Strategies for increasing students participation in oral activities a case of dong do high school, hanoi

Students’ desires……… .21 III.2 Statistical results of questionnaires for teachers………23 III.2.1.Teachers’ view of CLT……….23 III.2.2 Teachers’ attitude towards unwilling speakers and mista

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

NGUYỄN THÙY DƯƠNG

STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING STUDENTS’

PARTICIPATION IN ORAL ACTIVITIES: A CASE OF

DONG DO HIGH SCHOOL, HA NOI

(Những chiến lược tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh trong các giờ học kỹ năng nói: trường hợp Trường THPT Đông Đô, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2010

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

NGUYỄN THÙY DƯƠNG

STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING STUDENTS’

PARTICIPATION IN ORAL ACTIVITIES: A CASE OF

DONG DO HIGH SCHOOL, HA NOI

(Những chiến lược tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh trong các giờ học kỹ năng nói: trường hợp Trường THPT Đông Đô, Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

List of tables and figures v

Table of content vi

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research question 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Methods of the study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter I - LITERATURE REVIEW 5

I.1 Teaching Strategies 5

I.1.1 Definition of strategy 5

I.1.2 What is teaching strategy 5

I.2 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 6

I.2.1 Definition of CLT 6

I.2.2 Communicative activities 6

I.3 Nature of speaking skill and principles of teaching speaking 7

I.3.1 Nature of speaking skill 7

I.3.1.1 Definition of speaking 8

I.3.1.2 Characteristics of speaking 8

I.3.2 Principles of teaching speaking 9

I.3.2.1 Beginning level 9

I.3.2.2.Intermediate level……… 10

I.3.2.3 Advanced

level 10

I.3.3 Teacher’s roles in teaching speaking……….11

I.4 Students’ participation in oral activities……… .12

I.4.1 Concept of students’ participation……….12

I.4.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities……….13

I.4.2.1 Students’ style………13

I.4.2.2 Students’ motivation……… 14

I.4.2.3 Teacher’s teaching techniques and methods……… 14

I.4.2.4 Teacher’s personal qualities……… 15

Chapter II – THE STUDY……….16

II.1 Current situation of teaching and learning speaking at DDHS……….16

II.2 Methodology……… 17

II.3 The subjects of the study……… 17

II.4 Data collection instruments……… 17

II.5 Data collection procedures……… 17

Chapter III - STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA……….18

III.1 Statistical results of questionnaires for students………18

III.1.1 Students’ attitude towards speaking skill………18

III.1.2 Students degree of participation in classroom speaking activities………… 19

III.1.3 Reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities……… 20

III.1.4 Current methods applied to teach speaking……….21

III.1.5 Students’ desires……… 21

III.2 Statistical results of questionnaires for teachers………23

III.2.1.Teachers’ view of CLT……….23

III.2.2 Teachers’ attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers…………

24 III.2.3 Difficulties that teachers have confronted in teaching speaking……… 26

III.2.4 Techniques and activities applied in teaching English speaking……….26

III.3 Classroom Observations……… 27

Chapter IV - FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……….29

IV.1 Findings……… 29

IV.1.2.1 Poor background knowledge……… 30

IV.1.2.2 Lack of confidence……….30

IV.1.2.3 Lack of motivation……….30

IV.1.2.4 Passive learning style……….31

IV.1.3 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking in speaking ……….31

IV.1.4 Current methods……… 32

IV.2 Recommendations for teachers to improve students’ talking time………… 33

IV.2.1 Recommendation for the learners………33

IV.2.2 Recommendation for the teachers………34

IV.2.2.1 Suggested teaching speaking strategies……… 34

IV.2.2.2 Suggested activities to increase students’ participation in oral activities……… 36

- Pair work………36

- Group work………36

- Role play………37

- Games……….38

PART THREE: CONCLUSION……… 39

III.1 Conclusion………39

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

REFERENCES……… 41 APPENDIX 1……….I APPENDIX 2 ……… V APPENDIX 3 VIII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT refers to Communicative Language Teaching

DDHS refers to Dong Do High School

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Lists of Figures

Figure 1: Degrees of students' participation in oral activities

Figure 2: Current methods applied to teaching speaking

Figure 3: students' expectant activities from teachers

Figure 4: Teaching methods currently used in teaching speaking

Figure 5: Difficulties that teacher have encountered when teaching speaking

List of Tables

Table1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill

Table 2: Factors that make students hesitant to participate in oral activitiesTable 3: Students’ desires for speaking activities

Table 4: Teachers’ opinion of CLT

Table 5: Teacher’s attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makersTable 6: Techniques to make students more interested in speaking lessonsTable 7: Activities to motivate students to participate more in oral activitiesTable 8: Time on-task, off-task for students in speaking activities

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale

Undeniably, English is a global language crossing many international boundaries In fact,the English language is so popular; it is spoken in more than a hundred countries and hasmore than a million words English is considered as the medium of communication in thefields of science, technology, diplomacy, and business, and so on English has an inherentsimplicity and flexibility allowing it to be learnt quickly, cementing English as a globallanguage

Since 1971, the teaching and learning of English has become of a great concern inVietnam It is because that English is also seen as a means to promote mutualunderstanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries As a result, there aremore and more people desiring to know and master English with the hope of keeping up todate with the latest development in technology in the world Therefore, English in Vietnamhas become part of the general education It is a compulsory subject not only in tertiaryinstitutions but also in most secondary schools

In learning English at high schools, English speaking skill is one of the four skills thatstudents must be taught as separately and equally as the others However, due to somedifferently objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning of this skill is oftenintegrated with other skills such as listening skill, or is even neglected It leads to the causethat students do not often enjoy speaking period as well as find it difficult to participate inspeaking activities

Furthermore, there are a lot of elements of speaking affecting the ability to speak fluentlysuch as language features (connected speech, expressive device, lexis and grammar,negotiation language) and the ability to process information and language “on the spot”such as language processing, interacting with others…However, in a period of 45minutes,

it seems to be impossible for both teachers and students to control them Therefore, ifteaching and learning oral communication skill takes place within 45 minutes every weekand only in classroom settings, its effect is limited

In terms of my experiences of teaching English and teaching speaking skill at Dong Dohigh school (DDHS) I found that most of my students are unwilling to participate in oral

activities Most of them only passively sit and take notes, rarely contribute the lesson andeven do not ask for the teacher‟s help when they have any problems Reasons or this arevarious including large classes, psycho logical or cultural differences, teaching methods,teacher‟s knowledge, student‟s lack of idea or language devices, such as grammaticalstructures or vocabulary, etc Whatever reasons they may be, it is the first target of theteachers to help their learners get out of the always silent moment in class, and thereby,improve their speaking skills

For such reasons I choose “Strategies for Increasing Students' Participation in Oral Activities: A case of Dong Do High School, Hanoi” as a theme for my thesis.

II Aims of the study

This research is designed to break a new ground in looking for new strategies to enhancethe participation of the students at DDHS in speaking activities

In order to obtain this aim, some purposes are as follows:

- To investigate theories concerning teaching and learning English as a foreign language

in general and English oral communication skill in particular

- To review some real situations about teaching and learning English and English

III Research questions

To reach the aims of the study, the three research question addressed:

1.What is the reality of teaching and learning English speaking skill at DDHS?

2 What are reasons for students‟ hesitation of taking part in speaking activities at Dong

Do high school?

3 What should teachers do to increase students‟ participation in oral activities at Dong Do high school?

IV Scope of the study

A study on the ways to enhance the involvement of all students in learning oral skill isquite broad, therefore the author would like to pay much attention to a brief of currentsituation of teaching and learning speaking at DDHS and to identify the reasons why thestudents are not ready to speak and suggest some possible strategies to increase them tospeak more This is also the limitation of the thesis

V Significance of the study

In the past time, the students learned English with the main focus on grammatical issues;however, four English skills in general and English speaking skill in particular areconcentrated as much as grammar Despite that, most of the teachers at high schools do notrealize the importance of oral communication skill in the full development of the fourEnglish skills In the textbook, English speaking skill is designed separately, and each oralskill lesson is taught within 45 minutes every week However, practicing English activitiesdoes not still end after speaking lessons It is because that both reading lessons andlistening ones often contain some post-reading and post-listening activities relating tospeaking skill Therefore, the enhancement of students‟ contribution in English oralactivities is very important There is much hope that this would be useful and practical forboth the teachers and learners of English

VI Methods of the study

To obtain the aims of the study both quantitative and qualitative methods are used

The data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected by means of:

VII Design of the study

This minor thesis is divided into three main parts

Part one, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale, the aims, scope, significance,

methods, design of the study The research questions are also mentioned in this part.

Part two, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three following chapters:

 Chapter one, Literature Review, presents various concepts most relevant to the research

topic such as definition of strategies, teaching strategies; concepts of communicative languageteaching (CLT); nature of speaking skill and principles of teaching speaking Furthermore, thefollowing are also included in this chapter: definition of students‟ participation, and" factorsaffecting students‟ participation as well

 Chapter two, namely “The Study” describes the overall picture of the research was

carried out from the first step of determining the research design to the last step of gathering theresults Moreover, presentation of statistical results are describes in this chapter

 Chapter three, “Statistics and Analysis of data” analyses the collected data to answer

the three research questions

 Chapter four, namely “Findings and Recommendations” presents the findings with

conclusion and comment after the experiment was finished and suggests what teachers of

English at DDHS should do to enlarge the students‟ participation in speaking activities

 Part three, CONCLUSION, addresses the key issues in the study, summaries some shortcomings revealed during the process of the completing this study

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of four sections Section one concerns the issue of teaching strategieswhich includes the definition of strategy and teaching strategy Section two deals with theissues of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Next, section three focuses on nature

of speaking and principles of teaching speaking which covers many matters such as thedefinition of speaking, characteristics of speaking, principles of teaching speaking for alllevels as well as teachers‟ roles of teaching speaking The last section, section fourpresents some concepts related to students‟ participation and some factors affectingstudents‟ participation in oral activities

I.1 Teaching strategies

I.1.1 Definition of strategy

To understand teaching strategies, let me begin with the definition of strategy According

to Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman (1995:1244), strategy means a “wellplanned series of action for achieving an aim” Another definition of strategy is that

“Strategy are specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes of operation forachieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating certaininformation” (Brown, 1994) Sharing this point of view, in terms of language teaching,Chamot (2005, p.112) defines strategy as “procedures that facilitate a learning task…Strategies are most often conscious and goal driven”

I.1.2 What is teaching strategy?

Basing on the definitions of strategy discussed above, we can view teaching strategies as awell-prepared plan or a conscious plan that consists of various selected skills, techniques,approaches which teachers take in order to facilitate their teaching in the classroom Also,teaching strategies may be ways of presenting instructional materials or conductinginstructional activities Because of this reason, we can assume that an appropriate teachingstrategy play an important role in improving learning as well as in encouraging students toactivate their own learning style (Dunn & Griggs, 1990)

I.2 Communicative language teaching (CLT)

According Mackey (1965) most teaching methods still exist both advantages anddisadvantages, and it is difficult to say which method is the most appropriate withoutconsidering the background in which it is applied Because of the limitation in my thesis, Ionly spotlight on CLT which is considered as one of the most effective method to teachspeaking skill in second language

I.2.1 Definition of CLT

Perhaps the majority of language teachers today, when asked to identify the methodologyThey employ in the classroom, identify “communicative” as the methodology of choice.However, when pressed to give a detailed account of what they mean by “communicative”,explanations vary widely Does communicative language teaching (or CLT) mean teachingconversations, an absence of grammar in a course, or an emphasis on open-endeddiscussion activities as the main features of a course?

There are many definitions of CLT by different methodologists According Richards(1998) CLT can be understood as a set of principles about the goal of language teaching,how learners learn language, the kind of classroom activities that best facilitate learning,and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom

Also, Nunan (1989; 194) defines CLT as “a system for the expression of meaning.Activities involve oral communication, carry out meaning tasks and using language, which

is meaningful to the learners…… The learner‟s role is as a negotiator and integrator Theteachers‟ role is a facilitator of the communication process

I.2.2 Communicative activities

CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as teaching

method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices As such, it is most often defined

as a list of general principles of features that Nunan (1991) remarked:

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

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the Learning Management process

- An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.

- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom

These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are veryinterested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between thelanguage as it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom Under thisbroad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop theircommunicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficialform of instruction Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and groupwork requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities thatencourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice anddevelop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciationfocused activities

I.3 Nature of speaking skill and principles in teaching

speaking I.3.1 Nature of speaking skill

It is known that language skills consist of four macro inter-related skills: listening,speaking, reading, and writing In those four skills, listening and reading relate together inthe aspect of receptive skill, whereas speaking and writing are considered to be productiveskills (Byrne, 1991)

However, Byrne (1991: 8) also proves that the nature of oral communication is “a two wayprocess between speaker and listener From a communicative, pragmatic view of thelanguage classroom, listening and speaking skill are closely intertwined because “speakingalways necessitates at least two participants: speaker(s) and listener(s) When the speakerstarts message, the listener decodes, and responds to the message in turns Hence, that iswhy teaching listening is always associated with teaching speaking

Of the four skills, speaking plays an important role as it is the first step to identify whoknows or does not know a language In order to find the strategies to get better at speakingskill, we must be aware of what speaking is and how it characterizes?

I.3.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is morecomplicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words Bygate

defines “Oral expression involves not only the use of right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right to convey the right meaning” (cited in Mackey, 1965:266)

Speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning According

to Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances in arange of pronunciation Therefore, speaking is “an inter-active process of constructingmeaning that involves producing and receiving and process information (Florez, 1999 ascited in Bailey, Kathleen M, (2005) It is “often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving”but it is not completely unpredictable

Furthermore, speaking is known with two main types of conversation called dialogue andmonologue Brown ad Yule (1983) indicates there is a difference between them Inmonologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation while in dialogue you interact withone or more other speakers for transactional and international purposes

I.3.1.2 Characteristics of speaking

Bygate (1987) suggests that conversation can be analyzed in terms of routines which are

“conventional ways of presenting information because they are conventional, they are

predictable and help ensure clarity There are two main kinds of routines: information routines and interaction routines.

With regards to information routines, we mean frequently recurring types of information

structures, including stories; descriptions of places and people; presentation of facts,comparison, and instruction Broadly speaking, information routines can be defined as

“expository and evaluative” Expository routines involve factual information hinging onquestions of sequencing or identity of the subject Brown and Yule (1983) suggest that theprincipal types of expository routines are narration, description, and instruction.Meanwhile, evaluative routines involve the drawing of conclusion, usually requiring theexpression of reasoning

Concerning interaction routines, they are routines based not so much on sequences of kinds of

terms occurring in typical kinds of interactions Thus, these routines can be characterized

in broad terms including the kinds of turns typically occurring in given situations and theorder in which the components are likely to occur So telephone conversations, interviewconversations, casual encounters, conversations at parties, conversations around a table at adinner party, lessons, radio or television interviews, all tend to be organized incharacteristic a way (Bygate, 1987)

The learners can be much more confident in speaking with clear understanding andgoverning these skills Moreover, the oral skill depends much on knowledge of languagethey can learn such as grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary parallel with languageenvironment To be better at teaching speaking, teachers need understand and exploit theprinciples of teaching speaking fluently This is the topic to be considered next

I.3.2 Principles of teaching speaking

The single most important reason for teaching speaking is to develop oral fluency, that is,

the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably accurately and without unduehesitation Byrne (1976) argues that to meet this objective learners will have to be broughtfrom the stage where they merely imitate a model or respond to cues to the point wherethey can use the language to express their own ideas and feelings (processes that must to alarge extent be in simultaneous operation) For oral fluency to be attained, learners willneed complementary levels of training in which teachers also need to have certainprinciples of teaching speaking According to Bailey, Kathleen M (2005), those principles

are divided into three groups: Beginning levels, Intermediate levels, and Advanced levels

I.3.2.1 Beginning levels

This is the first step for the learners who start getting to know a foreign language Manyfactors will influence their goal of development of language skills Therefore, the teachershould try to understand and analyze the learners‟ psychology as well as theircharacteristics In teaching process the teacher should follow the principles:

- Provide something for learners to talk about: This doesn‟t mean that only teachers cannominate topics Teachers should be open to those topics that learners want to talk about, andincorporate them into lessons whenever possible But it does mean that teachers should go intotheir speaking lessons prepared with interesting topics or ideas to stimulate conversations anddiscussions

- Create opportunities for students to interact by using groupwork or pairwork: Sometimestudents – perhaps especially those at the lower levels – can be anxious about speaking in class.Bailey, Kathleen M (2005) assumes that one way to overcome their reticence and increase theiropportunities to speak is to use pairwork and groupwork According to

Pennington (1995), using pairwork and groupwork can improve learners‟ motivation andpromote choice, independence, creativity, and realism Pairwork and groupwork alsoprovide feedback to the learner from sources other than the teacher

- Manipulate physical arrangements to promote speaking practice: It can be difficult to getstudents to talk with one another in a new language but that difficulty is often exacerbated by thetraditional classroom arrangement of desks facing forward toward the teacher‟s zone Changingphysical environment can encourage speaking activities, partly because it partially alters thepower structure of the traditional English classroom

I.3.2.2 Intermediate levels

For the Intermediate levels, the teacher could feel more comfortable and confident inteaching However, the teacher also tries to remember the followings:

Firstly, the teacher should focus on and work toward real, spontaneous speech to avoidform-based drills (repetitious or grammar-based exercises) Secondly, the teacher tries todesign activities, which encourage natural interaction between speakers because humanspeech most often involves interaction, and interaction integrates speaking and listening.Lastly, like principles for beginning learners, the teacher should place them in pairs, triads

or small groups in order to create an exciting speaking environment

I.3.2.3 Advanced levels

For the advanced learners, especially in free production, the teacher allows only speech inthe target language

- This greatly increases the amount of English spoken

- Having a clear guideline reduces the temptation of learners to hide in their nativelanguage

- The learners may dislike this but should be discouraged from using their own language without the teacher‟s permission

I.3.3 Teacher’s roles in teaching speaking

As with any type of classroom procedure, teachers need to play a number of different rolesduring the speaking activities However, all the roles have the same purpose is “to createthe best conditions for learning In a sense, then, teachers are a means to an end: aninstrument to see that learning take place” (Byrne, 1991)

Teachers also have specific roles to play at different stages of the learning process Byrne(1991: 2) points out three different teachers‟ roles at the three stages: presentation,practice, production; that is an informant, a conductor or a monitor, and a managerrespectively

Besides, as for Harmer (2001) teachers of English speaking play other roles if they aretrying to get students to speak fluently:

 Organizer: Organizing students to do various activities in one of the most important

roles of a teacher He/She needs to provide students with information, tell them how to carry outthe activities they are given put them in groups and finally end the activities If he/she does notcarry out this role in a sensitive way, students will not know what and how to do, and even chaosmay happen On the other hand, if the teacher carries out the role well, it will help encouragestudents‟ participation in classroom activities

 Prompter: Students sometimes get lost, can not think of what to say next, or in some

other way lose the fluency the teacher expects of them The teacher can leave them to struggleout of such situation on their own, and indeed sometimes this may be the best option

 Participant: Harmer suggests that teachers should be good animators when asking

students to produce language Sometimes this can be achieved by setting up an activity clearlyand with enthusiasm At other times, however, teachers may want to participate in discussion orrole-plays themselves That way they can prompt covertly, introduce new information to help theactivity along, ensure continuing student engagement, and generally maintain a creativeatmosphere

 Resource: During the proceedings students may ask the teacher the meaning of the

word or phrase, the information about the topic they are given When the teacher responds totheir questions, he acts as a resource The teacher should bear in mind that he should not spoon-feed the students otherwise they will be over-reliant on the teacher

 Feedback provider: When students are in the middle of a speaking activity,

over-correction may inhibit them and take the communicativeness out of the activity On the otherhand, helpful and gentle correction may get student out of difficult misunderstanding andhesitations

 Assessor: After performing one kind of activity, students expect their teacher to give

his comments on how they perform their work It can be an important factor encouraging theirparticipation in classroom activities if the teacher knows how to assess their work

As for this issue, Harmer emphasizes teacher‟s sensitivity and fairness during hisassessment The teacher should tell the students at what degree they have come up to ourexpectation and point out their mistakes so that they can avoid in the next time.However, he should not criticize too much on their mistakes as it can demotivate themfrom participating in classroom activities

It is clear that teachers‟ roles in teaching speaking have a great effect on students‟participation in oral activities However, it is not only factors affecting the involvement ofstudents The next part will describe other factors as well as clarify concepts of students‟participation in classroom activities

I.4 Students’ participation in oral activities

I.4.1.Concept of students’ participation

Students‟ participation can be understood as students‟ involvement in classroom activitiesand in this case, oral activities In teachers‟ opinion, students‟ participation can be dividedinto two kinds of interaction, namely, students to their teacher; students to students.Concerning the interaction between students to their teacher, students who are considered

to maintain a good interaction with their teacher always take part in the class discussion aswell as contact the teacher by coming to see him/her outside the classroom They becomeinvolved in what is happening in the classroom by asking information or explanation,sharing personal experience in relationship to the topics, or volunteering to perform anactivity Therefore, participation takes place not only inside the classroom but also outsidethe classroom However, the interaction between students themselves is different from thefirst kind of interaction It is built when students are working in small groups Whenworking in groups, students‟ participation can be measured by student‟s sense ofresponsibility and cooperation

I.4.2 Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities.

Students‟ participation in classroom oral activities can be affected by a variety of factors

In the following sections, some of the major factors will be discussed

I.4.2.1 Students’ learning styles

Learning style, as Nunan (1991) defines, refer to “any individual‟s preferred ways of goingabout learning, It is generally considered that one‟s learning style will result frompersonality variables, including psychological and cognitive make up, socio-culturalbackground, and educational experience” For Willing (1988), an individual perception ofhis/her own strength and weaknesses will also have an effect He also suggests that someaspects of an individual‟s learning style may be alterable while others may not

Learners may have their own learning styles which help classify them into certain learnergroups Willing (1988; cited in Nunan: 1991) categorizes learners into the followinggroups based on their preferences:

 Concrete learners: These learners tend to like games, pictures, films, video, using

cassettes, talking in pairs and practicing English outside class

 Analytical learners: These learners like studying grammar, studying English books and

reading newspapers, studying alone, finding their own mistakes and working on problems set bythe teacher

 Communicative learners: These students like to learn by watching, listening to native

speakers, talking to friends in English and watching television in English, using English out ofclass, in shops, trains, etc., learning new words by hearing them, and learning by conversation

 Authority-oriented learners: These learners prefer the teacher to explain everything,

like to have their own textbook, to write everything in a notebook, to study grammar, learn byreading, and learn new words by seeing them

As can be seen from Willing‟s classification, if the majority in one class belong to the twoformer groups, the degree of participation in oral activities in this class will be low Harmer(2001) suggests that we should balance the interests between individuals and groups, payattention to individual traits when putting them into groups

I.4.2.2 Students’ motivation

Motivation is seen as “a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate, (Gardner, 1985: 10) while Harmer (2001) defines motivation simply as

“some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” According to Carol (1962), motivation decides the amount of time a learner will spend on the task of language learning She claims: “The more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend on learning an aspect of a second language”

(Carol, 1962)

Motivation not only plays an important role in learning, it helps the teacher as well Lite

(2002) confirms that “Motivation is the backbone of any classroom When the students are motivated, the teacher can perform his/her job the best.”

Teachers are often familiar with two basic types of motivation: extrinsic motivation andintrinsic motivation Harmer (2001) states that extrinsic motivation is caused by suchoutside factors as the need to pass an exam, the hope of possibility for future travel, etc Incontrast, intrinsic motivation is caused by inside factors like the enjoyment of the learningprocess itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better

It can be concluded that motivation is significant in foreign language learning becausewhen learners set the goal of learning a foreign language, motivation helps them produceeffort and have a positive attitude to obtain the goal Therefore, in order to be successful,language learners really need motivation to continue their learning

I.4.2.3 Teacher’s teaching techniques and methods

For each teacher, the good choice of teaching methods as well as techniques is very

important to increase students‟ participation in every lesson When deciding what teaching method to use, a teacher needs to consider students' background knowledge, environment,

learning goals, learning time and material resources We also know that different teachersexploit different methods and techniques in their teaching As a result, different degrees ofstudent‟s participation are created by different teachers Teacher-centered methods such asthe Grammar-translation method or the Direct method always cause teachers to choose thetechniques which mostly limit students‟ participation and put them in the passive settings

On the contrary, learner-centered methods like CLT bring the teacher various techniquesthat motivate students in participating in the lesson since they are the main characters of all

activities The examples of these techniques can be named as pair-work, group-work, roleplay, or games.

I.4.2.4 Teacher personal qualities

Teachers are important and make a difference The quality of teaching is a crucial factor inpromoting effective learning in schools Effective teaching requires individuals who areacademically able and who care about the well-being of students

Some people may think that it is quite hard to specify the qualities of good Englishteachers If we look around, we can see that the teachers loved by the students are of ratherdifferent personalities Some are very charismatic, lively, and easy-going Others are quiet,slightly introvert and not very sociable Parker Palmer (1999) also observes that goodteaching isn‟t about technique either He has asked students around his country to describetheir good teachers to him Some of the students describe people who lecture all the time,some of them describe people who do little other than facilitate group process, and othersdescribe everything in between However, he does notice that despite the different teachingmethods employed by different good teachers, these teachers do share some characteristics

Palmer summarizes that good teachers are “people who have some sort of connective capacity, who connect themselves to their students, their students to each other, and everyone to the subject being studied” The interpretation of this is that good teachers let

the students know that they care for the students They help the students communicate witheach other among themselves so that they find themselves in a nice learning environment.They also motivate the students to learn the subject they‟re teaching

We may not think that Palmer‟s list of qualities of good teachers is exhaustive, but it doesshow that the relationship between teachers and students has a great value in making hisclass an interesting place where students can enjoy learning In other words, the teacher‟spersonal qualities may have a remarkable effect on his/her students‟ participation

CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY

This chapter gives an absolute description of how the research was carried out, includingsome steps as follows:

II.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill at DDHS

Dong Do High School is situated at 8 Vong Thi, Lac Long Quan Street, Tay Ho district,Hanoi city - the suburb of Hanoi Like other private schools in Hanoi, Dong Do Schoolhave three levels of educating and training which are primary school, lower secondaryschool, and upper secondary school However, the majority of students of this school arestudents at high school which consists of 6 classes at grade 10, 7 classes at grade 11, and 7classes at grade12 In addition, each class consists of over 35 students English is the onlyforeign language taught and learnt at the school

The students at DDHS are mostly aged from 15 to 18 years old, and they finished lowersecondary school in the suburb of Hanoi capital Moreover, a large number of students atDDHS are the students who can not enter public schools which demand higher grades.Therefore, their English proficiency is not good

The total number of English teachers at DDHS is 9, 6 out of whom were trained at HanoiForeign language Teacher Training University; two teacher graduated from Hanoi ForeignLanguage University; and one graduated from the department of English - HanoiUniversity of Education Most teachers of English at this school are from 27 to 40 yearsold, and have at least 5 years of teaching English at school However, the teaching method,which is mainly applied at this school, is Grammar-Translation method - a very traditionalmethod Other methods are seldom exploited

The main English textbook used in teaching English at this school are Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, and Tieng Anh 12 (basic stream) The staff of this school is also aware of the

importance of English, so there are from 6 to 8 periods of English in each week It meansthat teachers of English have so much time to let their students practice and revise

Speaking skill is one of the five parts designed in each unit: (reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus); hence, it is often taught and learned within one period - 45

minutes The other periods are spent on teaching and learning other skills, pronunciationand grammatical issues

II.2 Methodology

To conduct the research, two methods were applied: qualitative method and quantitative method.

All considerations, comments, assumptions, suggestions and conclusions provided in thestudy are based on the analysis of the statistic data collected from Questionnaires Surveyand Observation

II.3 The subjects of the study

There are two groups of subjects in the study

- The first group contains 100 students chosen randomly from over 200 students at theeleventh grade at DDHS They are the subjects for the first questionnaire All of them havelearned English for 4 years at lower secondary schools in the suburb area in Hanoi capital

- The second group includes 9 teachers of English: 1 male and 8 female They wereselected to be the subjects of the second questionnaire to help find out what teaching methodsand techniques were currently exploited in their teaching

II.4 Data collecting instrument

The instrument used in this study is two questionnaires The first survey questionnaire wasused for students to clarify their English competence as well the ways of learning speakingskill The second one was used for teachers to find out what teaching methods andtechniques were currently exploited in their teaching In addition, observation, at the sametime will be also carried out by the researcher at DDHS to make the study more reliable

II.5 Data collection procedure

The data for such a research are collected through the procedure of analyzing andsynthesizing theoretical issues of the nature of language skills and communication Someprinciples in teaching speaking are also mentioned Then, two questionnaires are aimed atfinding out the students‟ problems in speaking English, the reasons, as well as someactivity that teacher often carry out in their teaching speaking lessons The result will beanalyzed under statistic method After that, some solutions to these problems will besuggested

CHAPTER THREE: STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

III.1 Statistical results of questionnaires for students

The first survey questionnaire was planned for 100 students at DDHS to make sure thereliability and validity of the data collection It consists of 10 questions which are related

to the five main issues presented in the following tables and charts

III.1.1 Students’ attitude towards speaking skill

How important is speaking to you?

How much do you feel interested in speaking in class

What do you think about the speaking topics in the textbook?

Table1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill

Table one presents the information about students‟ attitude towards speaking skill As can

be seen 79 % of the students claim that speaking skill is important to them while 16%suppose speaking skill is little important and it is not important at all for 5% Moreover, thestatistics from table 1 show a surprising fact that only 24 % of all students feel interested inspeaking lessons while 51% feel little interested and 25% of them respond that they do notfeel interested at all

The responses to questions 3 from table 1 seem to explain suitably why a lot of students arenot interested in speaking lesson It is because that nearly 77% of informants think that thetopic in each speaking lesson is difficult or boring and only 13% of them regard it to beeasy The minority (10%) say it is interesting.

It can be concluded that the majority of the students agree that English speaking skill isreally significant However, the number of students who feel interested in speaking in class

is contrary The reason for it may concern the speaking topic - they may be difficult, easy

or boring The question raised here is how students get involved in speaking activities in aclassroom

III.1.2 Students’ degrees of participation in classroom speaking activities

A

5%

E

63%

Figure 1: Degrees of students' participation in oral activities

As can be seen from the chart above, the majority of students (63%) have littleparticipation in oral activities Next is the number of students who like speaking Englishwhen appointed by the teachers (15%) Only 9 % like English when they have alreadyprepared at home for what they want to say The students who like to speak English withfriends next to them or at the same table and who are willing to speak English in anyactivities have the lowest rate, 8% and 5%, respectively

From the results shown in the chart, a conclusion can be drawn that levels of students‟participation in oral activities are very different; the most remarkable fact is the number ofstudents has little their involvement in speaking lessons Hence, the teachers should knowwhat factors affecting student‟s participation

III.1.3 Reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities

Which factors make you reluctant to speak English in speaking lessons?

Q 1 B not being accustomed to speaking in front of other people 17

What do you think often affect your involvement in English speaking lessons?

A limited vocabulary and grammatical structures 35

Table 2: Factors that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities

Statistics provided in Table 2 show that 43% of students feel reluctant to speak Englishbecause the lessons are uninteresting 22% assume that boring teaching methoddiscourages them from speaking and 17 % are not accustomed to speaking in front of otherpeople Others (10%) feel shy and blame the learning goal (8%)

In Table 2 it can also be realized that 33% of students think that nothing to say for thegiven topic is one of big trouble preventing them from participating in oral activities; 35%

of them state that limited vocabulary and grammatical structures seem to be an obstacle forthem to express their ideas 28% 0f them suppose that they cannot speak because they

a variety of reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities such as:inappropriate teaching method, poor language proficiency, prior learning experience….

III.1.4 Current methods applied to teach speaking

Figure 2: Current methods applied to teaching

80706050

% 40

302010

teacher's activities teacher's mistake correction

after giving speaking topic

The statistics provided from Figure 2 is about current methods applied in teachingspeaking, consist of two issues

35% of students say that their teacher often provide them with new words and structuresrelating to given topics after giving speaking topics, and the same number supposes thattheir teacher only provide with main ideas for given topics 25% think that their teachersencourage them to plan the given topics, and 5% of them said they are made to discuss thetopics themselves

According to the statistics 76% revealed that their teacher stop them immediately wheneverthey make mistakes to correct them while only a few of learners said that their teacher waituntil they finish their speech, point out their mistakes and encourage them to correctthemselves These seem to be an inappropriate way of correcting mistakes which maydiscourage students from taking part in oral activities

III.1.5 Students’ desires

In which:

A Not interrupt you when you make mistakes B: Accept a variety of your answer

C Give you speaking tasks suitable to your ability D Encourage you with grades and gifts

Figure 3: students' expectant activities from teachers

C

BA

percentage

From the result collected in Figure 3, it can be recognized that 100% of the participantswant their teacher to give them speaking tasks suitable to their ability in order to maximizetheir involvement in speaking lessons In addition, from 90% to 95% of them desire thattheir teacher should accept a variety of their answers and should not interrupt themwhenever they make mistakes However, only 67% of them like their teacher to motivatethem in taking part in oral activities by encouraging them with grades and gifts

Other students‟ desires are presented in the tables as follows:

Q: What do you think about these activities below?

Table 3: Students’ desires for speaking activities

It can be seen from Table 3 that 70% of informants say that they do not like workingindividually Instead, they are fond of working with other because 85% of them like