How to motivate the first year students at haiphong polytechnics college in speaking activities

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***  *** ĐỖ HỮU TRƯỜNG HOW TO MOTIVATE THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***  ***

ĐỖ HỮU TRƯỜNG

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT

HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE IN

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

(Phương pháp khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại trường Cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phòng trong các hoạt động nói)

M.A MINOR PROGAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11

Hanoi – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***  ***

ĐỖ HỮU TRƯỜNG

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT

HAIPHONG POLYTECHNICS COLLEGE IN

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

(Phương pháp khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại trường

cao đẳng nghề Bách Nghệ Hải Phòng trong các hoạt động nói)

M.A MINOR PROGAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11

Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền

Hanoi – 2014

DECLARATION

To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no material which has previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree in any university The thesis is my own work and based on my own research It involves no material previously published or written by any other person, except where due reference is acknowledged in the paper

Hanoi, 2014

Đỗ Hữu Trường

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout the research

I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, VNU for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study

I am greatly indebted to my students at marine engine and navigation departments and my colleagues at HPC for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful

Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my family and

my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study

ABSTRACT

This minor thesis is carried out to investigate what kinds of speaking activities are currently used in the speaking lessons for first-year students at HPC and some suggestions are given to motivate students in these activities

The study has collected data from two survey questionnaires to find out the fact of the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for and of the first-year students at HPC The results from these two survey questionnaires have revealed some aspects of teaching and learning speaking skill at the college From these results, some suggestions have been proposed to teachers, students and college rector in order to motivate students in leaning speaking and to improve the quality of teaching and learning speaking skill

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

HPC: Haiphong Polytechnics College

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

L2: Second Language

LIST OF THE TABLES

Table 1: Types of motivation……… 21

Table 2: Students’ main demotivating factors in a speaking lesson 22

Table 3: Teachers’ activities and students’ preferences ……… 23 Table 4: Students’ expectation on teachers’ teaching ……… 24 Table 5: Teacher’s opinions on teaching English speaking and students’

Table 6: Teachers’ current teaching method ……… 26 Table 7: Difficulties teachers often faced in teaching English speaking……… 27

Table 8: Techniques applied by teachers in motivating students……… 28

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ……… iv

LIST OF TABLES……… vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS……… vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… 1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of the study ……… 2

3 Research questions……….. 2

4 Scope of the study……… 2

5 Methods of the study ……… 3

6 Significance of the study……… 3

7 Design of the study……… … 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 5

1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning……… 5

1.1.1 Definitions of motivation……… 5

1.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning……… 6

1.1.3 Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking………

1.2 Demotivation in foreign language learning………

7 8 1.2.1 Definitions of demotivation……… 8

1.2.2 Demotivating factors in foreign language learning……… 8

1.3 Teaching speaking skill in foreign language ……… 13

1.3.1 Definitions of speaking……… 13

1.3.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking……… 14

1.3.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……… 17

2.1 Context of the study……… 17

2.2 The research approach……… 18

1 Questionnaire for the students……… 18

2 Questionnaire for the teachers……… 18

3 Observation……… 19

2.3 Participants……… 19

2.4 Data collection procedures……… 20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS……… 21

3.1 Results from students’ questionnaire……… 21

3.1.1 Students‟ personal information……… 21

3.1.2 Types of motivation……… 21

3.1.3 Demotivating factors in a speaking lesson……… 22

3.1.4 Activities used by teachers and students‟ preferences……… 23

3.1.5 Students‟ expectation on teachers‟ teaching……… 24

3.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire……… 25

3.2.1 Teachers‟ personal information……… 25

3.2.2 Teacher‟s opinions towards teaching English speaking and students‟ motivation in speaking English……… 25

3.2.3 Current teaching method ……… 26

3.2.4 Difficulties in teaching English speaking……… 27

3.2.5 Techniques and activities applied by teachers……… 28

3.3 Findings and discussions……… 29

3.3.1 The current situation of learning speaking of first-year

students at Haiphong Polytechnics College………

3.3.2 The current situation of teaching speaking for first-year students at Haiphong Polytechnics College………

29

31

3.4 Suggested techniques for motivating students in speaking activities… 33

3.4.1 Suggestions for the teachers……… 33

3.4.2 Suggestions for the students……… 35

3.4.3 Suggestions for the college rector and academic department…… 36

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 37

1 Conclusions……… 37

2 Limitations of the study……… 38

3 Suggestions for further study……… 38

APPENDIX 2……… IV APPENDIX 3……… VII

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

It can not be denied that English is very important nowadays It is considered

to be a very significant and necessary tool used in many fields such as science, technology, diplomacy and so on It is seen as a means to bridge the gap and promote mutual understanding and cooperation among countries in the world

In Vietnam, at present, the role of English has been more and more increasingly crucial because of the fact that Vietnam has succeeded in becoming an official member of WTO since 2006

Being aware of the great significance of English, more and more people desire to master it in hope of making English an useful means to serve their own purposes However, how to teach and learn English in general and English speaking skill in particular effectively is a matter of controversy Speaking skill should be kept in mind to be the most popular and effective way of communication

At Haiphong Polytechnics College (HPC), English is considered to be an important factor for students‟ success in future career Therefore, learning English, especially learning speaking is necessary for students when they finish their study and work on international ships However, there is a fact that during speaking lessons, students are often inactive and passive in participating speaking activities The interaction between teachers and students is ineffective and restricted As a result, after the English course, students‟ competence of English is not much improved for working on board ships

For this reason, I would like to make a study on “How to motivate the first-year

students at Haiphong Polytechnics College in speaking activities” Hopefully, this

minor thesis will help motivate first-years students in English speaking lessons at

HPC in particular and enhance other students‟ oral and communicative practice in general

2 Aims of the study

This study is an attempt to:

1 Investigate the current situation of teaching speaking skill to first-year students at HPC

2 Identify these students‟ demotivating factors in learning speaking skill

3 Propose some suggestions to motivate first-year students in learning speaking skill

3 Research Questions

1 What is the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill to and of the first-year students at HPC?

2 What are possible methods to motivate students in speaking activities?

4 Scope of the study

This study only investigates methods of motivating first-year students at HPC in learning speaking skill Because of the limited time and within an M.A minor thesis, the researcher intends to make a brief view of the current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill for and of first-year students at HPC; identifies factors affecting their speaking stimulation; examines techniques and activities used by teachers and students‟ preferences and demands; suggests some recommendations for teachers to encourage students to speak English and overcome difficulties in teaching speaking

5 Methods of the study

Quantitative and qualitative methods are used in the study The data collected for the study is from the students at beginning level and the teachers teaching English at HPC

Survey questionnaires are used as the main instrument to collect data and evidence for the study

Besides, to help the researcher gain a deeper and better view of the participants, learning conditions related to the study, the researcher‟s observation for three classes has been made used of as another instrument in collecting data

6 Significance of the study

The results from the study are believed to be useful for both teachers and students in teaching and learning speaking skill

In theory, the study can be considered as one of helpful teaching material recourses in teaching speaking skill to non-major students at vocational colleges in general and at HPC in particular

In practice, from the results of the study, teachers can take use of suggested methods in motivating students when teaching speaking skill and students can find the ways to motivate themselves in learning speaking skill

7 Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three parts:

Part A, Introduction, presents the rationale, aims, research questions and scope of

the study The methods, significance and design of the study are also included in this part

Part B, Development, includes three following chapters:

Chapter 1 presents background of motivation and teaching speaking In the

chapter, the main approaches to motivation and de-motivation in foreign language teaching are discussed

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the study context, the research approach

and information of participants and main instruments applied in the study

Chapter 3 presents the documentation and data analysis The analysis and

discussion on the data are based on the survey questionnaire and classroom observation The recommendations and suggestions for speaking teaching improvements are also discussed in this chapter

Part C, Conclusion, summarizes major findings; limitations and directions for

future research are also provided in this part

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is concerned with the definitions of motivation, demotivation in foreign language learning, and the theoretical backgrounds of teaching speaking skill

1.1 Motivation in foreign language learning

1.1.1 Definitions of motivation

There have been many researches in motivation and the research literature regarding the definition of motivation is various In general, all the motivation theories want to explain the fundamental question of why humans behave as they

do, and therefore the answer is not simple and straightforward

Firstly, motivation is described as the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal seeking acts (Ames & Ames, 1989)

Burden (1997:119) assumed that “from a cognitive perspective, motivation is

concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choice they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals The role

of the teacher thus becomes one of helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions”

Dornyei (2001:613) defined motivation as “a general way of referring to the

antecedents i.e the causes and the origins” He also stated that “motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities” (2001:7) The author pointed out two

dimensions of human behavior: direction and magnitude (intensity) which

motivation concerns

According to Pintrich and Schunk (2002), motivation is “the process

whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained”

From the above, it can be deduced that motivation is a psychological trait which leads people to achieve a goal Motivation is what drives people to “behave”

in a certain way or to take a particular action Simply, it can be understood that motivation is your “WHY”

1.1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning

Motivation can be classified in different ways Garder and Lambert (1985) introduced four major types of motivation: Instrumental motivation and Integrative motivation, Resultative motivation and Intrinsic motivation

 Instrumental motivation: When learners need English as an instrument to reach a particular goal such as passing oral test, getting a good job with high salary and so on In this case, motivation is the reflection of an external need

 Integrative motivation: When learners internally want to integrate themselves into the culture of the target language (English)

 Resultative motivation: is known as the cause of achievement The fact shows that learners who experience success in learning may become more motivated to learn In some cases, motivation is the result of learning

Hermann (1980) stated that “it is success that contributes to motivation

rather than vice- versa” Ellis (1997) also concluded that “the relationship between motivation and achievement is an interactive one.”

 Intrinsic motivation: plays an important role in most learners‟ success or failure For them, what happens in the classroom will be of great importance

in determining their attitudes to language and in supplying motivation Intrinsic motivation, generally, refers to the fact of doing an activity for itself, pleasure and satisfaction derived from participation (Deci and Ryan, 1985)

Contrary to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation pertains to a wide variety of behaviors that are engaged in as a means to an end and not for their own sake (Deci and Ryan, 1985) Schulz (1991:18) said that the concept of extrinsic motivation referred to the extent to which the learning environment (i.e the teacher, materials, curriculum, learning tasks etc.) contributed to or detracted from intrinsic motivation of the learner to acquire a language

According to Bo (2009), no matter how motivation has been classified, all kinds of motivation work in the second language learning context, and each kind contributes to the learners‟ progress in different ways and to different degree It is hard to say which is the most effective since they are sometimes overlapping with one another

1.1.3 Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking

In his research, Nunan (1999: 235) pointed out some preconditions for effective motivation:

 Supportive environment: including orderly classroom, skilful teacher is skilled in classroom management; students are nonanxious and feel comfortable taking risks, feedback is positive

 Appropriate level of difficulty: tasks are neither too easy nor too difficult; students know what they have to do, criteria for success are clear

 Meaningful learning: students know what and why they learn; activities are meaningful; the relationship between activities and objective is clear; tasks are sequenced so that new tasks build on and extend ones that come before; students are given a reason to be in class

 Strategies: motivational strategy is matched to instructional need; particular strategies are not overused; teacher uses a range of strategies; there is a learning- how- to- learn dimension to instruction

 Content: students can relate content to their own experience; topics are interesting

1.2 Demotivation in foreign language learning

1.2.1 Definitions of de-motivation

Dornyei (1998: 143) defined de-motivation as “specific external forces that

reduce or diminish the motivational basis of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action”

Deci and Ryan (1985) used a term “a-motivation”, which means “the relative

absence of motivation that is not caused by a lack of initial interest but rather by the individual’s experiencing feelings of incompetence and helplessness when faced with the activity.”

Dornyei (1998) pointed out that “demotivation does not mean that all the

positive influences that originally made up the motivational basis of a behavior have been got rid of It only means that a strong negative factor restrains the present motivation with some other positive motives still remain ready to be activated.”

1.2.2 De-motivating factors in foreign language learning

According to Dornyei (1998), factors demotivating students‟ learning are as follows:

 The teacher (personality, commitment, competence, teaching method);

 Inadequate school facilities (group is too big or not the right level, frequent change of teachers);

 Reduced self-confidence (experience of failure or lack of success);

 Negative attitude towards the L2;

 Compulsory nature of L2 study;

 Interference of another foreign language being studied;

 Negative attitude towards L2 community;

 Attitudes of group members;

 Course-book

Basing on Dornyei‟s study (1998), factors affecting students‟ motivation can

be classified into student‟s factors, teacher‟s factors, and teaching and learning conditions

 Students’ factors

The first factors are students‟ intelligence and aptitude Intelligence, according

to Lightbown and Spada (1999: 52), referred to “performance on certain kinds of

test” and aptitude is something which “involves both underlying language learning capacity and a capacity to handle decontextualized language” (Ellis, 1997: 522)

Lightbown and Spada (1999: 53) also pointed out that language aptitude was usually described as a combination of four factors: (1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds, (2) the ability to understand the function of particular words

in sentences, (3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples and (4) the ability to memorize new words

The second is students‟ personality In the eyes of many language teachers, the students‟ personality constitutes a major factor contributing to success or failure in language learning Ellis (1997:523) has proved that extroverted learners are advantageous in the development of the kind of language associated with basis interpersonal communication skills and that extroverted learners may also be more likely to participate actively in oral communication Shared the same view with Ellis, Lightbown and Spada (1999:54-55) listed a number of personality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second language learners: extroversion, inhibition, self-esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness

The third factor is learners‟ age Children are believed to be better than adults

in acquiring an L2 in general and in speaking a new language with native - like fluency in particular Some researchers argued that late starters may be able to learn the syntax and the vocabulary of a second language, but that attaining a native-like pronunciation is impossible for them Also, they concluded that younger learners

have a greater chance of attaining native-like proficiency in the L2, older learners may show faster progress at the beginning, but are probably surpassed by the young ones in the end

The fourth factor is learning style The term “learning style” refers to the

characteristic ways in which individuals orientates to problem-solving Keefe

(1979) defined learning style as “the characteristic cognitive, affective and

physiological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how lear ners perceive, interact with and respond to the learning environment… Learning style

is a consistent way of functioning that reflects underlying causes of behavior”

The last factor is learners‟ belief Most learners have strong beliefs about how languages are learnt, how their instruction should be delivered Little,

Singleton and Silvius (1984) found out “past experience, both of education in

general and of language learning in particular, played a major role in shaping attitudes to language learning”

 Teacher’s factors

Teacher plays an important role in students‟ learning motivation As a matter of fact, some teacher‟s factors and appropriate teacher behaviors will increase

students‟ motivation in learning

Dornyei (2001) pointed out some teacher‟s factors affecting students‟ motivation: teacher‟s appropriate behavior, teacher‟s enthusiasm, a good relationship with the students and teacher‟s commitment to the students‟ academic progress

Firstly, teacher‟s suitable behavior in classroom is very important It is

regarded as an effective “motivational tool” Alison (1993) confirmed that teacher‟s

behavior could “persuade” or “attract” students to engage in on-task behaviors

“The teacher should be a patient, encouraging person who supports students’

learning efforts Students should feel comfortable taking intellectual risks because they know that they will not be embarrassed or criticized if they make a mistake.”

Good and Brophy (1994)

Secondly, teacher‟s good relationship with the student is also a key factor of motivation in student learning The teacher should create the relationship of mutual trust and respect with students This relationship also involves finding opportunities

to talk with them on a personal level and letting them know that teachers have thought about them and that their individual effort is recognized (Dornyei, 2001: 120)

The third factor is teacher‟s enthusiasm Csikzentmihalyi (1997) said that

teachers needed to be “enthused and involved in the teaching process and in the

material they are teaching” Csikzentmihalyi also pointed out that enthusiastic

teachers were the ones who loved what they were doing, who showed by their dedication and their passion that make students willing to pursue knowledge

The last factor is teacher‟s dedication to the students‟ academic progress Teachers should take care of what their students have learnt and succeeded (Dornyei, 2001) They should also offer tangible assistant, responding immediately when help is requested, correcting tests, arranging extra- assignments and so on

Dornyei (2001) said that “teachers are the designated leaders of the class

group” and therefore, they cannot lack their responsibility for maintaining their own

commitment to the teaching process because the lack of this responsibility will cause “psychological absence” from teaching process, which is the fastest way to undermine the motivational base of the learners

Lightbown and Spada (1999: 57-58) stated that if the teacher could make classrooms places where students enjoy coming because the content was interesting and relevant to their age and level of ability, where the learning goals was challenging yet manageable and clear, and where the atmosphere was supportive

and non-threatening, teachers could make a positive contribution to students‟ motivation to learn Two researchers replicated findings from studies by Graham and Richard (1991) and pointed out some pedagogical practices for teachers to motivate students in classroom setting:

 Motivating students in the lesson: At the opening stages of lessons, the remark teachers make about forthcoming activities can lead to higher levels

of interest on the part of the students

 Varying activities, tasks and materials: Lessons which always consist of the same routines, patterns and format often lead to a decrease in attention and

an increase in boredom Varying the activities, tasks, and materials can help

to avoid this and increase students‟ interest levels

 Using co-operative rather than competitive goals: Co-operative learning activities are those in which students must work together in order to complete a task or solve problem These techniques will increase the self- confidence of students, including weaker ones

 Teaching and learning condition

Teaching and learning condition involves classroom atmosphere and physical condition A pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere will create motivation;

it encourages students to express their opinions and thinking MacIntyre (1999) and Young (1999) pointed out that students‟ anxiety created by a tense classroom climate was one of the most potent factors that undermined learning effectiveness and L2 motivation

Physical conditions are important, too Physical conditions refer to something

in classroom such as classroom‟s size, classroom‟s facilities (chairs, desks, tables, electric facilities…) Hammer (1992) affirmed that physical conditions had great impact on students‟ learning as well as their attitude towards the subject matter Physical condition affects both teacher and students‟ motivation The large class,

the poor facilities will reduce the relationship between teacher and students, and as

a result, will reduce motivation

Other researchers also pointed out other factors affecting students‟ motivation in learning speaking Tsui (1996) found out five principal factors affecting the reluctance of the student to speak up in class:

 students‟ perceived low proficiency in English

 students‟ fear of mistakes and derision

 teachers‟ intolerance of silence

 uneven allocation of turns

 The nature of the classroom activities, including irrelevance, overload and repetitiveness

1.3 Teaching speaking skill in foreign language

1.3.1 Definitions of speaking

Florez (1999) defined speaking was “an interactive process of constructing

meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information” It is

“often spontaneous, open- ended and evolving”, but it is not completely

unpredictable In other words, “speaking consists of producing systematic verbal

utterances to convey meaning” (Balley, 2005:2)

Bygate (1997) stated that speaking was a skill which deserved attention every bit as much as literacy skill It is often thought of as a “popular” form of expression that uses the unprestigious “colloquial” register Speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill Perhaps this is because we can almost all speak, and so take the skill too much for granted In his own view, Mackey (1965) showed that

“oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right patterns of

rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words and inflections in the right order

to convey the right meaning” According to Mackey, for the student who wants to

be good at speaking, he/she has to choose the right forms, put them in correct order, sound it like native speaker and even produce the right meanings

1.3.2 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

 The grammar- translation method

In the Grammar- translation method, students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate from one language to another The Grammar translation method, therefore, does not really prepare students to speak English, and it is not entirely appropriate for students who want to improve their speaking skills This method is not consistent with the goals of increasing English learners‟ fluency, oral production, or communicative competence In grammar-translation lessons, speaking consists largely of reading translations aloud or doing grammar exercises orally There are few opportunities for expressing original thoughts or personal needs and feeling in English (Bailey, 2005: 16)

 The direct method and audiolingualism

The direct method focused on “everyday vocabulary and sentences”

(Richards and Rodgers, 1986) and lessons were conducted entirely in the target

language The Direct Method emphasized speaking in that “new teaching points

were introduced orally” rather in writing Also, lessons emphasized speaking and

listening, which were practiced “in a carefully graded progression organized

around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students”

The direct method strongly influenced the development of the Audiolingual Method Nunan (2003) pointed out that in Audiolingualism, speaking was taught

by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized dialogues from the textbook Repetition drills- a hallmark of the Audiolingual Method- are designed to familiarize students with the sounds and structural patterns of the language Lessons followed the sequence of presentation, practice, and production

 Communicative Language Teaching

Because the Grammar translation method, the Direct method and

Audiolingualism “did not lead to fluent and effective communication in real-life

situations” (Ellis, 1990:29), the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

evoked The goal of language teaching in the light of CLT is to develop communicative competence In CLT classroom, learners are encouraged to contribute as much as they gain, and learn in an independent way CLT favors interaction among small numbers of learners with a purpose to maximize the time each learner learns and uses languages, shares information and negotiates meaning Though interaction learners‟ experience can be modified, many kinds of learning strategies made aware and applied, and especially classrooms move away from teacher-centeredness to learner-centeredness, which is an essential element to raise learners‟ motivation in language learning CLT features more interaction-based activities, such as role-plays and information gap tasks Pair work and group work are typical organizational features of interaction-based lessons in CLT

1.3.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking

Byrne, D (1986) stated three stages of teaching speaking: the presentation stage, the practice stage and the production one In each stage, the role of the teacher is different

At the presentation stage, the teacher is considered an informant role The teacher introduces something new to be learned and present it in such a way that the meaning of the new language is as clear and memorable as possible The students listen and try to understand At this point of the lesson, the teacher is at the centre of the stage Therefore, teacher‟s time spending should be sensible so that the students get enough time to practise themselves

At the practice stage, it is the students‟ turn to do most of the talking while teacher‟s main task is to devise and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must the same time be both meaningful and memorable The teacher‟s role, then, is completely different from that at the presentation one The teacher is like the skilful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a chance to participate and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide Students are given opportunities to use language freely Sometimes students can make mistakes at this stage, but mistakes are unimportant The more important is that students have chance to use language as they wish, to try

to express their own ideas Moreover, they become aware that they have learnt something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning However, students will probably seem to the teacher to lurch backwards and forwards rather than make steady progress It will not be so easy for the teacher to measure students‟ performance as it was at the practice stage, nor is there any easy recipe for success Therefore, what is needed is flexibility, tolerance, patience on teacher‟s part-and, above all, an understanding of the learners‟ difficulties

In conclusion, chapter 1 has presented some theoretical background knowledge related to the topic of the study It has discussed some concepts and ideas concerning to the issue of motivation and demotivation Besides, some different aspects related to speaking were also discussed, especially some aspects related to factors affecting students‟ speaking motivation The following chapters will display the detailed description of the methodology, the procedures and the

CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY 2.1 Context of the study

HPC was founded in 2001 as a private vocational school At this time the scale

of the school was quite small with two hundred students in two majors: ship navigation and marine engine operation After nearly 15 years of development, HPC has been a big vocational college in Haiphong with 21 majors and 6000 students from 26 provinces and cities in Vietnam However, ship navigation and marine engine operation are still two key majors in the training curriculum Up to now, the college has trained and provided thousands qualified sailors to the shipping market English is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum of the college Especially, for these two majors mentioned above, English is very important and necessary as students in these two majors will work on international ships after graduating The English program at the college is comprised of General English (120 class hours for first-year students) and ESP (240 class hours for second and third-year students) This thesis works with freshmen‟s studying of English for communicative purposes In the first year at the college, the students are equipped with basic knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in everyday life and four language skills through the main course book “Language in Use” (Beginner)

The researcher and other teachers are full-time teachers of English at the college Most of them teach general English and have at least five years of teaching experience

Students at HPC are from 26 provinces and cities in Vietnam Most of them are from the rural areas of Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, especially students at Navigation and Marine Engine Operation Department Some have been learning English for seven years while some others have no knowledge of English

as they studied French or Russian at high schools Generally, students‟ English

proficiency is at beginning level with basic knowledge of grammar and their language skills are very bad

Along with questionnaire, observation is applied to help the researcher clarify information which cannot be provided in the questionnaire

1 Questionnaire for the students

The questionnaire is designed with two main parts and includes four questions Part 1 is to get students‟ information about their age, place of birth, the duration they have learnt English

Part 2 is designed to collect information on students‟ current situation of English speaking learning at HPC and factors affecting their motivation in speaking lessons

The purpose of the questionnaire is to obtain a snapshot of students‟ motivation

in learning English speaking, their problems, preference, and their expectations on teachers

2 Questionnaire for the teachers

The questionnaire is designed with two main parts and includes four questions The first part is to get personal information about the teachers (gender, age, teaching experience)

The second part has four questions, the purpose of which is to find out teachers‟ current teaching method, their difficulties in teaching speaking to first-year students, which the researcher will base on the current context or situation to make some suggestions to help teachers improve their teaching method in order to motivate students in speaking lessons

3 Observation

Observation will be also carried out by the researcher at HPC to make the study more reliable The observation was carried out in the second semester of the school year 2013-2014, the class performance was observed in three classes in Marine Engine Department Each class performance lasted three class hours (total

135 minutes) Teachers have taken notes on the activities of the class

2.3 Participants

Sixty first-year students were selected from five classes to take part in the research All of them are male students because they learn at Navigation and Marine engine departments Almost of them come from the northern provinces of Vietnam and live mainly in the rural areas of these provinces As I mentioned above, before entering the college, most of them had learn English for three years or seven years

at high schools but the placement test results show that their level of English obtained is still very low and only a few of them are at elementary level

Ten of fourteen teachers selected from English department have taught English for at least five years They have taught both general English and ESP Their average age is thirty two and at the time the research is carried out they are teaching general English for Marine engine and Navigation classes in the second semester of the school year 2013-2014 These teachers have graduated from different universities in Vietnam including University of Language and International Studies, Hai Phong Private University and Hai Phong University Although they come from different backgrounds, they have many things in

common: enthusiasm of teaching, eagerness of learning experiences from experienced teachers and are taking part in intensive and higher training courses Up

to now, five teachers have successfully gained Master degree, and one is preparing for his MA Graduation Thesis

2.4 Data collection procedures

The time for data collection lasted for six weeks from the third month of the second semester of the school year 2013-2014 This was the time when students completed two-third of the term Students may have an overview on the difficulties

of English speaking learning in the first year at the HPC

During the first two weeks, the questionnaires were delivered to sixty year students in five classes at Marine Engine and Navigation department The students had 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire The purpose and importance

first-of the study were explained The researcher also helped students clear with the contents of the questions and how to answer them All questions from students were clarified by the researcher during the completion of questionnaire

In the next week, the survey to the teachers was delivered to ten teachers teaching English speaking skills for the first-year students in the Marine engine and Navigation department, the time for them to complete it was for ten days

In the last three weeks, the classroom performance was observed The detailed notes were kept and interpreted, and then the results were drawn out

CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter will present the data analysis and the discussion of the findings from the survey questionnaires conducted from sixty students and ten teachers of English of HPC Along with the information via survey questionnaires, information obtained through class observations was also added to this part to assist the results Recommendations and suggestions for teaching are also included in this chapter

3.1 Results from students’ questionnaire

3.1.1 Students’ personal information

The first part includes the questions to gather the participants‟ information of age, hometown and the duration of learning English Of 60 students, 75% come from the rural areas and only 25% from urban areas Their average age is 20.95, which is 3 years older than the average age of first-year students

For English learning duration, 75% students had been learning English for 7 years, 15% for 3 years and 10% for nearly one year

3.1.2 Types of motivation

Question 1: What is/are your purpose(s) of learning English?

Table 1: Types of motivations