Promoting the second year fast track students’ autonomy in impromptu speaking at felte vnu ulis

Promoting the second year fast track students’ autonomy in impromptu speaking at felte vnu ulis Promoting the second year fast track students’ autonomy in impromptu speaking at felte vnu ulis Promoting the second year fast track students’ autonomy in impromptu speaking at felte vnu ulis luận văn tốt nghiệp,luận văn thạc sĩ, luận văn cao học, luận văn đại học, luận án tiến sĩ, đồ án tốt nghiệp luận văn tốt nghiệp,luận văn thạc sĩ, luận văn cao học, luận văn đại học, luận án tiến sĩ, đồ án tốt nghiệp

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHOÁ LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

THÚC ĐẨY TÍNH TỰ CHỦ TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG ỨNG KHẨU

CỦA SINH SIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI

HỆ CỬ NHÂN CHẤT LƯỢNG CAO, KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG

ANH, ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Ths Đinh Hải Yến

Sinh viên: Phạm Thị Lệ Tuyết

Lớp:QH2008.1.E1

HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2012

ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I hereby state that I (Pham Thi Le Tuyet, Group 08.1.E1), being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating

to the retention and use of Bachelor‟s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Secondly, I owe my heartfelt thanks to 39 second-year Fast Track students in group QH2010.1.E1 and QH2010.1.E21 and their two teachers of speaking skill, who who have enthusiastically helped me to carry out the study with ease

Thirdly, I would love to send my words of thanks to my teachers, Ms Phung

Ha Thanh, Ms Thai Ha Lam Thuy, Ms Phan Ngoc Quynh Anh and Ms Nguyen Thi Chi, who gave me constructive and valuable advice for the research design of my paper

Fourthly, it would be an omission without mentioning the great encouragement from my family, my friends and my classmates in QH2008.1.E1, especially Tran Thi Hanh, Luu Xuan Lieu, Vu Bao Chau, Tran Duc Phuong Anh, who gave me tremendous support in any circumstance

Lastly, I also express my blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect during the completion of the study

ABSTRACT

In the recent decades, the concept of learner autonomy has drawn attention from many researchers and educators In attempt to explore the current situation of training learner autonomy in impromptu speaking for the second-year Fast Track students at Faculty of English Teacher Education, VNU-ULIS, this paper includes three parts in which theoretical background related two key terms “learner autonomy” and “impromptu speaking”, the research methodology as well as major findings and pedagogical implication basing on the data gathered will be fully clarified To be more specific, the investigation involved the participation of 2 teachers and 39 students was pursued with three research instruments, classroom observations, questionnaires and interviews The analysis of the collected data focused on student‟s perceptions on learner autonomy in impromptu speaking, students‟ and teachers‟ strategies to foster self-learning and the effectiveness of techniques employed as perceived by both participants In the process of data analysis, mismatches in teachers‟ and students‟ responses were mainly utilized to add into discussions Afterwards, the issues raised in the discussions were explained in the light of theoretical framework to draw significant implication, which is expected to help better application of learner autonomy in

impromptu speaking and also other skills in the future

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: The levels of learner autonomy (Nunan, 1997, p.192-203) 10

Table 4: Some particular areas of investigation through survey questionnaires 16

Table 5: The frequency of strategies used in impromptu as perceived by

Table 6: The frequency of strategies used in impromptu as perceived by

Table 7: Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ strategies in promoting learner

Table 8: Students‟ opinions on teachers‟ strategies in promoting learner

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Criteria for assessing autonomous learner by Littlewood (1991, as

Figure 2: The necessity of practicing impromptu speaking autonomously as

Figure 3: The students‟ perception on the benefits of processing good

Figure 4 : The role of teacher in promoting learner autonomy in impromptu

Figure 5: The most important aspects of impromptu speaking as perceived by

Figure 6: Students‟ difficulties in impromptu speaking practice as perceived

Figure 7 : Students‟ sources for impromptu speaking practice 32

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FELTE Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

ULIS University of Languages and International Studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………

ABSTRACT………

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATIONS………

PART A – INTRODUCTION………

1 RESEARCH PROBLEMS, THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE………

2 RESEARCH AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS………

3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY………

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY………

5 METHODS OF THE STUDY………

6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY………

PART B – DEVELOPMENT………

1 CHAPTER 1 - LITERATURE REVIEW………

1.1 IMPROMPTU SPEAKING………

1.2 LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LANGUAGE LEARNING…

1.2.1 Definitions and differentiation of related terms…………

1.2.2 Classifications of learner autonomy………

1.2.3 Levels of learner autonomy………

1.2.4 Components and assessments………

1.2.5 Approaches to support learner autonomy………

2 CHAPTER 2 - METHODOLOGY 2.1 Impromptu speaking in the speaking course of the second year Fast-Track students………

2.2 Samplings and participants………

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2.3 Data collection instruments………

2.3.1 Classroom observations………

2.3.2 Questionnaires

2.3.3 Interviews

2.4 Data collection procedure………

2.4.1 Step 1 – Design research instruments………

2.4.2 Step 2 – Conduct observation in the participating classes… 2.4.3 Step 3 – Distribute questionnaires to the participants……

2.4.4 Step 4 – Conduct interviews with the teacher participants

2.5 Data analysis methods and procedure………

3 CHAPTER 3 - DATA ANALYSIS AND DISSCUSSION OF MAJORS FINDINGS………

3.1 Research question 1: The students‟ perceptions of autonomy in impromptu speaking………

3.1.1 The necessary of practicing impromptu speaking autonomously 3.1.2 The perceptions on teacher‟s and learner‟s roles in practicing impromptu speaking………

3.1.3 The most suitable time practicing impromptu speaking

3.1.4 Knowledge about impromptu speaking

3.2 Research question 2: The students‟ strategies when practicing impromptu speaking autonomously and the effectiveness of the employed techniques

3.2.1 Students‟ difficulties in impromptu speaking practice

3.2.2 Students‟ sources of practicing impromptu speaking autonomously

3.2.3 Students‟ strategies to practice impromptu speaking autonomously

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3.3 Research question 3: Teachers‟ strategies to foster students‟

autonomy in impromptu speaking and their effectiveness to

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3.3.1 Teachers‟ strategies and the effectiveness of the strategies as perceived by teachers and students

3.3.2 Teachers‟ criteria of assessment

PART C – CONCLUSION

1 Major findings of the study

2 Pedagogical implications

3 Limitations

4 Suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Speaking syllabus for the second – year Fast Track students

Appendix 2: Observation Checklist

Appendix 3A: Survey Questionnaires for students

Appendix 3B: Survey Questionnaires for teachers

Appendix 4: Interview Questions

Appendix 5: Transcriptions of the interviews

Appendix 6: Skit rubric

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

RATIONALE

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within

himself” (Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642))

Learner autonomy, as a subject for research and an educational goal, has captivated many scholars in recent years In fact, learner autonomy has been widely referred to in the field of English Language teaching only over the last decade, when

the „father‟ of learner autonomy, Henry Holec coined this term in his book Autonomy

and Foreign Language Learning in 1981 In this work, Holec underlined the

importance of autonomy as "the need to develop the individual's freedom by developing those abilities which will enable him to act more responsibly in running the affairs of the society in which he lives" (Holec, 1981) Sharing the same interest in this issue, many other great thinkers and educators in history attached great importance to the necessity of autonomy in education It is by all odds that the concept of autonomy has been given an increasing attention because it can promote a development in which the learners‟ ability and motivation to learn are improved Therefore, learning how to learn has become a crucial component in order to ensure the effectiveness of the whole learning process

However, to the best knowledge of the researcher, even though learner autonomy has been widely researched in Vietnam and many other countries, it is difficult to find studies on learner autonomy in language teaching and learning in particular skills, especially speaking Nunan (1991) stated that “to most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second

or foreign language” Therefore, it is inappropriate if researchers just focus on studying learner autonomy in general Besides, in the context of teaching English speaking skill for the second-year Fast-track students at Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam

National University, Hanoi (FELTE, VNU - ULIS), impromptu speaking is a new supplementary activity to develop their speaking skills However, there are few researches investigating on how impromptu speaking is trained and learned in this context

In addition, problems remain in the schedule of teaching impromptu speaking in FELTE, VNU-ULIS Although impromptu is possibly the most frequently used form

of speech in daily interactions, it is the one most neglected by public speaking textbook writers (Bytwerk, 1985) Also, the time duration for students to learn and practice impromptu speaking in class is limited According to the speaking program designed by teachers at FELTE, VNU-ULIS for the second – year Fast track students (see Appendix 1), during fifteen weeks of the forth semester, students have only four lessons scattered over four different weeks Among those, there are three lessons that students can practice in – class and the last one is for the impromptu speaking contest This brings some specific difficulties for students when they need to develop their speaking skill to the desired level of Cambridge First Certificate English by the end of the forth semester Therefore, it is necessary to motivate students to learn and improve impromptu speaking autonomously

In conclusion, the importance of learner autonomy in improving language learning, the lack of studies on such a useful activity as impromptu speaking and the second-year Fast track students‟ difficulties in learning and practicing impromptu speaking encouraged the researcher to take an investigation in analyzing the reality of impromptu speaking and seeking the solutions to promote the second year Fast Track students‟ autonomy in impromptu speaking at FELTE, VNU – ULIS

2 RESEARCH AIMS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Briefly, the objectives of the study can be summarized into three research questions as follows:

1 What are the second-year Fast Track students’ perceptions of autonomy in impromptu speaking?

2 What techniques have been used by the second-year Fast Track students to practice impromptu speaking autonomously? How effective are those techniques as self-evaluated by the students?

3 What techniques have been used by the teachers to develop the second-year Fast Track students’ autonomy in impromptu speaking? How effective are those techniques as evaluated by the students?

3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This paper is carried out with the hope to benefit a target population including students and teachers belonging to the Fast Track program in particular and those at FELTE (ULIS, VNU) in general

As for students, through the results, findings and implications of this study, the students can find the appropriate ways to self – improve their impromptu speaking and take the advantage of this activity to be more confident and enjoy public speaking

As for teachers, the research can help raise their awareness of their important role in promoting learner autonomy and in helping their students find their most appropriate learning methods Accordingly, they can look into the real situation of their students‟ self – practicing impromptu speaking and have some improvements in teaching methods if necessary

Since learner autonomy in practicing impromptu speaking is still a new land in research on English Language Teaching, the researcher hopes that this paper will also

be a reliable and useful source of reference for other related studies in the future

4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

For the fact that the nature of learner autonomy has caused dissension among scholars and applying impromptu speaking to improve speaking skills for students at FELTE, VNU-ULIS has still been a fresh approach, this study focuses on how the participants understand their role in promoting learner autonomy Besides, the

effectiveness of strategies used by students in autonomously learning impromptu speaking and by teachers in fostering autonomous learners was also considered seriously Concerning the sample size, only a limited number of the population participated in the study as the most typical and thoroughly selected participants

5 METHODS OF THE STUDY

The study was conducted with both qualitative and quantitative approaches At first, three-week observations were carried out in the participating groups Afterwards, the questionnaires were delivered to the participants and six selected students together with their two teachers were invited to attend the interviews The gathered data was then analyzed carefully, compared and contrasted between teachers‟ and students‟ answers to contribute to result and finding sessions

6 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

The study includes three main parts:

Part A: Introduction discusses Rationale, Aims of the Study and Research

Questions, Significance, Scope, Methods, and Overview of the Study

Part B: Development has 3 chapters

Chapter I: Literature Review provides the theoretical foundation for the study

by focusing on Definition of Key Terms and General Understandings

Chapter II: Methodology summaries the used methods, the procedures and the

process of conducting those methods

Chapter III: Results and Discussions were utilized to find the students‟ and

teachers‟ perception of learner autonomy in impromptu speaking, in combination with the strategies the students employed to practice autonomously and the techniques teachers used to orient their autonomous learning Furthermore, implications providing possible solutions will also be added

Part C: Conclusion ends the study by summarizing the main points, revealing

the limitations, and suggesting further studies

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, the issues regarding learner autonomy in language learning

and impromptu speaking will be reviewed, which is to form a theoretical framework

for the study To begin with, the background knowledge about impromptu speaking will be provided Subsequently, an overview of general theory of learner autonomy in language learning will be focused in terms of its definitions, classifications, levels, assessment and its relationship with teacher autonomy

1.1 IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

Impromptu is originally a loanword from “in prompt” – “in readiness” in French and “promptus” – “prepared, ready” in Latin (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012) Straightforwardly, in English it can be understood as doing something without preparation Although the term “impromptu” was coined in the mid of 17th century, the invention and the adequate definition of impromptu speaking have been unexplored fully According to Enkvist (1982), impromptu speaking can be defined in different ways, in terms of situational context, linguistic characteristics and real time processing However, in general, the definitions shared the same nature of impromptu speaking More specifically, Weaver II defined impromptu speaking as a “public speaking on the spur of the moment without preparation” (as cited in ANTworkstudio, 2008)

Another succinct definition offered by Griffin (2011, p 224) is “a speech you deliver that is not planned or prepared in advance” This author also described it as a speech which lasts only a few minutes and is given in public contexts such as workplace, community meetings or gatherings and at social events Griffin‟s ideas were then developed in a research posted in the website cengagesites.com (2011) which approached some formats of impromptu speaking such as meeting agenda, discussion, meetings or gatherings where the speakers were mostly asked for sharing

opinions or experiences (Impromptu speaking, 2011)

From these two first points of view, it is clearly seen that the researchers explained the nature of impromptu speaking by adopting the exact meaning of

“impromptu” – without preparation

On the other hand, there are researchers listed impromptu speaking as one type

of limited preparation events As can be seen from a research from Mt San Antonio College, impromptu speaking is provided as an impromptu speech with topic selections varied by round and section In this activity, topics will be derived from quotations Speakers can use their limited notes and will be given seven minutes in

total for both preparation and speaking (Limited Preparation Events, n.d.) Sharing the

same opinion, Schalin (2011) also stated that impromptu speaking is a limited preparation speech in which “the speaker is given two minutes to prepare a speech on

a randomly drawn quotation or topic”

In a nutshell, impromptu speaking is basically defined in two ways, cuff” or limited preparation talks due to the fact that it is not only restricted to formal public or community events but also prevails in gatherings, in-class contexts, discussions or communications where the speaker has to share their opinions For this reason, it is demanding to delve into all the existing patterns of impromptu speaking Therefore, this paper is expected to give a deep insight into impromptu speaking delivered rather formally as a limited preparation speech in classroom setting

1.2.1 Definitions and differentiation of related terms

Since the first time coming in the field of language teaching through the Council of Europe‟s Modern Languages Project, established in 1971 (Benson, 2001, p 9), the term autonomy has induced considerable controversy and reaching a consensus

on its true interpretation has been a complication to scholars and theorists recently Due to the scope of the study, the researcher only concentrated on autonomy in language learning and its related issues as the underlying themes of this research

1.2.1.1 Definitions

As conferring on the interpretation of learner autonomy, it is imperative to quote Holec‟s idea in his project report to the Council of Europe, which has been considered to be “a key early document on autonomy in language learning” (Benson,

2001, p 9) In this report, autonomy was understood as “the ability to take charge of one‟s own learning” (Holec, 1981) The learners‟ ability here includes understanding the objectives of learning, then planning and facilitating learning in combination with regularly reviewing and evaluating what they have learned (Holec, 1981, as cited in Tran, 2005, p 34) As mentioned, Holec‟s understanding has secured other scholars‟ approval such as Nunan (2000), Benson (2001), etc

From this general idea, many variants of autonomy‟s definitions were provided, which can be more detailed and focused Dickinson (1987), Richards & Schmidt (2002, p 297) replaced the phrase “take charge of” by the word “responsibility” or

“responsible” and clarified further the “ability” by the decisions of what and how to learn and their implementation of learning Little (1991) also made attempt to elucidate the term as “a capacity for detachment, critical reflection, decision making, and independent action" (as cited in McCarthy, 1998) In the same vein, Thanasolus (2000) defined autonomous learner as person who can independently resolve aims, purposes and goals of learning process, decide the materials, methods and tasks to carry out their learning and the criteria for assessment

Overall, the controversy surrounding definitions of learner autonomy has persisted for a long time due to the different learning contexts and scholars‟ perception

on this term Within the framework of this study, the researcher chooses the interpretation of Holec (1981) as the foundation for further discussions in the following parts thanks to its comprehensive view on learner autonomy, which was helpful for the researcher to look at the issue from different angles In the light of this idea, the learner‟s willingness, responsibility and capacity to control his own learning were focused and could be the key elements to evaluate learner autonomy

1.2.1.2 Differentiation of related terms

The previous session had conferred various explanations of learner autonomy, and since it first came to language learning context, there were a lot of related terms that contributed to make the issue contentious The following table was adapted from Tran (2010) and employed to explore their differences

Self - instruction “situations in which learners are working without

direct control of the teacher” (Dickinson, 1987, p.11)

Table 1: The related terminologies

In general, the above terms mainly differ from each other due to the level of autonomy they achieve with or without teacher‟s instructions To some extent, they share the same nature to learner autonomy for mentioning learner‟s responsibility in the learning process However, in comparison with the key idea of this research, the scope of those terminologies seems to be narrower than learner autonomy

1.2.2 Classifications of learner autonomy

According to Benson and Voller (1997, as cited in Lowery, 2008, p.5), there are four types of learner autonomy:

Technical autonomy: the act of learning a language outside the framework of

an educational institution and without teacher‟s control

Psychological autonomy: the capacity which allow learners to take more

responsibility for their own learning

Political autonomy: benefits students on helping them control the process and

content of learning as well as the institutional context within which learning takes place

Social autonomy: the capacity to interact and collaborate with others

Considering the scope of the study and the current situation of learning and teaching impromptu speaking for the second-year Fast track students, it is necessary to cover all four categories listed above

1.2.3 Levels of learner autonomy

Basically, the levels of autonomy increase from being aware of pedagogical goals and understanding the content of the used materials, selecting, adapting and creating achievable goals to making links between the materials‟ content to the world (Nunan, 1997, p.192-203) The detailed explanation was summarized in Table 2

From the above table, it can be seen that Nunan (1997) based on the close link between learner autonomy and second language achievement to set the levels of learner autonomy This certainly benefits teachers and students in following steps to train or be trained to a level of autonomy Autonomous learners must start from being

aware of and having positive attitude towards language learning, then selecting, adapting and creating their own learning goals and objectives At the highest level of autonomy, learners can find what they learn from the outside world However, the process of promoting learner autonomy is supposed to be gradual, and “we only see the benefits of such training towards the end of the learning process” (Nunan, 2000, p.5)

Learner are made aware of pedagogical goals and content

of the materials they are using

Learners identify strategy implications of pedagogical tasks and identify their own preferred styles/ strategies

Learner are involved in selecting their own goals from a range of alternatives

Learners make choices among a range of options

3 Intervention

Learners are involved in modifying and adapting the goals and content of the learning program

Learner modify and adapt tasks

goals and objectives

Learners create their own learning tasks

Learners go beyond the classroom and make links between the contents of classroom learning and the world beyond the classroom

Learners becomes teachers and researchers

Table 2: The levels of learner autonomy (Nunan, 1997, p.192-203)

1.2.4 Components and assessment of learner autonomy

Apart from giving many definitions of learner autonomy, scholars have raised different ideas on its components Benson (2001) and Oxford (1990) shared the same view that learning attitudes and strategies are extremely important to learners‟ levels of autonomy (cited in Tran, 2005, p 11) Learner attitudes in this place can be understood

as “learned motivations, valued beliefs, evaluations, what one believes is acceptable,

or responses oriented towards approaching or avoiding” (Wenden, 1991, p 52 as cited

in Tran, 2005, p.11) Most scholars have believed that positive learning attitudes are precondition to successful learning process To be more specific, Nunan (1999, p 157) emphasized the necessity of helping learners “understand the effects of their attitudes

on the learning process and monitor their changing attitudes when necessary” On the other hand, learning strategy was defined as the attempt to achieve both linguistic and sociological skills in language learning (Claus and Kasper, 1983, p 67 as cited in Tran , 2005, p 13) In addition, strategies “are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence” and learners can have

“greater self-confidence and learn more effectively” if they find suitable learning strategies (Oxford, 1990 as cited in Tran, 2005, p 14) In the same vein, Littlewood (1996, p 97) focused on analyzing two main components of learner autonomy: ability and willingness From his ideas, it is noteworthy that there are smaller constituents of each component To have “ability”, it is necessary to have both knowledge and significant skills to make the appropriate choice among alternatives With regard to

“willingness”, motivation and confidence were highlighted for helping learners take responsibility to the selected choice In general, all Benson (2001), Oxford (1990) and Littlewood (1996) gave prominence to attitudes, motivation and especially strategies

as essential elements of learner autonomy

As a matter of fact, an autonomous learner is required to possess all these above components, and obviously utilizing them to evaluate learner autonomy is possible Littlewood (1991) stated the use of those constituencies as followed:

1998, p 34) Other factors like self – confidence and motivation are also mentioned as the two prerequisites of learner autonomy that autonomous learner should be equipped

to better “take charge of their own learning”

1.2.5 Approaches to support learner autonomy

According to Benson (2001), there are six types of practice to foster learner autonomy:

- Resource – based approach highlights independent interaction with

learning materials such as individualized learning or peer teaching In this approach, authentic texts are employed actively and it is proposed that learners rely mainly on self-instruction and distance learning

Autonomous Learner

Cognitive

Skills

Metacognitive Skills

Affective factors

Critical thinking

Creativity

Reflection

Knowledge Strategies

Self – Confidence Motivation

- Technology – based approach accentuates independent interaction with

educational technologies By applying this approach, computers and the Internet are often handled

- Learner – based approach emphasizes the direct production of behavioral

and psychological changes in the learner In this approach, learners‟ development is supported mainly by motivation, confidence, knowledge of the language and the learning strategies

- Teacher – based approach, on the other hand, affirms the importance of

teacher‟s role and teacher autonomy Teacher can be a facilitator, a counselor or resource in the learner‟s way of possessing learner autonomy (Voller, 1997 as cited in Lowery, 2010) and he or she also needs to autonomously improve the qualities in terms of the capacity of self-direct teaching, “freedom and responsibility to make choices concerning one‟s own teaching” (Aoki, 2002, p 15) and the ability to self- directed teacher- learning In this place, teacher‟s role in learner autonomy can be “to

create and maintain a learning environment in which learners can be autonomous in order to become more autonomous” (Little, 1999, p 80)

- Classroom based approach gives prominence to the relationship between

learners and teachers in the classroom and learner control over the planning and evaluation of learning Self – assessment is encouraged (Lowry, 2008)

- Curriculum-based approach focuses on the control over the planning and

the evaluation of learning to the curriculum as a whole A program syllabus is provided and learners can follow inquire-based, project-based or task – based learning

to reach the highest level of learner autonomy (Lowry, 2008)

Summary

This chapter has employed to present definitions of key terms, and issues regarding learner autonomy and impromptu speaking The knowledge gained from this part was put in the hope of shedding light on the results and finding of the study

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

The following chapter describes in details the methods adopted to tackle the research problems mentioned in the first chapter It includes the sampling process and participants, the description of and justification for data collection instruments and the data analysis

2.1 Impromptu speaking in the speaking course of the second year Track students

According to the guideline and the program provided by teachers of the track group, FELTE, VNU-ULIS, impromptu speaking is used as a supplementary activity for developing students‟ speaking skill, especially “conversational skills for various social and academic contexts” (Nguyen, 2005) Besides, possessing a good impromptu speaking skill can be constructive in terms of preparing for the FCE speaking test in which students do not have much time for preparation but do have to give their opinion, compare and contrast or discuss with their partners Conversely, students only have five weeks for both practicing and performing, and each week the teachers spend about one hour for training this skill With such a short time, students are required to exercise hardly so that they can have some improvement before the exam and then in daily life During the process of teaching and learning impromptu speaking, there are three notable phases:

Fast-Phase 1: Providing general understanding

Phase 2: Practicing

Phase 3: Assessing and testing

2.2 Sampling and participants

In fact, impromptu speaking is a supplementary activity used to improve speaking skills Due to the potential difficulties encountered by the unstable schedule

of learning impromptu speaking among the third – year mainstream classes, the second-year fast- track students were chosen to be the main participants There are three fast-track classes in K44, E1, E2 and E21 and two teachers are taking charge of

teaching speaking skill for them For the purpose of getting the most objective and comprehensive perspective on learning and teaching impromptu speaking in second-year Fast-track students, 42 students of E1 and E21-K44 were invited to be the participants of the study Besides, in order to emphasize the important role of teachers

in fostering students‟ autonomy, two teachers working with these two classes in speaking lesson were invited in order to compare the perspective of teachers and students on learner autonomy Basing on the results of this comparison, the researcher could draw out some implications concerning the research topic

2.3 Data collection instruments

To ensure the reliability and validity of the information obtained, questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation are used as the main instruments

of data collection Those instruments are chosen basing on the schedules of learning and practicing impromptu of second year Fast – Track students (see Appendix 1) According to the speaking syllabus, the students will have three weeks to get familiar

to and practice impromptu speaking in week 7, 8, 10 In week 11, they will have an impromptu speaking contest to demonstrate the skill learned

The researcher decided to choose observation as one of main instruments used

in the study thanks to its benefit of providing the real situation of learning and teaching impromptu speaking in class For three weeks, the researcher played the role as a sole

observer who “do not participate in the activity being observed but rather „sit on the sidelines‟ and watch” (Nguyen, 2008) in two classes chosen from the first stage In this step, an observation checklist (see Appendix 2) was utilized to follow the activities used including objectives, frequency of use, the students‟ reaction and production, and the evaluation of how effective the lessons were as perceived by teachers and students All of these areas were carefully noted

2.3.2 Questionnaires

In this study, this method was the main tool of data collection for “they are easy

to construct, extremely versatile, and unique capable of gathering a large amount of information quickly in a form that is readily processable” (Dornyei, 2003, p.1) Accordingly, two sets of questionnaire, one for students and the other for teachers were prepared (see Appendix 3a and 3b) The questionnaires chiefly asked about the whole process of practicing impromptu speaking, so they were delivered to teachers and students after the first three weeks of learning impromptu speaking (week 10) Each survey starts with personal information and the time participants have learned/ taught English The questionnaire for teachers includes two parts, with 12 questions which intentionally seek for teachers‟ perceptions on autonomy and their strategies to promote learner autonomy in impromptu speaking On the other hand, the student questionnaire was designed with three main parts which specifically ask students‟ perception on autonomy, strategies that they and their teacher used to practice impromptu speaking and their evaluation on the effectiveness of those techniques The surveys‟ content and areas of investigation were summarized in the following table:

Areas of investigation Questions Areas of investigation Questions

1 - 10

Part B Teachers‟ strategies in 9 - 12 Students‟ strategies in 11 - 14

promoting learner

autonomy in impromptu

speaking

practicing impromptu speaking

Part C

Teachers‟ strategies to

autonomy in impromptu speaking and their effectiveness to students

15

Table 4: Some particular areas of investigation through survey questionnaires

Multiple-choice format with spaces provided for participants‟ additional answers was preferably employed to “create a friendly feeling and helpful guidance” (Phan, 2011, p 41) In addition, rating scales which “require the respondents to make

an evaluative judgment of the target by making one of a series of categories organized into a scale” (Dornei,2003, p 36) were employed for the fact that they can be used for evaluating almost everything Most of the questions in the two surveys relied on key issues mentioned in questionnaires of Tran (2010) and Tran (2005) Especially, the two first questions of students‟ perceptions of autonomy and the last question which asked for willingness to join the interview was added into the students‟ questionnaire and used to choose samples from each class for the next step

2.3.3 Interviews

Interview is considered as a useful instrument to “find out from them the things

we cannot directly observe… and allow us to enter into the other person‟s perspective” (Patton, 1990) Besides, according to McNamara (1999), interview is particularly useful for digging up more in-depth information or experiences from the participants For that reason, it is often utilized as a follow-up stage to further investigate the responses after survey questionnaires are conducted Moreover, if the respondents do not give their answers to some questions in the questionnaire or feel uncomfortable because of the researcher‟s observation, interview can be a workable solution That

means interview shows its efficiency on eliciting data from learners who are not comfortable in other modes (Mackey and Gass, 2005, p.175)

In this study, to take the full advantage of this method, semi – structured interviews were conducted The researcher used a written list of questions as a guide (see Appendix 4), while still having freedom to digress and probe for more information Interviews were carried out after the three weeks learning impromptu speaking to explicate unintelligible data collected from the questionnaires

After the data has been collected from the second step, six students from two classes were invited to join the interviews with an aim to elaborate on their responses and probing for more details from them The interviewees were chosen primarily basing on their new or different answers for part A of the student questionnaires and their approval after completing the survey Moreover, as mentioned above, two teachers were also invited to attend the interviews In this method, the researcher made use of open – ended questions for the sake of leaving space for interviewees to state their opinions and evaluate the effectiveness of learner training and learner autonomy

in teaching and practicing impromptu speaking

The interviews were carried out in the form of informal and relaxing recorded talks The languages used were both Vietnamese and English to avoid misunderstandings and create congenial atmosphere during the interview

2.4 Data collection procedure

The data collection procedure consisted of three main steps as follows:

2.4.1 Step 1 – Design research instruments

Initial steps of preparation include (1) designing questionnaires, interview questions and observation checklist, (2) sending and asking for feedback on these instruments from the supervisor, (3) making adaptations and finalize them, (4) making contact with the participants and planning the schedule for collecting data

2.4.2 Step 2 – Conduct observations in the participating classes

Observations in class E1 and E21- K44 were carried out from week 7 to week

10 During this phase, the observation checklist was utilized Besides, further notes were taken and revised after each lesson In addition, it is necessary to refine the information within the day to opportunely get the next observation better-structured and more informative

2.4.3 Step 3 - Distribute questionnaires to the participants

2.4.3.1 Teacher Questionnaires

For this phase, because of the busy timetable of the teachers, the questionnaires were both sent to them as a softcopy (through email) and hardcopy after three weeks

of observation The teachers could choose one option and return the completed survey

to the researcher in no more than one week

2.4.3.2 Students Questionnaires

The surveys were delivered in week 10, after nearly three weeks of observations The questionnaires were handed out to the students at the beginning of the class time so that they could complete the survey in break-times In the first place, the researcher briefly explained the purposes of the study and the significance of students‟ answers to the student participants Confirmation of confidentiality was also made so that the students would be more willing to state their opinions in the questionnaires Questions for clarification were encouraged to be given

2.4.4 Step 4 – Conduct interviews with the teacher participants

2.4.4.1 Teacher interviews

Firstly, the interview began with a short explanation of its format, length and main content Subsequently, a small talk was conducted to recall the teachers‟ answers from the questionnaires and questions for clarification were encouraged Permission for recording the interview was requested During the interview, questions were raised one by one In addition, the interviews were conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews; extra questions could be added for digging deep into the problems if the unforeseen answers were provided Because the two teachers come from different

cultures and backgrounds (one is a Vietnamese teacher and the other is a native teacher from America), a question of teacher‟s perception on autonomy will be added to compare and stress on the cultural differences Reorientation was added in order to ring focus onto the investigated areas

2.4.4.2 Student interviews

At the juncture of completing the student participants‟ sampling, the students‟ personal information and contacts were taken from the questionnaires Shortly afterwards, the researcher contacted via telephone to ask for the participation of six students chosen from the survey The procedures of holding interview were the same

as those of teachers‟ interviews

2.5 Data analysis methods and procedure

In the first place, the collected data was categorized according to the three research questions To put it in another way, the researcher took advantages of data collected from the questionnaires to have general understanding about the students‟ learning and teachers‟ teaching strategies on fostering learner autonomy in impromptu speaking The effectiveness of the utilized techniques were also estimated Besides, further information taken from the interview was employed to gain profound insight into the issue As has been mentioned, the answers from teachers and students through surveys and interviews were also put into the comparison with each other Lastly, the researcher also made the most of the observation checklists and additional notes written during each lesson to compare and contrast the data collected from the previous phases

Summary

The chapter has summarized the process of choosing participants, analyzing data collected from three main instruments, class observations, questionnaires and interviews 42 students of E1 and E21 – K44 together with their two teachers were asked to join in the data collection The data was then interpreted carefully to ensure the reliability and validity of the research

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISSCUSSION OF MAJORS FINDINGS

This chapter includes three parts in which the collected data from three employed instruments, questionnaires, observations and interviews were analyzed in order to give comprehensive answers to the three research questions

3.1 Research question 1: The students’ perceptions of autonomy in impromptu speaking

3.1.1 The necessary of practicing impromptu speaking autonomously 3.1.1.1 Students’ opinions

The first research question aimed at investigating the students‟ perceptions of autonomy

in impromptu speaking As mentioned from the previous chapter, the students‟ answers from part A of student questionnaire were utilized for answering this question First of all, the students‟ opinions about the necessity of practicing impromptu speaking need to be noticed

Figure 2: The necessity of practicing impromptu speaking autonomously as perceived

by the students

From figure 2, it is clearly seen that thirty – one students (out of 39 surveyed – students), accounting for 79%, agreed that it is important to practice impromptu speaking autonomously, while the rest 18% and 3% alternatively thought that it might

be necessary in some aspects or even one student believed that there was no need to self- practice with this activity

When being asked about the reasons for those facts, the interviewed students highlighted the benefits of processing a good impromptu speaking mentioned from the question number 4 However, most of the students paid attention to the advantages of gaining confidence, brainstorming ideas and making quick responses in any situation whereas only 7 out of 39 thought that impromptu speaking can develop leadership (see Figure 3)

Figure 3: The students’ perception on the benefits of processing good

impromptu speaking skill

Especially, in the interview students D and E indicated that “every skill needs

to be practiced regularly, and impromptu speaking is not an exception”, while A emphasized the necessity for being an autonomous learner because she found impromptu speaking in many forms such as “responding to teacher‟s questions” or

“giving ideas or arguments on a topic” In addition, student B and student C stated that having good impromptu speaking skill even helps them improve other skills such as writing and critical thinking

However, there was a mismatch between students‟ answers and what they have done In fact, most of students understood the need of practicing impromptu autonomously but not all of them turned words into action 3 among 6 interviewed students unhesitatingly answered that they did not self - practice impromptu speaking for the fact that they had many other things to do Student F explained that it would be more effective if students practiced in group or in pair Student E said that “because there is no pressure built up on me, I have no motivation to do it” According to him, his teacher, Ms X did tell them to exercise impromptu speaking at home, but that was not a compulsory task, so he did not think it was really important

3.1.1.2 Teachers’ opinions

As mentioned in chapter of methodology, the two participant teachers were also asked the same questions about the necessity for students to practice impromptu speaking on their own Nevertheless, the teachers gave different opinions on this issue

On the one hand, Ms Y, who is in charge of teaching speaking for group E1, asserted that autonomously exercising impromptu speaking is essential for students “because they need to practice to sharpen the skills, similarly to the development of other speaking skills” On the other hand, Ms X, the speaking teacher of group E21 thought that “it is not necessary, but very beneficial” She explained:

“The biggest problem students have is lack of confidence/too nervous If they practice autonomously they may still be just as nervous when they are in front

of other people In my opinion they must practice independently outside of class with others If they did not practice on their own time with others I do not think that it will make that much of a difference So if my students want to improve their impromptu skills I think that practicing autonomously would definitely help if they are practicing seriously and realistically i.e in front of several people”

Here, teacher X accentuated the role of audiences as an important factor that affect directly to students‟ improvement in impromptu speaking practice

“involvement”, to the third level of autonomy, “intervention” (Nunan, 1997) On the other hand, the dissimilarity between the two teachers is also noteworthy This disagreement may come from the fact that the teachers are different from their origins

In a small talk after the interview with Ms Y, according to her experience of working with native teachers in VNU-ULIS, “many of them found difficulties in giving strategies for students, because they are native speakers, they may not be really good at sharing techniques to learn English skills as Vietnamese teachers”

3.1.2 The perceptions on teacher’s and learner’s roles in practicing impromptu speaking

3.1.2.1 Students’ perception

In the process of practicing any skill autonomously, it is imperative to investigate the different roles of teachers and students as the two main factors affecting directly to this process In attempt to dig deep into the issue, question number 4 was employed, and the results were as followed:

Figure 4 : The role of teacher in promoting learner autonomy in impromptu

speaking as perceived by students

A Teacher introduces impromptu speaking and finds topics from different

sources for students to practice

B Teacher introduces impromptu speaking, gives some examples, provides

topics from different sources for students to practice in-class and let students find more topics to self-practice at home

C Teacher introduces impromptu speaking, gives some examples and

provides some topics from different sources for students to practice class and at home

in-D Teacher introduces impromptu speaking, gives some examples and lets

students find topics themselves to practice

It is manifested that the differences among these options lie in the teacher‟s and student‟s workload in the process of teaching and learning impromptu speaking

As can be seen from the pie chart above, a large number of students expected the teacher to give them not only instructions, samples and explanations in class but chances to find topics and practice themselves On the other hand, a fairly smaller number of students thought that it would be better if they could rely on their teacher

as the main source of knowledge

Besides, when talking about the importance of self-developing impromptu speaking skill, all of the students mentioned the teacher‟s role in instructing them how to practice impromptu speaking autonomously and continually reminding them

to do that From the responses of the students, there was a fact that during lessons of impromptu speaking in this semester; both teachers did not regularly remind them of the techniques used to exercise impromptu speaking independently

3.1.2.2 Teachers’ opinion

The same question was added into the teacher survey For this issue, the two teachers also provided different responses Considering confidence as the most essential factor that can contribute students‟ success in impromptu speaking, Ms X stated that her main role in the process of promoting learner autonomy was developing students‟ confidence Furthermore, when being asked about letting students autonomously exercise impromptu speaking, teacher X indicated that it was “up to them” if they want to practice because they have to come up with topics on their own regarding the topics used in class Dissimilarly, Ms Y supported option B as the answer from the majority of students According to Voller (1997), the roles for teachers working on autonomous pedagogy can be a facilitator, counselor and resource, and Ms Y handled these roles successfully She stated her contribution in helping students practice impromptu speaking is to “provide the students with guidelines and instructions and group them according to the tasks, and then they will

work on themselves, and then report to the whole class, and then I will be the monitor assessing them and their performance”

3.1.2.3 Discussion

From the above analysis, the real situation of teaching and learning impromptu speaking was clarified For the students, they did understand the significance of their autonomy in practicing impromptu speaking in particular and in any English skill in general In addition, the students expected that the teacher would complete her mission

by providing theoretical background on impromptu speaking for them, giving explanation, carrying out some practice and giving them chances to self-practice However, between two teacher participants, only Ms Y understands the students‟ need For teacher X, she focused on helping students overcome their difficulties by practicing as much as possible, but the role as a counselor seems to be subservient to other two roles

3.1.3 The most suitable time practicing impromptu speaking

3.1.3.1 Teachers’ and students’ responses

As highlighted above, most students thought that it is necessary to practice impromptu speaking autonomously, but not all of them really did what they said However, for question number 10 which asked about the most appropriate time for student to exercise impromptu speaking independently, “when my teacher asks me to” and “sometimes when I like to” are two options agreed by most of students For teachers‟ answers, Ms X, who supported learning for tests, considered learning before the exam was the most suitable and “most realistic”, whereas Ms Y indicated that practicing impromptu speaking whenever having time would benefit students most

3.1.3.2 Discussion

It takes little perspicacity to see that teacher‟s stimuli and students‟ interest are the two intrinsic factors contributing to student‟s decision on time to practice impromptu speaking On the one hand, the students with the option “when the teacher

asks me to” displayed passive learning attitude and excessive dependence on teacher‟s impetus On the other hand, there is also a large number of students chose interest-based approach for their impromptu speaking practice However, this approach may not be a strong motivation for autonomous learners

3.1.4 Knowledge about impromptu speaking

3.1.4.1 Teachers’ and students’ responses

Basing on the data collected from the first question in the student survey, the students in group E1 mostly have known about the term impromptu speaking many times before (61%), while 62% students in group E21 confirmed that they have never heard about this term before attending the first lesson of impromptu speaking

However, their understanding of impromptu speaking shares some similarities

Figure 5: The most important aspects of impromptu speaking as perceived by

students in two groups E1 and E21

As pointed out in the figure, fluency, content of a speech and organization of the speech are the three main aspects that need to be focused on in practicing impromptu speaking as answered by class E1 Similarly, the students in E21 also chose fluency and organization of the speech, but they found difficulty in body language instead of the content of the speech as students from E1 Moreover, the teachers also provided the same responses Both Ms X and Ms Y indicated the significance of fluency, body language, content and organization of the speech in an impromptu speech Ms X, who paid more attention on students‟ confidence, added voice volume into the list as the manifestation of confidence

3.1.4.2 Discussion

The consent of students and teacher‟s answers in this issue showed the development in students‟ metacognitive skills At this point, this common voice is the evidence to prove that the students are well-equipped with the basic knowledge of impromptu speaking provided by the teachers This understanding also plays an important part in the development of learner autonomy

in public speaking but also in speaking skill in general In fact, there is no big problem with the teachers‟ viewpoints when one sets to a short – term aim, and the other looks