The effect of role play on enhancing speaking skill for first year english majors at nong lam university in ho chi minh city m a 60 14 10

This thesis aims at 1 investigating the problems of the first-year English majors at Nong Lam University – Ho Chi Minh City in learning English speaking skill; 2 examining the advantages

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE



THE EFFECT OF ROLE-PLAY ON ENHANCING SPEAKING SKILL FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS

AT NONG LAM UNIVERSITY IN HO CHI MINH CITY

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Department of English Linguistics & Literature in partial

fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “The effect of role-play on enhancing

speaking skill for first-year English majors at Nong Lam University in Ho Chi Minh City” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution

Ho Chi Minh City, March 3rd, 2011

DUONG MY THAM

I hereby state that I, DUONG MY THAM, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and the use of Master’s Theses deposited in Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, March 3rd, 2011

DUONG MY THAM

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr DANG THI HUONG, who offered me valuable comments and guidance to the completion of this thesis Without her encouragement and assistance, this work would not have been done

I am grateful to all my teachers for their helpful instructions during the M.A course

I would like to send my sincere thanks to all teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Nong Lam University for their help with the data collection for this study and all my students who were willing to answer the questionnaire as well as

to take part in the interview

Last but not least, my special thanks go to my family, especially my parents, who have sacrificed their whole life for the happiness of their children, for their great support

This thesis aims at (1) investigating the problems of the first-year English majors

at Nong Lam University – Ho Chi Minh City in learning English speaking skill; (2) examining the advantages and disadvantages of role-play with a focus on the effect of role-play in teaching and learning English speaking skill; and (3) suggesting some possible ways to improve the teaching and learning of English speaking skill through role-play Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this study Thirty-three questionnaires were delivered

to the first-year English majors who took a 15-week English speaking course with role-play for the experiment; and ten questionnaires were delivered to Vietnamese teachers of English to get their ideas about learning and teaching English speaking skill through role-play Interviews were also conducted with fifteen students in the experimental group to know their attitudes towards role-play used for studying spoken English Furthermore, in order to confirm the results of the study, the scores of diagnostic and achievement tests for the experimental and the control groups were analysed The study discovered that (1) in addition to poor pronunciation and vocabulary, some psychological factors such as shyness, anxiety, and fear of making mistakes prevent them from using the target language and (2) role-play gives students many opportunities to practise spoken English effectively in real life situations and promote students’ interaction As a result, students can speak English confidently, naturally, and fluently with English native speakers or those who use English as a means of communications in any circumstances

2.2 The effect of role-play on teaching spoken English 10

2.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of role-play 14 2.3 Brief introduction of teaching methods relating to speaking 17

2.4 The roles of teachers and learners in CLT 20

2.7 Factors affecting EFL learners’ speaking 25

4.1 Teachers’ responses to the questionnaire 48 4.2 Students’ responses to the questionnaire 55

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for students (in Vietnamese) 93

APPENDIX 3: Interview for students (in Vietnamese) 97

APPENDIX 9: Criteria to assess students’ speaking ability 104 APPENDIX 10: Anova figures on students’ achievement scores 106 APPENDIX 11: Anova figures on students’ diagnostic and achievement scores

108 APPENDIX 12: The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) 109

3.1: Personal information of the teachers 40 3.2: Personal information of the students 41 4.1: Teachers’ ideas about students’ weaknesses in English speaking 49 4.2: Teachers’ ideas about students’ attitudes towards speaking English 49 4.3: Teachers’ ideas about students’ frequency of practising

4.4: Teachers’ ideas about students’ favourite classroom activities 52 4.5: Teachers’ ideas about the advantages of role-play 52 4.6: Teachers’ ideas about the disadvantages of role-play 53 4.7: To what extent does role-play improve students’ speaking ability? 54 4.8: Students’ weaknesses in speaking English 56 4.9: Students’ frequency of practising English speaking 58 4.10: Students’ favourite classroom activities 59

4.11: Students’ ideas about the advantages of role-play 59 4.12: Students’ ideas about the disadvantages of role-play 61 4.13: Do you like to practise English speaking skill through role-play? 63 4.14: Students’ opinions about the textbook 64 4.15: Results of the diagnostic and achievement tests 69 4.16: Interactive communication scores 71

4.1: Teachers’ ideas about students’ favourite types of interaction 51 4.2: Students’ ideas about the importance of speaking skill 56 4.3: Students’ attitudes towards speaking English 57 4.4: Students’ favourite types of interaction 58 4.5: Speaking scores frequency distribution 70

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

CFS: Center for Foreign Studies

CUP: Cambridge University Press

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages

HCMC: Ho Chi Minh City

NLU: Nong Lam University

OUP: Oxford University Press

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Nowadays, English is spoken all over the world, especially it has been an international language in recent years English has also been taught in Vietnam for

a long time; however, only after the “Open Door” policy (Renovation) was implemented in 1986, English has become a very important language for Vietnam

in many aspects such as politics, economy, culture, foreign affairs, education, and

so on The need to master the language has been increasing rapidly Hence, many foreign language centres as well as faculties of foreign languages in which English language teaching has always been a great attention have been opened to meet this high demand

People of all ages in the world learn English with different reasons According to Harmer (1998), students learn English because it is a compulsory subject in the curriculum at school Students also need English for a specific purpose such as tourism, banking, or business In Vietnam, students also learn English because it is

a required subject at school and for other purposes such as improving knowledge, getting good jobs, communicating, travelling, reading, and studying overseas Yet, now their focuses are to get good marks at school, to confidently take part in international academic events if possible, and especially to have good jobs after graduation In reality, Vietnamese students often find it difficult to communicate with English native speakers One of the major reasons affecting students’ oral communication is that the chance of using the target language is not much In fact, English speaking environment for EFL students in Vietnam is mainly classroom

“Even learners majoring in English at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City used 80% English and 20% Vietnamese inside the classroom while they likely to use only 20% or 30% English and 80% or 70% Vietnamese outside the classroom” (Dang Thi Huong, cited in Vo Thi Phuong

Oanh, 2005: 2) Besides, students have few opportunities to participate in English speaking clubs, English song contests, or international events such as the program

of exchanging students with foreign universities, study tour, etc It is because not all faculties or centres of foreign languages have English speaking clubs; and very few students can get a chance to participate in international events or contests in which English is the language for communication

Nong Lam University (NLU) (formerly the University of Agriculture and Forestry) of Ho Chi Minh City was founded in 1955 It consists of 12 faculties with 69 departments and 5 independent departments It has been offering educational programmes for obtaining Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in Agronomy, Forestry, Aquaculture, Agricultural Engineering and Technology Food Technology, Animal Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Business Administration, and Land Management The focus of NLU is to train experts with high qualification and to transmit advanced knowledge and technology to communities Moreover, in order to build up a reputation for the university, the Board of Rectors often hold seminars or workshops to discuss technical topics with local scientists and specialists or sometimes give short training courses to farmers NLU also has a good relationship with many foreign universities and research institutes such as Florida University (The United States), Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia), University of Aarhus (Denmark), Central University of Forestry & Technology University (China), Chong Nam University, Sungkyunkwan University, Konkuk University (Korea), Chiang Mai University (Thailand), etc., and international non-government organizations such as World Fish Center, INSA-ETEA (Spain), The Livestock Improvement Association of Japan, and so on

In 2001, the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) was officially founded because NLU has aimed at transforming into a comprehensive university with a broad range of educational programmes FFL is quite young, but NLU has the Center for

Foreign Studies (CFS), which was established in 1990 It is known as one of the popular English language centres in Ho Chi Minh City as well as in Vietnam Therefore, FFL could inherit qualified teaching staff from CFS because most of the teachers at FFL have been teaching at CFS for a long time The Faculty comprises departments of Language Practice, Foreign Literature, Translation and Interpretation, TESOL Methodology, Linguistics, ESP, Management, and French The Bachelor of Art training programme lasts four academic years There are three speaking courses which are taught in the first three semesters All teachers in charge of speaking courses at FFL have at least five-year experience of teaching spoken English, and most of them have M.A degrees

In order to study at FFL, students have to pass the university entrance exams which consist of three subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and English Therefore, the expected level of English is pre-intermediate However, the majority of students have difficulties with English speaking and listening skills because they are from provinces where teacher-centred methods, especially the Grammar-Translation one is mostly emphasised In fact, students seem to be afraid of spoken English and tend to translate every English exercise into Vietnamese though they can read, comprehend and write English documents pretty well Nowadays, students can get more and more opportunities to have direct interaction with foreigners, mainly English native speakers; therefore they often use English for communication To meet students’ needs, the faculty has paid more attention to the communicative approach in order to make students use the target language naturally and confidently in different social contexts Communicative activities such as role-plays, problem-solving tasks, or games are used in the classroom so as

to encourage students’ participation in speaking activities In this study, I would like to investigate the effect of role-play in which students can use English in different contexts to improve English speaking skill for first-year English majors

at NLU

Furthermore, school facilities have considerably contributed a great deal to the development of the training quality The school facilities at the FFL have been relatively good in recent years, for example, there are thirty-five students for a classroom, and each desk is for only two students and movable Therefore, it is convenient for them to work in pairs or groups Inside the classroom, there are pathways so that teachers can move around to help students The Faculty has had a computer lab and a language lab to support the learning and teaching process, and teachers have also been equipped with overhead projectors and laptops when needed

1.2 Aims of the study

The aims of this study are:

(1) To investigate the problems of the first-year English majors at NLU-HCMC

in learning English speaking skill;

(2) To examine the advantages and disadvantages of role-play with a focus on the effect of role play in teaching and learning English speaking skill;

(3) To give recommendations on how to use role-play to improve the teaching and learning of English speaking skill

1.3 Organization of the study

This study is divided into five chapters Chapter One is the introduction of the study, which includes the background to the study, the aims, and the organization

of the study Chapter Two is the theoretical framework for the study Chapter Three is methodology Chapter Four is data analysis and discussion of the findings Chapter Five presents conclusions and recommendations This chapter presents the introduction, and the relevant literature review which supports the study will be in the next chapter

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter One has presented the background information of the study This chapter reviews the literature which consists of the following: (1) The nature of speaking, (2) The effect of role-play on teaching spoken English, (3) Brief introduction of teaching methods relating to the speaking skill, (4) The roles of teachers and learners in CLT, (5) Communicative competence, (6) Nonverbal communication, (7) Factors affecting EFL learners’ speaking ability, (8) Fluency and accuracy, (9) Speaking assessment, and (10) Classroom management

2.1 The nature of speaking

Speaking is “The process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney & Burk, 1998: 13)

Burns & Joyce (1997) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information

Celce-Murcia & Olshtain (2000) claim that speaking can be considered the most difficult skill to acquire because it requires the command of both listening comprehension and speech production sub-skills in unplanned situations On the other hand, it can be viewed as the easiest skill since one can use nonverbal communication, repetition, and various other strategies to produce comprehensible utterances

By giving students speaking practice and oral exams, teachers can realise that there is a difference between knowledge about a language and how to use it This distinction is very important in the teaching of the four language skills, especially

the speaking skill because one of the basic problems in foreign language teaching

is to prepare students to be able to use the language

Speaking ability involves the productive skills of speaking and the receptive skills

of understanding Byrne (1991: 8) illustrates the relation of the four language skills

in the following diagram:

As described in the above table, speaking and listening are said to relate to language expressed through the aural medium, and speaking and writing are said

to be active or productive skills

Then Widdowson (1990) provides evidence to prove that the act of speaking involves not only the production of sounds but also the use of gestures, the movements of the muscles of the face, and indeed the whole body; he concludes:

If one thinks of speaking as a way in which the language system is manifested

through the use of the organs of speech, then it is true that speaking is productive

rather than receptive and operates through the aural rather than the visual

medium But if one thinks of speaking as exemplifying use rather than usage, as

being a communicative activity, then it is both productive and receptive, both

aural and visual

(Widdowson, 1990: 59)

Brown & Yule (1989) begin their discussion on the nature of spoken language by distinguishing the differences in form between spoken and written language They say that for most its history, language teaching has been concerned with the teaching of written language since written language does not vary greatly and is the language of literature and of scholarship It is characterised by well-formed sentences which are integrated into highly structured paragraphs Meanwhile, the spoken language packs in less dense information and less highly structured information Therefore, most people think that spoken language is easier than written language because phrases which can be used in speech would be unacceptable in written communication (Taylor, 1999) However, it is not easy to give a complete definition of spoken language because it is “a vast subject, and little is known in hard statistical terms of the distribution of different types of speech in people’s everyday lives” (McCarthy, 1991: 118)

The fundamental function which is common to most uses of the written language

is the transmission of information This information-transferring function of language is called the transactional function of language Spoken language may also have a primarily transactional function, but the overriding function of spoken language is interactional function, which is to maintain social relationships

One major difference between spoken language and written language is the density

of packing of information; Brown & Yule (1989: 7) state:

Information may be packed densely in the written language, using heavily

premodified noun phrases with accompanying post-modification, heavy adverbial

modification and complex subordinating syntax It is rare to find spoken language

produced like this, with this dense packing of information…

Furthermore, Brown & Yule (1989) point out that one of the most difficult aspects

of language learning when learning to talk in the foreign language is spoken language production In written production, each writer can get on by himself, without disturbing the rest of the class On the contrary, as one speaks individually, he/she needs someone to listen to him/her and then respond to him/her

When talking about the differences between spoken language and written language, Byrne (1991: 8) claims:

In contrast to the written language, where sentences are usually structured and

linked together, speech is often characterized by in-complete and sometimes

ungrammatical utterances, and by frequent false starts and repetitions

In terms of discourse analysis, spoken language is concerned with turns, adjacency pairs, exchanges, turn-taking, and topics A turn is considered as everything a speaker says before another speaker begins to speak (Sacks et al., cited in Tsui, 1995) Two turns made by two different speakers form an adjacency pair which seems to be a fundamental unit of conversational organization (Levinson, 1995) Pairs of utterances such as greeting-greeting, apology-acceptance, inform-acknowledge and congratulation-thanks are examples of adjacency pairs (McCarthy, 1991) Different roles and settings will create different structures for such adjacency pairs To prove this, Scarcella & Brunak (cited in McCarthy, 1991: 121) compare native speakers’ and non-native speakers’ invitations The native

speakers preface their invitations (e.g “I was wondering, uh, we’re having a party…”), while the non-natives are sometimes too formal or too blunt (e.g “I would like to invite you to a party”; “I want you to come in a party”) In short, Mc Carthy (1991: 122) claims:

We have seen once again that the structure and elaboration of the adjacency pair

is determined by role and setting, and that the functions of its component

utterances depend on the co-presence of both parts

According to Sinclair & Coulthard (cited in Tsui, 1995: 9), a typical exchange is made up of three moves: an initiating move, a responding move and a follow-up move After borrowing Halliday’s concept of structure, they propose three elements of structure: an initiation, a response, and a follow-up Unlike an adjacency pair, an exchange is a unit of interaction which consists of three parts rather than two

As Mc Carthy (1991) states, in any piece of natural English discourse, turns will occur smoothly, with only little overlap and interpretation, and only very brief silences between turns Sometimes, the desire of taking a turn of a speaker is indicated by head movement, eye contact, or gestures There are also linguistic means of not taking the turn when one has the opportunity They are referred to as back-channel responses such as ah-ha, yeah, no, right, sure, and so on (Mc Carthy, 1991) While taking a turn seems to be easy and natural for native speakers, it is really a problem of second language learners Cameron (2002) says that people who do not live in an exclusively English-speaking society may wonder about the issue of cultural differences Mc Carthy (1991) concludes that turn-taking is something may not need to be taught, but specific linguistic can be presented and practised, and significant cultural differences can at least be pointed out to learners

“Topic” is one of the factors of spoken language, yet it is not easily defined According to Wardhaugh (1991), a conversation usually covers a number of topics and involves shifts from one topic to another, and sometimes also a mix of topic

A topic is something talked about, but it is almost impossible to provide a narrow, technical definition for the term “topic” Mc Carthy (1991: 132) defines:

Topics could be defined, on the formal level, as stretches of talk bounded by

certain topic and/or transactional markers We could equally take an overall

pragmatic approach and say that topics are strings of utterances perceived as

relevant to one another by participants in talk Or we could take a purely surface

cohesional view, and say that topics end where chains of lexical cohesion peter

According to Harmer (1998), role-plays stimulate the real world in the same way, but students are given different roles Students are told who they are and what they think about a certain subject They have to talk and act with their new characters

Ladousse (1992: 5) defines role-play in the following way:

When students assume a “role”, they play a part (in either their own or somebody

else’s) a specific situation “Play” means that the role is taken on in a safe

environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible

He continues to present the distinction between role-plays and simulations According to him, simulations are “complex, lengthy and relatively inflexible

events”; while role-plays can be a quite simple and brief technique to organise With regards to this distinction, Klippel (1991: 121) points out:

As a rule simulations are more highly structured and contain more diverse

elements in their content and procedure … In contrast to simulations, role-plays

often consist of short scenes, which can be realistic –as in acting out shopping

situation – or pure fantasy – as in pretending to interview a Martian on TV

Meanwhile, Thornbury (2005: 98) thinks that role-plays involve the adoption of another “persona” when students play a role For example, students pretend to be

an employer interviewing a job applicant or a customer complaining about a company’s products In a simulation, on the other hand, students play themselves

in a simulated situation such as phoning to arrange an appointment or asking for permission

In spite of their difference, both these types of activity have the same overall aim

It is that students can be trained to deal with the unpredictable nature of language Ladousse (1992: 6) adds:

Whether they are playing themselves in a highly constraining situation (as in

simulations), or playing imaginary characters in more open-ended situations (as

in role plays), they need to think on their feet and handle the skein of language as

 Variety and dynamism

 An enormous increase in individual practice

 Low-stress private practice

 Opportunity to develop learner autonomy

 Interaction with peers

(cited in Vo Thi Kim Thuy, 2004: 16)

According to Le Pham Hoai Huong (2004), group work and pair work provide opportunities for learners to express and understand messages as well as to transfer information Group work and pair work improve peer interaction and promote peer learning They also help avoid teacher talk all the time Dangerfield (1991) also believes that role-play is one method of maximising student’s talking time, ensuring that students get an optimum level of practice during their limited class time However, as students work in small groups, they may use their mother tongue in monolingual classes and may get out of topics more easily than when they work in pairs Hence, it is a good idea to train the class with pair work and task-based activities before introducing role-plays (Ladousse, 1992)

Underhill (1998) presents twenty elicitation techniques and states that the key aim

of all techniques is to encourage learners to speak by giving them something to speak about However, not all are used at once in English speaking teaching; role-play is one of the most common techniques as well as language practice activities Through role-plays, students can share life experiences with each other Also, it is easier to discuss complex social issues in non-threatening environment

Role-play may be used in a variety of ways Firstly, a small group enacts a play about a situation while other students observe, and the discussion follows that

role-enactment Secondly, role-play is used to stimulate discussion on complex issues This method of learning essentially is group discussion where role-play acts as a stimulant for the discussion that follows Thirdly, role-play is used to practise some skills in certain situations such as arguing, questioning, or persuading skill Finally, a role play is a re-enactment of past experiences That means all students are asked to enact an issue or a situation with which they are familiar in the past

(adapted from www.unesco.org)

According to Ladousse (1992: 9), “Role-play belongs to that category of language learning techniques sometimes referred to as low input – high output.” It means that the teacher-centered presentation of the lesson is very short After a brief instruction, students take part in an activity in which accomplishing the task is more important than using the exact word and in which fluency predominates over accuracy

With the hope that role-play could be used easily, Dangerfield provides the standard procedure for role-playing which is laid out systematically and clarified

as the following:

(1) Language input means the presentation and practice stages in the

teaching of a language item and the pre-teaching of vocabulary

which is useful for the context of the role-play

(2) Setting of context should be done in order to help students to

appreciate fully the situation in which they will role-play

(3) Allocation of roles can be decided by teachers or else students

choose roles for their own

(4) Statement of aim(s) gives students a concrete result to aim for in

the role-play and thus provides motivation It also provides a

clear-cut result to discuss in report-back phase

(5) Familiarisation with roles can take the form of reading role cards

or student discussion

(6) Demonstration is an optional phase However, if students are

unfamiliar with this kind of practice or unsure of what to do, this

phase is useful

(7) Role-play and achievement of aim(s): one point needs to be noted

here is that, if some groups finish earlier than others, teachers

should prepare one or two ideas for an activity in advance to keep

them occupied while they wait

(8) Report-back will concern how the different groups reached their

aims This is an important phase because students are often

interested in comparing their decisions with those of other

groups It also gives the students opportunities to talk about their

problems they had during the activity

(9) Follow-up can have two forms: firstly, written work based on the

role-play and secondly remedial work based on mistakes noted

by the teacher while monitoring student performance

(Dangerfield, 1991: 37)

In brief, role-play is not an isolated activity, but an integrated part of the lesson in which it is used Through role-plays, students can explore language as it works in the real world They “can see through the myth that language is a package deal, a terminal performance acquired once and for all, and discover that it is something much richer, which is endlessly shifting and generating new, fresh meaning in every situation” (Ladousse, 1992: 17)

2.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of role-play

Lynne Hand (cited on www learnenglish.de) gives some advantages as below:

The effective use of role-plays can add variety to the kinds of activities students

are asked to perform It encourages thinking and creativity; lets students develop

and practice new language and behavioural skills in a relatively safe setting, and

can create the motivation and involvement necessary for real learning to occur

There are several advantages of role-play in teaching English speaking skill First, role-play gives students opportunities to improve communicative competence and creativity Klippel (1991: 122) claims that “Role-plays improve the students’ oral performance generally” In fact, through role-play, students’ speaking ability can

be trained in any situation and “the range of functions and structures, and the areas

of vocabulary can be introduced, go far beyond the limits of other pair or group activities, such as conversation, communication games, or humanistic exercises” (Ladousse, 1992: 6) Besides helping students enhance their oral skills, Sasse (2001) believes that role-play might unlock creative doors

Second, role-play helps shy students express themselves Harmer (1991) says that role-play has some advantages because some shy students may become more talkative in role-plays In fact, it is hard to change the personality of shy or active students Some timid students have great deal of difficulty joining activities based

on their direct experience These students will be able to participate in role-play as they feel that “their own personality is implicated” (Ladousse, 1992: 7) Moreover, students’ attitudes towards taking turns to speak can be changed in role-plays or conversations Shy students may be more forthcoming in small groups than when speaking in front of the class (Dangerfield, 1991)

Third, the important reason for using role-play is that it is fun Students seem to feel like role-playing because now they are not only students but also actors Ladousse (1992: 7) points out, “Once students understand what is expected of them, they thoroughly enjoy letting their imagination rip.” Although there has not been any evidence that enjoyment automatically leads to better learning, many language teachers would probably believe that this is surely so

Finally, role-play is one of the communicative techniques “which develops fluency

in language students, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which increases motivation” (Ladousse, 1992: 7) With role-plays, learners can experience many kinds of situations in which they use the target language; and as they develop the sense of mastery, they should be able to apply the language more easily to new situations Lewis & Hill (1985) have the same idea with Ladousse that interesting tasks increase motivation and that one of the principal ways teachers move in the direction of more highly motivating language teaching is to pay more attention to setting students tasks which develop the necessary skills to find a solution

However, language teachers are afraid of using role-play because there is a little control of teachers when students are practising in group or pair work In pair work or group work, quicker or more advanced students often become more active and dominant, whereas slower students often keep silent Besides, students may use much mother tongue in discussion In classes where the learners share the same language, they may tend to use it because it is easier and unnatural to speak

to one another in a foreign language, and because they feel safe if they speak their native language (Bui Thi Thuc Quyen, 2003)

Furthermore, noise might be an unavoidable problem when teachers are no longer the focus of the class’s attention Anyone who makes a serious effort to teach oral English must use choral work, pair work, and group work Nonetheless, if all students speak at the same time, they will make more noise than is ever heard in the traditional classroom (Lewis & Hill, 1985)

Some teachers’ statements such as “It will create chaos in the classroom”, “It’s just practice-my students won’t actually learn anything” or “My students can’t act, they are too shy” (Ladousse, 1992: 7) give some disadvantages of role-play With

these remarks, teachers can have some problems when using role-play to teach English speaking such as class management or existence of common misconceptions, i.e a role-play should be acted out by a group of students in front

of other people Therefore, teachers must be sufficient at the language and have experience to manage the class

2.3 Brief introduction of teaching methods relating to speaking

2.3.1 The Direct Method

According to Brown (2000), since the Grammar - Translation method was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicatively, the Direct method became popular through the end of the nineteenth century and during the first quarter of the twentieth By the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century, in Europe as well as the United States, most language curricula returned to the Grammar - Translation method or the method emphasising reading skills in foreign languages But in the middle of the twentieth century, the Direct method was revived One of the most famous advocates of the Direct Method was the German Charles Berlitz

It is a method where all foreign language teaching should occur in the target language only, with no translation and an emphasis on linking meaning to the language being learned The teacher directs class activities, but students are less passive than in the Grammar-Translation method As Brown (2000: 45) concludes:

The basis of premise of Berlitz’s method was that second language learning

should be more like first language learning: lots of active oral interaction,

spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first and second

languages, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules

In this method, vocabulary is emphasised over grammar Oral communication is seen as basic Thus, reading and writing exercises are based on what students practice orally first Pronunciation is paid much attention from the beginning of a course

2.3.2 The Audio-Lingual Method

As stated in section 2.3.1, in the first part of the twentieth century, the use of the Direct method declined in the United States and Europe

When World War II broke out, the need to master oral skills of languages of both their allies and enemies increased rapidly Therefore, the U.S military provided special language courses focusing on “oral activity – pronunciation and pattern drills and conversation practice – with virtually none of the grammar and translation found in traditional classes” (Brown, 2000: 74) These courses were called “Army Method”, which was known as the Audio-Lingual method in 1950s

This method focuses on: (1) the structures of the language which are emphasised over all the other areas and included in new dialogues, (2) vocabulary which is also contextualized within a dialogue, and (3) skills which are sequenced in the natural order, listening, speaking, reading and writing The oral skill receives most

of the attention while reading and writing are postponed

Teachers are responsible for providing students with a good model for imitation and play a role as leaders or controllers while students are imitators who follow

their teacher’s directions and respond to teacher’s questions as quickly and accurately as possible

2.3.3 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

CLT began and has developed for over the past few decades According to Richards and Rodgers (1986), CLT starts with a theory of language as communication which means that language is considered as a means of communication Researchers who are interested in CLT have the general idea that CLT emphasises communication in a foreign language and improves learners’ communicative competence through oral communicative activities such as role-play, problem-solving tasks, and games

CLT may have a profound effect on classroom matures and practice With the Direct method or the Audio-Lingual method, students may use the language but will be unable to get long-term communicative proficiency; whereas CLT focuses

on helping learners create meaning and function rather than develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation (Richards and Rodgers, 1986) In real life communication, we use the language to accomplish some functions such as promising, arguing, or persuading and apply these functions into certain social context Moreover, students could use nonverbal communication in case of limited verbal language

Characteristics of CLT

Brown (2000: 266 - 267) offers the following interconnected characteristics as a definition of the communicative language teaching:

(1) The classroom goals are focused on all of the components of

communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or

linguistic competence

(2) Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the

pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful

purposes Organizational language forms are not the central focus

but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to

accomplish those purposes

(3) Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles

underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may

have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep

learners meaningfully engaged in language use

(4) In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use

the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed

contexts

Oral communicative activities

With the above characteristics, some researchers such as Littlewood (1981), Pattison (1987), and Richards & Rodgers (1986) suggest some common kinds of activities such as role-play, problem-solving tasks, and games

In problem-solving tasks, learners discuss in pairs or in groups, with a little participation of teachers, to find out a solution for a given problem or task The discussion is based on learners’ own past experiences and attitudes from which they arrive at new knowledge These tasks focus on communication, not on structures They provide learners with opportunities to talk and listen to others, thus the interaction among learners is increased and communicative purpose is gained They can be easily used for learners at different levels of language

Games play an important role in improving communicative competence Teachers design some different kinds of games to develop students’ communicative competence Teachers give a clear instruction for each kind of game and control the class during the game Games can be a helpful bridge between students and

lessons Rivers (1983) states that communicative games make the classroom enjoyable and natural and encourage the learners to focus on meaning than on form of utterance

2.4 The roles of teachers and learners in CLT

According to Littlewood (1991: 91), one of the clearest features about the development of communicative ability is that “it occurs through processes inside the learner.” Teachers can offer some kinds of stimulus and experience that these processes require, but have no direct control over them He emphasises that these processes can work without any teacher at all in natural environment, so long as the environment provides the necessary stimuli and experience Nonetheless, this does not mean that teachers are not necessary because the classroom is not the natural environment Harmer (cited in Tran Kim Hang, 2004: 46) suggests that learners should possess some or all of the following characteristics: (1) a willingness to listen, (2) a willingness to experiment, (3) a willingness to ask questions, (4) a willingness to think about how to learn, and (5) a willingness to accept correction

Whilst teachers are dominators in a traditional classroom, they play a variety of roles in communicative language teaching Littlewood (1991: 92-93) describes teachers’ roles as below Teachers can be general overseers of their students’ learning who have to aim to combine activities so that they form a coherent progression, leading towards greater communicative ability Teachers can be classroom managers who are responsible for grouping activities into lessons and for ensuring that these are satisfactorily organised at a practical level Teachers may perform the familiar role of language instructors who present new language Teachers may act as consultants or advisers Sometimes, teachers can participate

in an activity as co-communicators with students In this role, they might stimulate and present new language Harmer (1998) adds some teachers’ roles Teachers can

act as prompters who encourage students, push them to achieve more and provide them with necessary information or knowledge to help them proceed In some cases, teachers can act as assessors who give feedback to students or give them grades

2.5 Communicative competence

According to Bachman (1990: 84-92), communicative competence includes five kinds: linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and fluency Firstly, linguistic competence related to knowledge of the language, its form and meaning Secondly, pragmatic competence includes illocutionary competence which involves ability to use language for communicative goals in the social context and sociolinguistic competence which shows social knowledge to use the correct language forms in various contexts and with people in different status and roles Thirdly, discourse competence involves the speaker’s ability to take turns in conversation, to keep on the conversation, and to develop the topic Fourth, strategic competence contains communication strategies, achievement strategies, and reduction strategies Communication strategies are used when a speaker does not have enough knowledge of a language to express what she/he wants Achievement strategies are used to request cooperation from partners in a conversation, paraphrases, or gestures when a speaker meets difficulties in expressing herself/himself Reduction strategies are used to avoid unsure forms and choose structures a speaker knows Finally, fluency is established by several factors such as speed which is the most important, pausing, the appropriate placement of pauses, and the length of run (Thornbury, 2005)

Meanwhile, Hymes (cited in Brown, 2000: 246), who coined the term

“communicative competence”, refers to communicative competence that enables

us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meaning interpersonally

within specific contexts Built on Hymes’ theory, Canale and Swain (cited in Scarcella & Oxford, 1992: 154) propose that communicative competence includes grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence, and strategic competence, which determine speaking proficiency as in the following chart:

circumlocution, topic selection)

conversation management strategies

Appropriate use of language Coherence in speech

(including register, speech acts, intonation) Cohesion in speech

Grammatical competence includes increasing expertise in grammar, vocabulary,

and mechanics which refers to basic sounds of letters and syllables, pronunciation

of words, intonation, and stress in terms of speaking (Scarcella & Oxford, 1992)

In order to convey meaning, EFL learners must understand how words are segmented into various sounds and how sentences are stressed in particular ways

Hence, grammatical competence enables speakers to use and understand English language structures accurately and unhesitatingly, which contributes to their fluency

Discourse competence is concerned with intersentential relationships In discourse,

whether formal or informal, the rules of cohesion, and coherence are applied, which aid in holding the communication together in a meaningful way As Richards and Platt et al (1993: 111) defines, “discourse competence is an aspect of communicative competence which describes the ability to produce unified written

or spoken discourse that shows coherence and cohesion…”

Sociolinguistic competence is the knowledge of the socio-cultural rules of

language and of discourse Savignon (cited in Brown, 2000: 247) points out that this type of competence “requires an understanding of the social context in which language is used: the role of participants, the information they share, and the function of the interaction” Understanding the sociolinguistic side of language helps learners know how to use the language appropriately and interact with others effectively and know how to respond nonverbally according to the purpose of the talk

Strategic competence: Canale and Swain (cited in Brown, 2000: 247) describe

strategic competence as “the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient competence.” With reference to speaking, strategic competence refers to the ability to know how to keep a conversation, how to terminate the conversation and how to clarify comprehension problems

2.6 Nonverbal communication

In reality, we communicate so much information nonverbally in conversations Interactive communications emphasise over how you say it – what you convey with body language, gestures, eye contact and other nonverbal messages more than what you say (Brown, 2000) Also, Widdowson (1990: 73) admits:

Communication through the spoken mode is not realized by speaking, which is

by definition only verbal, but by saying, which employs such paralinguistic

devices as gesture, facial expression and so on, which are conveyed through the

visual medium

Eye contact

In American culture, an American might interpret lack of eye contact as impolite lack of attention, while in Japanese culture eye contact might be considered rude Hence, cultures differ widely in this particular visual modality of nonverbal communication Not only is eye contact important, but also the gesture of the eyes plays a crucial role in communication “Eyes can signal interest, boredom, empathy, hostility, attraction, understanding, misunderstanding, and other messages.” (Brown, 2000: 263) These eye signals help EFL learners convey messages in conversations unambiguously

As teachers, when our eyes are frequently moving over the class, students feel involved If we use the eye signals effectively, we will find it easier to avoid using unnecessary language Moreover, in order to check students’ comprehension, teachers should look at their eyes in which any incomprehension or confusion will show (Lewis & Hill, 1985)

Kinesics/ Body language

Brown (2000: 262) points out, “All cultures throughout the history of humankind have relied on kinesics for conveying important messages.” And there is a tremendous variation cross-culturally and cross-linguistically in the specific interpretations of gestures Human beings all move their heads, blink their eyes,

move their arms and hands, but the significance of these movements varies from society to society

In the classroom, gestures become effective to encourage and direct students Such gestures are used to provide a reassuring structure for students and mean that teachers can catch requirements from individual students or even from the whole class, with a minimum of noise (Lewis & Hill, 1985)

2.7 Factors affecting EFL learners’ speaking

In order to investigate how EFL learners’ speaking ability is affected, it is necessary to consider the following factors

Age

Age is considered one of the most debated issues in language teaching theory because it determines the success or failure of foreign language learning Oyama’s

study (cited in Tran Kim Hang, 2004: 19) shows that many adults fail to reach native-like proficiency in a second language It seems that it is because of the phenomenon called “fossilization” – the permanent cessation of second language development It shows that even if adult learners can utter words or sentences with perfect pronunciation, problems such as intonation, stress, and other phonological nuisances may cause misunderstandings or lead to communication breakdown According to Scarcella & Oxford (1992), adult learners seem not to have the same innate language-specific endowment or propensity as children for acquiring fluency and naturalness in spoken language Concerning affective factor, younger children are less frightened because they are less aware of language forms and the possibility of making mistakes in those forms, whereas adults’ attempts to speak in the foreign language are often fraught with embarrassment (Brown, 2000: 65) He adds that very young children who are not developed cognitively enough to understand cultures, ethnic groups, races, classes of people, and languages may be less affected than adults

Gender

In order to prove that one of the major pragmatic factors affecting the acquisition

of communicative competence in virtually every language is the effect of one’s sex

on both production and reception of language, Brown (2000) provides several examples of differences between the way males and females speak For example, American English girls seem to produce more standard language than boys, or women appear to use more uncertain language than men, or women use more polite forms than men, so on

Romaine (1994) also discovers that girls speak more politely, whereas boys speak roughly and use more slang and swear words When asking about some boys’ behaviours towards their peers, they say that they have to talk rudely with other boys in order not to be ridiculed During adolescence under the influence of peer pressure, boys shift towards more non-standard speech, while girls retain their

more standard speech because they think that they have to be careful not to go too far or people will judge them negatively Goddard & Patterson (2000: 92) also believe that “While female behavior is often constructed and interpreted in particular ways, men have freedom to define themselves in any way they want.”

In addition to the above factors, cognitive, socio-cultural, and affective factors are also mentioned to provide the overall view of the factors affecting learners’ speaking skill

Cognitive factors

Cognitive strategies refer to processes and behavior which learners use to help

them improve their ability to learn or remember something, particularly those

which learners use with specific classroom tasks and activities

(Richards, Platt, J & Platt, H., 1993: 60)

Thornbury (2005) presents the four sub-categories to clarify the effects of cognitive factors on speaking The first is familiarity with the topic He states that the greater the familiarity is, the easier the speaking task is That is why it is easier for speakers to talk about jobs, families, hobbies than something strange to daily life such as movie industry, crime, or punishment The second is familiarity with the genre According to him, speakers will give a lecture or a speech harder if they are unfamiliar with particular genres The third is familiarity with the interlocutors

He claims that the better speakers know people they are talking to and the more shared knowledge they can assume, the easier speaking will be The fourth is processing demands If the speech event involves complex mental processing, such

as that involved in describing a complicated procedure without recourse to illustrations, it will be more difficult

Socio-cultural factors

Culture is a way of life It is the context within which we exist, think, feel, and

relate to other… Culture might also be defined as the ideas, customs, skills, art,

and tools that characterize a given group of people in a given period of time.”

(Brown, 2000: 176)

After defining culture, Brown (2000) determines that culture creates for each person a context of cognitive and affective behaviour, template for personal and social existence

From a pragmatic perspective, language is a form of social action because linguistic communication occurs in the context of structured interpersonal exchange, and meaning is thus socially regulated To speak a language, one must know how the language is used in a social context On the other hand, “A language

is a part of a culture, and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one can not separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture.” (Brown, 2000: 177) Because of specific cultural norms, nonnative speakers find it difficult to select forms appropriate to certain situations Brown (2000) summarises that learners will have to learn the culture of the speakers’ language in order to successfully learn a language

Affective factors

Thornbury (2005) states that affective factors include feelings towards the topic and/or the participants and self-consciousness, while Brown (2000: 143) emphasises:

The affective domain is the emotional side of human behavior, and it may be

juxtaposed to the cognitive side The development of affective states or feeling

involves a variety of personality factors, feeling both about ourselves and about

others with whom we come into contact