An investigation into the use of useful expressions to enhance speaking skills for the third year students at hanoi university of business and technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES _________________  LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES _



LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CỤM TỪ HỮU ÍCH GIÚP NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TRƯỜNG ĐẠI

HỌC KINH DOANH CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

GRADUATE STUDIES _



LÊ HỒNG PHƯỢNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

TO ENHANCE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS

AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC CỤM TỪ HỮU ÍCH GIÚP NÂNG CAO KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TRƯỜNG ĐẠI

HỌC KINH DOANH CÔNG NGHỆ HÀ NỘI

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Dương Thị Nụ

HANOI - 2017

I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have providedfully documented references to the others‟ work The material in this thesis has notbeen submitted for assessment in any other formal course I also accept all therequirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesisdeposited in the library

Hanoi, May 2017

Lê Hồng Phượng

This thesis would not be fulfilled without the help of some people, and insome ways, I would like to thank everyone who has taught me, inspired me,challenged me, and supported me during the process of conducting this thesis

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor, DuongThi Nu, Ph.D, for her great assistance as well as her dedicated guidance she gave

me while I was carrying out my project

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all lecturers

in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and InternationalStudies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures andprofessional dedication which have inspired me to conduct this thesis

I would also like to express my thanks to my colleagues at Faculty ofEnglish, my third-year students at Faculty of Management at Hanoi University ofBusiness and Technology for their willingness to participate in the research.Without their help, this project could not be completed

Last but not least, I am most thankful to my family and my closed friendswho have always inspired and encouraged me all the time

Hanoi, May 2017

Lê Hồng Phượng

The majority of second language learners encounter problems when theyspeak in the target language For the number of the students at Hanoi University ofBusiness and Technology, the matter might be a big obstacle Because of theirvarious and low levels before entering the school, the students find it difficult tomaster speaking skills in English In this project, the researcher conducts aninvestigation in the use of useful expressions to the third-year students within 8weeks The research was formulated as an action one which used a questionnaire as

a research instrument to collect quantitative and qualitative about students attitudesand the effectiveness of using useful expressions in learning speaking skills As can

be seen from the qualitative and quantitative data, difficulties, limitations andchallenges still occurred during the research; however, to some extent, the studentsmade much progress in their speaking competence The results suggested the use ofuseful expressions as one of the effective ways to teach and learn speaking inEnglish

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives 2

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Method of the study 3

1.6 Design of the study 3

PART 2 - CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Definition of terminology 5

1.2 The role of speaking in language learning 5

1.3 Components of speaking competence 8

1.4 Different techniques used to teach pronunciation 10

1.5 The role of useful expression or fixed expression in developing speaking skill 10

1.6 Previous studies 11

1.6.1 Lexical bundles 11

1.6.2 Idiomatic expression 13

1.6.3 Useful expressions 14

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15

2.1 Context of the study 15

2.2 The study 17

2.2.1 Participants 17

2.2.2 Data collection instruments 17

2.2.3 Questionnaire 18

2.2.4 Pre-test and Post-test results 20

2.2.5 Analysis techniques 2.2.6 Data presentation and analysis 21

2.2.7 Procedure 21

2.3 A statement and a sample of assessment ……….24

2.3.1 Assessment requirements and criteria 24

2.3.2 The principles for grading 24

2.3.3 A sample of assessment 25

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS 27

3.1 Students‟ general attitude towards using useful expressions in learning speaking skill 27

3.1.1 Students‟ attitude towards interest in using useful expression in learning speaking skill 27

3.1.2 Students‟ opinion towards the suitability of using useful expressions in speaking lessons 29

3.1.3 Students‟ opinion towards the practical aspect of using useful expressions in speaking lessons 30

3.1.4 Students‟ opinion towards their improvements after learning useful expressions 31

3.1.5 Students‟ difficulties in doing the project 32

3.2 The effectiveness of the research 33

3.3 The pre- test‟s and post-test‟s results 34

PART 3:CONCLUSION 39

1 Recapitulation 39

2 Main findings 39

3 Limitation of the study 40

4 Suggestions for further study 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

This part is dedicated to introducing the rationale of the study, the problem to

be addressed in the study, the aims and objectives of the study, and the researchquestions to be answered It will also present the scope of the study and an overview

of the methods and the design of the study

1.1 Rationale

Speaking skills is one of crucial parts of second language learning andteaching “The ability to speak in a foreign language is at the very heart of what itmeans to be able to use a foreign language” (Louma, 2004) The mastery of thisoutput skill in English is a priority for many second language or foreign-languagelearners In this global era, English is utilized as an international medium ofcommunication and it helps people to work and cooperate in a common language It

is the fact that the learners are often evaluated their success in the language learning

as well as the effectiveness of their English course through their spoken languageproficiency Unfortunately, speaking skill is a complicated and multifaceted skillwhich is not easy to be improved and takes a long time to make progress Up tonow, various approaches to teaching speaking, therefore, have been recommended

to help deal with this issue

In most universities in Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject whichequips students for effective workplace communication after their graduation Itgoes without saying that at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (hereafterHUBT), a private university, it is not an exception

Being a teacher of English at English Department at HUBT, the author hashad an opportunity to teach English mainly for communication in four skillslistening, speaking, reading and writing Thanks to approaching all students fromthe freshmen to the seniors at all levels in all majors, the researcher herself hasfound that her students have a number of problems with speaking skill They are notwilling to speak due to many reasons such as poor pronunciation, being afraid ofmaking mistakes, lack of vocabulary and not having a language environment to

practice English and so on.

During the first few courses, the author had many frustrations because evensome of her students had motivation to learn English, they could not make progress

in speaking skill Some students said to her “I can understand your English, butwhen I speak to „real people‟ I can‟t understand them” The writer has decided tointroduce some changes with the desire for motivating and supporting her students

to learn English speaking skill better through an action research whose result will bepresented in this thesis entitled “An investigation into method of English teachingspeaking skill using Useful Expressions for the third-year students at HanoiUniversity of Business and Technology.”

The third-year students who are selected to be the participants in this studyhave already had two years learning English at HUBT as well as they soon have togain a TOEIC certificate to graduate Furthermore, in order to seek for jobs in aninternational workforce environment when Vietnam joined global organizations likeWTO, TPP and soon Asian Union, learners especially need to be accustomed to anduse common phrases, useful expressions which are familiar with people in theworkplace context Hence, they are able to communicate well with their seniors,colleagues, or clients Hopefully, the study will also help to facilitate her teaching,especially teaching speaking skill which she is interested in

1.2 Aims and objectives

The aim of the current study is to investigate the effectiveness of the method

of teaching speaking skill using Useful Expressions for the third-year students atHUBT This fundamental aim can be achieved when the two following objectivesare met The first objective of the study is to seek for the effectiveness of usinguseful expressions for the students‟ improvement The other one is to explore thestudents‟ attitudes towards using useful expressions technique

1.3 Scope of the study

In order to improve students‟ speaking skill, teachers can use varieties oftechniques However, this study merely focuses on studying the effectiveness ofteaching useful expressions to improve students‟ speaking skill

This action research is applied in five consecutive speaking lessons The action

is carried out for the third-year students of all majors in a class of about 30 students atHUBT within 8 weeks The collected data are analyzed and discussed to figure out howusing useful expressions contribute to enhance students‟ speaking skill

1.4 Research questions

This study is conducted to find the answers for the following questions:

1 What is the students‟ attitude towards useful expressions?

2 To what extent does the use of useful expressions enhance speaking skill for the students from the teacher and the students‟ perspectives?

1.5 Method of the study

Action research is employed in this study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used in this research The data were collected by means of:

The questionnaire is designed to gather data about the students‟ ideas on theintended criteria Information gathered from interviews with teachers will be note-taken, analyzed and used for providing more information

These two research instruments are used in three phases of the action research forpreliminary investigation, exploration of the effects that the action creates, andreflection on the action phase

1.6 Design of the study

A part from the Introduction and Conclusion, the study is organized intothree main parts: Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Discussion

In the first part, Introduction consists of the rationale, aims, research questions,

significance of the study, scope of the study, and the design of the study

In the second part, chapter 1 - Literature Review mentions the theoretical

background of the study and the review of the previous studies

The next chapter - Methodology describes the overall picture of how the research is

carried out from the first step of determining the research design to the last step ofgathering the results

The chapter 3 is Results and Discussion This part reports the statistical results and

the analysis of the data

In the last part, Conclusion closes the study by summarizing the whole study with

concluding remarks and offering some limitations and suggestions for further studies

Besides, the list of References and the Appendixes are also parts of this study.

PART 2 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is a collection of researches related to the field we arestudying It is a summary of research that has been published about a particularsubject It provides the reader with an idea about the current situation in terms ofwhat has been carried out, and what we know Sometimes it includes suggestionsabout what needs to be done to increase the knowledge and understanding of aparticular problem These researches are from professional journals which we cantrust that the authors are trained professionals, and others have examined theirwork

1.1 Definition of terminology

Useful expressions:

Researchers tend to use different words with similar definitions to talk aboutfixed or useful expressions, for example Wiktorsson (2002) prefabs, Grant andNation (2006) figurative as well as Nation and Meara (2002), and Wiktorsson(2003) use the term “multi-word units” Gluckberg (2001) proposes that fixedexpressions include, in order of relative frequency: compound, idioms, names,clichés, songs, books, and movie titles, quotes and familiar foreign phrases

From the author‟s perspective, useful expressions in English are fixedexpressions that are used frequently in speaking to express a concept or idea Theyare a standard form of expressions which have taken on a more specific meaningthan the expression themselves They are different from proverbs in that it is used as

a part of a sentence

1.2 The role of speaking in language learning

Speaking is fundamental to human communication Let us think of all thevarious conversations we have in a day and compare that with how much writtencommunication we do in one day In our daily lives, most of us speak more than wewrite When communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech, wecannot communicate with one another The importance of speaking skill, therefore,

is extremely enormous for the learners of any language.

If a person would like to become a well-rounded communicator, he or she needs to

be proficient in each of four language skills such as listening, speaking, reading andwriting Of all skills, the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with acouple of distinct advantages When we attend a job interview, present a topic,negotiate a contract with our clients and so on; becoming an effective communicator

is obviously a great benefit When we share our views with others, the joy we get isuncountable and the better understanding about life and ourselves as well.Especially, in some cases, speaking skills can support someone‟s profession well oreven lead to their career success

One of the highest levels of speaking is to present a certain matter in front ofthe huge audiences; in other words, it is public speaking We can take a look thecampaigns to become the American President candidates The winners are thosewho can make argument about particular matters, and above all is the ability topersuade the public to trust him or her who can make his or her vision and strategybecome true in the future Their arguments are the combination of factors includingpresenting the ideas clearly and persuasively, arguing, discussing, negotiating,making concession, and so on These factors are essential skills in speaking Hence,speaking is a skill that we can learn; we can practice to become a mastercommunicator

For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowingthat language Nevertheless, “speaking in a second or foreign language has often beenviewed as the most demanding of the four skills” (Bailey & Savage, 1994)

In the current landscape of globalization, information available through the Internetwould become more accessible to students (Goh, Goh, & Burns, 2012) As a result,more and more teachers in English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) countries arebeing encouraged to teach English through English Many learners themselves arealso keen to develop their speaking abilities, so as to secure better jobs and places inoverseas universities The development of good speaking (and listening) skills is nolonger a bonus for language learners, but an essential aspect of their language-

proficiency development because it can have a direct impact on the personal andprofessional success of many of them.

Goh et al (2012) also claim that speaking for communication is generallyrecognized in ESL classrooms as an indispensable tool for thinking and achievingacademic success For the second language speakers enrolled in academic orprofessional programs, training in communication skills is often available tolearners through English –for- Academic- Purposes (EAP) courses or English – for– Specific- Purposes (ESP) programs These courses typically focus on presentationand seminar skills, profession-specific speaking skills, and lecture note-taking skills.ESL learners in primary, middle, and secondary school contexts also need to usespeech to develop thinking skills that are specific to different subjects in the schoolcurriculum, and the ability to do this empowers the learners to engage critically withtheir social and physical world

According to Wolvin and Coakely (1996), the connection between languagelearners‟ speaking abilities and their academic learning is much formal learningthrough the spoken language Through the medium of English, being able to speak(and listen) in the language of instruction will greatly facilitate students‟participation in class and the learning of the subject matter To be able to speakEnglish, the second language learners have to develop various pragmaticcompetencies Learners need to learn how to initiate and maintain conversations, tosustain group discussions, describe feelings and give reasons in an acceptablemanner, and ask for more information or assistance (Brice, 1992) In other words,one of the fundamental reasons why second language learners need to develop goodspeaking skills is to engage in effective day-to-day classroom communication

With the same viewpoint, Goh et al (2012) claims that it is important for thesecond language learners to develop speaking skills that enables them to use spokenEnglish effectively in various contexts of learning It is also not uncommon to findthe second language learners being perceived as less able or intelligent, simplybecause they cannot use the language to express their understanding, doubts, andopinions clearly Inability to speak and listen effectively in their second language

can cause some learners to abstain from participating in class When even dailycommunication becomes a problem, it is not surprising that many second languagelearners cannot participate in the discourse of academic learning As a result, theyare further disadvantaged in schools because they cannot demonstrate ways of usingthe “mainstream” language valued in formal education (Cummins, 2000).

In a broader perspective, Grainger (2004) claims that when teachers helplearners develop their ability to use spoken English for academic learning, thisability is not merely limited to expressing and comprehending basic speechfunctions in the classroom Learners have to develop abilities for using speech as away of both engaging with ideas and subject-specific thinking, and communicatingfacts and opinions clearly through in increasingly abstract use of oral language.They also need to develop effective skills that will help them participatesuccessfully in “inter-thinking” when working with others in group The ability touse oral language to convey abstract concepts during group work will alsocontribute to their ability to understand and express abstract ideas in the writtenlanguage Being able to use oral language well to engage with their learning of thevarious academic subjects can help language learners succeed academically andreap the benefits of an education delivered through the second language

Second language learners who attend school or tertiary institutions whereteaching is conducted in the target language can engage effectively in the discourse

of an academic environment if they have good speaking abilities Inability to do socan cause learners to be disadvantaged in a system where not only proficiency in thetarget language is desirable, but also the ability to control the academic register inthe spoken mode is highly valued Speaking skill also directly benefits learnersbecause it can facilitate the second language acquisition

All things considered, it is quite clear to say that the ability to speak a language isextremely important in daily communication and classroom communication as well,especially in academic learning

1.3 Components of speaking competence

Depending on the aim of the test to assess the speakers‟ ability to communicate

effectively, components of speaking competence are utilized in various ways.

In IELTS, the interviewer may consider this ability in four different criteria:Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, andPronunciation This assessment is famous for its academic reputation which isrecognized worldwide In terms of Fluency and Coherence, this refers to how goodthe candidate is at keeping talking at the right speed and how good they are atconnecting their ideas together This is a fairly general criteria which includesevaluating the relevance of the candidate's answers For the Lexical Resource, thisrelates to how much vocabulary the candidate has and how well they use it As well

as the rules of language at a word level, this criteria considers the communicativefunctions of speech and the social meaning of speech The next criterion,Grammatical Range and Accuracy, this refers to how many structures the candidatehas and how well they use them Again, as well as the rules of language, this criteriaconsiders the communicative functions of speech The last one, Pronunciation, thisrefers to how well the candidate pronounces the language As well as consideringthe communicative effect of the candidate's pronunciation, there is evaluation ofhow much strain it causes on a listener, and how noticeable their accent is

In HUBT, to measure learners‟ speaking competence, basically, those componentsabove are almost used; however, they are assessed at a lower level There are five maincategories used to assess students‟ communicative competence: Vocabulary, Grammar,Fluency, Pronunciation, Content and Useful expressions The first category Vocabulary,this refers to their use of words and the range of accuracy of the vocabulary they choose touse It is not only how they select words but also how well they utilize them will beconsidered The second category Grammar, the variety of grammar and how correctly theyuse are both judged by their teacher Therefore, the range of tenses as well as theappropriate use of them is important in all parts of speaking test About the third oneFluency, this measures student‟s ability to speak without too many pauses and hesitations.About Pronunciation, this is not only the way students pronounce individual words but thewhole sentences which are considered The teacher will be considering how easily theirstudents can understand what he or she saying The

last category Content, this is the way to develop and organize their ideas relating tothe mentioned topic.

In terms of Vocabulary, the way learners choose and utilize words andphrases is extremely important When learners would like to say something for anyparticular objective like asking for and giving information, expressing agreementand disagreement, making suggestions and recommendations and so on, there are avariety of fixed expressions which are to be considered a hint to be given to besuitable for each context These are examples:

Objectives Asking for information Asking for opinions

Fixed  Could you tell me ?  How do you feel aboutexpressions  I‟d (also) like to know ?

that?

 Could I ask you _?  What do you think?

 I was wondering if you could  What‟s your view?give me

1.4 Different techniques used to teach pronunciation

Up to now, there have been many different techniques applied to teachpronunciation all over the world such as discussions, role play, simulations,information gap, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews, story completion,reporting, picture describing and so on

1.5 The role of useful expression or fixed expression in developing speaking skill

Expression is a part of every language (Boers, 2008) claims that alllanguages have idioms and are full of them Native speakers have a tendency toutilize expressions spontaneously without thinking of the figurative meaning It isnatural that non-native speakers find several expressions not easy to understand

Because of the difference between spoken language and written language, thespeaker has barely time to make plan what they are going to say, therefore, thesentences are shorter and less complex, and may contain grammatical andsyntactical mistakes The speaker must also produce his utterance within severeconstraints, he does not know in advance what will be said to him and hence whathis utterance will be a response to yet If the conversation does not flag, he must

respond quickly The rapid formulation of utterances which are simultaneously “right”

on several levels is central to the spoken communicative skill (Taylor, 1983)

Obviously, the pressure of time dramatically affects the language we use.The possible solutions which help speakers reduce this pressure are considered arethe speakers should use devices to facilitate production and devices to compensatefor difficulties And some of the facilitation and compensation devices are using oftime creating devices and using of idiomatic or conventional expressions calledformulaic In this investigation, the author utilizes useful expressions as a kind oftechnique which may help learners facilitate their spoken language

With the current textbook Market Leader which has numerous communicativesituations in business including presenting a product, negotiating a contract, makingarrangements, taking part in meetings, managing meetings, introductions andnetworking, considering options, getting information on the phone and so on.People spend great deal of their time interacting with more people and each of thesesituations requires a different register according to the formality of the moment

1.6 Previous studies

In communication, it is wrong in ways if we select individual words and putthose words together in correct order to make sentences Words tend to sticktogether, thus, there are sets of words to use to talk about specific topics Thatmeans we tend to be working with sets of words rather than single words Thesesets can be anticipated by us like sets of words to use talk about school orcompanies Nevertheless, several relationships are almost impossible to anticipateand these are word relationships that linguists label lexical bundles, idiomaticexpression, and structured conversation

1.6.1 Lexical bundles

According to Neely and Cortes (2009), lexical bundle is sequences of wordswhich are frequently re-used, and therefore become “prefabricated chunks” thatspeakers and writers can easily retrieve from their memory and use again and again

as text building blocks Biber and Conrad (1999) also claimed that a lexical bundle

is said to be a sequence of three, four, five or more contiguous words in the

classroom talk that occurs above a threshold frequency.

Lexical bundles are defined as groups of words that occur repeatedly togetherwithin the same register They are “simply extended collocations that appear morefrequently than expected by chance, helping to shape meaning in specific contextsand contributing to our sense of coherence in a text” (Hyland, 2012) Lexicalbundles are crucially important for determining the success of language users withinspecific discourse communities and for the construction of discourse in alluniversity registers in particular Previous research has shown that lexical bundlesare especially prevalent in university classroom teaching They can be classified interms of their formal linguistic aspects and their functional role in texts According

to Bogart, (Biber, Conrad, & Cortes, 2004) identify three main discourse functionsfor lexical bundles: stance expressions, discourse organizers and referentialexpressions

In terms of developing speaking skill, Biber and Conrad (1999) said thatlexical bundles are the sequences of words that most commonly co-occur in aregister They are not usually fixed expressions, and it is not possible to substitute asingle word for the sequence; in fact, most lexical bundles are not structurallycomplete at all

Many bundles in conversation contain the beginning of a main clausefollowed by the beginning of an embedded complement clause Those lexicalbundles can build discourse building blocks, with the following slot being used toexpress the content specific to each individual situation Based on the explanationlexical bundles can help them to build a specific content of conversation in certainsituations

In frequency of use of lexical bundles, there are almost 4,000 different lexicalbundles in conversation, and about 3,000 various lexical bundles in academic prose Inconversation, three-word bundles occur more than 80,000 times per million words andfour-word bundles over 8,500 times per million words In academic prose, three-wordbundles occur more than 60,000 times per million words, and four-word bundles over5,000 times per million words (Conrad & Biber, 2004)

In terms of lexical bundles in conversation, Biber and Conrad (1999)mentioned 14 main categories of lexical bundles which fits with transactional

speaking They are personal pronoun + lexical verb phrase as in “I don‟t know what …”, “ I don‟t know how …”; pronoun/ noun phrase + be as in “It‟s up to you”, “It‟s going to be…”; Wh-question fragments as in “What do you mean”,

“What‟s the matter with” and so on

1.6.2 Idiomatic expression

In terms of idiomatic expressions, they are defined as an expression whosemeanings cannot be inferred from the Cacciari and Tabossi (2014) It means thatidioms cannot be inferred from their constituent parts On the other hand, they arealso defined as expressions, words, or phrases that have a figurative meaningconventionally understood by native speakers This meaning is different from theliteral meaning of the idiom‟s individual elements In other words, idioms do notmean exactly what the words say They have, however, hidden meanings

They are frequently used in both spoken and written language According to someestimates like Polio, Barlow, Fine, & Polio (1977), native speakers of English mayuse as many as 20 million idioms in their lifetime (Vasiljević, 2013)

Cooper (1998) also claims that since idiomatic expressions are so frequentlyencountered in both spoken and written discourse, they require special attention inlanguage programs and should not be relegated to a position of secondaryimportance in the curriculum Idioms bring cultural and historical information andbroaden people‟s understanding and manipulation of a language Idioms appear inevery language, and English has thousands of them They are often confusingbecause the meaning of the whole group of words taken together has little, oftennothing, to do with the meanings of words taken one by one In order to understand

a language, we must know what the idioms in that language mean

Fromkin (2003) shares the same view that idioms expressions are a part of everylanguage‟s vocabulary and are based on that language history, heritage, and culture.Learning idiomatic expressions helps non-native speakers of a language become morefluent, and sound more native-like Furthermore, acquiring the knowledge of idiomaticexpressions is an effective way for learners to become more knowledgeable and better

aware of the culture and customs of that particular language The importance ofidioms also lies in the fact that it is an everyday routine of the native Englishspeakers‟ language Learning idiomatic expressions by non-natives leads them tobetter English proficiency, help their second or foreign language seem to be morenative speakers Therefore, learning English idiomatic expressions not onlyenhances one‟s second or foreign language skills but helps non-native speakers of alanguage understand that target language better (Yule, 2006).

According to Maisa and Karunakaran (2013), no translator or language teacher can afford to ignore idioms if a natural use of the target language is an aim

In short, lexical bundles, idiomatic expressions or useful expressions are parts in learning language They help learners acquire language more deeply and naturally The learners using these expressions become alike to native speakers

1.6.3 Useful expressions:

To be frank, there have not been many researches relating to the usefulexpressions Recently, the research on “Useful expressions for implementingcooperative learning in English” of results of groups of four authors M Asakawa,A.Kanamaru, T Plaza and C Shiramuzu from different schools and universities inJapan

The results of the questionnaire suggested students generally considered thelist to be helpful in establishing smoother English language communication withtheir classmates The results also suggested that the list helped build confidence andcontributed to increased motivation among the students The individual comments

in the questionnaire further indicated that students felt the list played a significantrole in helping them during discussions or at least say something such as a quickresponse

The effectiveness of the list which the author provided helped students movebeyond the list phrases to articulate their ideas The students felt that the listcontributed to learning beyond the specific phrase presented While the phrases onthe list mainly facilitate learners linking one utterance to another, thereby smoothinginteractions, the list also may have contributed to students to students‟ belief in theirability to convey their messages in English during the conversation

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

In the previous chapter, the theoretical matters related to the topic have beencovered In order to see how they work in real learning environment, this researchwas carried out with the following steps:

1 Doing the entry test to the students

2 Teaching useful expressions to students

3 Doing the test after a period of teaching time

4 Delivering the questionnaires paper to the students

5 Collecting the completed questionnaires and analyzing the data

In the first step, the author designs the pre-test to check the students‟ speaking skill

at the time of research

In the second step, this is a real action The teacher has an opportunity to apply thenew technique for students

In the third step, the teacher delivers the post-test for students to get the result afterapplying to teach useful expressions

The next step, students are asked to answer some questions relating to the lessonswhich have been taught

The final step, the researcher gathers questionnaires and interprets the data

This chapter describes only the first four steps The last step will bepresented in the next chapter That is, main contents of the chapter include thecontext and subjects of the study, the research questions, the data collectioninstruments, the data collection procedure, the data analysis procedure Also, thischapter mentions the advantages and disadvantages when the researcher used thoseinstruments and data analysis procedure

2.1 Context of the study

This study draws on the research carried out at Hanoi University of Businessand Technology, a private university located in Vinh Tuy ward, Hai Ba Trungdistrict, Hanoi, Vietnam HUBT is famous for giving opportunities of studying forstudents related to two major fields: business and technology These fields cover

three groups of various majors like Economics – Business, Technology and ForeignLanguages Of all, Management and Accounting are the most popular majors inHUBT There are thousands of students enrolling in these fields with their full ofexpectation annually Thanks to these expectations, the university always makes theeffort to meet students‟ requirements.

In order to fulfill the needs of the current job in competitive market atpresent, the university‟s priority and policy are mainly focus on English andInformation - Technology beside the other major subjects Therefore, English isconsidered to be an extremely essential to all major students and non-major students

as well In the HUBT‟s curriculum, English is designed for students to learn lasts ahalf and three years Also, the school always seeks for new methods to enhance thequality of teaching and learning English Every year, the English faculty carries outadjusting, renewing or even substituting textbook and course book In the recentyears, the university‟s infrastructure has changed dramatically in order to provideequipment and teaching aids for teaching and learning English effectively such asradio sets, computers, loud speakers and projectors in all classrooms Beside suchmulti-media classrooms, the reference books, the interactive video and audio arealso available in the library Furthermore, the computer rooms are fully- equippedwith free Internet access These facilities support students in improving andpracticing their English skills both in class and outside

With the university‟s priority of accentuating students‟ accomplishment inlearning English, the school always up-to-dates the new tendency of learningmethod A typical example is that, students at HUBT are provided the Englishonline program It brings students chances to practice English on their own anytimeand anywhere, even they are not at school This is a good way for learners toovercome their shyness and weaknesses when communicating with foreigners face

to face As a matter of fact, in comparison with non-major students from othercolleges, their English competence tends to be better

For the third-year students, English is taught three or four lessons per week.Each lesson covers 12 periods including 4 skills, namely listening, speaking,

reading and writing Besides, students are provided the grammar and skills sections

to complete their knowledge

As regards the teaching, lecturers at HUBT normally have a meeting at thebeginning of the new school year so that they are informed all the latest informationabout the schedule, syllabus, course book, regulations and principles relating to theclass Assessing forms including attendance marking, mid-term and final scoring forstudents also are provided Another point to note is that teachers of English graduatedfrom various universities in Vietnam Furthermore, most of them are young, dynamicand dedicated Nonetheless, some of them were not trained to be teachers Or to theteachers at the age of fifties or more, they find it difficult to pronounce English exactly

Or to some teachers who were not trained to be teachers of English at the beginning, forinstance, they were teachers of Russian, for those inexperienced teachers, severalpedagogical situations may happen like classroom management or their expertise such

as pronunciation that can negatively affect their students‟ performance

2.2 The study

2.2.1 Participants

The participants in the study are selected randomly are 30 students whomajor in Management at HUBT Most of these students have studied English atleast seven years and they completed their second year at school curriculum lastsemester They are currently the third-year students; therefore, they are supposed to

be familiar with the learning and teaching styles at HUBT

The 30 students of Faculties of Managing participating in the study areassumed by the researcher to be more studious than those at other faculties because

of their current academic and future career requirements Thus, this study does notnecessarily present the whole population of the university Because of the scope ofthe study, the author tries to investigate the effectiveness of learning speakingthrough a questionnaire and interview

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

To reach the major objectives of the study, a survey questionnaire wasutilized as a main tool for data collection in this research because it is considered to

be a “useful instrument for to collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the

researcher, and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze” (Cohen,

Manion, & Morrison, 2013)Therefore, it would certainly be valuable for helping theresearcher explore the effectiveness through learning speaking Moreover, thisresearch tool is also relatively more comfortable, time-saving and economical toadminister Hence, using a questionnaire is one of the solutions to themethodological problem Though the use of questionnaire has some weak points, for

instance, “participants think the researcher wants to hear, or indulge in flattery”, Ellis (1985) highlighted that questionnaires have provided an insight into

self-the personal nature of language learning, particularly classroom language learning

Though the questionnaire is the major instrument, this study comprises theuse of quantitative and qualitative research methods The qualitative data is obtainedfrom the interviews with students and teachers of English when developing andfulfilling the questionnaire In order to make sure that the participants canunderstand clearly the content of the questionnaire, the researcher provided theVietnamese version of questionnaire items as well The explanation was elicited ifnecessary

In addition to the use of survey questionnaires and private interviews, theresearcher also utilizes the adaptive pre-test and post-test from the IntermediateMarket Leader textbook (David Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent, the 3rdedition, Pearson Education Limited 2012) The useful expressions which the authorselects to teach are according to the topic of each lesson These lessons belongs totopics such as, socializing: introductions and networking, starting and structuringpresentations, dealing with figures, social English and getting information on thetelephone The main tasks throughout the lessons are listening individually, working

in pairs or in groups, playing in roles and making presentation

2.2.3 Questionnaire

The questionnaire was used to find out the students‟ advancement towardutilizing the useful expressions to improve their speaking skills and the ways theylearn and practice The questionnaire was designed with both open-ended andclosed questions The questionnaire consists of title, “thank you” part, instructions,questionnaire items and additional information The questionnaire for students was

in both versions Vietnamese and English so that it was easier for them to understand

and avoid any misunderstanding of the questions This will ensure the validity andreliability when the author collects the data.

Students were delivered the questionnaire at the end of the course Theauthor introduced the objectives of the research, some detailed information and say

“thank you” to students in advance Besides, in order to get the reliable informationand data, students were guided clearly before and while they were asked to answerthe questionnaire They were required to finish the questionnaire during the breaktime which last about 15 minutes in the classroom at university

The questionnaire consists of 18 questions regarding the effectiveness towards usinguseful expressions to learning speaking skill The participants are also required togive their interest in learning speaking

This section of the questionnaire also based on a 5-point Likert scale with adesire to have the unity with the previous section of learning strategies The scaleranges from (1) strongly agree to (2) agree, (3) not sure, (4) agree and (5) stronglyagree By this scale, number 5 inferred a student who is highly motivated by thegiven reason while number one means the other end of the spectrum Meanwhile,even-numbered scales (such as four options) without the middle value “force people

to choose”, make them “frustrated” and; hence, responses collected may not beaccurate (Losby & Wetmore, 2012) In addition, in spite of more discrimination of7-point type, the difference is not so much Moreover, the researcher supposes that 7

is a bit lengthy for when the time for handing out and completing the questionnairewas limited while the questionnaire was not short With above reasons, theresearcher believes that this study‟s adaption is reliable enough to conduct

Specifically, question 1 was asked about learner‟s attitude about the interestwhen using useful expressions to learn speaking skill Students answer question 2, 3about the suitability they use useful expressions to learn speaking skill Question 4,

5 and 6 focused on the practical aspect of using useful expressions in learningspeaking skill and other skills Question 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 talked about thestudents‟ improvements after using useful expressions to learn speaking skill Thelast three questions were open-ended ones asking about difficulties that participantsmeet while they did the research as well as their lessons, and their suggestions forbetter lessons and further researches which they refined from their experience

Content Number Questions

Interest Q1 The interest when using useful expressions to learn

speaking skillQ2 The suitability of useful expressions with the

Suitability participants‟ levels

Q3 The suitability of the useful expressions practice

Q6 The implementation of useful expressions in learning

other skills such as listeningQ7 Feeling familiar with speaking topics in business

Q8 Feeling more excited when taking part in speaking

Q11 Better knowledge when using useful expressions

appropriately in different communicative situations inbusiness

Q12 Overall speaking skill improvement due to the use of

the useful expressions

Difficulties Q13 The difficulties that the students met during the

researchQ14 Students‟ suggestions to help the teacher and

Suggestions classmates use useful expressions in learning speaking

Q15 The improvement for further researches

The pre-test and Post-test were formed and adapted from text book (the 3rd edition

20

Intermediate Market Leader, Pearson Education Limited, 2012) used for teaching andlearning speaking skill The advantages of using tests adapted from this book are well-organized structure, updated information, official knowledge and time saving.

2.2.5 Analysis techniques

After all the questionnaires were returned, the researcher entered the data into theSPSS statistics software, version 20 which addresses the entire analytical process.The base software involves the following statistics that was applied in her study

2.2.6 Data presentation and analysis

The collected data were presented in an SPSS file The 15 questions in thequestionnaire became 15 variables in the SPSS file Then, for the responses, thequestionnaire items were ranked into 5 various categories, namely 1-Strongly agree(SA), 2-Agree (A), 3-Not sure (NS), 4-Disagree (D), 5-Strongly Disagree (DA)

Hence, up to now, this chapter has presented in detail the context, the subject, theinstruments, and the procedure of collecting data and analyzing data of the wholestudy The following chapter will deal with the Data Analysis

2.2.6 Procedure

The research is planning as eight-week work It consists of in-class practice

lessons and the pre-test and the post-test

In-class practice lessons:

Firstly, the students did the pre-test to know their current speaking levels Then thestudents attended classes to practice speaking skills by using useful expressionsweekly After 7 weeks, students were asked to do the post-test to see theeffectiveness and the improvement of the technique used at the 8th week

Time Teacher’ activities Students’ activities Target

Week 1 Introduce, explain and Get introduced to the Introduce the research

deliver the pre-test research aims and do and deliver the

Week 2 Practice the situation 1- Be introduced the Introduce the topic

Topic: Organization (Unit topic relating to

help students do the task exercises Introduction and

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 3 Give the situation 2- Be introduced the Introduce the topic

Topic: Advertising (Unit topic relating to

help students do the task exercises structuring a

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 4 Give the situation 3- Be introduced the Introduce the topic

Explain the requirement Answer T‟s At the end of lesson,Ask some students how to questions students can use these

do the task Guided to practice useful expressions of

Give the feedback and the situation 3 Dealing with figures

help students do the task Do situation efficiently

Give the time for students exercises

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 5 Give the situation 4- Be introduced the Introduce the topic

Topic: Cultures (Unit 7) topic relating to Cultures

Explain the requirement Answer T‟s At the end of lesson,Ask some students how to questions students can use these

do the task Guided to practice useful expressions ofGive the feedback and the situation 4 Social English

help students do the task Do situation efficiently

Give the time for students exercises

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 6 Give the situation 5- Be introduced the Introduce the topic

Explain the requirement questions At the end of lesson,Ask some students how to Guided to practice students can use these

do the task the situation 5 useful expressions ofGive the feedback and Do situation Getting information

help students do the task exercises on the phone

to discuss and practice

Give the feedback or

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 7 Review topics and useful Do situation Review topics and

Give the feedback or practice

suggestions and correct if

necessary

Week 8 Deliver the post-test and Do the post-test Deliver the post-test

collect the data Give the feedback to and collect the dataListen and take notes of the teacher about the

the feedback about difficulties and

difficulties and suggestions suggestions

from the students

2.3 A statement and a sample of assessment

2.3.1 Assessment requirements and criteria

Students are assessed at 2 stages of the course: the entry test and final term tests

In assessing speaking skill via interview, Luoma (2004) provides three frameworks

as “linguistically oriented, communication-oriented and situation-based” In which,linguistically oriented consists of Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation Inaddition, there are some criteria to assess the oral skill such as Intonation and Stress,Cohesion and Content

In this project, the most criteria are useful expressions to be utilized in Vocabulary

in speaking part

2.3.2 The principles for grading

The key assessment scales are divided into 5 bands from 1 to 10, with 1 being thelowest and 10 the highest Descriptors for each criterion are provided for bands 1, 3,

5, 7, and 9 and indicate is expected to demonstrate at each band The descriptors forband 5 and above generally indicate performance of at least passing level

2.3.3 A sample of assessment

The marking scale and speaking assessment criteria have been mentioned in

section 1.3 Components of speaking competence in Chapter 1 Literature Review

This marking scale is the combination of IELTS speaking band descriptors and the

criteria in assessments at HUBT

Speaking assessment scale

Handleselementary OccasionalEvidence of constructions errors

Grammar No functional elementary of the time, frequency

ability constructions, but does not and complex

but only partial have thorough structures, no

more complex errorstructures

related primarily vocabulary for

to immediate general interest

Fluency Extremely considerable sentences into paragraphs and

usually speaks by using ease

in discrete connectors with

or isolated only occasional

wordsErrors frequent

but generally

listener used

to dealing withforeigners

Create withlanguage,

initiate, Some informal

and informalmaintain, and settings and a

Most informal settings Widebring to a limited number

and some formal range of

settings Topics general interest

and expertisesimple

questions

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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

The previous chapter presents the study which includes the concept of thestudy, the methods of data collection, the participants, and the research procedure.This chapter presents the data analysis The chapter begins with the findings related

to the using useful expressions in speaking skills The chapter concludes with thediscussion of the findings

3.1 Students’ general attitude towards using useful expressions in learning speaking skill (Research question 1)

With the aim at investigating students‟ general attitude towards using usefulexpressions in learning speaking skill which includes their difficulties and lessonswhen implementing the project, all the questionnaires were collected and analyzedboth descriptively and interpretively The results shown below are rather significant

to the research

This section will be presented into 5 major categories: (1) attitude towardsinterest in using useful expressions in learning speaking skill, (2) attitude towardssuitability of using useful expressions, (3) opinion towards the practical aspect ofusing useful expressions, (4) opinion towards improvement after learning usefulexpressions, and (5) students‟ difficulties in doing the project

3.1.1 Students’ attitude towards interest in using useful expression in learning speaking skill.

In the questionnaire, the first question was made to investigate students‟general attitude towards using useful expressions to learn speaking skill The firstquestion asked the participants whether the use of useful expression in learningspeaking skill or not There were five choices for them

21 20

1 0

Figure 3.1.1 Useful expressions improve speaking skill

The data appears to suggest that majority of the students here suppose thatuseful expressions improve their speaking ability There were 21 participants whoagreed with the answer and 2 of respondents who strongly agreed So in total thenumber of the respondents who thought that useful expressions improved theirspeaking skill was 23 meanwhile only a small number (1 respondent) stronglydisagreed Moreover, just 3 of the participants were not sure about the attitudes tothe effectiveness of using useful expressions improve their speaking ability

3.1.2 Students’ opinion towards the suitability of using useful expressions in

speaking lessons

In the next 2 questions, they deeply looked into aspects of using useful

expressions that could help students in learning speaking skill After doing some

statistics, the results were summarized as shown in the below figure:

25

23 20 20

disagree

Figure 3.1.2: The suitability of using useful expressions

From the figure above, it is clear that the most of the participants suppose

that the practice during the research helped them have better speaking skill (46 out

of 60 of the participants‟ answer claimed „ strongly agree and agree‟) More

specifically, for question 2, 21 strongly agreed and agreed useful expressions which

teacher used to teach speaking are suitable with their level There were 3 of the

students had neutral atttitude and 6 had strongly disagreed and disagreed about the

speaking skill are suitable There were only 3 of the respondents had neutralattitude, 2 of the respondents disagree and especially, no strongly disagree answer

29

was recorded.

3.1.3 Students’ opinion towards the practical aspect of using useful expressions in

speaking lessons

The question 4, 5, and 6 were used to collect data from the participants about

their opinion towards the practical aspect of using useful expressions in speaking

lessons They are shown in Figure 3.1.3 below:

Q5 8

Q6 6

Figure 3.1.3: The practical aspect of using useful expressions

From this chart, it is obvious that the practice made the students interested in

learning speaking skill when using useful expressions and also they would like to

applied this technique to learn other skills For question 4, there were 21 said they