engineers are trained every year

HaUI is a big university which is in the process of developing to reach the aim of being one of the great universities of Southeast Asia Realizing the importance of English, the university authorities have paid due attention to the matter of improving the quality of teaching and learning English The ultimate aims are specific with the hope to enhance the training quality and increase the standard of graduate students with good job opportunities

2.1.1 Teachers

The English teaching staff in the Department of Foreign Languages consists of 112 teachers whose ages range from 22 to 50 years old Most of the teachers are female All of the teachers hold B.A degrees from different universities in Vietnam At present, 2% have PhD degree, 62% have M.A degree or are doing an M.A course

The academic background of the teachers shows that all of them have been exposure to different teaching methods such as communicative method or learner-centered approach, etc However, most teachers usually employ the traditional method of teaching speaking Classes are usually conducted in the form of lectures, with most of the time the teachers play the key role in the classroom, being the main speakers working through the text The teachers explain new words, terms or structures and then guide students to answer warm-up questions Then, the students imitate their teachers Discussions are rarely held due to the limitation of time

2.1.2 Students

In general, the students here are at the age of 18-23 They are mostly male students, coming from different provinces all over the country The class size is about 50 students each Most of students have studied English at high school; however, the problem is that most of them do not consider English as their major, so they did not pay much attention to study English at that time This gives the teachers a number of works

Besides, English is not their favorite subjects Most of students are not really interested

in leaning English due to the fact that they find it difficult to learn and use English skills, especially speaking For illustration, they are familiar with the common teaching methods at secondary and high school with the focus is on Grammar

2.1.3 Teaching and learning facilities

The class size for an English lesson is about 50 students each, but the classrooms, though

being well equipped with a projector, a computer, a cassette player and two loudspeakers at the corner of the room, are designed for about 80 to 100 students, which are actually too big for an English class of a much smaller size Another problem is that all students and most of the teachers of English have to use the course books New Headway Elementary which are unclear, black and white photocopied ones This fact may prevent them from exploiting color, photographs and pictures for learning and teaching

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Research questions

1 What are teachers and students’ attitudes towards speaking skills and visual aids in speaking lessons?

2 How often do teachers use different kinds of visual aids in teaching speaking skills?

3 What techniques have been embedded in visual aids when teaching speaking skills?

4 What are teachers and students’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching speaking skills?

5 What are problems faced by teachers and students when using visual aids in speaking lessons?

2.2.2 Selection of participants

Two groups are selected as participants of the survey questionnaires

Group 1 involves 50 teachers of English Their ages are ranging from 22 to 40 years old Most of the teachers are quite young Some of them have just graduated from university so they do not have much teaching experience Some of them are masters of art in English teaching; the others are attending the MA course at College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University Each teacher is assigned to teach at least 25 periods a week All of them now or used to teach English for first-year non-English major students The reason for this selection is they are dedicated teachers and willing to do the questionnaires Moreover, the

selected teachers have not only the knowledge of the language but also the understanding of the subject matter Therefore, the researcher can easily collect the reliable information

The other group includes 200 first-year non-English major students Most of them are of different ages from 18 to 22 both males and females They all come from different parts of the country: cities, provinces, mountainous and remote areas They do not have the same level of English language proficiency They are studying in different non English major faculties and classes such as Electronics 2A, Computer Science 5A, Mechanics 1A, Marketing 1A, etc All of them follow the same four terms of general English They are studying at the end of the first semester Moreover, they are also wiling to do the questionnaires

The textbook in use is New Headway with the level of Elementary published by Oxford University Press There are 14 units lasting 90 periods with various topics familiar to daily life such as jobs and career, future plans, hobbies, holidays, etc The book provide students with general knowledge of vocabulary, phonology, grammar, as well as developing four integrated language skills with the focus on speaking skill The students have 6 periods per week and they continuously learn in 15 weeks

The samples of teachers and students are randomly chosen among 112 teachers of English at Faculty of foreign language and about 620 first year non English major students from different faculties of Hanoi University of Industry to ensure the reliability and validity of the results as they can be representatives for the whole population The result can be generalized from sample to the whole population of teachers and first year non English major students

2.2.3 Instruments

The two sets of survey questionnaires and two sets of direct interviews are conducted among the non major 1st year students and teachers of English at HaUI to find out learning and teaching English speaking status and their attitude towards speaking and visual aids in English speaking lessons

To get information for this study, survey questionnaire and interview are the main methods of data collection The qualitative data were abstained from the two sets of interviews while the quantitative data were collected from two sets of survey questionnaires Due to limited time budget, the two methods are hoped to bring in validity and reliability

2.2.3.1 The questionnaires

2.2.3.1.1 Objectives

Two sets of survey questionnaires are designed, one for teachers and one for students The two survey questionnaires including open-ended and closed-ended questions which are divided into different parts The questionnaire for teachers includes 12 questions and the one for students has 11 questions These questions are divided into five main parts:

- Personal information:

Question 1, 2, 3, 4 in Survey questionnaire for teachers

Question 1, 2, 3 in Survey questionnaire for students

- Attitudes toward speaking skills and visual aids

Question 5 in Survey questionnaire for teachers

Question 4 in Survey questionnaire for students

- The application visual aids in English speaking lesson:

Question 6, 7, 8, 9,10 in Survey questionnaire for teachers

Question 5,6,7,8, 9 in Survey questionnaire for students

- The benefits of using visual aids in teaching and learning English speaking lessons:

Question 11 in Survey questionnaire for teachers

Question 10 in Survey questionnaire for students

- The difficulties of using visual aids in teaching and learning English speaking lessons:

Questions 12 in Survey questionnaire for teachers

Question 11 in Survey questionnaire for students

2.2.3.2 The direct interview

Objectives

Apart from the survey questionnaires for teachers and students, interviews were employed to confirm and clarify the information that was obtained through the questionnaires; to obtain data on teachers and students’ attitude towards speaking skill, visual aids and the current situation of using visual aids in teaching and learning speaking at HaUI, the benefits of visual aids in speaking lessons as well as some suggestions on using visual aids more effectively

There are two sets of the direct interviews One is for students and the other for teachers The interviews are carried out among 10 teachers and 20 first year non English major students They are also randomly chosen Hopefully, they can be representatives for the whole population of teachers and first year non English major students

The two interviews include 8 opened-ended questions and are divided into four main parts:

- Attitude towards speaking and visual aids

Questions 1, 2, 3 in the interview for teachers

Question 1, 2, 3 in the interview for students

- Application of visual aids (kinds and benefits of visual aids)

Questions 4, 5 in the interview for teachers

Questions 4, 5 in the interview for students

- The benefits of using visual aids in teaching and learning English speaking lessons:

Questions 6 in the interview for teachers

Question 6 in the interview for students

- The difficulties of using visual aids in teaching and learning English speaking lessons:

Questions 7 in the interview for teachers

Question 7 in the interview for students

- Some suggestions to use visual aids more effectively in teaching speaking

Question 8 in the interview for teachers

Question 8 in the interview for students

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 The data analysis

3.1.1 Participants’ age, gender and years of experience

The first forth questions in teachers’ survey questionnaire asked for demographic information only These results were reported in Table 1 to describe the sample of participants that were surveyed

Table 1 Teachers’ age, gender, years of experience, qualification

As can be seen from Table 1, almost all of the teachers are very young The number of their ages ranging from 22 to 35 accounts for 98% of the teachers asked The majority of them are female (92%) 76% of them have less than 10 years of teaching experience and the rest 24% have taught English more than 10 years Their qualification is also different Only one out of fifty teachers asked is PhD 62% of them acquire Master of Art while the rest 36% including those who are attending MA course are bachelor