Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at doson high school and some possible solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATESTUDIES ---0o0--- TRẦN THỊ THẢO FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEA

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

-0o0 -TRẦN THỊ THẢO

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING

SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS.

NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒ SƠN

VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC.

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, September 2010.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE

STUDIES -0o0 -

TRẦN THỊ THẢO

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF

10 TH GRADE STUDENTS AT DOSON HIGH SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE

SOLUTIONS.

NHÂN TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN SỰ THAM GIA VÀO HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT ĐỒ SƠN

VÀ MỘT SỐ GIẢI PHÁP KHẮC PHỤC.

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

SUPERVISOR: PHẠM MINH HIỀN, M.A

Hanoi, September 2010.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LISTS OF TABLES AND CHARTS viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationales of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 1

3 Research questions 2

4 Methods of the study 2

5 Scope of the study 2

6 Significance of the study 3

7 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1.1 Theoretical background of speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 4

1.1.2 Importance of speaking 4

1.1.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking 4

1.2 CLT and teaching speaking 6

1.2.1 Concept of CLT 6

1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT 6

1.2.3 Communicative activities 7

1.2.4 Students‟ participation in speaking activities 7

1.3 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 7

1.3.1 Students‟ factors 7

1.3.1.1 Students‟ learning styles 7

1 3.1.2 Students‟ language levels 8

1.3.1.3 Students‟ attitude and motivation 9

1.3.1.4 Students‟ anxiety 10

1.3.2 Teachers‟ factors 12

1.3.2.1 Teacher‟s roles 12

1.3.2.2 Teacher‟s characteristics 14

1.3.2.3 Teacher‟s methodology 15

1.3.3 Classroom factors 16

1.3.3.1 Classroom atmosphere 16

1.3.3.2 Classroom size 17

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 18

2.1 Research setting 18

2.1.1 An overview of Doson High School 18

2.1.2 The teachers 18

2.1.3 The students 18

2.1.4 The materials and syllabus 18

2.2 Methodology 19

2.2.1 Research questions 19

2.2.2 Participants 19

2.2.3 Data collection instruments 19

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires 19

2.2.3.2 Interviews 20

2.2.3.3 Class observations 20

2.2.4 Data collection procedures 20

2.2.5 Data analysis 21

2.2.5.1 Results from students‟ questionnaire 21

2.2.5.2 Results from teachers‟ questionnaire 29

2.2.5.3 Results from class observations and interviews 33

CHAPTER 3: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Major findings and discussions 35

3.1.1 Students‟ level of participation in class oral activities 35

3.1.2 Factors affecting students‟ participation 35

3.1.3 Students‟ attitudes towards the applied teaching techniques 36

3.2 Recommendations 37

3.2.1 For teachers 37

3.2.1.1 Varying speaking activities 37

3.2.1.2 Personalizing speaking topics 37

3.2.1.3 Using group work to good effect 37

3.2.1.4 Managing speaking turns 38

3.2.1.5 Building cooperative atmosphere 38

3.2.1.6 Establishing good rapport with students 39

3.2.1.7 Combining the textbook with other relevant materials 39

3.2.1.8 Managing speaking time appropriately 40

3.2.2 For students 40

3.2.2.1 Cooperating with students 40

3.2.2.2 Cooperating with teachers 40

3.2.2.3 Taking risks 40

PART C: CONCLUSION 41

1 Summary of the study 41

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 42

REFERENCES 43

APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students I APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for teachers IV APPENDIX 3: Pre – treatment interview questions VII APPENDIX 4: Post – treatment interview questions VIII APPENDIX 5: Classroom observation checklist IX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1: Students‟ learning styles 23

Table 2: Students‟ motivation 24

Table 3: Students‟ anxiety 24

Table 4: Students‟ language levels 25

Table 5: Teachers‟ talking time 26

Table 6: Teachers‟ techniques of encouraging students 27

Table 7: Students‟ evaluation on speaking lessons 27

Table 8: Factors affecting students‟ participation 28

Table 9: Students‟ suggested techniques to increase their participation 28

Table 10: Teachers‟ assessment and attitudes towards speaking skill 29

Table 11: Teachers‟ opinions about teaching methods 30

Table 12: Teachers‟ problems in teaching speaking skill 30

Table 13: Teachers‟ current teaching techniques and activities 31

Table 14: Factors affecting students‟ participation 32

Table 15: Teachers‟ suggested solutions to increase students‟ involvement 33

Table 16: The level of students‟ participation before and after the treatment 34

* Charts Pie – chart 1: Students‟ assessment of their speaking ability 21

Pie – chart 2: Students‟ level of participation in speaking activities 22

Pie – chart 3: Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill 22

Pie – chart 4: Students‟ assessment of speaking activities in the class 23

Pie – chart 5: Students‟ level of reluctance in speaking lessons 25

Pie – chart 6: Students‟ assessment of the topics in the textbook TIENG ANH 10 26

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationales of the study

In recent years, teaching and learning English is very popular in Vietnam Englishhas become a crucial means of communication and it is widely used in different fields ofthe society such as international commerce, science & technology, education and so on.Therefore, the goal of learning English has verified: students study English not only to passthe exam but also to get communication competence in order to find a good job in thefuture or to study abroad It is obvious that learning speaking skills is very important

Together with new textbooks, new teaching approaches have been applied toincrease the effectiveness of teaching English at high schools In the light ofcommunicative language teaching (CLT), students‟ participation in classroom activitiesplays a crucial role in the success of the lesson However, this is the concern of mostteachers as students‟ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggest challenge they arefacing

Having been teaching English at Doson High School for six years, I have realizedthat our students have the same problem, they are not active to participate in the speakingactivities With the desire to identify the causes and solutions to this problem, I chose the

topic “Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10 th grade students at Doson High School and some possible solutions” as the title of my thesis.

This study helps us have a deep understanding about the factors affecting students‟participation in oral activities In general, it can be affected by a variety of factors comingfrom teachers‟ side, students‟ side and classroom condition It will also examine thetechniques and activities applied by teachers and investigate some difficulties in teachingspeaking skills Through this study, the researcher expects to find out some appropriatesolutions to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speakingactivities of 10th grade students at Doson High School and find out some possible solutions

To be more specific, the major aims of the study are as follows:

- To identify factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson High School

- To examine some techniques and activities applied by teachers and students‟ preference

- To offer some suggestions for teachers to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities

3 Research questions

The study is implemented to answer the following questions:

1 How actively are the 10th grade students at Doson High School involved in oral activities in the class?

2 What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities?

3 What are the possible solutions to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities?

4 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used The data was collected by means of:

Survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers were mainly used

to gather information and evidence for the study

To make the data more reliable, interviews and classroom observations wereconducted All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in thethesis were based on the analysis of the study

5 Scope of the study

Concerning the scope of the study, some of the following things should be takeninto consideration First, the subject of the study are the 10th grade students who are full ofenergy, desire and time to do the study Second, the study only focuses on oral activitiesbecause speaking skill is the most important skill for communication Third, the studyconcentrates to investigate factors affecting the participation in speaking activitiesincluding teacher factors, student factors and classroom factors hindering students‟involvement in oral activities and find out some solutions Finally, both quantitative andqualitative were used because of their convenience and high reliability

6 Significance of the study

The information of the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities ishelpful for students and teachers of English in general and teachers at Doson High School

in particular The suggestions to increase students‟ involvement help the teachersovercome the challenges and find the ways to have successful lessons It can‟t be deniedthat the study is of great value to both students and teachers of English

7 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and theConclusion

Part A: Introduction- deals with the rationales, aims, methods, scope, significance and

design of the study

Part B: Development – consists of three chapters

Chapter 1: Literature review – provides some theoretical background about speakingskill and factors affecting students‟ participation in speaking activities

Chapter 2: The study – presents the situation analysis, participants, data collectioninstrument, data collection procedures and data analysis The detailed results of theresearch are focused

Chapter 3: Major findings, discussion and recommendations – shows major findings,discussion and some recommendations for teachers to increase students‟ participation

in speaking activities

Part C: Conclusion- is a review of the study, suggestions for further research and

limitations of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Theoretical background of speaking in second language learning and teaching 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbaland non verbal symbols, in a variety contexts” (Chaney, 1998:13) Bailey (2005:2) sharesthe same view that “ speaking is the productive, oral skill It consists of producingsystematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.”

In addition, Florez (1991:1) defines speaking as “an interactive process ofconstructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information”(cited in Bailey, 2005:2)

According to Mackey (1965) “ oral expression involves not only the use of the rightsounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words andinflections in the right order to convey the right meaning”, (cited in Bygate, 1987:5)

From the above definitions, it can be concluded that speaking is the productive skillused to convey meaning

In social contexts, speaking is particularly useful as it is key to communication.Kayi (2006) and Bygate (1987) share the same view that the learners need to have ability tospeak confidently to carry their most basic transactions In short, because of the importance

of oral skill in language teaching and learning, it is vital that speaking skill should be paidgreat attention to

1.1.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

- The Grammar – translation Method

In the Grammar – translation Method, students are taught to analyze grammar and

to translate (usually in writing) from one language to another The main goal of this

method has been for students to read the literature of a particular culture This method doesnot really prepare students to speak English, therefore, it is not entirely appropriate forstudents to improve their speaking skills In conclusion, the Grammar – translation Method

is not consistent with the goals of increasing English learners‟ fluency, oral production orcommunicative competence

- The Direct Method and Audio - lingualism

The Direct Method focused on “everyday vocabulary and sentences” (Richards andRodgers, 1986:9) and lessons were conducted entirely in the target language Moreimportantly, the lesson presented new teaching points in speaking rather than in writingand it was practiced “ in a carefully graded progression organized around question andanswer exchanges between teachers and students.” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:10 ascited in Bailey, 2005:17)

In Audiolingualism, speaking is taught by having students repeat sentences andrecite memorized dialogues from the textbook According to Bygate (2001:15), “teachingoral language was thought to require no more than engineering the repeated oralproduction of structures” (cited in Bailey, 2005:17) In this method, the lesson emphasizedrepetition drills in order to familiarize students with the sounds and structural patterns ofthe language In short, memorizing patterns did not lead to fluent and effectivecommunication in real – life situations

- Communicative Language Teaching

At the end of the 1960s, the Audio – Lingual Method met a drastic attack from bothAmerican sociolinguistics and British functional linguistics based on the study of languagefrom a wider prospective Hymes (1972) put forward the term “communicativecompetence” to refer to appropriate language performance in contrast to “ linguisticcompetence” At the same time, Brumfit and Johnson (1979) emphasized “the functionaland communicative potential of language They saw the need to focus on communicativeproficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures” (Richards and Rodgers, 2001:153).CLT features more interaction- based activities such as role plays, information gaps, pairwork and group work In summary, among some approaches of the language teachingmethods, CLT is the most appropriate way for communication

1.2 CLT and teaching speaking

1.2.1 Concept of CLT

To define CLT, Nunan (1989:194) states:

“CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners including functional skills as well as linguistics objectives The learner’s role is a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is a facilitator of the communication progress.”

In brief, CLT emphasizes communication in a foreign language and improves the learners‟ competence through communicative activities

1.2.2 Characteristics of CLT

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

- Language is a system for the expression of meaning

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

- The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative use

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

discourse

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

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

- The target language is acquired through interactive communicative use that

encourages the negotiation of meaning

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

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

- There is a whole language approach in which the four traditional language skills

(speaking, listening, reading and writing) are integrated

In brief, CLT is characterized with communicative competence, leaner‟s –

centeredness and four skills integration These characteristics will be the principles for

teachers to choose appropriate techniques as well as activities in the classroom to improvestudents‟ communicative competence.

1.2.3 Communicative activities

Communicative activities, defined by Harmer (1999) are those that give studentswho are somehow involved in both the desire to communicate and a purpose involvingthem in a varied use of language Those activities play an important role in a languageclassroom as students can do their best to use the language effectively, arriving at a degree

of language autonomy

Richards and Rogers (2001:165) discuss that the range of exercise types andactivities with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises andactivities enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engagelearners in communication

1.2.4 Students’ participation in speaking activities

Students‟ participation can be understood as students‟ involvement in classroomactivities and in this case, oral activities It consists of interaction between students andstudents and students and the teacher The interaction between students themselves arises

in pair work and group work When they work together, students‟ participation can bemeasured by their sense of responsibility and cooperation

As for the interaction with the teacher, students express themselves in classdiscussion or show their ability to answer the question raised by teacher or share theirknowledge or personal experiences

In order to have a successful lesson, students‟ participation must be active and even.However, students‟ participation in classroom oral activities can be affected by a variety offactors such as from students, teachers and classroom

1.3 Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities

1.3.1 Students’ factors

1.3.1.1 Students’ learning styles

Individual„s learning style in an educational context indicates the different wayhe/she approaches new information Keefe (1979) defines learning style as “cognitive,affective and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learnersperceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment” (as cited in Brown, H.D

2007:120) Although we share similar learning patterns, preferences and even approaches, everyone learns and processes information in their own way.

Willing (1987, as cited in Bailey 2005:169-170) divides learners into four groups based on their behaviors:

- concrete learners are interested in social aspects of language learning.

- analytical learners would rather work individually on reading and grammar.

- communicative learners are willing to communicate with other speakers.

- authority – oriented learners tend to be independent and prefer to work in non –

communicative classroom

As can be seen from Willing‟s classification, if the majority of students in one classbelong to concrete and authority – oriented groups, the degree of participation in oralactivities of this class will be low

According to Brown (1994) the contrast between reflectivity and impulsivitydimension is one factor affecting students‟ participation in speaking lesson Reflectivelearners are slower, more careful and often weigh all the considerations before speakingout in the class, on the other hand, impulsive learners are quicker at making decision andmake gambles before a solution is achieved So in speaking lesson, impulsive learners arefaster but less accurate speaker than reflective ones

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

Sharing the same view with Ellis, Lightbown and Spada list a number ofpersonality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second languagelearners: extroversion, inhibition, self – esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness andresponsiveness (1995:54-55)

We can conclude with certainty that if the teacher neglects these differences amongstudents, only some of them can benefit from the classroom activities It is understandablethat not all students participate actively in the activities

1.3.1.2 Students’ language levels

In Tsui‟s research (1996) in HongKong, she found out five principal factorsaffecting the reluctance of students‟ participation in class speaking lesson:

- students‟ perceived low proficiency in English

- students‟ fear of mistakes and derision

- teacher‟s intolerance of silence

- uneven allocation of turns

- incomprehensible input

(as cited in Nunan 1999:234)

Is it the common problem for Vietnamese high school students? Lack of vocabulary,structures and expressions make students unwilling to speak Therefore, in the classroommany students just sit in silence and do not participate in the classroom activities

In Burns and Joyce‟s view, students have difficulties in pronunciation such assounds, rhythms and stress patterns of English, lack of social and cultural knowledge, lowproficiency of grammar patterns and problems in transferring from the native language intothe target language All of these linguistics factors result in break – down in processinglanguage and communication

It is understandable that with limited knowledge students can not confidently speakout much about anything In brief, the limitations in the students‟ language levels candirectly affect their participation however much they like the activities We, therefore,should choose the topics as well as the kinds of activities of their levels to encourage theirparticipation

1.3.1.3 Students’ attitudes and motivation

Harmer (1999:51) defines motivation as “some kind of internal drive which pushessomeone to do things in order to achieve something” According to Lightbown and Spada

“motivation in second language learning is a complex phenomenon which can be defined

in terms of two factors: learners‟ communicative needs and their attitudes towards thesecond language community” It can be understood that if learners have favorable attitudesand desire to speak the second language for communication, they will be motivated toacquire the language proficiency

Harmer (1999:51) divides motivation into two types intrinsic and extrinsicmotivation Intrinsic motivation is possessed by people having personal interest in doingsomething On the contrary, extrinsic motivation is caused by such outside factors, not fortheir own sake, as the need to pass an exam or the hope of financial reward

If all the students just learn English in order to pass the written exams, they thinkthat participating in speaking activities is not necessary In this case, a big question for thelanguage teachers is how to inspire students‟ personal interests in the speaking lessons?

In order to do so, we have to understand the sources of motivation as “withoutknowing where the roots of motivation lie, how can teachers water those roots?” (Oxford

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

- The learners‟ natural interests (intrinsic satisfaction)

- The teacher/ employment…etc (extrinsic reward)

- Success in the task (combining satisfaction and reward)

Harmer (1999:51) also mentions that the sources of motivation are diversified.They may derive from the society we live in, significant others like the attitude of parents

or old siblings, the teacher and the method The responsibility of the teachers is to increaseand direct students‟ motivation through setting clear goals, learning environment andinteresting classes, which can directly influence students‟ participation

Besides Harmer, Downs (2000) points out some conditions that help increasestudents‟ motivation He says that motivation increases when students feel acknowledgedand understood, when students are confident and they can succeed, when language has acommunicative purpose, and when students take responsibility for their own learning.Lightbown and Spada (1999:57) reconfirm that if we can make the classroom places wherestudents enjoy coming because of interesting content, challenging but manageable andclear goals, supportive and non-threatening atmosphere, we can make a positivecontribution to students‟ motivation

It is clear that motivation plays an important part in the success of languagelearning We may not know exactly how much motivation factor accounts for students‟participation but it can be concluded that the degree of motivation is directly proportional

to the level of involvement in oral activities It is true that, the more motivated students are,the more actively they are involved in speaking tasks

1.3.1.4 Students’ anxiety

Anxiety, simply speaking, is a kind of troubled feeling in the mind Spielberger(1983:1) defines anxiety as ”the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness,and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous system” (as cited in Brown(2007:161) More simply, it is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-

doubt, apprehension or worry (Scovel, 1978:134) Anxiety is classified into trait anxiety,state anxiety and situation-specific anxiety Trait anxiety, as Scovel (1978) noted, refers to

“a more permanent predisposition to be anxious” while state and situation-specific anxietyare usually experienced in relation to some particular event or situation (Brown, 2007).Through the research of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), they found out three maincauses of language anxiety: communication apprehension, text anxiety and fear of negativeevaluation Through their study with 97 college students, they came to a conclusion that thestudents with language anxiety found it more difficult to give their own opinions than therelaxed learners They also mentioned that the more anxious the students were, the worsethey performed in speaking

Clearly, anxiety and speaking performance are closely related If the students areafraid of losing face as making mistakes or being laughed at by other students, they arecertain to keep quiet and wait until they are required to speak in oral English lessons Tsui(1996) reconfirmed that students‟ fear of making mistakes and derision was one of thecauses of reluctance in speaking lessons

In Zhang Xiuqin„s research (2006), he found out that anxiety was the main negativefactor which prevented students from participating in classroom speaking activities Highanxiety learners tended to withdraw from voluntary participation and reluctant to take risks

He identified some main causes of language anxiety:

1 Less proficient English

2 Students‟ fear of mistakes and derision

3 Large class size

4 Unwilling to take risks

5 Low tolerance of ambiguity

In short, anxiety is obviously an important factor in the second language acquisition

in general and in students‟ participation in speaking activities in particular Therefore,language educators should strive to promote a non – threatening environment and havetechniques to reduce students‟ anxiety like: creating a relaxed and safe atmosphere forstudents, avoiding negative evaluation of students in classrooms and comment on students‟behaviors with more encouragement and taking some measures to relax students‟ attention

to exams or evaluation

1.3.2 Teacher’s factors

1.3.2.1 Teacher’s roles

With an increasing concern about the CLT approach in foreign language teachingand learning, in which learners are the centre of the lesson, the roles of a teacher aredifferent from those in the other different teaching methods Harmer (1999:57-62) listedthe roles of a teacher as follows:

- Controller: When teachers act as controllers, they are in charge of the class and ofthe activity taking place in the class Indeed, the role of a controller really makes sense in manyeducational contexts like when announcement need to be made, when orders has to be restored,when explanations are given, or when the teacher is leading a question and answer session.However, if a teacher abuses the role, it will affect students‟ practice and

opportunities to join oral activities

- Organizer: Organizing students to do various activities is one of the most importantroles that teachers have to perform This involves giving students information, telling them how

to do the activity, putting them into pairs or groups and ending the activities If a teacher doesthis role successfully, it will encourage students to involve in the class oral activities

- Assessor: The role of a teacher as an assessor is of great importance It can beunderstandable that any student after performing an activity wants to know whether he/she haspracticed the right English or not So, a teacher has to offer feedback, evaluation, correction orgrade students in various ways, but with sensitivity fairness and support

Teachers should be fair and tactful towards students‟ reaction, otherwise they can

demotivate students from participating in classroom activities

- Prompter: During oral practice, students sometimes have difficulty expressing ideasdue to their lack of vocabulary, so they can not proceed the activities In such situations, teacherscan provide them with words or phrases or give discretion suggestion to help them continue theirtasks, however, it should be done sensitively and encouragingly

- Participant: According to Harmer, a teacher is not only a person who stands backfrom students‟ activity, lets them get on with their own discussion or just gives feedback ormistake correction, but also a participant in students‟ activity As a result, it can helpstrengthen the relationship between students and teachers, but it sometimes dominates theproceedings due to the knowledge and experience of teachers

- Resource: During the discussion or presentation, students might want to know themeaning of a phrase or a word, or further information about the topic What the teacher should

do is to offer students guidance to look for that information and encourage them to use resourcematerial for themselves, but not spoon- feed the students otherwise they will be over – reliant onthe teacher

- Tutor: When students are working on longer projects, such as pieces of writing orpreparation for a talk or a debate, we can act as a tutor to work with individuals or small groups.The teacher can go around the class, stay with a particular group or individual, or offer thegeneral guidance In that case, students feel more supported and helped, as a result the classatmosphere is greatly enhanced

- Observer: We want to observe what students do during their oral communicativeactivities, therefore we can give them appropriate feedback It is useful to take note on

students‟ performance either in their use of actual language or in their use ofconversational strategies Observing students can help us judge the success of the materialsand activities used in the class

Unlike Harmer, Byrner(1986:2) stated the roles of the teacher according to thestages of teaching speaking: the presentation stage, the practice stage and the productionone At the first stage, the teacher acts as an informant He/she prepares the materials andpresents the language as clearly as possible and the students listen and try to understand.However, teacher‟s spending time should be sensible, otherwise students do not haveenough time for their practice

At the practice stage, it is time for students to do most of the talking and the teacherdevises and provides the maximum amount of practice The teacher‟s role is like the skilfulconductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a chance to participate andmonitoring the performance

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager andguide Students need to be given regular and frequent opportunities to use language freely,even if they sometimes make mistakes The most important thing is students have chances

to express their own ideas personally and are encouraged to go on learning

Above all, the most important role of the teacher through stages of speaking lesson

is a motivator Whatever you are doing in the classroom, your ability to motivate thestudents, to arouse their interests and to involve what they are doing will be crucial

Based on the theory about teacher‟s roles, we can see that teacher‟s roles mayaffect students‟ participation, therefore in order to encourage students‟ involvement weshould implement appropriate roles.

1.3.2.2 Teacher’s characteristics

Though “the perfect set of personal qualities and characteristics for an effectiveteacher has not been found” (Barry, 1993:94), it would be true to say that in order toinvolve students in classroom‟s activities, teacher firstly should be one that studentsrespect and lay their trust on The teacher‟s prestige will make students feel safe in thelesson and willing to participate in the activities To support this point, Barry (1993)mentions some characteristics that a teacher should have:

- Being natural: The teacher should present himself as real person such as the feeling ofhappiness, sympathy, annoyance or humorous Therefore, the relationship between

students and teacher will be closer, which helps increase students‟ involvement and operation in the process of teaching and learning

co Being warm: The teacher regards students as his fellow people, respects their personalcharacteristics and is happy to have them around

- Being pleasant: The teacher‟s attitude towards students expresses his relaxation,friendliness in the relationship with his students Besides, being pleasant also means being enthusiastic towards the job of teaching

- Being approachable: An approachable teacher is the one who makes students feelgood about being with him and the one that students can come to see if they have problems

- Being tolerant: In learning a foreign language, students‟ mistakes are inevitable Theteacher needs to be tolerant with those mistakes instead of criticizing them tactlessly

To establish a good relationship, it is vital that teachers should be cordial, acceptantand tolerant, otherwise it can make students scared and afraid of speaking in the class Tsui(1996) found out that teachers‟ intolerance of silence is one of five principal factorsaffecting students‟ reluctance in speaking (cited in Nunan, 1999:234) Further more, in hisinvestigation, Oxford (1998) also stated that the teacher‟s relationship with the students,the teacher‟s attitude or the style conflicts between them are major factors demotivatingstudents‟ participation (cited in Dornyei, 2001:146)

It should be noted that not every teacher can have all the above characteristics, but

it can help improve a good rapport between the teacher and students With such good

interaction during the lesson, it both creates a positive environment for learning andenhances students‟ participation in the activities.

1.3.2.3 Teacher’s methodology

The teacher‟s methodology refers to the approach or method and the teachingtechniques he uses in the classroom Through the history we have experienced theexistence and development of many teaching methods that can be divided into two types:teacher – centered and learner – centered methods Traditional methods such as theGrammar Translation Method, the Direct Method are teacher – centered ones which mostlyfocus on grammatical and phonological accuracy These techniques are choral repetition,drilling substitution, content explanation and narrative presentation seem so mechanicaland simple that they will result in learners‟ passiveness and limit their participation inlearning In recent time, in the light of Communicative Language Teaching, teacher‟stechnique turn from teacher – centered method into learner – centered method Theteaching technique consist of role-play, problem solving, games, pair work, group work,interview and discussion, etc

However, no teaching method is the best one as each one has its own advantagesand disadvantages In order to apply a suitable teaching method, the teacher should takesome of the following factors into consideration including learners‟ level, interests andpurposes Applying the appropriate method can have positive effects on students‟ learningand participation in classroom‟s activities

In conclusion, students‟ participation can be affected by teacher‟s factors includingteacher‟ role, characteristics and methodology Teaching method may play a decisive part

in obtaining teaching goals, and in this case, increasing students‟ involvement in oralactivities In addition, teacher‟ characteristics and teacher‟s roles in the classroomactivities play an important role in students‟ participation Therefore, in order to reach thisgoal, teachers should improve themselves in methodology, knowledge and personality tomotivate students

1.3.3 Classroom factors

1.3.3.1 Classroom atmosphere

It is certain that classroom atmosphere affects students‟ success in languagelearning According to Underwood (1987:34-44), both students and teachers take the

responsibility for creating a good teaching and learning environment with the following points:

- Giving a sense of purpose: All the students are provided opportunities to talk and listen to each other and they have clear objectives to achieve in and after the lesson

- Ensuring that English is spoken: It is important to use English as the classroomlanguage right from the beginning and make sure that you want to conduct the lesson in English.Therefore, students will form the habit of speaking English in the class There is

no doubt that the teacher‟s command of using the target language can have great influence

on the students‟ willingness to speak By doing so, the teacher wants to set the bestexample and provides a good model for his classes

- Balancing fluency and accuracy: The teacher should balance the encouragement offluency with the need for accuracy If he focuses too much on accuracy, weaker students will beshy and reticent to speak Then, they will lose the confidence in speaking , and the gap betweenthe weak and other fellow students become bigger

- Using appropriate language: Classroom expressions are highly appreciated to beused regularly in the class However, the language should be clear, understandable and it

matches students‟ level

- Giving encouragement: When students are trying their best to reach the goals, theteacher should give an appropriate comment to encourage them A comment like “Good”, “Welldone”, “That‟s right” can make students feel more confident and motivated, and

more importantly they are eager to speak more often

- Involving all the students: In large classes, it is very easy to miss some students outwhen doing oral practice Underwood suggests some ways of endeavoring to include all thestudents such as using the class register list, setting speaking rules and games to encourage allstudents to participate in the activities

- The place of examination and tests: Students are often nervous and anxious aboutthe exams and tests Thus, the teacher shouldn‟t put too much weight on giving marks or tests

- Extra-curricular activities: Extra-curriculum activities conducted outside lessontimes can make a significant contribution to maintaining a good atmosphere in the classroom Ifstudents have more interesting activities, they will take a more positive attitude towards theirstudies

In short, we have mentioned some suggestions for establishing and maintaining apurposeful and happy class atmosphere This is an important work as it requires both theteacher and students to create an encouraging learning environment.

1.3.3.2 Classroom size

According to Le Phuoc Ky (Teacher‟s Edition, 2002), in a language class in whichstudents‟ participation contributes greatly to the success of the lesson, the number ofstudents should be kept small so that interaction between teachers and students andbetween one student and another can be maximized On the contrary, in large classesstudents are different in learning styles, preferences and levels of English proficiency.Teachers can not pay equal attention to all students The lesson would never be finishedand uninvolved students would get bored and start to do something else

Moreover, Ur (1993:303) shares the same view that teachers of large classes alsoface with the problem of discipline, creating effective learning for all, choosing suitablematerials and activating students, especially silent ones As a result, students‟ opportunities

to practice are lessened and only a few good students improve their English, while manyaverage or weak ones make little progress or fall further behind

In brief, large classes cause problems not only for teachers but also for students andtheir learning process The main issue is how to involve all learners to participate in thelearning process and shorten the gap between their differences

Summary

In conclusion, chapter 1 has presented some theoretical background knowledgerelated to the topic of the study It has discussed some definitions about speaking skills, anoverview of Communicative Language Teaching and theories of participation Besides, italso discussed factors affecting students‟ participation in speaking activities includingstudents, teacher and classroom factors The following chapter will display the detaileddescription of the methodology, the procedure and the results of the study under the light ofthe above discussed theories

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter consists of two parts: research setting and research methodology Inthe first part, an overview of Doson High School, the teachers of English, the students andthe materials are mentioned In the second part, there will be a description of the researchquestions, participants, data collections from the survey questionnaires, interviews andclass observation as well as the method of data analysis

2.1 Research setting

2.1.1 An overview of Doson High School

Doson High School, the research site, situated in Doson District, twenty kilometersfar from Haiphong city, was founded in 1969 With 40 years of establishment anddevelopment, Doson High School is becoming a reliable address for students and theirparents in Doson District The school currently has 26 classes with nearly 1200 studentsranged from grade 10 to grade 12 The teaching staff composes of 80 teachers, of whomone – third are young and enthusiastic

2.1.2 The teachers

There are six teachers of English currently working at Doson High School Amongthem, six are female and one is male, and their age ranks from 25 to 40 All of them havegot the University Bachelor‟s Degree in English, two of them graduated from VietnamNational University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies and theothers graduated from Haiphong University They are helpful, enthusiastic and willing tomake some renovations in teaching methodology However, the age of the teachers alsoreveals that they are young and have little experience of teaching

2.1.3 The students

Although all students started learning English from grade six, their Englishproficiency is very low They study English just to prepare for the tests and exams, so whatthey need in learning English is to learn grammar lessons and to do exercises It seems that

a lot of students can not communicate successfully despite knowing a lot about Englishgrammar patterns Besides, the majority of Doson students focus on group A for theEntrance Exam to University, therefore they have no motivation to study English,especially speaking skill

2.1.4 The materials and syllabus

The main material for teaching English at Doson High School is a new set ofEnglish textbook approved by the Ministry of Education and Training The textbook TiengAnh 10 consists of 16 units including five parts: reading, speaking, listening, writing andlanguage focus The book was designed according to communicative approach Forspeaking skill, its objective is to develop students competence and ability to exchangeinformation at a simple level about the situations relating to the topics they have learnt.Generally speaking, the new English textbook has proved to be more relevant andappropriate to the current context of teaching and learning English at high school inVietnam However, it is also challenging for both teachers and students because ofdifferent students‟ English proficiency and teaching - learning conditions of each school.

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Research questions

The final aim of the research is to investigate the factors affecting the participation

in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson High School and find out somesolutions to increase students‟ involvement The study is implemented to answer thefollowing questions

1 How actively are the 10th grade students at Doson High School involved in oral activities in the class?

2 What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities?

3 What are the possible solutions to increase students‟ participation in speaking activities?

2.2.2 Participants

The participants of the study were 120 students who were selected randomly fromclass 10 C1 to 10 C8 and 6 teachers of English The research was conducted in the secondterm of the school year All the participants took part in the survey questionnaires byanswering all the given questions In addition to questionnaires, 10 students wereinterviewed in order to have in – depth data

2.2.3 Data collection instruments

2.2.3.1 Questionnaires

Two types of questionnaires were used in this study (one for students and the otherfor teachers) The questionnaires consist of close and open – ended questions, checklistquestions and scale shopping from agree to disagree

The questionnaire for students consists of two main parts with 12 questions Part Iwas about the students‟ personal information including gender, age and class Part II aimed

to find out the level of students‟ involvement, their assessment towards themselves,teachers and the textbook, factors affecting the participation in speaking activities andsome suggestions from students

The questionnaire for teachers also consists of two main parts with 13 questions Inpart I the information of gender, age and years of teaching was described In part II , it wasabout teachers‟ attitude towards teaching speaking skill, their opinions on CLT, factorsaffecting students‟ involvement and some suggested strategies

2.2.3.2 Interviews

Two interviews (pre – treatment and post – treatment) were conducted inVietnamese between the researcher and 10 students Each interview lasted about tenminutes including questions, answers and explanation The interviews were in the form of

an informal conversation compiled in a paper sheet with note taking in order to havecomplete understandings about students‟ problems, preferences and their feedback

2.2.3.3 Class observations

Besides survey questionnaires, the pre and post interviews, the researcher still usedclass observations to confirm the reliability and validity of the information about factorsaffecting students‟ involvement and the effect of the applied techniques The researcherobserved several English speaking lessons before and during the treatment In each lesson,the information of teacher‟s activities, teaching techniques (giving instructions,encouragement, comment and feedback) and students‟ involvement, preferences andattitudes towards the applied techniques were mentioned in the checklist

2.2.4 Data collection procedures

The data of the research was collected by means of questionnaires, interviews andclassroom observations Firstly, the researcher delivered the questionnaires to 6 teachersand 120 students who were selected randomly Secondly, after collecting the informationfrom the questionnaires, she started interviews with 10 students to get further informationfrom students Then, to make sure the validity of the data she observed some Englishlessons to find out the factors affecting students‟ participation Based on the findings, ahypothesis was formulated about the techniques and activities to be treated with a view toincreasing the student‟s participation Classroom observation during the treatment and post

interviews were carried out to gather information about the effects of using appliedtechniques and students‟ reaction towards speaking activities.

2.2.5 Data analysis

The main source of data is derived from the answers of the two questionnaires forstudents and teachers Along with the information via survey questionnaire, interviews andclassroom observation were used to add further data

2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire

The questionnaire was delivered to 120 students, however only 114 answers werecollected and analysed 114 students selected randomly including 46 male and 68 femaleones were at the age of 16

2.2.5.1.1 Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

very good

2%

ok 26%

bad 65%

Chart 1: Students’ assessment of their speaking ability

The data from chart 1 shows that only 2% of the students were very good atspeaking skill, 7% revealed that they had good ability while 26% of the participants were atmedium level Surprisingly, 65% of them(74 out of 114) believed that they were bad atspeaking skill From the results, most of the students are at low English speaking levelwhich may result from lack of practice or low participation in speaking tasks In otherwords, to improve speaking skill, students should make use of chances to practise speakingEnglish in the class as well as outside learning environment

2.2.5.1.2 Students’ level of participation in speaking activities

As can be seen from chart 2, half of the students rarely participated in speakinglessons During the lessons, most of them just sat silently and only spoke English when theteacher called them 31% of participants (36 out of 114) sometimes involved in the lessons

as it depended on the topics or the activities they were in favor 16% were often willing to

speak English and only 3% were always actively involved It can be concluded that the level of participation is very low.

always 3% often 16%

rarely

31%

Chart 2: Students’ level of partipation in speaking

activities 2.2.5.1.3 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill

As shown in chart 3, a great number of students (70%) thought that speaking wasimportant even a very important skill 26% of participants stated that it was of littleimportance and the smallest percentage (4.4%) underestimated the significance of oralskill In general, most of students highly appreciated the importance English, especiallycommunication ability However, it seems to be contradictary to the low level ofparticipation in classroom activities

2.2.5.1.4 Students’ assessment of speaking activities in the class

As can be seen from chart 4, 37% (42 out of 114) found that speaking activitieswere all right and suitable for their level 16% thought that they were interested in the tasks,but surprisingly no one stated that speaking activities were very interesting On the

creative enough Most of the activities in the lessons came from the textbook without any

changes, which couldn‟t inspire students‟ motivation to study In conclusion, to have a

good speaking lesson it requires teachers to have good teaching technique, knowledge and

enthusiasm to design creative and interesting activites with more in – depth information

than the textbook

very interesting interesting

not interesting

47%

all right

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

2.2.5.1.5 Students’ evaluation on learning speaking English

* Learning styles

1.I prefer doing exercise to speaking in the classroom 64 56.1% 50 43.9%

3.I always take every opportunities to speak English 4 3.5% 110 96.5%4.I only speak English when the teacher calls me 96 85% 18 15%

Table 1: Students’ learning styles

The data from table 1 shows students‟ passive learning styles 56.1% students

prefered doing exercise to speaking in the classroom and 65% enjoyed speaking English at

home by himself/herself Most students (96.5%) never made use of chances to speak

English except being called by the teacher (85%) Therefore, in a large class with limited

time, if teachers do not pay attention to their students‟ learning styles and always call

volunteer students, the silent ones will never have chances to raise their voice It‟s

advisable that group work is the best alternative to make all students have opportunities toparticipate in the activities.

Table 2: Students’ motivation

From table 2, it can be shown that 40% of respondents like speaking English inorder to improve their fluency and pronunciation and only 19.3% often participated inspeaking activities so as to communicate well in the future Together with the result fromstudents‟ interview, eight out of ten students replied that they studied English to preparefor the future job None of them thought that they learned English because they liked it orwanted to discover the culture of the native speakers We can see that despite havingpositive attitude towards speaking skill, students have no interest in learning this skill or inother words, they lack intrinsic motivation From the above analysis , we can conclude thatthe lack of intrinsic motivation had a dramatic effect on students‟ participation in speakingactivities