Students’ attitudes towards the teaching of speaking by native english speaking teachers

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS NESTs : native-English speaking teachers NNESTs : non-native-English-speaking teachers CLT : Communicative Language Teaching Table 4: Students’ attitudes towards n

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

ĐỖ THỊ MINH NGUYỆT

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING

OF SPEAKING BY NATIVE-ENGLISH-SPEAKING

TEACHERS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT THAI BINH

TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu điều tra về thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc dạy nói của giáo viên người bản ngữ tại Trường Cao Đẳng Sư Phạm Thái Bình)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi – 2011

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

ĐỖ THỊ MINH NGUYỆT

STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING

OF SPEAKING BY NATIVE-ENGLISH-SPEAKING TEACHERS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT THAI BINH

TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu điều tra về thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc dạy nói của giáo viên người bản ngữ tại Trường Cao Đẳng Sư Phạm Thái Bình)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: PHẠM MINH TÂM, MEd

Hanoi - 2011

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

NESTs : native-English speaking teachers

NNESTs : non-native-English-speaking teachers

CLT : Communicative Language Teaching

Table 4: Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching techniques 29

Table 5: Three different graders’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching

speaking (according to three categories in detail) 32-33

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements ……… ii

Abstract ……… .iii

Lists of Abbreviations ……… iv

Lists of Tables ……… iv

Table of Contents ……… v-vii Part A: INTRODUCTION ……… 1-3 1 Rationale for the Study ……… 1

2 Aims of the Study and Research Questions ……… 2

3 Scope of the Study ……… 2

4 Research Methodology ……… 2

5 Design of the Study ……… 3

Part B: DEVELOPMENT ……… 4-36 Chapter 1: Literature Review ……… 4-18 1.1 Attitude and their Roles in Second Language Acquisition ………4-7 1.1.1 Concepts of Attitude ……….4-5 1.1.2 Classifications of Attitude ………5

1.1.3 The Role of Attitude in Second Language Acquisition ……… 6-7 1.2 The Teaching of Speaking ……… 7-16 1.2.1 Definitions of Speaking ………7-8 1.2.2 The Position of Speaking in English Language Teaching and Learning ……… 8 1.2.3 Accuracy and Fluency in Speaking ……… 8-9 1.2.4 Problems with Speaking ……… 9-10 1.2.5 Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Teaching

Speaking and Communicative Competence ……… 11-12 1.2.6 Principles of Teaching Speaking ……… 12-13

1.2.7 Classroom Speaking Activities ……….13-14 1.2.8 Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities ………14-15

1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Native English-Speaking

Teachers ……… 15-16 1.4 Previous Studies ……… 16-18 1.5 Conclusive Remarks ……… 18

Chapter 2: Research Methodology ……… 19-24

2.1 Research Context ……….19 2.2 Research Questions ……….19-20 2.3 Research Approach ……… 20 2.4 Research Participants ……… 20-21 2.5 Research Instruments ……… 21-23 2.6 Data Collection Procedure ……… 23-24

2.7 Data Analysis Procedure ……….24

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion ……… 25-36

3.1 The answer to the first research question: Students’ attitudes

towards native teachers’ teaching speaking……… 25-31

3.1.1 Results ……… 25-30

3.1.1.1 Students’ attitudes towards the role of speaking skill in their English learning ……… 25-26 3.1.1.2 Students’ attitudes towards advantages of native teachers as native speakers ……….26-28 3.1.1.3 Students’ attitudes towards disadvantages of native teachers as native speakers ………28-29 3.1.1.4 Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching

techniques ……….29-30

3.1.2 Discussion ……… 30-31

3.2 The answer to the second research question: The differences of

three different graders’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching

speaking in some extent ……… 31-36

3.2.1 The results……… 31-35

3.2.2 Discussion ……… 35-36

3.3 Conclusive remarks ……… 36

Part C: CONCLUSION ……… 37-39

1 Summary of Major Findings ……… 37

2 Implications for English Language Teaching ……… 38

3 Limitations of the Study ……… 38-39

4 Suggestions for Further Studies ……….39

REFERENCES ……… 40-42 APPENDICES ……… I-VIII

Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire in English ……… I-II Appendix 2: Survey Questionnaire in Vietnamese ……… III-V Appendix 3: Interview Transcripts ……… VI-VIII

A Schedule 1: Interviews with the first year students ……… VI

B Schedule 2: Interviews with the second year students ……… VII

C Schedule 3: Interviews with the third year students ……… VIII

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the Study

Teachers are considered to be one of the most crucial elements affecting the success

of students learning a foreign language in non-English speaking countries In the last decade there has been on-going discussion involved in advantages and disadvantages of native teachers and non-native teachers of English (Philipson, 1992; Medgyes, 1994; Liu, 1999) There have been also studies on learners‘ perceptions or attitudes towards the teaching of both native and non-native teachers, even on that of a certain area of language such as speaking, listening or grammar in China, Korea, and Japan (Liu, 1999; Liu & Zhang, 2007; Xiaoru, 2008) The findings indicate a preference for native teachers, but this depends on the qualities of native teachers and the language areas they take over

In Vietnam, since students learn English as a foreign language and a number of them are exposed to native English speaking teachers (hereafter referred as NESTs) there have been hardly any studies on their teaching Language learners, their parents, and even people directly involved in language education expect that the best teacher of a language is a native teacher However, whether this expectation is true or not and to what extent it is believable is left for future studies

In the context of the study, Thai Binh Teacher Training College, where the researcher

is working as a non-native teacher of English, there were native teachers who came to teach speaking skill through educational cooperation projects However, they are short-term ones and the teachers worked with all English majors of the college in oral classes for a school year only and then left them for non-native teachers The author of the study as a successor wonders what the students actually think of native teachers‘ teaching speaking and whether different graders have different opinions That is also the reason for the study The study is expected to investigate the students‘ attitudes towards native-English teachers‘ teaching speaking and give some valuable suggestions for the employment of native-English teachers

at the context of the study in particular and in Vietnam in general and the improvement of the teaching of speaking in particular and other areas of English language teaching in general by non-native teachers

2 Aims of the Study and Research Questions

The aims of the study are: first, to investigate what the attitudes of English majors at Thai Binh Teacher Training College towards the teaching of speaking by English native

teachers are, and to what extent different graders have different attitudes; then, to give some implications for the employment of native teachers in the context of Vietnam and the improvement of the teaching of English by Vietnamese non-native teachers Therefore, two research questions raised are:

1 What are the students‘ attitudes towards the teaching of speaking by native-English speaking teachers?

2 To what extent do different graders‘ have different attitudes?

3 Scope of the Study

Due the time limit and the real context of the study where native teachers were put in charge of speaking sections only, the study focused on investigating the students‘ attitudes towards native teachers‘ teaching speaking Besides, the research only emphasized studying general issues related to the strengths and weaknesses as well as the main techniques of native teachers in teaching speaking skill

4 Research Methodology

As the major aim of the study is to find out students‘ attitudes towards the teaching by native English speaking teachers, survey approach was selected, and two main data collection methods employed were questionnaire and interview Cencus sampling was used with all English majors at Department of Foreign Languages of Thai Binh Teacher Training College The data were collected from 100 participants who belong to three different grades/groups The analysis was carried out in the light of finding out the answers to the research questions

5 Design of the Study

The study includes three main parts:

Part A: Introduction presents the rationale for the study, the aims and research

questions, scope of the study, research methodology, and design of the study

Part B: Development consists of three chapters as follows:

Chapter 1: Literature Review presents the theoretical background for the study It

involves concepts, classifications and roles of attitude in language learning; issues related to speaking and the teaching of this skill such as definitions, principles or techniques; advantages and disadvantages of native teachers; and previous studies

Chapter 2: Research Methodology is concerned with the context of the study,

research questions, research approach, research participants, research instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis procedure

Chapter 3: Results and Discussion describes the results of the study which were

collected from questionnaires and interviews, and the discussion based on the results to answer the research questions

Part C: Conclusion gives the summary of major findings of the study, some

pedagogical implications for English teaching and learning in Vietnam, and suggestions for further studies based on the limitations of the study

Part B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature Review

This chapter will present the theoretical background for the study In the first place, concepts, classifications and roles of attitude in language learning are discussed Then, issues related to speaking and the teaching of this skill such as definitions of speaking, its roles in a second language learning or techniques of teaching speaking, etc., are presented too Next comes to the advantages and disadvantages of native-English-speaking teachers Finally, prior studies related to the topic are summarized

1.1 Attitude and their Roles in Second Language Acquisition

(p 45) This idea is shared by Gibb (1988) as he agrees that attitude is a state of mind, which

is influenced by feelings, experiences of the world and belief This definition sounds a bit general: it is a state and response but exactly what kind of response it is Gardner (1985, p 9) claims that a person‘s attitude bases on his beliefs or opinions: ―An individual‘s attitude as an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual‘s beliefs or opinions about the referent‖

I myself find the following concept of attitude clear and convincing: ―An attitude is a

hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object‖ (Wikipedia – online dictionary)

Similarly, Hallorah (1967) states that attitude represents an individual like or dislike towards an item Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an ―attitude object‖, i.e a person, situation or event People can also be ―ambivalent‖, meaning that they simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitudes in question Obviously, attitude is also a state but represents a person‘s degree of like or dislike It is also response but exactly positive or negative

Attitudes are said to have cognitive, affective and conative components The cognitive component refers to the individual‘s belief structure, the affective to emotional reactions, and the conative to the tendency to behave toward the attitude object (Gardner, 1985) This idea is shared by Wikipedia It states that attitudes are judgments and they develop on the ABC model: Affect, Behavior and Cognition It further explains that ―the

affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual‘s degree of preference for an entity The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral tendency of an individual The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that

constitutes an individual's beliefs about the object‖ More interestingly, this source reveals that most attitudes result from either direct experience or observational learning from the environment

In short, attitude is a mental state that expresses an individual‘s degree of like or dislike, positive or negative opinions about an object, a person, a thing or an event Additionally, it has three components: affective, cognitive, conative or behavioral

1.1.2 Classifications of Attitude

According to Gardner (1985, pp 40-41), the ways of classifying attitude can be seen reflected in the relationship between the attitude measures and indices of achievement in a second language He proposes as follows:

Attitude can be classified along a dimension of specificity/generality For example, attitudes toward learning French is specific because there is a specific activity described Whereas, attitudes toward learning a foreign language is general since there is no particular activity associated with the language

Attitude can be classified in terms of their relevance to second language achievement Relevance can be defined in terms of the correlation between the attitudes and the achievement variables Some attitudes are obviously more relevant to the task of learning a second language than others

Another way of classifying attitude variables is either educational or social attitudes Instances of educational attitudes would be attitudes toward the teacher, the course, etc Social attitudes involve attitudes which focus on the cultural implications of second language acquisition

In brief, classification methods of attitude are varied They depend on the relationship between the attitude and achievement variables This research focuses on educational and specific attitudes, namely those towards teachers

1.1.3 The Role of Attitude in Second Language Acquisition

Attitude plays an important role in additional language acquisition Positive attitudes towards another language helps create motivation that facilitates success in acquiring that language and vice versa Several studies have proved this

Gardner (1968) and other researchers conducted a number of studies with the aim to focus on the roles of attitude in second language acquisition and indicated that the learners‘ attitudes have a relationship with their learning performance Some other studies concluded that a certain aspect of attitudinal-motivational components offers favorable conditions for the acquisition of second language Namely, students who have positive attitudes towards a second language are more motivated to learn and more successful in acquiring that language

Similarly, İsmet ŞAHİN (2005) reviewed a number of studies and pointed out that

student attitudes towards learning a foreign language and student performance are strongly related Then he came to a conclusion that attitudes are one of the elements that determine success in foreign language acquisition and native speaker teachers influence student attitudes, which needs further studying

Personally, this is a significant conclusion which fosters educators, especially teachers

to pay more attention to strengthen students‘ positive attitudes in their language learning However, attitudes are a complex aspect of psychology and they are impacted by different elements or factors Additionally, they are not permanent Students may have negative attitudes towards their language learning or even language teaching Sharing this idea, Shimizu (1995, as cited in Maggie Lieb, 2009) points out the influence of learners‘ attitudes towards teachers on their language learning by stating that ―negative attitudes towards teachers could adversely affect student motivation, not only in the classroom, but also in terms of a student‘s desire to continue learning the language‖ This is really worth much consideration because our goal is to inspire students‘ long-lasting second language acquisition Therefore, more researches need to be conducted to find out how to build up students‘ positive attitudes and avoid their negative ones towards teachers

More interestingly, Ellis (1994) shows mutual relationship between learner attitudes and their achievements in second language acquisition He clarifies that learner attitudes influence L2 competence of each learner and are themselves impacted by this achievement Thanks to success learners achieve, their positive attitudes will be promoted and because of lack of success, their negative ones could be made stronger

I am of the same opinion that learners‘ attitudes and their success in second language

key to achieving language proficiency and studies on learner attitudes are significant and worth further concern and effort by educators and ELT practitioners

In this research, students‘ attitudes towards teachers, namely native-English speaking teachers are studied and its results are expected to suggest some implications for non-native teachers and the employment of native teachers for better ESL/EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam

1.2 The Teaching of Speaking

1.2.1 Definitions of Speaking

There have existed different definitions of speaking, which depends on each scholar‘s point of view to speaking W F Mackey (1965, p 266, as cited in Martin Bygate, 1987) states about oral expression briefly but clearly:

Oral expression involves not only [ ] the use of the right sounds in the right patterns

of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning

It is agreeable that what involves in speaking is not only pronunciation but also a good use of vocabulary or grammar to express the ideas accurately However, Mackey seems

to focus on linguistic rather than communicative aspects of speaking skill

In another way, Bailey, Kathleen M (2005, p 2) claims: ―speaking is a productive and verbal skill It composes oral utterances which are produced systematically to express meaning‖ Speaking here is defined briefly and clearly but not very satisfactory to some

extent Can‘t we communicate orally when we do not produce utterances systematically (my

own emphasis)? However, speaking involves both linguistic and pragmatic features and it should be a process of delivering and interpreting message This is satisfied by Florez (1999,

p 1, as cited in Kathleen M Bailey 2005, p 2) when he states that speaking is ―an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information‖

Personally, it is an interesting and reasonable idea on speaking because it mentions the complete process of oral communication: producing, receiving and processing information The message from the speaker can be interpreted differently by different hearers Communication could not be successful if the hearer misinterpret what the speaker expresses

In short, speaking is an interactive process of sending and receiving messages successfully It involves both linguistic and communicative aspects so that the listener can

receive and process the information the speaker want to convey, by which the concept of speaking in this study is understood

1.2.2 The Position of Speaking in English Language Teaching and Learning

Speaking is one of two productive skills and it seems to be the skill that language learners desire to master most since their major aim is using language to communicate with others Thus, it is clear that speaking is the key component to English language teaching and learning

Pattison (1992) proves the position of speaking in learning a language that: "when people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language" Similarly, Bygate (1987, p 7) expresses his opinion on the role of speaking that it

is the vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business

The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many foreign language learners The learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how they have improved in their spoken language proficiency Nunan (1991, p 39) clarifies this: "mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success

is measured in term of ability to carry out a conversation in the language."

Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life

1.2.3 Accuracy and Fluency in Speaking

Accuracy and fluency are two of the main criteria assessed in oral performance Both

of them are goals for the majority of learners in speaking English By fluency it means that they are capable of verbally expressing their ideas non-stop and without worrying about their saying In terms of accuracy, it means that they can communicate orally with no grammatical and lexical mistakes or errors However, a question raised is that which is more important?

According to Bailey (2005), one of the challenges learners encounter in speaking English is balancing fluency and accuracy They are two significant components of a good speaker He clarifies accuracy and fluency as follows:

Accuracy in this context refers to the ability to speak properly-that is, selecting the

correct words and expressions to convey the intended meaning, as well as using the

grammatical patterns of English Fluency, on the other hand, is the capacity to speak

fluidly, confidently, and at a rate consistent with the norms of the relevant native speech community

(p 5)

In my opinion, accuracy should involve comprehensible pronunciation as well, not only vocabulary and grammar competence because oral communication will not be successful if the speaker fails to pronounce words or utterances comprehensibly In fact, in many countries where people use English as a foreign language like Vietnam, a large number

of learners fail to have good pronunciation

It is obvious that most learners of English want to achieve accuracy and fluency as well in oral communication and they are both important But how to balance and develop both accuracy and fluency is a challenging task to both teachers and learners of English speaking classes In context of Vietnam, the traditional teaching and learning habits seem to focus on accuracy rather than fluency However, few students achieve accuracy as expected

It is also the case in Japan Kouichi Ano (2005) shows in her study that an increasing number

of Japanese students with fluency are discovered to replace accurate ones in terms of grammar because of a shift from grammar focused teaching to communicative language teaching by Japanese English education whose aim is to improve students‘ communication competence The main reason given is that speaking skills with different kinds of classroom communicative activities have been put more focus on than accuracy of grammar The result

is revealed that students can communicate more fluently but less accurately This fact deserves attention by educators, course designers and teachers

1.2.4 Problems with Speaking

Besides the awareness of characteristics of successful speaking activities, it is essential to point out speaking problems and find the solutions to them

Penny Ur (1996, p 121) mentions four main problems with speaking activities as follows:

First, learners are often inhibited about expressing their ideas in a foreign language because of their fear of making mistakes, losing face and attracting attention

Second, learners have nothing to say even they are not inhibited

Third, there is low or uneven participation among learners because some dominate the others

Last, learners use their mother tongue as it is easier and natural or they are not motivated and disciplined enough to keep using the target language

Sharing the idea on the first problem of speaking with Penny Ur, David Nunan (1999), in a recent survey he conducted with his colleagues, comes to a conclusion that the biggest problem in speaking classes was the students‘ reluctance or hesitation to speak More importantly, he finds out the reasons for the above problem in Amy Tsui‘s study (1996) The study pointed out five major factors accounting for the reluctance of students to speak in class They are students‘ perceived low proficiency in English and their lack of confidence and willingness, students‘ fear of mistakes and derision, teachers‘ intolerance of silence, teachers‘ uneven allocation of turns and incomprehensible input from the teacher

Similarly, in the book ― Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking‖, Bailey (2005) indicates that:

A great deal of research has shown that students are often hesitant and anxious about

speaking the target language in class In fact, researchers have studied language classroom anxiety The term refers to the situationally triggered anxiousness that

learners experience when they try to interact in the target language during lessons

(p 163)

It can be clearly seen that the main problem of speaking is students‘ hesitation and anxiety to express their ideas It is true in the context of Vietnam, with Vietnamese learners, who are often shy and reserved In my opinion, as a practitioner in Vietnam, one of the main reasons comes from the traditional teaching habit, due to which teachers do not encourage students to express their own ideas It is also a cultural feature

Additionally, how to solve the problems is another problem In my own opinion, teachers play a very important role in coping with these problems They should create a friendly environment in the speaking classrooms, which helps reduce students‘ anxiety Besides, teacher‘s flexible evaluation of students‘ oral performance may work well

In summary, speaking problems are students‘ anxiety of expressing their ideas, uneven participation among students, no ideas to express, lack of motivation and difficulties

in keeping using the target language Teachers are the decisive element in solving these problems They can do it by creating a relaxing and stimulating atmosphere in their oral skill classes

1.2.5 Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Teaching Speaking and Communicative Competence

Being founded in the early 1960s Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has recently become a fashionable term to cover a variety of developments in syllabus design and

to a lesser extent, in the methodology of teaching a foreign language, especially English

Different authors view CLT differently However, most emphasize the importance of opportunities to use English for communicative purposes when this approach has been applied in language teaching and learning Nunan (1989) typically states that:

―CLT views language as a system for the expressions of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learner including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives‖

In the light of CLT, there have been favorable changes in teaching speaking Bailey (2005, pp 18-19) explains clearly that in some language teaching methods, beginning learners undergo a period of listening to English before they begin to speak it The focus is on input-based activities For example, learners initially respond physically to spoken commands from the teacher rather than speaking themselves In contrast, in CLT, the focus is more interaction-based activities such as role-plays and information gap tasks in which pair-work and group-work are typically employed

For many years, language teaching was seen as helping learners develop linguistic competence – that is, helping students master the sounds, words and grammar patterns of English However, from the appearance of CLT, the notion of linguistic competence came to

be viewed as a component of the broader idea of communicative competence According to

Canale and Swain (1980), the second language learners cannot be expected to achieve a satisfactory level of communicative competence if no knowledge of probability of occurrence

of grammatical forms and communicative function is developed Their view of

communicative competence consists of four areas of knowledge and skills: grammatical competence (ability to use correct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation), sociolinguistic competence (ability to use appropriate language in different contexts and settings), discourse competence (ability to combine language elements to show cohesion in form and coherence

in thought), strategic competence (ability to verbal and non-verbal communication

strategies)

Savignon (1991, p 264, as cited in Kathleen M Bailey, 2005, p 3) defines communicative competence as ―the ability of language learners to interact with other

speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their ability to perform on discrete-point tests of grammatical knowledge‖ Bailey (2005, p 3) also shows four important elements of

communicative competence: linguistic competence (grammatical or structure competence), sociolinguistic competence (or pragmatic competence), discourse competence, and strategic competence

In brief, the application of CLT in language teaching and learning, especially in teaching speaking has changed the view of language competence It is not only linguistic competence but also pragmatic, discourse and strategic competence

1.2.6 Principles of Teaching Speaking

To et al (2011, pp 45-46) in their course book ESL/EFL Classroom Techniques and Practices clarify 6 principles of teaching speaking as follows:

(1) Be aware that the teaching of speaking is closely bound up with receptive skill work

(2) Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy

(3) Plan communicative tasks that are based on the concept of information gap

(4) Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limiting teacher talk

(5) Plan tasks that involve negotiation of meaning

(6) Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking

Bailey (2005) divides principles of teaching speaking into three groups: Beginning levels, Intermediate levels, and Advanced levels At beginning levels, teachers should follow

the principles:

 Provide something for learners to talk about

 Create opportunities for students to interact by using group-work or

pair-work

 Manipulate physical arrangements to promote speaking practice

At intermediate levels, teachers should:

 Focus on and work toward real, spontaneous speech to avoid form-based drills (repetitious or grammar-based exercises)

 Design activities, which encourage natural interaction between speakers

 Place learners in pairs or groups in order to create exciting speaking environment

At advanced levels, the principles of teaching speaking that should be followed by

1.2.7 Classroom Speaking Activities

Classroom speaking activities can be categorized into two main types: communicative drills and communicative activities (To et al, 2011, pp 47-48)

 Communicative drills: in which teachers control the learners‘ speech primarily by ensuring that they produce short utterances and which are carried out through the following activities:

Practical situations: students can practice requesting and providing

Jigsaw activities: require students‘ cooperation and interaction

 Communicative activities: aim at communicative end in which students have a desire

to communicate, a purpose to communicate, and use a variety of language structures Here is some examples of communicative activities:

Role-plays: involve the teacher giving role cards to students for pair-work

Discussion activities: students are given a topic and asked to discuss in group,

give and prove their opinions

Opinion sharing activities: involve identifying and articulating a personal

preference, feeling, or attitude

Reasoning gap activities: involve comprehending and conveying information Prepared talks: students make a presentation on a topic of their own choice

with or without agreement with the teacher

Classroom speaking activities are various However, teachers should choose the most suitable ones for their learners‘ ability as well as the purpose of the course

1.2.8 Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities

In the teaching of speaking skill, organizing efficient oral activities is significant Therefore, it is required to be aware of the characteristics of successful speaking activities

According to Penny Ur (1996, p 120), there are four characteristics of a successful speaking activity:

(1) There is a great deal of learner talking time (as much as possible), which means the reduction of teacher talking time or pauses

(2) Even participation by learners is needed (there is no dominance by some talkative learners and opportunities to participate in speaking activities are given to all)

(3) Learners are highly motivated (It means they want to express their own ideas in classroom discussions because of interesting topics)

(4) Language used is of acceptable level, which is comprehensible to other students Sharing the ideas with Penny Ur, Louanne Piccolo (2010) argues that a successful speaking activity can help limit teacher talking time and increase student talking time; avoid dominance by some talkative students and create even participation among learners; offer interesting topics to motivate students to speak; and encourage acceptable language that is relevant and comprehensible to the others He also adds that interruptions during student‘s talking need to be limited for a good oral activity It is necessary to clarify whose interruptions (teacher‘s or students‘) should be limited To my thinking, interruptions by teacher should be avoided but those by partners may be good because they create an exciting and enthusiastic atmosphere during the classroom discussions They also help increase student talking time and exchanging ideas among the participants

The above-mentioned characteristics of a successful speaking activity are reasonable

both linguistic knowledge and intercultural pragmatic competence Oral communication will fail if the speaker and the hearers do not share the background knowledge

1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Native English-Speaking Teachers

Native-English speaking teachers (NESTs), like non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs), have both advantages and disadvantages The followings are some major ones

The most common strength of NESTs which is shared by many scholars (Li & Meng, 2005; Liu, 1999; Medgyes, 1994; İsmet ŞAHİN, 2005, etc) is their oral competence Even Medgyes (as cited in Iván García Merino, 1997) affirms that: ―The more proficient, the more efficient‖ In their study, Li & Meng (2005, as cited in Mingxu Liu & Limei Zhang 2007) add other two strong points possessed by NESTs They are their various and more attractive teaching methods and creation of a comfortable and enjoyable learning atmosphere which stimulates students to be involved in class activities

Similarly, Mingxu Liu & Limei Zhang (2007) points out in their study that NESTs can create a student-friendly classroom environment Another advantage also presented in their research is that NESTs develop students‘ ability to think independently, which seems to

be a weakness of NNESTs

More interestingly, Dr İsmet ŞAHİN (2005) points out that native-English teachers‘ advantages over their non native-English counterparts are ―their being more tolerant of learners‘ errors with respect to grammatical errors than nonnative English teachers, their giving more importance to fluency than to accuracy and their obliging learners to speak English more because of their incapability of using learners‘ native language‖ It is interesting when NESTs makes use of their own disadvantage of not using students‘ first language to push them to speak the target language because this helps increase the students‘ talking time and limits the interference of the mother tongue in the second language

acquisition

Besides strengths, NESTs have some weaknesses According to Li & Meng (2005, as cited in Mingxu Liu & Limei Zhang 2007), native-English speaking teachers are unaware of the learners‘ expectations and problems They select their own teaching materials, not follow ones designed by the institutions and they use the flexibility of the evaluation of students‘ ability without unchanged criteria Personally, the two latter weaknesses are not very convincing because teachers can design their own materials or use the others if they find the existing ones are not suitable And it may be the case for the assessment The criteria are only appropriate for a certain setting and a group of learners

Ulku Ozturk & Derin Atay (2010) and Chen Xiaoru (2008) also agree that NESTs can not predict students‘ language problems as well as their potential They explain that it is because NESTs haven‘t experienced the process of acquiring the foreign language themselves Xiaoru provides further information on NESTs‘ limitations that they can not speak students‘ native language, so they have difficulties in forming positive relationship with the students and helping them solve the problems, which is contrary to the ideas of Dr İsmet ŞAHİN

In brief, NESTs possess both strengths and weaknesses The prevailing strength is their language competence and their common weakness is their unawareness of learners‘ problems and expectations However, the most important thing is that NESTs should be employed to teach in the fields where they can make their best advantages

1.4 Previous Studies

There have been a number of studies on students‘ attitudes or perceptions of native English speaking teachers Most of their findings show that students have positive attitudes towards the teaching of English language by NESTs However, there exist some problems learners encounter when they are taught by NESTs and students at different grades and levels

of English proficiency have various preferences to NESTs

Most of the students surveyed in the study by Mingxu Liu and Limei Zhang believe the foreign teachers‘ class is friendlier and they have less stress in class compared with Chinese teachers‘ classes The findings of this study also indicates that the students at the top level enjoy foreign teachers‘ classes more than the low level students who enjoy Chinese teachers‘ class more It is because the latter felt nervous in foreign teachers‘ classes because

of their inability to express themselves properly

Similarly, Song-Ae Han studies Korean students‘ attitudes towards NESTs and points out that ―The learners with low English proficiency express their worries about learning in NESTs‘ classes because they think that NESTs are not as concerned about their difficulties

in learning English as KTEs (Korean teachers of English, my own explanation) are‖ The research adds that NESTs have less deep relationships with their students than KTEs and that NESTs‘ lack of knowledge of Korean language and culture can be disadvantageous for the low level learners

In contrast, the study by Chen Xiaoru (2008) reveals that the longer the students spend with their teachers, the less they prefer NESTs Namely, the majority of the freshmen

class Meanwhile, most of the students at higher grades prefer their Chinese English teachers because they are more familiar with the national curriculum, and the examinations to be taken; therefore, they are better able to equip their students with the necessary strategies and help them pass the exams Chen Xiaoru also concludes that Chinese students have a clear preference for NESTs because of their high proficiency in English, ability to use English functionally, and the awareness of the culture of English speaking countries Additionally, they believe that NESTs are more fluent and accurate with a special emphasis on their good pronunciation

No researches on students‘ attitudes towards the teaching of speaking by NESTs have been found However, there are some which discover learners‘ attitudes to NESTs‘ teaching

in some specific areas in English language teaching

Chen Xiaoru (2008) finds out in her study that there is a clear preference for an NESTs in the areas of pronunciation, culture, and speaking and she comes to a conclusion that: ―Pronunciation and cultural knowledge stand out as the two most prominent areas in which native speaker teachers have advantages over non－ native speaker teachers‖ She proved this by giving some examples of students‘ responses in her interview that NESTs speak fluently and use English as a medium of instruction, so they learn more; that NESTs would provide them with more chances to speak English and serve as a perfect model for imitation Similarly, Tsui (1996) indicates that students value the authenticity of NESTs with regard to pronunciation, knowledge of English speaking countries, and their informal and flexible teaching styles

Sekigawa et al, (2003) also studies advantages and disadvantages of having native speakers as teachers of English and clarifies that the majority of students like to have NESTs

in their speaking and pronunciation classes because, they explain, listening to ‗real‘ English

in class is very exciting and they can put themselves in a situation where they can speak only English; therefore, they get used to speaking and thinking in English On the other hand, her study demonstrates that learners have difficulty in understanding and communicating with foreign teachers; they can not express themselves well in English The reasons for these obstacles are that they do not get used to different pronunciation and accents as well as fast speed by NESTs and that their English competence is poor As a result, students become more passive and quieter, then fail to acquire speaking skill

Another study conducted by Liu (1999, as cited in İsmet ŞAHİN, 2005) concluded that a good oral English teacher should be a good English speaker and many native English speakers have proven to be successful teachers in oral English classes in China

In Vietnam, there are hardly any researches done on students‘ attitudes to NESTs as well as to their teaching of any specific areas of English language, including that of speaking

It is partially because the employment of NESTs in academic institutions is not popular and does not receive enough concern from educators The author of this study have been working

in a college where there are NESTs employed, namely in the area of speaking and wish to investigate students‘ attitudes towards the teaching of this field by NESTs with a view to giving some valuable implications for successful English language teaching and making a certain contribution to the evaluation of using native speakers as teachers of English in our country

To conclude, a variety of studies point out that students have both positive and negative attitudes towards native English speaking teachers However, preferences prevail Most respondents think that native English teachers can offer friendly classroom environment, variety of interesting activities, flexible teaching styles They prefer native English teachers on pronunciation, speaking and culture courses because they have high proficiency in English, offer a good model for students to imitate and a natural source of attraction to students Besides, some participants show that native English teachers can not help them to anticipate and solve their learning problems and pass the exams easily

1.5 Conclusive Remarks

In conclusion, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic of the study First, it concerns the concepts, the classifications, and the roles of attitude in second language learning Then comes to an overview of the teaching of speaking in which definitions, the roles of speaking, CLT approach in teaching speaking and the ideas of communicative competence, issues of accuracy and fluency, techniques of teaching speaking, classroom speaking activities, characteristics of successful activities, and problems in speaking skill are discussed Next, advantages and disadvantages of native English teachers are presented Finally, the results of previous studies on this topic are summarized as well The following chapters will present the investigation, the findings and the recommendations of the research under the light of the above-discussed theories

Chapter 2: Research Methodology

This chapter is concerned with the methodology of the research It includes research context or the setting of the study, research questions, research approach, research participants, research instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis procedure

2.1 Research Context

This research is done at Thai Binh Teacher Training College, where the author has been teaching English for over 8 years There are about 2000 students here, most of whom are non-English majors, who are being trained to be teachers of different subjects like Mathematics, Physics or Chemistry

Annually, there are around 100 English-majored students belonging to 3 groups: English 1 (the first year), English 2 (the second year) and English 3 (the third year) Most of them will work as teachers of English after their graduation; whereas, some of them seek for other jobs like tour guides, hotel receptionists or interpreters They often work with the teachers of Department of Foreign Languages on English courses, all of whom were trained

at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University or Hanoi University, more half

of whom got MA degree on English Linguistics Besides, they have chances to learn English with native English speaking teachers, who come from the United States of America or the

UK through education cooperation projects However, it is discontinued Native teachers only worked with English majors in speaking classes and then left speaking classes for non-native teachers

Therefore, it came to the author that what the students actually think of native English speaking teachers and their teaching of speaking Do they have positive or negative attitudes,

do different graders have different attitudes and to what extent? That is the researcher‘s concern and the reason for the study It is expected to show the students‘ opinions about native-English teachers‘ teaching speaking and give some valuable suggestions for the employment of native-English teachers at my college in particular and in Vietnam in general and the improvement of the teaching of speaking in particular and other areas of English language teaching in general by non-native teachers

2.2 Research Questions

The study is aimed at finding out the students‘ attitudes towards native-English teachers‘ teaching speaking and the differences of these attitudes among three different groups of graders if any Therefore, it is supposed to answer two following questions:

1 What are the students‘ attitudes towards the teaching of speaking by native-English speaking teachers?

2 To what extent do different graders‘ have different attitudes?

Similarly, Johnson (2005, p 105) in Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning states that surveys are used to affect learning and teaching issues including attitudes

of teachers and learners towards the teaching and learning Some of the purposes of survey research are to gather demographic information about language learners, to study attitudes of teachers and professors towards varieties, language practices, target language norms, student language use and growth, to determine the policies affecting learning and teaching, and to study attitudes of teachers/learners towards of techniques and teaching methods

Because the aim of the study is to find out students‘ attitudes towards the teaching by native English speaking teachers, this approach with two main data collection methods:

questionnaire and interview is employed

2.4 Research Participants

In any research approaches, deciding the participants for a study is very important It seems to be a significant step in survey research, in which population and sampling strategies are made clear appropriate According to Johnson (2005), population is the entire group of entities or persons to which the results of a study are intended to apply Accordingly, the population of this study is all English majors of Thai Binh Teacher Training College

Mertens (2005) states that ―sampling refers to the method used to select a given number of people (or things) from the population‖ There are two main sampling strategies: probability and non-probability sampling By probability sampling, it refers to any method of sampling that utilizes some form of random selection It includes some subtypes such as random, systematic or cluster sampling In non-probability sampling, convenience, purposive

or snowball sampling are examples According to Dornyei (2003, pp 71-72), the most

sampling However, he adds that census is one particular survey type of sample which includes every member of population in the survey

In this study, census sampling is employed because the subjects of the research are all English-majored students of Department of foreign languages at Thai Binh Junior Teacher Training College, who are exposed to native teachers in their speaking classes They are 100 and belong to 3 groups: 40 first year students of Group English 1, 30 second year students of Group English 2 and 30 third year students of Group English 3 All the participants volunteered to take part in the study The majority of them are female (95% of the sample) The students‘ ages rank from 18 to 20 They have been learning English for at least 6 years before enrolment and their English proficiency is of different levels but at least at intermediate level They were exposed to native teachers in oral classes in the school year 2010-2011 The table below provides the detailed information of the participants of the study

In survey research, questionnaires are one of the most powerful instruments to collect

data This is emphasized by Dornyei (2003, p 3): ―Because the essence of scientific research

is trying to find answers to questions in a systematic manner, it is no wonder that the

questionnaire has become one of the most popular research instruments applied in the social

sciences‖ He adds that the main strength of questionnaires are the ease of their construction

Questionnaires are defined by Brown (2001, as cited in Dornyei, 2003, p 6) as ― any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers‖ Questionnaires are used to measure three types of data: factual, behavioral, and attitudinal Attitudinal questions are explored to find out what people think, namely attitudes, opinions, beliefs, interests, and values (Dornyei, 2003) There are three ways of constructing questionnaires: adopt (use an existing questionnaire of the previous study as your own questionnaire), adapt (use an existing questionnaire and modify it to make it suitable for a

new setting), and design/develop (make a new questionnaire) Hence, the author of this research employs questionnaires as the main instrument to collect the data Two types of data used are behavioral and attitudinal Adapting is chosen as the way of constructing the questionnaire of this study and it consists of two main parts of the items

Part A is two behavioral questions on the role of speaking skill in English learning In

this part, the subjects are asked to answer multiple-choice questions with specific instruction which helps them know well what they have to do

Part B is attitudinal questions on the subjects‘ attitudes towards the teaching of

speaking by native English speaking teachers In the part, Gardner‘s Instructions and Items from the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (1985, pp 177-178) are adapted with a list of proposed statements expressing attitudes towards the teaching of speaking by the native English speaking teacher and four scales of the degree of (dis)agreement The respondents are asked to tick one of four scales presenting their attitudes The final part of the questionnaire is the writer‘s thanks to the participants

For the details, see appendix 1: the questionnaire in English (I-II) and appendix 2: the questionnaire in Vietnamese (III-V)

2.5.2 Interview

Another data collection instrument used in this survey research is interview McDonough (2001) shows that interviewing is a very basic research tool in social sciences and interviews are divided into structured, semi-structured, and unstructured Structured interviews are closest to the standard questionnaire and require adherence to a very particular set of rules Semi-structured interviews are more relaxed and flexible than structured ones Unstructured interviews are the most relaxed of the three types They are like natural conversations

In this study, semi-structured interviews were employed for several reasons First, they could bring the interviewer great flexibility to focus more on remarkable points (Nunan, 1992) Furthermore, interactions in a semi-structured interview were ―incredibly rich‖; the collected data could be ―extraordinary evidence about life‖ that might not be gained in a structured interview or questionnaire (Nunan, 1992, p 93) Accordingly, they could create rich, thick data for a valid and well-researched study

In the research, the interviews were used to triangulate and enrich the questionnaire data There were three interview schedules with three different groups of the participants