E learning application in teaching speaking english to first year students of foreign language faculty at the ute, hcmc

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES E-LEARNING APPLICATION IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH TO FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY AT THE UTE, HCMC A thesis s

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

E-LEARNING APPLICATION IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH TO FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

FACULTY AT THE UTE, HCMC

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, May, 2010

“E-LEARNING APPLICATION IN TEACHING

SPEAKING ENGLISH TO FIRST YEAR

STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

FACULTY AT UTE, HCMC”

submitted in terms of the Statements of Requirements for Theses in Master’s

Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee, is my own work

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

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, LÊ PHƯƠNG ANH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library

I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the University Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, May 28, 2010

Lê Phương Anh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of authority i

Retention and use of the thesis ii

Table of contents iii

List of figures vi

List of tables vii

List of abbreviations viii

Acknowledgements ix

Abstract x

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 The aims of the study 4

1.3 Overview of the study 4

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 The differences between spoken language and written language 5

2.2 The role of speaking in the four language skills 10

2.3 Communicative competence 13

2.4 Factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking competence 18

2.4.1 Personality factors 18

2.4.2 Socio-cultural factors 21

2.4.3 Language environment 21

2.5 The roles of teachers and learners 22

2.6 Introduction to E-learning 23

2.6.1 Definition of E-learning 23

2.6.2 E-learning advantages and disadvantages 24

2.6.2.1 Advantages 24

2.6.2.2 Disadvantages 27

2.6.3 Why is the adoption of e-learning in higher education inevitable? 32

2 6 4 Blended Learning .34

2.7 Summary 36

Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY 37

3.1 Research questions 37

3.2 Research design 38

3.2.1 Characteristics of the subjects 40

3.2.2 Instruments 42

3.2.3 Data collection procedures 46

3.3 Summary 47

Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 48

4.1 Data analysis 48

4.1.1 Learners’ responses to the questionnaire 48

4.1.2 Teachers’ responses to the interview .70

4.1.3 E-learning experts’ responses to the interviews 79

4.2 Summary 81

Chapter 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 82

5.1 Conclusions 82

5.2 Recommendations 84

5.3 Summary 86

BIBLIOGRAPHY 87

APPENDICES 93

Appendix 1: Questionnaire (in Vietnamese) 93

Appendix 2: Interview with Vietnamese teachers of English at UTE 99 Appendix 3: Interview with e-learning experts at UTE 100

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1: Learners’ attitudes towards speaking English 49

Figure 4.2: Learners’ feeling in English speaking class ……51

Figure 4.3: Learners’ participation in English speaking activities in class 55

Figure 4.4: Learners’ attitudes towards learning speaking English with e-learning 59

Figure 4.5: Learners’ assessment on speed of access to the internet 61

Figure 4.6: Learners’ computer skill self-assessment 62

Figure 4.7: Time allocation for practicing spoken English 66

Figure 4.8: Improvement of other language skills 68

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Classification of communication strategies 17

Table 2.2 Cabero’s advantages and disadvantages of e-learning 31

Table 3.1: Background information about the student subjects 41

Table 3.2: Background information about teacher subjects 42

Table 4.1: Learners’ frequency of practicing English skills 50

Table 4.2: Learners’ difficulties in speaking class 52

Table 4.3: Learners’ common mistakes in speaking class 53

Table 4.4: Learners’ communication strategies used in speaking class 54

Table 4.5: Learners’ frequency of practicing spoken English outside classroom56 Table 4.6: Learners’ difficulties in speaking with native speakers 57

Table 4.7: Accompanying IT tools and soft wares 64

Table 4.8: Learners’ frequency of practicing spoken English in Skype 65

Table 4.9: Learners’ strategies used to cope with difficulties encountered 67

Table 4.10: Learners’ use of Skype in practising speaking English 69

Table 4.11: Learners’ barriers in learning speaking English skill with e-learning 70

IT Information technology L2 Second language

NGO Non-governmental organisations

SLA Second language acquisition

UTE University of Technical Education

VLE Vietnamese learner of English

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and above all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my wholehearted thesis supervisor, Dr Dang Thi Huong for her encouragement, enthusiastic guidance and instructive comments on my writing Without her valuable support and

careful review of the drafts, I would not have finished my thesis

I would also like to show my special thanks to my colleagues at UTE for their support as well as their contributing ideas to the completion of this thesis

I also take this chance to express my thankfulness to 110 freshmen EMs at UTE for

their cooperation and willingness of answering the questionnaires

I am greatly indebted to my parents whose support has been a constant source of

encouragement and confidence to me

My great thanks go to my husband, who supported me and took care of our daughter while I was busy with this study Finally, my thanks also save for my daughter, who has been my wonderful source of happiness, helping me out of stress to complete the

study

ABSTRACT

This study aims 1) to investigate the EFL speaking problems of the first year English majors at the University of Technical Education in Ho Chi Minh City; 2) to examine factors affecting their English speaking skill 3) to investigate the reality of applying e-learning in teaching and learning spoken English at UTE Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study The survey questionnaires were delivered to the students at UTE to get their ideas about learning spoken English before and after experimenting e-learning classes Interviews were also conducted with five teachers working at the faculty of foreign languages, UTE and two e-learning experts so that their responses can be helpful to the application of e-learning The results of the study revealed that (1) the learners’ previous language learning experience and affective factors such as anxiety, shyness, their fear of making mistakes; and their shortage of vocabulary, etc may prevent them from taking part in speaking activities in the classroom; (2) the implementation of e-learning into conventional classes can reduce their shortcomings and improve their speaking ability

as well as their self-study, and (3) e-learning application in teaching oral skill has both advantages and disadvantages The study also points out that despite its setbacks, e-learning can be more effectively applied for speaking class at present and in the near future

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This study investigates the application of e-learning methodology in teaching speaking

to first year students majored in English of the Foreign Language Faculty at the University of Technical Education, HCMC (UTE) after considering their attitudes toward perceptions of e-learning integration in traditional speaking classes; their communicative competence as well as some factors influencing that competence It is hoped that the findings and recommendations will help the students and teachers improve the reality of teaching and learning English speaking skill at UTE This chapter presents the background to the study, the aims and the overview of the thesis

1.1 Background to the study

There is no doubt that Vietnamese economy system has changed dramatically after the

“Open-door” policy was implemented in 1986 These changes have not only invited many foreign investors and visitors who speak English as their first language to Vietnam but also provided Vietnamese people with opportunities to go abroad in general and to English speaking countries in particular As a result, the number of Vietnamese who need English for employment, education, and especially for international communication has sharply increased

communication more than ever before They really want to try every way just to

improve their English speaking ability

Moreover, in response to an appeal from Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training

to all universities and colleges to improve the quality of tertiary education toward regional and international standards, language institutions are making great efforts to further promote the foreign language learning process In the last few years, there have been dramatic changes in the ways that languages are taught with the replacement of grammar translation by communicative approaches and the introduction of technological tools The reason for such changes is that the goal of Vietnamese learners is no longer to pass examinations but to use language for daily communications and interactions

In many universities, the success of students' acquisition is now measured in terms of their ability to communicate in the second language rather than on examining their accuracy in using certain grammatical features Therefore, apart from experimenting new teaching methods, more and more universities have been applying modern technology to support language skills teaching with a view to gaining better achievements

At UTE, the number of English majors is increasing considerably which is the fact that students are now more aware of the importance of English than ever before However, most of them come from the neighboring areas of Ho Chi Minh City and some even from very remote provinces where spoken English is not properly taught and paid much attention to For them, especially those who are freshmen, speaking English naturally and fluently seems to be impossible In the first year at university, they study two

courses on Speaking 1 and 2 whose course unit value is 3 credits each and the contact hour is 135 minutes (3 periods) per week With a class size normally of

class-about 30-35 students, the chance of taking turn to speak is not offered equally to every single one At the very first level at university, a great number of the learners have

problems in speaking English and there are accordingly quite a lot of mistakes in their oral communication in the target language

It is not too difficult to be aware that their speaking problems come from their poor communicative competence

However, in almost all cases English speaking environment for first year English majors (EM) at UTE is classroom where the learners can practise spoken language Dang Thi Huong (2000) shows that learners majored in English at the University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City used 80% English and 20% Vietnamese inside the classroom while they were likely to use only 20% or 30% English and 80% or 70% Vietnamese outside the classroom The problem is more serious for speaking classes at some associate training colleges with UTE out of the City where both teachers and learners find it difficult to manage enough time for face-to-face communication

While the traditional teaching methods often used seem not to thoroughly solve the problems mentioned above, the integration of e-learning approach is considered to be a remedy With the implementation of e-learning in the learning programme, we can free learners from a fixed timetable of attendance at university or other learning institutions This includes the delivery of learning at a distance from a tutor/teacher, it can also add a degree of freedom to more traditional programmes, for example allowing online discussion groups to accompany a lecture programme, delivering a programme based on interactive multimedia learning materials at university or a distance learning programme with learners based throughout the country Above all, learners can learn at any speed they like, where and when they desire provided that they can improve their English speaking proficiency

The aims of this study are:

1 To investigate the reality of teaching and learning speaking skills at UTE

2 To examine factors influencing first year students’ communicative competence

3 To highlight the necessity of applying e-learning in teaching and learning English speaking skill and

4 To give recommendations on how to improve e-learning application in teaching speaking to first year EMs at UTE

1.3 Overview of the study

This study consists of five chapters Chapter One is the introduction providing background information to the study Chapter Two presents the literature review to the study which consists of theoretical background and related studies Chapter Three mentions the methodology employed including research questions, research design, characteristics of the subjects, instruments and implementation of the study Chapter Four reports the results of data analysis and discussion of the findings Chapter Five presents suggestions to the improvement of e-learning application in teaching English speaking skill to first year EMs at UTE

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In Chapter One, the background information to the study has been presented This chapter reviews prominent studies to support the study, with the following main areas: (1) The differences between spoken language and written language, (2)The role of speaking in the four language skills, (3) Communicative competence, (4) Some factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking competence, (5) the roles of teachers and learners (6) The introduction to E-Learning

2.1 The differences between spoken language and written language

As Brown and Yule (1989: 1) define, “The written language is the language of literature and scholarship It is language which is admired, studied and rich in excellent exemplification” Whereas, it is difficult to give spoken language an accurate definition 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)

For most of its history, language teaching has been concerned with the study of the written language The serious consideration of the spoken language as a subject for teaching also has a long history, but only made a decisive impact on foreign language teaching in general after the second World War (Brown and Yule, 1989: 1- 2)

The fundamental function common to most uses of the written language is the transmission of information or the transactional function Spoken language may also have the transactional function, but its overriding function is the interactional one, which

is to establish and maintain social relations (Brown and Yule, 1989: 11- 12)

One major difference between spoken language and written language is the density of packing of information Brown and Yule (1989) conclude:

It will be obvious from our discussion that 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…

(Brown and Yule, 1989: 7)

The fact that spoken language consists of less densely packed information than written language has some implications both on syntactic structure and vocabulary selection The syntax used in spoken language is much simpler than the one in written language Brown and Yule (1989: 4) observe:

Most speakers of English produce spoken language which is syntactically very much simpler than written language… Most spoken language consists of paratactic (unsubordinated) phrases which are marked as related to each other, not so much by the syntax as by the way the speaker says them The speaker uses the resources of pausing and rhythm and, to a lesser extent, intonation, to mark out for listener which parts of his speech need to be co-interpreted

(Brown and Yule, 1989: 4)

For example, instead of using a complex grammatical noun phrase like: “a small red equal-sided square”, speakers tend to use their pausing, intonation to convey their meaning: “draw a square – a red square – red square – equal sided – quite small side –quite a small square.” (cited in Brown and Yule, 1989: 7) So if foreign learners are aware of the syntactic difference between written and spoken English, they will be able

to select the right language for each situation

As well, spoken language tends towards less specific vocabulary and more general use

of items like “this one”, “like this”, “they”, “over there”, etc which can only decoded in relation to context and by people getting involved in the speech or the conversation

In addition, spoken language has a number of special characteristics which can not be found in written language (Brown, 1994: 239-240) While in written language, sentence

is considered as a basic unit of organization, in spoken language, the basic one is group

of words or “clustering” Written text is fixed and stable so that a person can do his/ her reading at whatever time and speed he/ she wants Speaking, on the other hand, is faster than writing (Ur, 1996: 161) Because of its quick rate of delivery, together with the stress pattern and intonation, spoken English can make listening become difficult to learners (Brown, 1994: 240) According to Brown and her colleagues (cited in Nunan, 1999: 237), prior experience as a listener helps speakers improve their performance as a speaker So, it can be inferred that if one can not understand what is said, one is certainly unable to respond, which may lead to communication breakdowns Also, as Bruns and Joyce (cited in Nunan, 1999: 232) conclude, the learners may have difficulties in transferring from their first language to the sounds, rhythms and stress patterns of English Moreover, writing normally uses standard variety of the language; whereas, speech may consists of colloquial language, idioms, slang words, conversational routines, reduced forms and redundancy Learners who have been familiar with standard written language may find it difficult to deal with all the characteristics mentioned above

“Greeting- Greeting” and “Complaint – Apology” are some examples of adjacency pairs So in some cases, we can predict the second part of a pair from the first For

example, a greeting “hello” is normally followed by a greeting “hi”; a complaint “Your music is too loud I can’t study” might expect an apology “Oh, sorry I didn’t realize that

it bothered you” On the one hand, the expectation of the second pair part from the first pair part can prepare learners a good response On the other hand, it might prevent

foreign learners from getting opportunities to practice other real-life options, as speakers usually do

In order for a conversation which is basically organized by adjacency pairs to go on well, the participants involved must follow the rule of taking a turn Sacks, Schefloff & Jefferson (1974) state that the most general principle governing a conversation is that only one person speaks at a time and one person usually starts talking soon after another has stopped Also, Nolasco and Arthur (1992) add:

In order for conversation to work smoothly, all participants have to be alert to signals that a speaker is about to finish his or her turn, and be able to come in with a contribution which fits the direction in which the conversation moving

(Nolasco & Arthur, 1992: 8)

Pauses, noticeable relaxation, or lower pitch of the last syllable can signal a completion Whereas, the desire of taking a turn of a speaker is indicated by the body movements, the eye signals or a series of remarks like “Hang on”, “Wait a minute” or

turn-“By the way” And once acquiring the turn to speak, the participant has a strong right to continue speaking until he/she is interrupted or voluntarily give up the turn (Wardhaugh, 1991: 150) While taking a turn, or finishing a turn seems relatively easy and natural for native speakers, it is really a big problem for second language learners As Slade (cited

in Richards, 1997: 69) observes:

Turn-taking and turn assignment in conversation can be difficult for a second language speaker A learner who mistimes his entry into conversation or who is unfamiliar with the correct formulae can give the impression of being “pushy” or, conversely, over-reticent

Slade (cited in Richards, 1997: 69) Topics are not easy to define McMacthy (1991: 132) says that “topics are strings of utterances perceived as relevant to one another by participants in talk… and topics end when chains of lexical cohesion peter out” Whereas, Wardhaugh (1991: 139) concludes

“a topic is something talked about” Also, according to Wardhaugh(1991: 139), a conversation usually covers a number of topics and involves shifts from one topic to another, and sometimes also a mix of topics In order to nominate and maintain a topic of conversation, Grice (cited in Brown, 1994: 236) suggests that speaker should apply

certain conversational maxims such as (1) quantity: say only as much as is necessary for understanding the communication; (2) quality: say only what is true; (3) relevance: say only what is relevant; (4) manner: be clear In other words, these maxims specify what

participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, operative way: they should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly, while providing sufficient information (Levinson, 1995: 102)

However, these maxims are often broken, or we can say, they are adhered to at some deeper level When the violation of the maxims happens, even native speakers have to work harder to figure out the underlying meaning, let alone foreign learners Learners, therefore, may have a lot of problems in conversational situations in the target language where the maxims are not observed

2.2 The role of speaking in the four language skills

Speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill (Bygate, 1997: vii) Perhaps this is

because we can almost all speak, and so take the skill too much for granted The role of

speaking or oral output in second language acquisition is also de-emphasized Krashen (cited in Mc Laughlin, 1991: 50) argues that speaking is unnecessary for acquiring a second language, since in fact someone who is not able to speak for physical reasons can still acquire the full ability to understand language

However, Swain (1985) and other researchers such as Brown (1994), Ur (1996), Byrne (1991), Bygate (1997), and Brumfit et al (1980), etc provide evidences to prove the important role of speaking skill, not only in society but also in the four language skills Bygate (1997: viii) states that in society, speaking is the skill by which people are most

frequently judged and through which they make or lose friends It is the vehicle par excellente of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of

business Brown and Levinson (cited in Hudson, 1991: 115) show their agreement on the importance of speech as one of the ways in which one presents a personal image for others to evaluate, both through what one says and the way one says it In Berkeley survey (cited in Huckin and Olsen, 1994: 4) asking about the effect of good oral communication, 60% of the respondents said that speaking skills had aided their career advancement

In second or foreign language learning, speaking skill and other language skills are intricately intertwined Ability in writing, reading and listening correlates significantly with development in speaking and vice versa, good oral communication seems to enable learners to write, read and listen better in the target language The relation of these four language skills first of all is illustrated by Byrne’s diagram (1991:8) as below:

Also, Brown (1994: 219) describes production and reception as two sides of the same

coins, one can not split the coin in two She adds that written and spoken language often

(but not always) bear a relationship to each other and that one skill will reinforce

another We learn to speak in part by modeling what we hear, and we learn to write by

examining what we can read

Meanwhile, Rivers and Temperley (1978: 6) point out the correlation between speaking

skill and other language skills According to them, the ability to speak the language

derives from the systematic study of grammar, phonology and lexicon They assume that

accuracy in expressing oneself orally dependent on prior study of language forms

through reading and written exercises Similarly, listening has an important impact on

learners’ speaking ability Brumfit et al argue that

It is impossible to expect a student to produce a sound which does not exist in his mother tongue or a natural sentence using the stress, rhythms and intonation of a native speaker of the foreign language without first of all providing him with a model

of the form he is to produce It is not possible to produce satisfactorily what one has not heard

Long and Porter (cited in Mc Laughlin, 1991: 50) provide evidence for the usefulness of speaking or conversation between non-native speakers Long and Porter find out that speaking can increase the communicative abilities of the learners in groups and motivate learners to study

In addition, speaking exercises seem very relevant and necessary, not only in speaking classes but also in classes teaching other language skills When mentioning techniques used in training writing, reading or listening skills, Brumfit et al (1980) explicate that preceding oral discussion in the classroom is always needed to achieve the success in other skills

Also, Rivers and Temperley (1978: 3) claim that “… being able to understand a language but not speak it can have specialized utility (for the employment of foreign language films, broadcasts, plays and songs, or for professional monitoring purposes) but is very frustrating in normal communication situations”

In a word, the role of speaking in the four language skills can be concluded by Ur’s statement:

Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as

“speaker” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak

(Ur, 1996:120)

2.3 Communicative competence

According to Ellis (2000: 696), communicative competence is “the knowledge that users

of a language have internalized to enable them to understand and produce messages in language”

Several models of communicative competence have been proposed Chomsky (cited in Brown, 1994) proposed the concept of grammatical or linguistic competence and highlighted cognitive aspects of human language acquisition and learning He distinguished between competence (one’s underlying knowledge of the language) and performance (the realization of language in specific situations) Meanwhile, Hymes (cited in Brown, 1994), who coined the term “communicative competence” emphasized social, interactive, and negotiating process of language Hymes expanded Chomsky’s notion of communicative competence by including both grammatical rules and rules of language use

Canale and Swain (1980) identified three distinctive components of communicative competence: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic

competence This model was updated by Canale (1983) He proposed a four-dimensional model of communicative competence: grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and

strategic competence

Bachman (cited in Brown, 1983) suggested a theoretical framework for communicative language ability It includes knowledge structures, strategic competence, psychophysical mechanisms, context of situation, and language competence Language competence is divided into organizational competence (grammatical and textual competences) and pragmatic competence (illocutionary and sociolinguistic competences)

In spite of many disputes over what components should be included in a model of communicative competence by applied linguistics, it is believed that communicative competence determines speaking proficiency (Scarcella and Oxford, 1992) According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), abilities underlying speaking proficiency are grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competences, which are presented in the following diagram

(Scarcella and Oxford, 1992: 154)

Grammatical competence is a concept that includes increasing expertise in grammar (morphology, syntax), vocabulary, and mechanics With regard to speaking, good grammatical competence enables speakers to use and understand grammatical structures accurately and unhesitatingly, and thus, it contributes to the speakers’ fluency

Sociolinguistic competence is concerned with intersentential relationships based on the rules of cohesion and coherence EFL learners must develop discourse competence to be able to vary their speech appropriately according to the purpose of the talk It means that they are able to use conversation for interactional purposes (to establish social relations) and transactional purposes (to convey information or complete tasks) They also know when to use formal styles and when to use informal or neutral ones so that they can vary their language appropriately

circumlocution, topic selection) when words are unknown; use of conversation

management strategies

Sociolinguistic competence

Appropriate use of language

(including register, speech

Discourse competence is the competence with which speakers can manage turn-taking

in conversation (which entails taking a turn of talk, holding a turn, and relinquishing a turn), to open and close a conversation, to keep a conversation going, and to repair trouble spots in conversation Also, speakers are required to achieve a large repertoire of discourse markers

Tarone and Yule (1989: 91) believe that strategic competence includes “the ability to select an effective means of performing a communicative act…strategic competence is gauged, not by degree of correctness…but rather by degree of success, or effectiveness”

In a word, strategic competence refers to the individual’s ability to use “communicative strategies”, e.g paraphrase, circumlocution, lexical approximation, mime, to allow them

to communicate effectively in the new language in spite of their limited or imperfect knowledge of the target language

Although researchers develop and propose new taxonomies of communication strategies from time to time, Tarone’s taxonomy of communication strategies (1983) is considered the basic of all proposed taxonomies

translation

Appeal for assistance Mime

circumlocution, topic selection) when words are unknown; use of conversation

management strategies

Sociolinguistic competence

Appropriate use of language

(including register, speech

acts, intonation)

Discourse competence Coherence

in speech Cohesion in speech PARAPHRASE

vocabulary item or structure, which the learner knows is not correct, but

features in common with the desired item to satisfy the speaker (e.g., pipe

for waterpipe)

order to communicate a desired concept (e.g.,

2.4 Factors influencing EFL learners’ speaking competence

2.4.1 Personality factors

There have been a great number of studies mentioning the correlation between the personality factors and learners’ language proficiency (Freemen, 1991) Stevick (1976: 61) argues that existing personality of one person has an impact on his/her oral interaction Brown (1994: 134) adds that personality factors within a person including self-esteem, anxiety, attitude and motivation, etc can contribute in some way to the success of language learning

Anxiety or “the feeling of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension or worry” (Brown, 1994: 141) is also considered to affect learners’ communication According to Scovel (cited in Freeman, 1991: 3) moderate anxiety can be facilitating; whereas Krasen (cited in Phillips, 1999: 126) says that learners with low self-esteem are more likely to

be concerned with what their classmates think about them and this fear of making a mistake or appearing foolish heightens their anxiety The anxiety makes them less willing to speak out, or to practice speaking

Attitude is the persistence shown by the learner in striving for a goal (Garder and

Lambert, cited in Ellis, 1996: 117) Whereas, motivation is commonly thought of as an

“inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action” (Brown, 1994: 152) Gardner and Lambert (cited in Littlewood, 1991: 57) identify two types of

motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation A learner with

integrative motivation has a genuine interest in the second language in order to

communicate with them more satisfactorily and to gain closer contact with them and their culture A learner with instrumental motivation, on the other hand, is more

interested in how the second language can be useful instrument towards furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospect

I would also like to consider a number of other affective factors influencing learners’ L2 proficiency The discussion will be restricted to the three variables which have received the most attention in second language acquisition (SLA) research: social status, age and gender

Social status

Social status refers to higher, lower or equal position, particularly in regard to prestige, power, and social class The status of people, when they are communicating in speech or writing, may affect the speech style they use to each other (Richards at al., 1992: 353) When dealing with the relationship between social status and people’s communication, Trugill (1983: 34) concludes that social class differences can be reflected in grammar, pronunciation as well as accents From the results of Labov’s and Holmes’ studies (cited

in Rickford, 1997: 167-169), it can be said that higher-status people tend to use more standard language than people of lower status Also, Gamble and Gamble (1999: 113-114) point out that the language can reflect the power or authority of people who use it Powerful speakers make definite statements, direct the action, and assume control; whereas, powerless people speak indirectly and hesitantly due to their lack of self-confidence

Age

Age is thought as an important factor to determine the success or failure of foreign language learners Scovel (cited in Freeman, 1991) argues that only children, not adults, can attain native-like pronunciation in the L2 Oyama’s study (1976) also 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- that adult learners can not reach perfect pronunciation in L2

or a foreign language They also have problems such as intonation, stress and other phonological nuisances which may lead to misunderstandings or communication breakdown

Gender

The effect of one’s sex on his/ her production of language has attracted many researchers’ concern Bonvillain (1993: 242) argues that women and men behave differently in several communicative domains Women are long prejudiced to talk more than men, but empirical studies of a number of social situations have shown the opposite

to be true (Spolsky, 1998: 37) Female speakers have been found not only to produce more standard pronunciation but also to use “better” or more “correct” forms than men (Trudgill, 1983: 87)

When investigating the impact of gender on communication, Brown (1994: 240) finds that women seem to have less confidence in what they say than men Men employ stronger expletives and tend to interrupt more than women; whereas, women are likely

to use more polite language It can explain why women’s speech is socially better than men’s speech (Trudgill, 1983: 88)

2.4.2 Socio-cultural factors

The socio-cultural factors have long been believed to have an important bearing on language learning “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” (Dimitracopoulou, cited in Shumin, 1997: 3) So, learners will have to learn something of the culture of the speakers and of that language in order to successfully learn a language (Brown, 1994) Thus, to speak a language, one must know not only how the language is used in a social context but also its own rules of usage as when, how, and what to say Due to the lack of understanding

of the target culture, it is hard for non-native speakers to choose the forms appropriate to certain situation As Scollon and Scollon put it:

When two people have very similar histories, backgrounds, and experiences, their communication works fairly easily because the inferences each make about what the other means will be based on common experience and knowledge Two people from the same village and the same family are likely to make fewer mistakes in drawing inferences about what the other means than two people from different cities on the different sides of the earth

(Scollon and Scollon 2001: 21)

2.4.3 Language environment

Everything a language learner hears and sees in a new language is encompassed in language environment It may include a wide variety of situations – exchanges in restaurants and stores, conversations with friends, watching television, reading street signs and newspapers as well as classroom activities – or it may be very sparse, including only language classroom activities, a few books and records

Spolsky (1998: 171) presents a general distinction between natural language environment and educational settings or instructed learning In natural language learning, the language

is being used for communication, the learner is surrounded by fluent speakers of the target language, the context is the real outside world, open and stimulating and the language used is free and normal In formal classroom, the language is used to teach, only the teacher is fluent, the context is inside the classroom with the closed four walls and language used is carefully controlled and simplified It is therefore assumed that natural settings lead to higher level of L2 proficiency than educational settings (Schinke-Llano, 1990: 216) Carroll’s survey (cited in Dalay, 1982: 15) proves that a natural language environment can enhance the development of communication skills in a second

or foreign language

So, it is ideal that the natural language setting and educational treatment should complement each other (Stern, 1991: 393) But in practice, the conditions are often far from ideal In case learners don’t live and study in the natural language environment, the entire responsibility for creating the language environment falls on the teachers who are teaching that language Therefore, the teachers are supposed to accelerate language learning by choosing suitable teaching methods, techniques and materials to increase the effectiveness of the language classroom

2.5 The roles of teachers and learners

The objectives and principles for teaching and learning a foreign language which

underlines the communicative approach has an important implication for the roles of teachers and learners Teachers play a variety of roles in the Communicative Approach

To begin with, teachers are responsible for facilitating the learners’ learning through the organization of tasks and activities that really motivate them to communicate in

foreign language On the other hand, teachers need to present and have the learners

develop these activities which will have to be checked as to degree of performance

With regard to this, Breen and Candlin (1980) express some roles of the teacher in the following way:

Teacher has two main roles: the first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and various activities and texts The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group…A third role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed experience of nature of learning and organizational capacities

(cited in Richards and Rodgers, 1992:77)

2.6 Introduction to E-learning

2.6.1 Definition of E-learning

E-learning is the acquisition and use of knowledge distributed and facilitated primarily

by electronic means This form of learning currently depends on networks and computers, but will likely evolve into systems consisting of a variety of channels (e.g., wireless, satellite), and technologies (e.g., cellular phones, personal digital assistants) as they are developed and adopted E-learning can take the form of courses as well as modules and smaller learning objects E-learning may incorporate synchronous or synchronous access and may be distributed geographically with varied limits of time (Wentling, Waight, Fleur, Wang, and Kanfer, 2000)

Some Notable E-Learning Definitions

Various authors on this topic have provided many definitions on e-learning Below are a few notable ones:

2 E-Learning is a structured, purposeful use of electronic system or computer in support

of the learning process (Allen, 2003:76)

3 E-learning is training delivered on a computer (including CD-ROM, Internet, or intranet) that is designed to support individual learning or organizational performance goals (Clark and Mayer, 2003:21)

4 Web-based training [an alternate term for e-learning] is the integration of instructional practices and Internet capabilities to direct a learner toward a specified level of proficiency in a specified competency (Conrad, 2000:102)

5 E-learning is deemed to include any technology that can assist learning; therefore it must include radio, television, digital projectors, computers, and so on (Bach, S and Haynes, P and Smith, J L, 2007:98)

governmental organizations) E-learning is deployed with the objective of enhancing the students knowledge and cost saving E-learning also helps to reach geographically

dispersed groups, to provide “anywhere-anytime” learning, to provide consistency, to ensure compliance with regulations, and to improve productivity, to name just a few

3 Discussions on course content through the discussion-board

4 Easy access to course related materials

5 Submitting assignments through the Web

6 Enhancement of course understanding

In one study (Tunison, 2001): autonomy/freedom has been listed as the most common student response to the question of benefits of a virtual school course Although most students identified the teacher as the ultimate source of information, many students enjoyed the opportunity to work on their own and to figure out things for themselves without having to wait for their teacher to tell them what to do

Flexibility also has been listed as a major advantage of e-learning Flexibility in a variety of forms was also an often-identified positive feature of the on-line school Students were able to work at home, to get extra credits that did not fit into the regular school day, and/or to take a course that was not offered at their educational institutions

The advantages can be summarised as follows:

Flexibility, accessibility, convenience

Multimedia capability

Increased reliability

Cross-platform capabilities

Web browser software and Internet connections are widely available

Inexpensive worldwide distribution

Ease of update

Just-in-time, personal, adaptive, user-centric

Travel cost and time savings

Can take it multiple times (improved retention, comprehension)

However, left to their own devices and not constrained by the structure of a regular routine there is a risk for students that the advantages afforded by information technology may be misused:

• Students may choose a place of learning that is not conducive to learning concentration

• In the absence of face-to-face encouragement and peer pressure and where time restrictions need to be self-imposed, the pace of learning may slow considerably

• The freedom to choose the time in which to learn may result in procrastination

• Given the freedom to choose their own learning process, students may choose one that

is inappropriate for the learning task at hand

2.6.2.2 Disadvantages

Also according to Hamdan Mubarak Al-Khashab (2007:12), every application has two sides E-Learning also has its disadvantages:

Access capabilities: Application accessibility should be ensured 24x7x365

Internet connection speed/bandwidth: Care should be taken to ensure that students with

low bandwidth also can access these

Cost (longer development time): The subsequent section will discuss about the various

implementation barriers, but one of the observed factors here is the high cost and long time of development used in bringing an effective e-learning platform to its users

Developer limitation: This is still a platform in its growing stages due to which the

developers still have many limitations to consider in developing these platforms

Type of content (not all content is suitable for e-learning): It has to be ensured that all

contents provided are suitable for e-learning, but with the educational institutions are not yet ready to adapt to the e-learning capabilities due to which many of the contents cannot be adopted to the e-learning platforms

Learner motivation and initiative: Students are used to ILT’s and hence the adoption to

an e-learning platform is still at the beginning stages For this, the initiatives of the users have to be developed upon and the interest level has to be increased

Loss of a live (physically present): Instructor may cause concern for some learners and

lack of instructors may not be perceived as a positive sign at many educational institutions This can be perceived negatively and hence poses a threat to the growth of e-learning

Portability: E-learning platforms should be made portable and compatible to all

computer applications via CD’s, DVD’s and Internet

Lecturers’ lack of time Mainly it is related to preparing the e-course and adjusting

existing courses into e-course format

Lack of clarity in compensation system E-learning is different from ordinary learning

and teaching Unfortunately, so far no clear rules have been formulated as to how to measure and pay fairly for the work of an e-teacher

Uncertainty on how to measure teaching quality and little interest in co-operation between e-course developers It appears to be still unclear about how to measure

teaching quality in e-learning and also the rules and guidelines on how to prepare and develop a good e-course are missing

Learning materials and time management In case of ordinary learning situation, the

planning and time management is being done for the student by curriculum administration department But in case of e-learning course, the student himself/herself has to take active role in it and that necessitates much more self- discipline and becomes one of the major issues why students drop e-courses The best learning results can be achieved and number of dropouts reduced if an admixture of ICT means (Web-Cameras, videoconferencing etc.) as rich as possible, are being used and blended and when this is done, the negative side effects of web-learning would almost be trimmed down to make the e-learning process an exceptional and exhilaratingly great experience