Using dialog memorization to improve efl students’ speaking skil

Dialog memorization as an English speaking teaching technique with high school students .... Therefore, English teachers would like to develop students’ speaking skill by applying the Au

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MASTER’S THESIS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Xuan Binh

Nghe An, 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that my thesis title: “Using dialog memorization to improve EFL

students’ speaking skill” is the result of my own research The data collection and

findings discussed in the research are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere

Nghe An, July 14th, 2019

The author

Do Thi Vy Hanh

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the process of completing my graduation paper, I have received a great deal

of help, guidance and encouragement from teachers and students at Nguyen Trai high school, friends and my family

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Xuan Binh, for his invaluable guidance, criticism and his encouragement in the process of completing my thesis

I would like to show my gratitude to all readers and the staff of the Department

of Post- Graduate Studies, Vinh University, for their useful lectures and guidance during my study at the Institution

I truly wish to thank all the colleagues and the students at Nguyen Trai high school for their assistance and co- operation in giving me valuable information

Especially, I thank to my family, especially my parents and my husband whose continuous encouragement support and helped me pass through insurmountable

difficulties during my thesis

Finally, I am grateful to send my sincere wishes for health and success in work

to leadership of Vinh University as well as all of teachers in Foreign Languages

Department

ABSTRACT

Using diolog memorization technique is an effective way that helps to increase students' interest in learning speaking When applying dialog memorization, students are practiced the dialogues many times through teacher’s instruction Therefore, they can be activated to talk as more as possible The study about applying dialog memorization in increasing students' interest in learning speaking is carried out to identify how students interest in learning speaking as well as dialog memorization technique Data used for analysis in this thesis mainly collected through pre- test and post- test speaking, survey questionnaires of two classes whose teachers have applied this technique and through direct interviewing One of the prominent results from data analysis is that students at Nguyen trai High school really interest in learning speaking whenever applying dialog memorization The usefulness and difficulties of applying this technique are concentrated in this thesis Some solutions for overcoming these difficulties are also suggested

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3 1 Pre- test and post- test topics for speaking 41

Table 3 2 Scoring rubric of speaking performance 42

Table 3 3 Speaking test topics in another context 46

Table 4.1 The mean score and standard deviations of participants’ pre- test in the experimental group and the control group 50

Table 4.2 The mean score and standard deviations of participants’ post- test in the experimental group and the control group 53

Table 4.3 The mean score and standard deviations of participants’ pre- test, post- test and another context-test in the experimental group 59

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Pre- test results of the experimental group and the control 49Figure 4.2 Pre- test results of the control group 49Figure 4.3 Pre- test results of the experimental group 50Figure 4.4 Post- test results of the experimental group and the control group 51Figure 4.5 Post- test results of the control group and the experimental group 52Figure 4.6 Students’ attitude toward learning English speaking 54Figure 4.7 Students’ opinions toward the role of speaking English as a foreign language 54Figure 4.8 Students’ attitude toward the speaking lessons with dialog memorization 55Figure 4.9 Students’ improvement after the use of dialog memorization in speaking lessons 56Figure 4.10 Students’ opinions about the advantages of dialog memorization in English speaking lessons 56Figure 4.11 Speaking test in another context results of the experimental group 58Figure 4.12 Students’ opinion about applying dialog memorization into another context 60

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I ACKNOWLEDGMENT II ABSTRACT III LIST OF TABLES IV LIST OF FIGURES V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI

CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 3

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2-LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Speaking skill in the classroom 6

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking 6

2.1.2 Function of speaking 8

2.1.3 Factors affecting students' speaking 9

2.1.4 Difficulties that teacher is facing while teaching speaking skill 12

2.1.5 Strategies for successful speaking skill 13

2.1.6 Activities to improve speaking 20

2.1.7 Speaking process 23

2.2 Theoretical basis of dialog memorization 27

2.2.1 Definitions of dialog memorization 27

2.2.2 Benefits of dialog memorization 29

2.2.3 Dialog memorization strategies 31

2.2.4 Teaching dialog memorization procedure 31

2.2.5 The benefits of using dialog memorization in the classroom 32

2.2.6 Dialog memorization as speaking activity 33

2.2.7 Dialog memorization as an English speaking teaching technique with high school students 35

2.3 EFL learners’ difficulties in learning to speak English 35

CHAPTER 3-RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 38

3.1 Research participants 38

3.2 Research method 39

3.3 Research procedure 39

3.4 Date collection instruments 40

3.4.1 Speaking test (pre- test and post- test) 40

3.4.2 Survey questionnaire 44

3.4.3 Semi- structured interview 45

3.4.4 Speaking test in another context 45

3.5 Data analysis methods 46

3.5.1 Quantitative data analysis 46

3.5.2 Qualitative data analysis 46

CHAPTER 4-FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 48

4.1 Results 48

4.1.1 Pre- test results 48

4.1.2 Post- test results 51

4.1.3 Pre- questionnaire 53

4.1.4 Post- questionnaire 55

4.1.5 Students’ attitude toward studying English speaking skill through the use of dialog memorization 57

4.1.6 The result of applying dialog memorization in another context 58

4.2 Discussions 60

4.2.1 Improvement of EFL students’ English speaking skills through the use of dialog memorization at Nguyen Trai high school 61

4.2.2 High school students’ opinions toward learning speaking skill through dialog memorization 62

4.2.3 The limitations when using dialog memorization 62

CHAPTER 5-CONCLUSION 64

5.1 Summary of the findings 64

5.2 Recapitulation 65

5.3 Recommendations 65

5.4 Suggestions for further study 66

REFERENCES 68

APPENDIX 1 70

APPENDIX 2 71

APPENDIX 3 72

APPENDIX 4 74

APPENDIX 5 76

APPENDIX 6 78

APPENDIX 7 79

APPENDIX 8 80

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter gives a brief of introduction to the study that concentrates the problems of teaching and learning English speaking at high schools in Vietnam It includes rationale, aims and objectives of the study, significance of study, scope of the study and organization of the study

1.1 Rationale

English is one of international languages This language is used not only solely

in English speaking countries, but also in internation As the English language has become an essential factor in strengthening trade and travel in many countries, the necessity of knowing and using this communication through modern technology and media communication devices such as mobile telephone, electronic mail and the Internet Undoubtedly, people around the world need English as the main medium of their communication via devices For this reason, speaking is an important skill for the people who are learning English because in verbal communication we cannot communicate with each other without understanding them Therefore teaching and learning English are very important and necessary because practicing English conversations seem to be one of the best and the shortest ways for us to have a great deal of opportunities to reach the success of life

According to Tillitt, B and Bruder, M N (1985), Speaking naturally is for intermediate and upper intermediate ESL/EFL students who are interested in using English in social interaction Thus speaking is considered as one

of the language skills that must be learnt to start the communication

Firstly, for Vietnamese students, especially the high school students have many difficulties in learning and practicing English conversations in speaking skill They also fall into confusion when speaking English because of their lack of professional knowledge and vocabulary, grammatical patterns, confidence and surely good

learning methods Sometimes, they also make mistakes in pronouncing the English words Then, they have misunderstanding in communication as the problem such as:

intonation, stress and other phonological nuances

Secondly, the goal of teaching speaking, surely, is to improve the oral production of the student Therefore, English teachers would like to develop students’ speaking skill by applying the Audio- lingual method known as one of the most effective approaches that help students to develop English speaking ability In addition, there are many dialogues which are demanded to practice by students are contained in students’ textbooks To meet the demand of students, English teachers in general and English teachers at my high school in particular have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective techniques of teaching English speaking Although they used many techniques to stimulate students’ speaking skill such as: substitution drill, repetition drill, inflection drill ., Using these techniques don’t bring the efficient interactions between students Because students’ learning motivation at high school is to focus on testing of national graduation examination without paying attention to communicate orally, Teachers only teach summarily and students are not able to remember anything about speaking techniques So they feel afraid and nervous when they want to speak or communicate using English in front of their classmates and even each communication situation In order to solve the students’ problems and motivate their speaking ability, the teachers could apply technique that not only attracts students’ practicing speaking, but also help them memorize the dialogues applied in contexts Through the speaking lessons in classroom, the dialog memorization technique is applied to help their students both improve their English knowledge and use it effectively and fluently in communication

Dialog memorization is a chance to practice the pronunciation and get it really in

to mouth, without having to think about what I was saying, but long enough to say it with accent and everything

Third, the location of my high school is not far from Phong Nha – Ke Bang national park and some famous caves, students have chances to meet the visitors and desseminate information about our country’s history and culture all over the world

By speaking English well, students are able to communicate with foreign people confidently

However, is this technique really a good way for students to practice fluency in speaking class? And which difficulties do the students encounter while communicating in another context? In my mind, I decided to conduct the research

named: “Using dialog memorization to improve EFL students’ speaking skill”

The research paper focuses on the way of making effective conversation to help students improve their speaking ability, so that they cannot only complete the dialogue in national curriculum but also become more confident in real communication to interact with people in their nearest environment

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This research aims:

- To help students make conversations fluency, accuracy and confidently to improve students’ speaking skill in classroom

- To help students transfer from the dialogues learned in classroom to another context

1.3 Significance of the study

The study may be significant in making several contributions to the English learning and teaching process The research will serve as a base for teachers, students and educational practitioners who are concerned with speaking ability

in EFL (English as a foreign language)

1.4 Research questions

In my thesis, I would like to show the following research questions:

1 Does dialog memorization technique improve learners’ speaking fluency and accuracy?

2 To what extent is dialog memorization applied into another context?

1.5 Scope of the study

Due to the word limit and the time frame, this study only concentrates on giving out the definition of speaking skill, dialog memorization technique and implementing the survey questionnaire to find out difficulties that the teacher encounter while teaching process, then suggesting some effective solutions to help teachers encourage students to be active in a speaking lesson at high school In addition, the target subjects that the research investigated were 80 students from two classes of grade 11

at Nguyen Trai High School during the school year 2018-2019 The interactive ability

of students is expected to be at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels

1.6 Organization of the study

This thesis comprises five chapters:

Chapter 1 – Introduction – has presented some background that lead to the

research The rationale, aims and objectives of the study, scope of the study, research methodology related studies as well as organization of the study are briefly presented

Chapter 2 – Literature review – will provide the theoretical background

relevant to the study including theory of teaching and learning English speaking and dialog memorization technique in teaching speaking

Chapter 3- Research methodology- will focus on presenting the research

participants, research method, the research procedure, date collection instrument as well as date analysis method of the study

Chapter 4 – Findings and discussions – will present the results of pre- test and

post- test, survey questionnaires as well as analyzation and draws out the finding from the data collected basing on two research questions to know about teachers and students' attitudes towards teaching and learning English speaking and applying dialog memorization technique in speaking classes

Chapter 5 – Conclusion – will summarize a brief summary of the findings,

recapitalization and recommendations In addition, suggestions for further study are included

Following this chapter is the References and Appendices

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The aim of this chapter is to review the literature on the topics relating to the research in this thesis The literature review consists of seven sections: section one deals with the definition of speaking, functions of speaking, factors affecting students' speaking, strategies for successful speaking skill, problems and activities in the classroom and speaking process Then dialog memorization in education is presented according to the types used in the English speaking class, dialog memorization strategies and dialog memorization activities as well as dialog memorization is discussed for using in the English speaking class

2.1 Speaking skill in the classroom

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking

Definitions of speaking have been taken a lot of attention and concern from different researchers There are several definitions on speaking presented in language learning methodology Alonso, A Rosa (2014) shared that speaking is the verbal use

of language and a medium through which human beings communicate with each other It is the most requirements that people need to communicate in everyday situation We have to make ourselves understood by the people we are talking to, which is not an easy task, especially at the beginning and intermediate levels

Bums & Joyce (1997) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking Another definition of speaking is that

"Speaking" is the delivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips Speaking includes two forms: formal and informal Formal

speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well

Furthermore, Brown (1994) also believed that speaking ability is integrated closely to writing, reading, and listening In language teaching, it is of great

importance to emphasize the interrelationship of skill Besides, there is also another

definition of speaking is that “Speaking and the art of communication are a productive skill” Good speaking skill is the act of generating words that can be

understood by listeners Therefore, speaking skill is seen as an interactive process of

constructing meaning that involves in producing and receiving information in order to get the particular and between the speaker and the listener

In addition, According to I.S.P Nation Jonathan Newton, the aims of teaching speaking are:

a To help the learners able to cope with meaning focused output as soon as possible

b To motivate them in their language study by getting them to engage in successful speaking

c To make the early learning as relevant as possible to their language use needs

In summary, speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing ones thought and feelings in spoken language Its forms and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking When teaching foreign language, speaking skill receives much emphasis because foreign language learners often have difficulty in oral production (speaking) Some learners have memorized hundreds of words but they still cannot speak them very well From the above definitions and explanations of speaking in foreign language studies, the definition of speaking in this study is summarized as the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a various

context to express ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in order to inform, to persuade, and to entertain that can be learnt by using some teaching learning methodologies

2.1.2 Function of speaking

Gudo, O, Benter (2010) said that there are two main functions of speaking The first is interactional function of speaking which serves to establish and maintain social relations, and the second is transactional function, in which focus on the exchange of information Furthermore, speaking has three communicative functions; talk as interaction entertain, talk as transaction, and talk as performance

Besides, talk as interaction refers to what we normally mean by “conversation” and describes interaction that serves a primarily social function When people meet, they exchange greetings, engage in small talk, recount recent experiences, and so on because they wish to be friendly and to establish a comfortable zone of interaction with others The focus is more on the speakers and they wish to present themselves to each other than on the message For instance, when people meet, they exchange greeting, engage in small talk, tell the experience, and so on

Another function is talk as transaction; it refers to situation where the focus is on what it said or done The message and making oneself understood clearly and accurately is central focus, rather than participants and how they interact socially with each other For instance, students are able to be engaged in hands- on activities to explore concepts associated with floating and sinking

The last function is talk as performance It is about public talk, talk transmits information before audience, such as classroom presentation, public announcements, and speeches

Furthermore, speaking is considered as a crucial part of English language learning and teaching With its important, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers have been continuing to apply many effective methods to teach speaking Besides, today’ world requires that the goal of

teaching speaking should improve students’ communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance In order to teach English language learners how to speak in the best way possible, some speaking activities are provided to improve speaking ability of learners such as role-play, using pictures etc That can be applied for learners in developing speaking skill, together with suggestions for teachers who teach oral language

According to Nunan (2013), he showed that teaching speaking is to teach learners to produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns, use language as a means of expressing values and judgments, use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language, select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situations and subject matter, organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence and use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses which is called as fluency

Besides, there is a relation between the three functions of speaking with dialog memorization technique Dialog memorization is one of speaking activity which force or stimulate students to perform their speaking skill When learners use dialog memorization, they give and take interactive information The next step, the information is processed speedly Lastly, they make performance in front of classmate Therefore, it means that dialog memorization can encourage the learners use the function of speaking

2.1.3 Factors affecting students' speaking

There are many problems that may specifically interfere with success or failure

in learning of students' English speaking However, this study only focuses on the following main factors

1 Speaking learning motivation

Nunan (1999) stresses that motivation is important to notice in that it can affect students‟ reluctance to speak in English In this sense, motivation is a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate Zua (2008) further adds that motivation is an inner energy She says that no matter what kinds of motivation the learners possess it will enhance their study interest It has been proven in many studies that students with a strong motivation to succeed can persist in learning and gain better scores than those who have weaker motivation of success showing that building students‟ motivation to learn is urgent for every teacher

2 Cultural background knowledge

The cultural conflict is a crucial factor influencing one's oral English, including the religion, the oral speaking habit, the privacy problem, social life, traditional problem and festivals For example, foreigners do not like to be asked some private questions such as" where are you going?” or "How old are you?” These questions are not boring but private to foreigners However, Vietnamese people cannot avoid asking such kind of questions because this is the Vietnamese way of being friendly Due to the culture differences sometimes the foreigners become angry while the Vietnamese begin to feel so bad and decide to stop learning English to avoid any trouble Culture is the carrier of one country, which cannot disappear gradually, so what people need to do is to adapt themselves to such kind of new culture and environment Therefore, paying attention to the cultural difference, this helps avoid making mistakes in their life, misunderstanding in communication with other and hesitating speaking

3 Speaking anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of tension, apprehension and nervousness associated with the situation of learning a foreign language (Horwitz et all cited in Nascente, 2001) Furthermore, Nascente wrote that, among other affective variables, anxiety stands out

as one of the main blocking factors for effective language learning In other words,

anxiety influences students in learning language Therefore, paying attention to this factor of learning should also be taken into consideration The fact that anxiety plays

an important role in students’ learning and is also shared by other researchers like Horwitz (1991) He believes that anxiety about speaking a certain language can affect students’ performance It can effect on the quality of oral language production and make individuals appear less fluent than they really are This explanation suggests that teachers should make attempt to create a learning atmosphere which gives

students more comfortable situations in their learning activity

4 Lack of Confidence

It is commonly understood that students’ lack of confidence usually occurs when students realize that their conversation partners have not understood them or when they do not understand other speakers In this situation, they would rather keep silent while others do talking showing that the students are lack of confidence to communicate In response to this, Nunan (1999) says that student who lack of confidence about themselves and their English necessarily suffer from communication apprehension This shows that building students’ confidence is an important part of teacher’s focus of attention This means that the teacher should also learn from both theories and practical experience on how to build the students’ confidence because confidence is one of crucial factors to help students perform English speaking perfectly Therefore, teacher should create a comfortable atmosphere in which learners are encouraged to talk in English and are praised for talking

5 Vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is very important for the students who learn English as a foreign language That is why everybody who learns English or a certain language should know the words Rich vocabulary can support them in speaking when they are communicating to people can write and translate the meaning of words when they

definite English If they do not know the meaning of words, they will not be able to speak, write and translate anything in English

6 Pronunciation

It is quite common for non-native speakers of English to mispronounce English words This can lead to misunderstand or even some more serious consequences It means that if speakers produce with a good pronunciation, listeners will understand well what another person says and this will make the communication process more easily Moreover, pronunciation plays a central role in both academic and social fields in the way that students can be able to participate and integrate successfully in their community

2.1.4 Difficulties that teacher is facing while teaching speaking skill

According to Nguyen Bang & Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2002), the difficulties that teachers often face with are listed as below:

1 Large classes

It is difficult to keep good discipline going in a large class You have to provide for more children of different ages and different abilities, wanting to learn different things at different speeds and in different ways You cannot easily give each child the individual attention he/she need You may not have enough books or teaching and learning aids

2 Classroom arrangement

The number of students in some classes are about 40 -50 students, in some places this number go up to the hundreds Therefore, teacher have difficulty with their teaching when the learner noisy, inattentive, badly behaved or quite simple out

of control, for example, fighting in class, forgetting to do homework, teasing the others, eating chewing gum, sleeping over the lesson and so on These violations of class regulations often trouble the teacher as he/she has to discontinue his/her teaching to deal with them and the solution of each violation may take a lot of class

time The consequence is that the teacher cannot finish his/her teaching plan These problems are troublesome really for the teacher

3 Reluctance of student

The students can get bored very easily, especially when they do not understand the new language item or skill being taught or when they are not eared for enough by the teacher Sometimes, it is impossible for the teacher to find topics, activities and techniques that keep them all interested When they lose interest, they often become trouble- makers in class These prevent and distract the others from doing their language activities seriously and smoothly In addition, only few learners who are more proficient and confident dare to take part in the practice activities or respond to the teacher, the others do not seem to have enough courage and chance to say anything in class These learners often keep quiet and will gradually lose their interest

in learning English if the teacher does not have any way to active them to participant

in the language activities in class This is really a difficult task for the teacher Gudu and O Benter (2010) pointed out that there are many factors which cause difficulties

in speaking English among EFL learners Some of these factors relate to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and the environment For instance, many students lack of the necessary vocabulary to get their meaning across, and consequently, they cannot keep the interaction going Moreover, some students lack

of the motivation to speak English They do not recognize that leaning and speaking English are really important Actually, motivation is considered as the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks in a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he preservers According to Thornbury, S (2007), the development of communicative skills can only take place if learners have the motivation and opportunity to express their own identity and relate with the people

around them

2.1.5 Strategies for successful speaking skill

There are many different factors that affected on success of teaching and learning speaking skill All of them are very crucial while producing language It means that to make successful speaking skill, the teacher’ role and students’ role are particularly interested, besides, participant and motivation play one of the important roles also, language, structure and communicative will bring ideas, thought for conversation, speaking activities help students increase their opportunity in using English language

1 Teacher’s role

As started by Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Ngoc (2006) the role of teacher is necessary for learner: Firstly, teachers need to become effective mediators Secondly, they need to be able to take on such roles as advisors, consultants, communicators, partners and joint problem – solvers Thirdly, teachers’ attitudes towards the value of learning strategies is crucial, as this will inform everything that the teacher does and therefore pervade the delivery of the whole curriculum The successful teacher may not be one who merely provides specific learner training task, but rather, one who is aware of the strategy implications of every language learning that they give Teachers would then habitually draw the attention of their learners to develop an awareness of how they go about their learning, and seek, through the process of mediation, to give gradually control to their learners

2 Learner’s role

Learner’s role is considered as a crucial factor which decides the success or failure of speaking process Students who lack confidence in their ability to take part successfully in oral interaction often listen in silence while others do the talking So the good way to encourage such students to begin to participate is to help them build

up a stock of minimal responses that they can use in different types of contexts Those responses can be especially useful for beginners Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases that conversation participants use to indicate understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses enables a learner to concentrate

on what the other participant is saying, without having to simultaneously plan a response Furthermore, According to Chaney (1998), Speaking is" the process of sharing meaning through the using of verbal and nonverbal symbol, in a variety of context Learning English speaking as second language is actually not easy for Vietnamese students According to Margre S.Berns (1984) again, "language is interaction, it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society" (Berns, 1984.p.5) Therefore, learning speaking is not just a process of imitation or repetition of drills It requires a lot interaction between students In speaking classes, the more communicative activities students attend, the more improvable speaking skills students get The main criterion for success in learning speaking is whether or not the learners can communicate fluently in English The below steps are some guidance that can helps learners reach to this aim The first step is realizing the fact that learning the English language should not be a duty or chore for the learners; it should be taken as a fascinating hobby that will help learners to expand their horizons

in many aspects of their life One of the most important aspects of improving spoken English is to have an extensive vocabulary so that they could express their thoughts clearly and easily Having a good stock of words would help them to be more precise with their construction and more articulate with their speech Next, having knowledge

of basic grammar is another very necessary component of improving spoken English

It is not necessary to have an extensively detailed knowledge of grammar for speaking fluent English In fact, speaking in absolute correct grammar may sometimes lead to awkwardness in casual and informal meetings or talks Within this process, the learner’s knowledge, in its boarder context of knowledge of the self, feeling and emotions, personal aims and motivation, will be significant in discovering personal authenticity in how to learn So, learners just have a basic knowledge of grammar would be enough to get learners started The other step is to be able to convey what they want to express in a confident and easy manner For this, learners need to believe in themselves Also, do not hesitate to ask the other persons for

clarification if learners do not understand them or they themselves are stuck on a word or two in the middle, and need some help In addition, with forty- five minutes allotted in a lesson, the teaching and learning activities are in fact occupied by learner talk This may seem intelligible, but the teacher talk or pauses often take most time The learners bring to the task of learning different characteristics such as age, gender, personality, motivation, self-concept, life experience and cultural background, all of which influence the way in which they go about of learning It is, therefore, over simplistic to assume that all learners will use or should be taught the cam strategies in the same way What apparent from a constructivist learning, they make their own personal sense of the skills and strategies influences that surround them A crucial aspect of strategy training is that learners develop a sense of personal relevance or personal authenticity Rather than asking them to use particular strategies simply because the teacher tells them to, it is more beneficial to help individuals to discover and develop those that are most significant and personally relevant to them Last but not the least, keep practicing – Speaking English themselves as much as they can and trying to understand the different accents of native English speakers are two things that would take learners a long way in retaining what they learnt as well as improving their spoken English skills Watch English movies, news channels, etc to hear crisp English diction and absorb the different styles of pronunciations

3 Participant is even

All members in class have an opportunity to participate in classroom discussion which is not served by a minority of talkative participants; Contributions are fairly evenly distributed

4 Motivation is high

Learners are willing to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something information to say about it, or because they also want to contribute to achieving a task objective

5 Language is of an acceptable level of language accuracy

Learners represent themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy Besides, to help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teachers can use a balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output, and communicative output

6 Language input

From listening activities, reading passages, the form of teacher talk and the language heard and read outside of class This provides learners the knowledge, the background and the material they need to begin producing language themselves Language input can be content-oriented or form-oriented Content-oriented input concentrates in information, whether it is a simple news report or an extended lecture

on an academic topic Content-oriented input is able to include descriptions of learning strategies and examples of their use Oriented input concentrates in ways of using the language: guidance from the teacher or another source on vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar (linguistic competence); appropriate things to say in specific contexts (discourse competence); expectations for rate of speech, pause length, turn-taking, and other social aspects of language use (sociolinguistic competence); and explicit instruction in phrases to use to ask for clarification and repair miscommunication (strategic competence) In the presentation part of a lesson,

an instructor combines content-oriented and form-oriented input The amount of input that is actually provided in the target language depends on students' listening proficiency and on the situation For students at lower levels, or in situations where a quick explanation on a grammar topic is needed, an explanation in English may be more appropriate than one in the target language

7 Structured output

In structured output, learners may have options for responses, but all of the options require them to use the specific form or structure that the instructor has just introduced Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing

specific language items recently introduced, sometimes in combination with previously learned items Instructors often use structured output exercises as a transition between the presentation stage and the practice stage of a lesson plan Textbook exercises also often make good structured output practice activities

8 Communicative output

Completing a task is the learners' main purpose, such as obtaining information, developing a travel plan, or creating a video To fulfill its aim, they are able to use the language that the instructor has just presented, but they also may draw on any other vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies that they know In communicative output activities, the criterion of success is whether the learner gets the message across Accuracy is not a consideration unless the lack of it interferes with the message In everyday communication, spoken exchanges take place because there is some sort of information gap between the participants Communicative output activities involve a similar real information gap In order to complete the task, students must reduce or eliminate the information gap In these activities, language is

a tool, not an end in itself In a balanced activities approach, the instructor uses a variety of activities from these different categories of input and output Learners at all proficiency levels, including beginners, benefit from this variety; it is more motivating, and it is also more likely to result in effective language learning

9 Speaking activities should be used in the classroom

Interactive activities can be divided for convenience into the following categories

- Controlled activities

For example: repetition practice of set sentence, prompted by picture or word cue to improve the accurate use of words, structures and pronunciation, and to foster confidence

+ Matching: Learners are told to match words with suitable pictures; cards or objects provided by the teacher

+ Odd- man- out: Learners are told to pick out a strange word from given group then say or write it out - the strange is the new word The word cat is the newly taught word

+ Grouping: Learners are given a list of ten or twenty words to group into 2 or 3 topic groups For example: mother, chair, desk, father, son, board, bench, daughter, uncle, and niece

+ Arrangement: Learners are given some groups of disordered words, each of which is enough for a sentence, to rearrange into correct sentences then to pronounce them out

+ Blank filling: Learners are given some sentences with some words missing (the practiced word), then they have to choose the suitable words from given group to fill in

+ Substitution: Learners are given some defining sentences, each with an open blank to be substituted with an intended word

- Guided activities

Guided activities are aimed at giving chances to use the new word in less and less controlled contexts At the end of this stage, they can use it in speaking For example: model dialogues which the students can change to talk about themselves and to communicate their own needs and ideals; task which the students carry out using language ( structure and/ or vocabulary ) which has been taught beforehand + Replacement: Learners are given some sentences to replace some of their parts with their own words, keeping them meaningful

+ Longer gap filling or sentences / paragraph completion: Learners are given some unfinished sentences or short paragraphs to complete with their own words, provided that the sentences are meaningful These may be done with the help of such provided visual aids as picture, cards, drawings, charts, etc

+ Re expression / Paraphrase: Learners are given some sentences or short paragraphs with complicated expressions to understand They use their simple words

to re- expressions or paragraph them, causing no changing in meanings

+ Sentence making: Learner can make up their own sentences with given words, picture, cards, drawing, charts, etc

+ Story, text, news retelling or summarizing: Learners can read or listen to a story, text, piece of news then they retell or summarize it in their own words

+ Guided description: Learners are given an object, a set of related pictures or drawing with some suggested questions, then they describe it in an oral or written paragraph

- Creative or free communication

These activities are designed to give either creative practice opportunities for predicted language items, or general fluency practice, where the specific language focus is less relevant The students are given the opportunity to experiment, to see how far they can communicate in situations where all the choices of language used are made by the speakers; to practice the fluent use of language they know In general, these activities increase the students’ motivation, since the students talk themselves, bridge the gap between the rather artificial world of the classroom, with its controlled language practice, and the real world outside Of course, any situation the teacher sets up in the classroom for such experimentation will, to a certain extent, determine the language used

2.1.6 Activities to improve speaking

English teachers in general and English teachers at Nguyen Trai high school in particular have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching English Speaking Thus, the Audio- lingual method is applied to teach English Speaking at all levels at high school Teachers hope with this teaching method, they can help their students both improve their English knowledge and use it effectively and fluently in communication This approach to language learning was

similar to another, earlier method called the direct method According to Richards, Jack C & Rodgers, Theodore S (2001), like the direct method, the audio-lingual method advised that students should be taught a language directly, without using the students' native language to explain vocabulary or grammar in the target language However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method did not concentrate in teaching vocabulary Rather, the instructor drilled learners in the use of grammar.Applied to language instruction, and often within the context of the language lab, it means that the instructor would present the correct model of a sentence and the students would have to repeat it The teacher would then continue through presenting new words for the students to make sample in the same structure In audio-lingual method, there is no explicit grammar instruction: everything is memorized simply in form From that, students can memorize the grammatical structures and even vocabularies to make the dialogues and practice them fluently and accuracy The teaching of the oral skills with accurate pronunciation, grammar and the ability to respond quickly and accurately is the main objective of audiolingual method Reading and writing skills may be taught but they are dependent on the oral skills (Richard and Rodgers, 1986)

The Audio- lingual method uses the following techniques to teach English speaking ability:

Repetition

The student repeats an utterance aloud as soon as he has heard it He does this without looking at the printed text The utterance must be brief and small so that the ears of the student must retain them and may repeat it because sound is more important than form and order For example:

This is the seventh month

This is the seventh month

After the student repeats an utterance, the teacher may add two words and after repeating it teacher can add more two words and so on

Inflection

One word in an utterance appears in another form when repeated For example:

I bought the ticket I bought the tickets

I called the young man I called the young men

Replacement

One word in an utterance is replaced by another For example

He bought this house cheap

He bought it cheap

Restatement

The student rephrases an utterance and addresses it to someone else, according

to the instructions For example:

Tell him to wait for you

Wait for me

Completion

The student shear an utterance that is complete except on word, then he repeats the utterance in complete from For example:

I will go my way and you go

I will go my way and you yours

Contraction

A single word stands for a phrase or a clause For example:

Put your hands on the table

Put your hands there

Transformation

A sentence is transformed by being made negative or interrogative or through change in tense, mood, voice, aspect or modality For example:

He knows my address

He does not know my address

Does he know my address?

He used to know my address

Integration

Two separate utterances are integrated into one For example:

They must be honest This is important

It is important that they must be honest

The Audiolingual method has the key features of drilling, memorization, repetition and over learning (Richards and Rodgers, 1986) They also said that dialogues and drills form the basis of audiolingual classroom practices Dialogues provide the means of contextualizing key structures and illustrate situations in which structures might be used as well as some cultural aspects of the target language Dialogues are used for repetition and memorization Correct pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and intonation are emphasized After a dialogue has been presented and memorized, specific grammatical pattern in the dialogue are selected and become the focus of some various kinds of drills and pattern-patterns practice

2.1.7 Speaking process

The speaking process consists of many activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event There are three main stages of teaching speaking: Before speaking, the speaker knows the contexts, understand the information and determine the idea While speaking, the speaker has to use convenient vocabularies and structures to present the message clearly Post speaking, the speaker expresses personal feelings and can apply in another context

2.1.7.1 Pre- speaking teaching

To gain the good result in speaking teaching, this stage plays a crucial role as instructor must decide the aim of lesson by planning for all speaking activities So the instructor is considered as an informant role The instructor introduces something relating to information to be learned and present it in such a way that the meaning of the new language is as clear and memorable as possible It means that teacher tries to predict what the students will bring to the activity and any problem they may have or

the successful activities they are capable to do The teacher finds even anyway so that students feel that the activities are really interesting, useful, and fun Moreover, teacher must think about time that the activities will take and tailor it to the time available Then the materials in speaking teaching are one of preparation of teacher

At this part of the lesson, the teacher is at the center of the stage The students listen, try to understand and work out the instructions Besides, pre- speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and gives opportunities for students to plan and organize their ideas for speaking Therefore, teacher should spend time sensibly so that the students get enough time to practice themselves

This stage includes the following importance:

- Students can understand the topic and objectives of the speaking task The techniques that teacher uses to help students such as: miming, eliciting pictures, brainstorming, introducing the topic…

- It basically depends on the students’ background So the instructor can concentrate on the target language during this stage

- The teacher gets the thinking and generating ideas from students before starting the real act of the tasks

- Students have the opportunity to listen to the target language This prepares them to talk about the topic being revealed

- The problems such as lack of vocabulary or grammatical structure that students encounter are solved before starting the tasks

- Students may know about the text or some words that they will be used during the task later

In this stage, instructor uses different strategies, eliciting, enhancing, introducing necessary structures and vocabulary, warming up, personalizing the content, miming, employing audio- visual mediums, revising, and many other strategies

The purposes of preparation stage include:

- Introducing and teaching new language including grammar rules and vocabulary to be used in the speaking activity

- Increasing the chances for retracting, or reorganizing learners’ developing linguistic knowledge

- Mobilizing, or activating students’ relatively new linguistic knowledge

- Recycling, or reactivating students’ language items for the task

- Easing learners’ processing load by allowing them to clarify ideas and content for the task

- Pushing learners to interpret tasks in more demanding ways and use language to express more complex meaning

2.1.7.2 While- speaking teaching

During this stage, it is the students’ turn to do most of the talking while teacher’s main task is to devise and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must the same time be both meaningful and memorable The teacher’s role, then, is completely different from that at the first stage The teacher is like the skillful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a chance to participate and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory Moreover, the students know the aims of the activity and what they are to do and they can set up the activity with visuals, a short lead- in talk, any structure or vocabulary useful and perhaps leaving them on the board for reference This means giving clear instructions and checking that they have been understood Besides, teacher makes sure that the students have enough time to prepare, perhaps in pairs/groups, before asking them to tackle the main activity Teacher does not forget that the students are probably getting useful speaking practice

at this stage too Then teacher must make the activity even more “process” rather than

“product” – based by encouraging rehearsal if appropriate, particularly with role- plays However, teacher does not interrupt except to provide help and encourage if necessary and tries to keep a low profile Particularly, teacher does not let the activity drag on and remember to leave time for feedback It is necessary to evaluate the

activity and the student performance in order to provide feedback later but do not jump in with instant corrections There are some activities which can be applied in while- speaking part as follow:

Using scaffolding to help students’ language

Scaffolding can be used by the teacher talking to students Providing language support at the right level for students can really make a difference to their talking and understanding The aim of using scaffolding is to make language accessible to students and help them move on to the next stage Teacher’s using scaffolding can help to reduce anxiety about talking for students they are working with Successful scaffolding relies on you knowing the language level of the students working with

Speaking model

It is the most important way that children learn Children carefully observe and notice They learn from each other, from their teacher and from the society Using expert and successful users of English with a focus on the modeling of successful language provides better language learning environment

Supporting the visual modality

Modeling helps students to become listeners, to take turns, to reach a consensus about the details and meaning of a passage and to give constructive feedback to one another We all know that learners differ in the style of learning they prefer to learn using: They are visual, auditory, tactile or kinesthetic as follow:

- Visual modalities: learning through seeing such as: using realia, semantic maps, and videos to bring the content to life

- Auditory: Learning through the ears such as: using a chant or music

- Tactile: Learning through the hands such as: touching realia or using manipulatives to present information

- Kinesthetic: Learning by moving such as: engaging students in movement to represent different ideas If we need to scaffold speaking, then we need to support the visual modality

2.1.7.3 Post- speaking teaching

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide Students are given opportunities to use language freely Sometimes students can make mistakes at this stage, but mistakes are unimportant Because they are common to the class can be mentioned and then practiced later So teacher notes down glaring and recurrent errors in grammar, pronunciation, use of vocabulary Individual mistakes might be discussed (in private) with the students concerned and you might recommend suitable remedial work to do at home The more important is that students have chance to use language as they wish, to try to express their own thought and ideas Moreover, they become aware that they have learnt something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning However, students will probably seem to the teacher to lurch backwards and forwards rather than make steady progress It will not be too easy for the teacher to measure students’ performance as it was at the last stage, nor is there any easy recipe for success So, what is needed is flexibility, tolerance, patience on teacher’s part- and, above all, an understanding of the learners’ difficulties In a word, the teacher through speaking lesson should work as a motivator His/ her roles closely relate to the three stages of learning Whatever teacher is doing in the classroom, his/ her ability to motivate the students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing, will be crucial Therefore, some key factors of teacher’s role are teacher’s own performance the mastery of teaching skills, which depend on teacher’s careful preparation; teacher’s selection, and presentation of topics and activities, and, of course, teacher’s own personality, which, in language teaching, must be flexible enough to allow the teacher to be both authoritative and friendly at the same time

2.2 Theoretical basis of dialog memorization

2.2.1 Definitions of dialog memorization

Before discussing the words “dialog memorization”, we focus on the definition

of dialogue It can be understood that both speaker and listener have a positive

function to perform: the speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message According to Donn Byrne (1976), dialogue is a two way process between speaker and listener (or listeners), involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding At the same time, the listener is helped by prosodic features, such as stress and intonation, which accompany the spoken utterance and form part of its meaning, and also by facial and body movements

The second definition I want to concentrate on is “memorization” According to Duong, O and Nguyen, H (2006), Memorizing is the process of establishing information in memory The term ‘memorizing’ usually refers to the conscious processes It means the learners use memorization consciously and they think about the process of memorization when they are applying it Besides, memorizing is to learn something carefully, so that you can remember it exactly So, it considers as the act or process of learning something so that you will remember it exactly

Therefore, in the audio- lingual method, dialog memorization is used as one of the techniques in order to help students practice dialogue fluently and confidently through remembering the exact dialogue Larsen, D & Freeman (2000) said that dialog memorization technique was a short conversation between two people, often had used to begin a new lesson Students memorized the dialogue through mimicry; students usually took the role of one person in the dialogue, and the teacher the other After the students had learned the one person’s lines, they switched roles and memorized the other person’s part Another way of practicing the two roles is for half

of the class to take one role and the other half to take the other After the dialog has been memorized, pairs of individual students might perform the dialog for the rest of the class In the Audio- lingual method, certain sentence patterns and grammar points are included within the dialog These patterns and points are later practiced in drills based on the lines of the dialog

In another word, dialog memorization means that students are given a short dialogue to memorize then they must use mimicry and apply role- playing to present the dialogue The example of the dialogue must be included in the materials section Thus, dialog memorization is the activity where the students are memorized the line

of the dialog and then they played the role of the characteristic in the dialog, and

then practice in the front of class In the dialog memorization keep in mind is

necessary to memorize the dialog and the certain sentence pattern and grammar point that is included within the dialog Due to, the patterns and that points are later practiced in drills based on the line of the dialog, the teacher could be repeat the dialog if necessary, and the student must be pay attention, and memorize the sentence pattern in every line The atmosphere of the class is conditioned quiet and comfortable, because the students- adding capacity is not same, the step in dialog memorization are listen, repeat and perform

2.2.2 Benefits of dialog memorization

Short dialogue memorization is the great way to know the students’ speaking ability This is as a tool to know how the students’ ability in speaking whether their speaking ability is high or low

The beneficial of technique in teaching assists the students to enjoy the learning process The effective technique of teaching in the learning process can be seen on the performance or the goal The goal of learning foreign language is mastered the target language In a general way, English is the foreign language studied by the learner in the high school The technique of teaching has been made to reduce the failures of learning foreign language

For beginners or the less confident learners, the memorized dialogue is a good way to get learners to practice the target language utterances without hesitation and within wide variety contexts It means through dialogue students are able to practice and express their thought orally in the target language The role of dialogues is to help students to develop their conversation skills in common practice in most English

classes The other advantage by using dialogue is that students are given a rubric as a basic on which they can build Once they have become comfortable using a dialogue, students then can go on to have related conversations building on their familiarity with the dialogue and the vocabulary specific to the situation Dialogues can be used

in many ways in a classroom For instance, to introduce new vocabulary and help students become familiar with standard formulas used when discussing various topics, use dialogue for role- plays, games, simulations and information gap, and have students memorize simple dialogues as a way of helping them improving their vocabulary skills With this technique, learning skill by heart of students will increase and the learner’s vocabulary can be richer and richer Particularly, learners make ready combinations of words or formulate Besides, in memorizing dialogue, the students are also guided in pronunciation The practicing of dialog memorizing is given by the teacher with the objective to improve the speaking skill of the students at all levels The students are given a dialogue to be memorized and will be practiced in pairs, which can help build up students’ confidence and encourage social and emotional development

According to Larsen, D & Freeman, (2000), dialog memorization technique has

the advantages stated as follows:

- The dialogue is one of the best ways to present grammar structures, because it approximates closest to the real life

- Students can develop their communicative intents

- Make the students interested in teaching learning active, because it helps to make an otherwise abstract language exercise meaningful and realistic

- Make students more natural and spontaneous in learning English

- Communicative interaction gives learners more opportunities to express their own individually in the classroom

- Students can use language communicatively