Towards improving l2 speaking skills for adult learners an investigation into teaching speaking at vietnam australia international english school

LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURE 4.1 Importance of English speaking skills at the present time 4.2 Learners’ self-evaluation of English speaking ability 4.4 Learners’ participation in class spe

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

- ℵ -

TOWARDS IMPROVING L2 SPEAKING SKILLS

FOR ADULT LEARNERS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO TEACHING SPEAKING AT

VIETNAM-AUSTRALIA INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH SCHOOL

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

SUBMITTED BY NGUYỄN THỊ NHẤT PHƯƠNG SUPERVISOR: TÔ MINH THANH, Ph D

Ho Chi Minh City, January 2009

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

TOWARDS IMPROVING L2 SPEAKING SKILLS

FOR ADULT LEARNERS

An Investigation into Teaching Speaking

at Vietnam-Australia International English School

in terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Masters’ Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Department of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, January 15, 2009

NGUYẾN THỊ NHẤT PHƯƠNG

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Nguyễn Thị Nhất Phương, being candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library

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

Ho Chi Minh City, January 15, 2009

NGUYỄN THỊ NHẤT PHƯƠNG

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms To Minh Thanh, Ph.D., for her encouragement and enthusiastic guidance throughout the research Without her valuable support and careful review of the draft, I would not have finished my thesis

I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation for the assistance of the authorities at VAS, who have created good conditions

so that I am able to carry out the class observations successfully

I am also indebted to the teachers and students at VAS, for their assistance in collecting the data for this study

Finally, my deepest thanks go to my family for their invaluable support, encouragement, and sacrifice during my long absence from home with great sympathy Their love and sympathy have made a great contribution to the completion of my post-graduate course and the thesis as well

Ho Chi Minh, January 2009

NGUYỄN THỊ NHẤT PHƯƠNG

LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURE

4.1 Importance of English speaking skills at the present time 4.2 Learners’ self-evaluation of English speaking ability

4.4 Learners’ participation in class speaking activities

4.5 Learners’ personal difficulties in their language study 4.6 Learners’ class-related difficulties

4.7 Learners’ frequency of home-learning

4.8 Learners’ trends in choosing ways of home learning

4.9 Reasons for the learners’ positive attitude towards their class 4.10 Teachers’ revision of previous lessons

Figure 5.1 Finger clicking

LIST OF TABLES

3.1 Syllabus of VAS pre-intermediate communication classes 3.2 Characteristics of student subjects

3.3 Characteristics of teacher subjects

4.3 Learners’ purposes for studying speaking skills

4.4 Teachers’ opinions on the adult learners’ drop-out rate

4.5 Learners’ attitude towards their class

4.6 Learners’ self-evaluation of their improvement

4.7 Student number in the classes

4.8 Learners’ preferences of class speaking activities

4.9 Learners’ vs Teachers’ preferences of class speaking ways 4.10 Teachers’ unapproved characteristics and/or teaching manners

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

Communication is the ultimate goal of EFL learning process, since the purpose of a new language learning is to interact with other people in the target language If people learn a language without being able to speak in the language, they would not be considered successful learners In this era of globalization, English has undeniably been very important and necessary in Vietnam, especially after the country’s entering WTO Therefore, Vietnamese learners’ need to practice speaking efficiently and then communicate directly in English has increased more than ever This is especially true for Vietnamese adult learners who urgently need to communicate successfully in English in their various English-speaking working places

After several years teaching speaking to EFL learners at Vietnam-Australia International English School (abbreviated to VAS), the researcher of the study realizes that most adult learners of mixed age language classes are hard-working, financially committed and consciously aware of what they want to achieve in foreign language learning However, they are most likely to be poorly motivated however hard their teachers try to encourage them to participate in class activities, especially those for speaking practice Actually, whereas “(t)here is a great richness

in research on adult learning worldwide,”1 few studies on this field have been found

in Vietnam Furthermore, it is commonly believed that strategies and methods currently applied in teaching adult learners in almost all English language centers in

Ho Chi Minh City as well as at VAS nowadays are, to some extent, similar to those

1 In the workshop “The multiplicity of research on ‘Learning for All’, a key for the 21st century” at the Fifth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA V), held in

July 1997 in Hamburg

used to teach younger learners Unfortunately, different subjects require different ways of teaching; and this is true that “adult education” requires “special teachers, methods and philosophy.” [Rosenstock, 1983: v] The fact that quite similar methods have been applied to teach English to both adult and younger Vietnamese learners of English is worth considering because, in the long term, this may lead to negative effects on the part of both teachers and learners Therefore, as Ellis [1996: 185] conforms, “language teachers will need to identify different approaches and techniques to suit the two kinds of learners.”

Under such a circumstance arises a great need to investigate into teaching English in general and teaching speaking skills to Vietnamese adult learners of English in particular Hopefully, the study done for this M.A thesis contributes something to current research on adult EFL teaching and learning in Vietnam nowadays

1.2 The aims of the study

Based on the achievements of previous studies as well as the experiences of colleagues and the researcher herself in teaching English-speaking skills to Vietnamese adult learners of English at VAS, this study aims:

(1) To indentify difficulties Vietnamese teachers and adult learners might encounter in EFL speaking classes of different age groups;

(2) To investigate how current teaching strategies and methods affect adults’ learning process; and

(3) To suggest some implications for teaching and learning in intermediate communication classes to lessen the difficulties and foster the adult learners’ speaking skills

pre-1.3 Significance of the study

1.3.1 Pedagogical importance

When reviewing the characteristics of adult learners as well as indentifying the difficulties these learners face in L2 learning process, the study proves that teaching younger learners is considerably different from teaching adult ones; the latter requires many other aspects… Therefore, when teaching adult learner, the teacher should be strongly aware of the complexity of the matter

1.3.2 Practical importance

Good English speaking skills open adult learners to greater opportunities of a better job, promotion, extended international communication, and so on A deep understanding from teachers and good learning strategies also help the learners feel more motivated and use their limited time efficiently

1.4 The organization of the study

In addition to the introduction which identifies problems giving rise to the thesis and which provides the overview of the significance of the study done for the thesis; and the conclusion which restates the problems and their possible solutions, the thesis consists of five main chapters:

Chapter 1 addresses the current EFL teaching and learning at VAS including its teachers, learners, syllabuses and teaching methods applied for speaking classes

Chapter 2 covers the literature review relating to the study in terms of theoretical background and previous related researches

Chapter 3 focuses on research methodology employed in the study including

a list of research questions, a brief discussion of how to design this study and a description of the study’s subjects, instruments and data collection procedures

Chapter 4 analyses the learners’ responses to their survey questionnaire, and simultaneously discusses what have accumulated from classroom observations and teachers’ semi-structured interviews

Chapter 5 gives pedagogical implications and recommendations for improving the quality of teaching and learning English in general and teaching speaking skills to VAS adult learners in particular Also included in this chapter is a sample lesson plan for experimental teaching to adult learners at VAS in hope of strengthening the study’s practicality

1.5 Limitations and delimitation

1.5.1 Limitations

The limitation of the study done for this M.A thesis lies in these three facts: (1) The recommendations are intended to be applied to the situation of pre-intermediate adult learners at VAS rather than to be generalized for all adult learners

of similar situations;

(2) The study restricts only to speaking skills without deepening the integration of EFL learners’ acquisition of at least the four basic language skills, i.e reading, writing, listening and speaking;

(3) The study’s subjects, who are adult learners, often fail to come to class on time and/or attend their class regularly This, to some extent, may negatively challenge the result of the study

Due to the time limit, the study does not cover all four main skills of the target language, i.e reading, writing, listening or speaking; but just focuses on the speaking skills, through which, as the researcher believes, learners can improve their communication ability in reality

1.5.2 Delimitation

If properly modified, the study may be of suitable use at other educational institutions in Vietnam where their learners face speaking problems similar to those observed and reported by the researcher of this M.A thesis

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter consists of (1) an overview of teaching to adult learners and, (2)

an analysis of adult learners’ characteristics in comparison with younger ones’ Also included in this section are prior researches on teaching speaking in general and teaching speaking to adult learners in particular The review establishes a theoretical background for further discussions on potential problems facing adult learners as well as suggestions for improving these learners’ speaking skills

2.1 Adult education

2.1.1 Who is an adult learner?

To begin with, we should consider about “Who is an adult learner?”

Malcolm Knowles spent many years and a great deal of energy answering this question According to Wlodkowski [1995: 5], Knowles identified adults by two criteria: “an individual who performs roles associated by our culture with adults (worker, spouse, parent, soldier, responsible citizen) and an individual who perceives himself or herself to be responsible for his/her own life.”

Whilst pedagogy (child-leading) is generally used to describe the “science

of teaching children”, Knowles [1970] calls andragogy the “science of helping

adults learn.” The notion of andragogy (from the Greek words meaning leading) was originally formulated by Alexander Kapp [1833: 3], but it was not

adult-widely used until it was resurrected, refined and popularized in the 1970s and 1980s

by Malcolm Knowles-the first educator to discern the need for a separate methodology for adult learners and develop the theory of adult education

In addition, Ellis [1996: 485] stated that “language teachers will need to identify different approaches and techniques to suit the two kinds of learners” since

“children learn in different ways to adults,” which is mainly due to different characteristics of the two kinds

2.1.2 Characteristics of adult learners

Adults are diverse in cultural background, work, job, age, educational background, experience, and level of English According to Knowles [1976: 182], a prime characteristic of adultness is the need and capacity to ‘self-directing’ Following is Knowles' assumptions about adult learners:

ƒ Adult learners need to know why they need to learn something before undertaking to learn it

ƒ Adults need to be responsible for their own decisions and to be treated as capable of self-direction

ƒ Adult learners have a variety of experiences of life that represent the richest resource for learning These experiences, however, are imbued with bias and presupposition

ƒ Adults are ready to learn those things they need to know in order to cope effectively with life situations

ƒ Adults are motivated to learn to the extent that they perceive that it will help them perform tasks they confront in their life situations

Based on Knowles [1990: 57]

2.1.3 Strategies in teaching EFL adult learners

2.1.3.1 Creating a friendly and low-anxiety learning environment

Support for adult learners is provided through a learning environment that meets both their physical and psychological needs Such a learning environment is also an essential element in successful partnerships between learners and instructors Developing an atmosphere in which adults feel both safe and challenged should be the goal [Cranton 1989, Rogers 1989, Vella 1994]

Any anxieties learners might have about appearing foolish or exposing themselves to failure should be eased, but they should not feel so safe that they do

Instructors need to balance being friendly with challenging learners According to Rogers [1989], an ideal adult learning climate has a nonthreatening, nonjudgmental atmosphere in which adults have permission for and are expected to share the responsibility for their learning

2.1.3.2 Using authentic materials

What are authentic materials?

There are many definitions in the debate over what constitutes "authentic materials" [Taylor, 1994] Nunan [1999] defines authentic materials as spoken or written language data that has been produced in the course of genuine communication, and not specifically written for purposes of language teaching Authentic materials offer real language that is contextually rich and culturally pertinent They also provide insights into the adult learners' new community and the services and opportunities it offers

Why use authentic materials?

According to Brinton [1991], authentic materials can reinforce for learners the direct relationship between the language classroom and the outside world Gebhard [1996] sees authentic materials as a way to contextualize language learning Brosnan et al [1984] justify the importance of the use of authentic language in the classroom in this way:

1 Authentic language offers students the chance to deal with a small amount

of materials which, at the same time, contains complete and meaningful messages

2 Authentic printed materials provide students with the opportunity to make use of non-linguistic clues (layout, pictures, colors, symbols, the physical setting in which it occurs) to help them discover the meaning more easily

3 Adults need to be able to see the immediate relevance of what they do in the classroom to what they need to do outside it, and real-life material treated realistically makes the connection obvious

In general, indeed, according to Rod Ellis [1992: 103], “adult learners dislike having a course book imposed upon them in a rigid way They prefer a variety of materials and the opportunity to use them in ways they choose for themselves Using authentic materials as teaching tools in the EFL/ESL class is one way to make effective and efficient use of adult learners' time by directly addressing their critical needs.”

2.2 Teaching EFL speaking

2.2.1 The nature of speaking

Speaking is one of the basic language skills When someone asks ‘Do you know another language?’, they generally mean ‘Can you speak the language?’ [Nunan, 1999: 225] Indeed, according to Ur [1996], of all language skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important because people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing Similarly, as Burkart [1998] thought, many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language Additionally, emphasizing language speaking skills’ importance, Davies & Pearse [1998] said that “the main goal of English language teaching is to enable learners to use English effectively in real communication.”

Nevertheless, in order for learners to speak English fluently and appropriately, it is “not adequate that they possess linguistic competence, which consists of knowledge of how to articulate sounds in a comprehensible manner, of adequate vocabulary and syntax;” [Nunan, 1999: 226] on the other hand, they need

to develop communicative competence

Communicative competence, according to Hymes, is what a person

“needs to know in order to communicate effectively in culturally significant situations.” [1974: 75] In addition, it was clearly defined by Richards, Platt & Weber

to include:

(1) knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language;

(2) knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g., knowing how to begin and end conversations, knowing what topics can be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which address forms should be used with different persons one speaks to and in different situations;

(3) knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests, apologies, thanks, and invitations; and

(4) knowing how to use language appropriately

[1985: 49]

Likewise, Canale & Swain [1980] described communicative competence as a combination of four components as the followings:

ƒ Grammatical competence including vocabulary, word formation, sentence

formation, pronunciation, spelling and linguistic semantics;

ƒ Sociolinguistic competence addressing the extent to which utterances are

produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts depending on contextual factors such as status of participants, purposes of the interaction, and norms or conventions of interaction;

ƒ Discourse competence regarding to the mastery of how to combine

grammatical forms and meanings to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres;

ƒ Strategic competence concerning the mastery of verbal and non-verbal

communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting conditions in actual situations or to insufficient competence in order to enhance communication effectiveness

2.2.2 Methods and techniques of teaching EFL speaking skills

2.2.2.1 Communicative approach

Perhaps the majority of language teachers today, when asked to identify the methodology they employ in their speaking classes, mention communicative as the methodology of choice Communicative language teaching (CLT) is promoted as an approach to language teaching which supports the development of learners’ ability to use language fluently and meaningfully

2.2.2.2 Fluency and accuracy

One of the goals of CLT is to develop fluency in language use Fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence Fluency is developed by creating classroom activities in which learners must negotiate meaning, use communication strategies, correct misunderstandings and work to avoid communication breakdowns

Fluency practice can be contrasted with accuracy practice, which focuses on creating correct examples of language use Differences between activities that focus

on fluency and those that focus on accuracy can be summarized as follows:

Activities focusing on fluency:

• Reflect natural use of language

• Focus on achieving communication

• Require meaningful use of language

• Require the use of communication strategies

• Produce language that may not be predictable

• Seek to link language use to context

Activities focusing on accuracy:

• Reflect classroom use of language

• Focus on the formation of correct examples of language

• Practice language out of context

• Practice small samples of language

• Do not require meaningful communication

• Choice of language is controlled

2.2.3 Commonly-used communicative activities in a speaking class

Willis [1981: 104] presents the following speaking activities: (1) situation table, (2) discrimination exercise, (3) substitution drill, (4) conversational drill, (5) using picture cues, (6) guessing games (with cue cards), (7) transformation drills, (8) using wall charts, (9) imaginary situations, and (10) expanding

Since in real communication people normally communicate in order to get information they do not possess, Doff [1988] cited ‘information gap’ activity as the most commonly used to provide the learners with some intensive practice in

speaking the target language Three simple kinds among which are guessing games [Doff, 1988: 211-214], information gap exercises for pair work [Doff, 1988: 214-219], and activities in which students exchange guessing games [Doff, 1988: 218-219]

2.3 Factors affecting adult learners’ oral communication

— younger learners vs adult learners

So many variables are proved to differentiate adult learners from younger ones; and they might fall into three main categories; being named by the researcher

as (1) biological aspects, (2) psycho-cognitive aspects, and (3) socio-experiential aspects

2.3.1 Biological aspects of aging on learning

From a biological standpoint, Larsen-Freeman and Long [1991: 485] pointed out that “the age issue remains an important one for theory building in SLA research.” Also, emphasizing on possible effects of aging on learning abilities, Williams [1984: 65] stated that as one ages chronologically, he/she experiences a

‘critical period’, during which the brain is flexible and language learning can occur naturally and easily Since this period ends around puberty, adolescents and adults can

no longer call upon these natural learning capacities The result is that language learning becomes an artificial, laborious process

The most usually cited explanation for this is biological changes in a person’s brain as he/she ages According to Penfield and Roberts [1959], initially when a person is young, the brain retains its plasticity and language function of the person equates in both brain hemispheres; however, when that person gets older, this function is, in most cases, gradually lateralized to the left side of the brain That is, the neurological capacity for understanding and producing language, which initially involves both hemispheres of the brain, is slowly concentrated in the left hemisphere for most people In a word, “the increased difficulty which older learners supposedly experience was seen as a direct result of this neurological change.” [Ellis, 1992: 107]

“One's ability to learn a second or foreign language peaks at a young age and then tapers off slowly is generally true for most individuals,” [Ellis, 1992: 484] especially when mentioning an EFL learner’s pronunciation skills

2.3.2 Psycho-cognitive aspects

Adult learners’ psychological barriers arise from their doubts about their learning abilities as they are often “perceived as slow and rigid;” McKay and Tom [1999: 4-5] and from their feeling of failure or losing face when making mistakes Additionally, they are likely to feel they are poor language learners either due to age factor or due to previous unsuccessfulattempts to learn the target language

Cognitively, “adult’s capacity for understanding and logical thought is greater (than younger learners’), and they are likely to have developed

a number of learning skills and strategies which children do not yet have.” [Ur, 1996: 287] Besides, as Baltes [1987] suggests, there is increasing cognitive ability with age Because adults face a variety of socially determined problem-solving situations — at work, in the community, at home and in the family — there are multiple opportunities to exercise and improve one’s cognitive and intellectual abilities Furthermore, as people get older, they tend to be “more disciplined and cooperative” [Ur, 1996: 288] in their class

2.3.3 Socio-experiential aspects

2.3.3.1 Learning experience

Perhaps “the greatest difference (between adult and younger learners) is that the former comes to class with a long history of learning experience,” [Harmer, 1998: 10] and a level of maturity which the latter does not Learning experience of adults may be both full of glories and failures which possibly leads them to anticipate how teaching and learning should be carried out In addition to their years

of learning experience, adult learners have accumulated a wealth of life-relating information and experiences And they, as O’connor et al [1996: 131] stated, “learn best when they use what they already know and integrate new knowledge and skills into this bank of knowledge.”

2.3.3.2 Expectations

“Learners with prior language learning experiences are also likely to bring with them expectations of how language classes should be organized and taught.” [McKay and Tom, 1999: 3] Actually, adult learners, those who have studied a second language previously, will be influenced by that experience; thus bring with them the attitudes and knowledge developed in previous schooling If they have been successful, they are likely to assume that they will be successful again Not only will they be more confident, but they will also have developed strategies to help them learn a new language Learners who have had unpleasant or unsuccessful experiences as learners are likely to expect more of the same

It is thus important for the teacher to find out what the learners’ expectations are and to address areas in which their expectations differ from the teacher’s or from the others’ Differences in expectations may sometimes necessitate that the teacher and learners negotiate what and how to learn In addition, the teacher needs to share with his/her learners the goals and theoretical justifications for specific classroom activities

2.3.3.3 Motivation

Adult and younger learners also differ considerably in their motivation Younger learners can “study for the sake of a good grade or other indirect rewards; [Ur, 1996: 287] while the majority of adults do not learn for the sheer pleasure of learning Neither the process nor the possession of knowledge is the main motivation for adult learners’ participation [Aslanian & Brickell, 1980] Indeed, rather than putting forth sustained efforts for the immediate enjoyment of the activity itself, adults are engaged in language learning primarily for being able to apply and use the knowledge

Indeed, adult learners’ typical motivations include a requirement for competence, an expected (or realized) promotion, job enrichment (e.g workshops and conferences

in English), a need to maintain old skills or learn new ones, a need to adapt to job changes, or the need to learn in order to comply with company directives

2.3.3.4 World knowledge

Adult learners “bring (into language classes) background knowledge and experience of their own as well as knowledge and experience gained form work or home.” [McKay and Tom, 1999: 3] This knowledge of the world is a rich resource for the teacher who chooses to exploit it By drawing on these learners’ previous knowledge, the teacher not only validates a lifetime of learning but also has a base

on which to build new knowledge

2.3.3.5 L1’s interference

Krashen and Terrell [1983: 40] conforms that “our knowledge of our first language actually gets in the way when we try to speak a second language.” It goes without saying that in the process of foreign/second language learning/acquisition, L1’s interference has its positive influence Specifically, as Krashen and Terrel [1983] suggest, the learners’ L1 can be a valuable contribution to the L2 classroom,

to which the learners can resort to bridge the gaps in communication due to their inter-language insufficiency However, L1’s interference, in many cases, hinders the learners from mastering their target language, especially in their speaking practice This is doubtless true for adult learners who are more stuck on their mother tongue than younger learners are

2.3.3.6 Personal circumstances

Together with age and health, other personal circumstances such as employment or lack of it, difficulties with childcare or transportation, or concerns about problems at home also take priority; making attendance, punctuality, and concentration difficult for some adult learners, states McKay and Tom [1999: 4-5]

2.4 Summary

Chapter 2 covers an overview of teaching to adult learners and an analysis of their characteristics, as compared to those of younger learners Also included in this chapter are prior researches on teaching speaking in general and teaching speaking

to adult learners in particular These researches serve as a theoretical background for this M.A thesis’ further discussions on potential problems facing its student subjects

as well as suggestions for improving their speaking skills

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

Based on the theoretical framework provided in Chapter 2, this chapter describes the methodology used to conduct the research It includes research

questions and research design, both being of significance to the success of the study

done for the M.A thesis

3.1 Research questions

As mentioned in Chapter 1, the study aims to investigate the process of teaching and learning speaking skills of the adult learners in mix-aged communication classes of pre-intermediate level at VAS; and how to build up appropriate strategies and methods to improve the learners’ speaking skills In order

to reach those aims of the study, the process of researching is guided by the following questions:

a What are potential factors hindering the adult learners from mastering L2 speaking skills?

b What are possible problems facing the teachers at VAS in teaching speaking skills to the adult learners?

c To what extent do the current teaching and learning strategies affect the adult learners in communication classes of pre-intermediate level at VAS?

d How can the adult learners’ speaking ability be improved?

3.2 Research design

The research was conducted at VAS from April 9 to July 27, 2008 for 119 adult learners of pre-intermediate level who used New English File Pre-intermediate as their textbook It aimed to find out and explain the differences between the younger and adult learners’ teaching and learning at VAS, and to work out appropriate

strategies and activities to help the adult learners be more confident and thus improve their speaking ability more effectively

First of all, twenty six ninety-minute class observations, during which the researcher took detailed notes basing on a checklist, were done in different pre-intermediate VAS classes of General English in a succession of five weeks, i.e two

observations for each The class observations aimed to (1) identify speaking activities used in the classes and (2) determine how differently younger and adult learners were treated by their teachers

Secondly, conducted immediately after each of the class observations were interviews with the teachers, which served as supplements to the class observations, giving the researcher opportunities to answer her questions, if any, spontaneously

appearing during the observations The interviews aimed to (1) answer questions regarding the teachers’ personal information; teaching experience; perceptions of adult education in general and adult learners’ special characteristics in particular,

which “have not been foreseen” during the observations [Seliger et al, 2000] More

importantly, they aimed to (2) clarify the observational data collected, investigating why the teachers had adopted certain types of speaking activities; to (3) find out the teachers’ difficulties in teaching the adult learners; and lastly, to (4) research their

suggestions for improving the quality of VAS teaching and learning

Finally, a students’ survey questionnaire was designed, partly based on the data collected from class observations and teachers’ interviews, and later delivered

to approximately 160 adult VAS learners; only 119 of whom returned their

questionnaires The detailed questionnaire aimed to collect information about (1) the

adult learners’ main purposes and difficulties in their learning to speak in the target language; and (2) how the teachers’ characteristics as well as appropriate activities and teaching-learning strategies help to improve the learners’ speaking skills The

student subjects were carefully informed of the questionnaire’s principal aim and significant role in the whole study as well as the meaning of its included questions

Furthermore, they were requested to fill in the questionnaire at home, being provided enough time to think over the questionnaire’s items

The qualitative method was employed mainly in the process of research to analyze the data collected from class observations and the teachers’ interviews On the other hand, the quantitative method was used with SPSS software in coding and processing the data from the students’ questionnaires A descriptive analysis was then drawn out; variables were analyzed in the forms of frequencies, descriptions, or crosstabs

To conclude, the data were analyzed with the support of both qualitative and

quantitative methods The aim of this combination is to take full advantages of all

sources of information Treated carefully, the data allowed to draw out the best answers for the research questions and used as basis for teaching implications

3.3.1 The aim of VAS

The ultimate aim of General English/Communication courses at VAS is helping to improve the students’ speaking ability in English Therefore, VAS teachers of these classes are recommended to provide their students with a great deal

of communicative activities inside the classroom

3.3.2 The pre-intermediate course book

Chosen as the course book for VAS Pre-intermediate General English classes

is New English File Pre-intermediate [Oxenden & Latham-Koenig, 2005] In this book, all three elements — Grammar, Vocabulary and Pronunciation, which are considered as the tools that students need to speak English with confidence — are given equal importance In addition, each lesson has clearly stated grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation sections; each keeps the lessons focused and gives students concrete learning objectives

3.3.3 The syllabus for pre-intermediate course

VAS twelve-week pre-intermediate courses consist totally of thirty-six ninety-minute class meetings, i.e three per week Within this amount of time, four units consisting of sixteen in-class lessons are supposed to be covered

Syllabus for VAS pre-intermediate classes

1

A word order in question common verbs phrases,

classroom language

vowel sounds, the alphabet

B present simple family,

personality adjectives

third person and plural -s

C present continuous the body,

prepositions of place

vowel sounds

D defining relative clauses paraphrasing:

like, for example,…

pronunciation in a dictionary

B past continuous prepositions: at, in, on / /

C questions with and without

auxiliaries

question word, pop music / / and / /

D so, because, but, although verb phrases the letter a

3

A going to, present

continuous (future

arrangements)

look (after, for, etc.) sentence stress

B will/won’t (predictions) opposite verbs contractions (will/won’t), /

(experience) + ever, never

B present perfect simple +

yet, just, already

verb phrases / /, / /, and / /

C Comparatives time expressions sentence stress

D Superlatives opposite adjectives word stress

Table 3.1 Syllabus of VAS pre-intermediate communication classes

3.4 The characteristics of the subjects

The participants taking part in the study belonged to two groups The first

group consisted of 119 adult learners The second group consisted of 13 Vietnamese

teachers of English

3.4.1 Student subjects

This group of the subjects consisted of 119 adults studying in twenty-five

pre-intermediate speaking classes at VAS’ three branches The student subjects

sampled are generally over the age of 22 and away from school for some time

Selected as the student subjects are the pre-intermediate adult learners because

the overwhelming majority of adult learners currently studying in VAS

communication classes are at this level These learners are not beginners of English,

who do not know anything or just know very little about the target language, and

“easily perceive success since everything to them is new, and anything learnt is a

success.” [Harmer, 1991: 8] They are pre-intermediate adult learners of English who

already have basic knowledge, but either forget or not know how to put it in practice

The learners are at a crucial stage in their L2 learning process The novelty of being a

beginner may have worn off, but the goal of communicating with ease and fluency

can still feel a long way off The learners at this level more than ever need materials

that can maintain their enthusiasm as well as build up their confidence They need to

know how much they have consciously learned and unconsciously acquired and

what they hope to achieve in the future

The ultimate aim of the majority of the learners is to be able to communicate

directly in English Tasks should be designed to help them feel a sense of progress

and to show that the number of potential situations in which they can communicate

effectively is fast growing

The table below gives information about characteristics of the student

Table 3.2 Characteristics of student subjects

As can be seen from the table, the age profile of VAS pre-intermediate adult

learners varies considerably A massive 94.1% of the learners are young adults aged

from 22 to 39, whereas the tiny minority (5.8%) belongs to the two old-age groups

(40-49 and over 50 years old) As regards learning experience, while most of the

learners have learned English for a long time, specifically 61.3% for 5-10years and

24.4% over 10 years; a mere 1.7% of those have just started learning the language

for less than 1 year In addition, another striking thing to note from the table is that

slightly more female adult learners are attending the courses than their counterparts

(52.1% and 47.9% respectively.)

3.4.2 Teacher subjects

Selected, as the second group of the subjects, for their objective contributions

to the study, and thus being highly valued by the researcher are all 13 VAS

Vietnamese teachers of English teaching pre-intermediate classes at Branch 2,

located at 127 Hoang Van Thu Street, Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City

Characteristics of teacher subjects Quantity Percentage

Table 3.3 Characteristics of teacher subjects

It can be clearly seen from the table that among the teachers, there were 4

males (30.8%) and 9 females (69.2%) These teachers are of rather young age;

nearly half of the teachers were under 25 (46.2%), followed by 38.5% ranged

between 25 and 30, whereas only 2 teachers (15.3%) were over 30 As regards to

teaching experience, 10 of them (76.9%) have taught English for under 5 years, 2 of

them have taught from 5 to 10 years, and only 1(7.7%%) for over 10 years 10

(76.9%) had BA’s degree; 3 were attending a post-graduate program in TESOL;

and, none of them had been accredited MA’s degree in TESOL

3.5 Instruments

Used to collect data were (1) twenty six classroom observations done in thirteen different pre-intermediate VAS classes at Branch 2, i.e two observations for each class, (2) thirteen teachers’ semi-structured interviews also done at Branch 2, and (3) the students’ survey questionnaire given to 119 adult learners from all of the three VAS branches in Ho Chi Minh City

3.5.1 Class observations

The observations helped to supply the researcher with a reliable picture of all the activities done in the classroom, and were necessary for the researcher to “learn about the interaction in a group, and study the behavior or personality traits of an individual.” [Kumar, 1996: 105] Moreover, they served as the foundation for the researcher’s questions in semi-structured interviews with the teachers

The teacher subjects were clearly informed of the fact that the classroom observations were for relevant information rather than any kind of evaluation; hence, the teachers did not need to feel worried about or change their usual teaching way Also, the researcher decided in advance what she was going to observe by designing

a checklist2 on the categories that match her intent for the research as Allwright and

Bailey [1991: 3] confirms:

To make your record more focused you may decide in advance what you are going to look for, make an observational schedule with the categories you consider appropriate, and then record what happens under these category headings

To get involved in all the class activities and to avoid learners’ distraction caused by the presence of an outsider, the researcher also played the role of an adult learner during all the class observations It was a great opportunity for her to observe

and try to estimate (1) how appropriate the activities the teacher was applying in the

2 See the Appendix 3 for further information

class were, (2) which inside-class difficulties the learners encountered and (3) how

to help them overcome these difficulties Meanwhile, as a learner, the researcher was

much able to observe (4) the teacher’s behavior in the class, and (5) how he/she

interacted with his/her different groups of learners, especially with the adult ones In

such a way, data from classroom observations contributed to verify the reliability of students’ responses to the questionnaires and to identify the difficulties they faced in reality In fact, data through observations were really a great supplement to the shortcomings of data from the questionnaires, as well as helped the researcher to adjust his experimental teaching in accordance with the specific teaching settings

Observation checklist consisted of two main sections (A and B) Section A

was designed as the followings:

Part I investigated whether the lessons were well prepared or not

Part II aimed to get information about how the teachers presented and

conducted lessons; including materials used, topics given and speaking activities preferably employed

Part III researched current teaching methods/techniques employed in the

class

Part IV examined teacher-student and student-student interactions in class; it

also helped to identify the class’ learning environment

Section B aimed to investigate further on teacher’s awareness of adult

education and how differently the teacher treated adult learners in comparison with the younger ones

3.5.2 Teachers’ interviews

For the fact that when the teachers “become aware that they are being observed, they may change their behavior; [t]he use of observations in such a situation introduced distortion: what is observed does not represent their normal behavior;” [Kumar, 1996: 105] separate interviews with individual teachers were

conducted in order to increase the study’s reliability Semi-structured were the teachers’ interviews, which consisted of a set of already designed questions, i.e the interview checklist3; the researcher being allowed to generate other spontaneous questions following the teachers’ areas of interest during the interviews What is more, conducted in a friendly manner were the interviews, the language of which was Vietnamese to avoid any misunderstanding and to allow for the interviewees’ free expressions of original ideas

The interview checklist consisted of two sections Section A was designed as

informants encountered when teaching adult learners

Part III aimed to get the informants’ suggestions for helping improve adult

learners’ speaking skills

Section B was designed to get information for enquires, if any, spontaneously

appearing during the observation or the interview

3.5.3 Descriptions of the questionnaire

Written in Vietnamese to free the student subjects from any misunderstanding; this guaranteed the reliability of their responses, the questionnaire was with a variety of formats in hope of increasing the respondents’ interests, and to some extent, preventing their failure to return the questionnaires In addition to a small number of open-ended questions for the respondents’ free and private

3 See the Appendix 4 for further information

contributions, closed-ended questions served to save the student subjects’ time spent

on the questionnaire

The respondents were not forced to answer immediately; instead, they could

do it when they had time and at their place and returned the questionnaire to the researcher within one week The questionnaire kept them anonymous as well, encouraging the subjects to answer the questions straightforwardly and genuinely

The questionnaire consisted of three parts The first part was designed to get the

students’ personal information (age, sex, educational background, class situation and

self-evaluation of their speaking skills) The second part consisted of nine survey

questions in the following order:

Question 1 investigated the informants’ purposes for studying speaking skills Question 2 and Question 9 looked for information on the outside-the-

classroom problems the informants might encounter when turning back to study

Question 3 asked the informants to evaluate their participation in their class

speaking activities

Question 4 gained information about the causes/reasons making the informants

reluctant to speak in their class

Question 5 researched the informants’ opinion on the ways of practicing

speaking skills in their class

Question 6 identified the informants’ preference for speaking practice in class Question 7 examined whether the informants spend time for home studying Question 8 aimed to get further information about the ways in which the

informants do their home learning

Question 9 researched the informants’ reason(s) for their neglect of doing

home learning

The third part consisted of eight survey questions, designed as the followings:

Question 10 and Question 11 investigated the informants’ opinion on how

certain characteristics/behaviors of the teacher affect their learning process

Question 12 researched the speaking topics the informants are interested in Question 13 and Question 14 examined the informants’ attitude towards their

speaking class

Question 15 and Question 16 gained information on the causes/reasons making

the informants satisfied or unsatisfied with their current speaking class

Question 17 looked for the informants’ suggestions for improving the quality

of teaching and learning speaking skills in class environment with adult learners

All the above-mentioned questions directed towards collecting data related to the relationship between the learners’ specifically characterized difficulties and specified class strategies for adult education

3.6 Assumptions

As mentioned above, all the learners taking part in the study are the researcher’s and her colleagues’ students They all were aware of the research matters, enthusiastically engage in the study, and were willing to respond to the questionnaires The teachers who take part in the study are the researcher’s colleagues at VAS They all have at least a B.A degree They are very kind and enthusiastic to let the researcher observe their classes for two or more times, response to the interview, discuss and share their teaching experience with the researcher As a result, the collected data are assumingly reliable and relevant to the study

3.7 Summary

Presented in Chapter 3 are the methodology used to conduct the research

including research questions and research design, both being of significance to the

success of the study done for this M.A thesis

Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

Carefully analyzed and discussed in this chapter are the data from class observations, teachers’ interviews and the learners’ responses to the questionnaire The process of data analysis aims to find out the answers to the research questions as mentioned in the previous chapter, e.g it is intended to identify:

(1) The adult learners’ difficulties in their mastering L2 speaking skills at VAS;

(2) The reasons why teaching speaking skills to adult learners at VAS is problematic;

(3) The influence of the current teaching and learning strategies in the adult learners’ classes on their improvement of speaking ability;

(4) Some suggestions that can help the adult learners improve their speaking skills

4.1 Data analysis

Firstly, as mentioned in the previous chapter, the number of subjects responding to the questionnaire and the interviews is not the same: respectively 119 learners and 13 teachers Therefore, whenever comparing the results from the two data sources, the researcher uses the percentage, not the number, of the subjects’ responses in each case This generates more statistics that are valid when the total responses are slightly changed In addition, in some cases, the total percentages grow to over 100% since the participants are able to choose more than one answer

Secondly, in order to meet the two criteria in collecting data: reliability and validity4, the questionnaire is designed with three different types of questions such

as order of preference, multiple choice, and item selection Therefore, data from those questions are processed in different ways For example, in order to analyze the data from order-of-preference questions (questions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8), each item in the answer is assigned to a particular value (1 = the most) With item selection questions; each item is encoded with a variable, and processed to draw out the frequencies through descriptive analysis

4.1.1 The importance of improving adult learners’ speaking skills and

the learners’ main purposes for their current language learning

Chart 4.1 Importance of English speaking skills at the present time

When asked how English speaking skills are important to themselves at the present time, 117 (98.3%) of 119 adult learners consider being able to communciate

directly in the target language important and very important Only 2 informants

(1.7%) do not give a positive answer This result shows us that almost all the learners have fairly high motivation to come back to school as they are all strongly aware of the importance of speaking skills for their lives and/or careers It is understandable because speaking is very necessary at the workplace now, especially where English is obligatory for both spoken and written communication

As regards the bar chart below; however; when asked in Question 1, the

overwhelming majority of the adult learners consider themselves as very bad and bad at speaking directly in English (87.4%); whereas none considers that they have

very good English speaking ability and only a mere 10.9% think that they are fairly good at speaking the target language

Chart 4.2 Learners’ self-evaluation of English speaking ability

To conclude, although most of the adult learners have learnt English for quite

a long time, as stated in 3.1.1, they are much unlikely to communicate directly in the target language As a result, the need to be speaking-competent learners has become

very urgent now than ever before

Question 2 aims to clarify which major purposes for which the adult learners are returning to VAS to improve their speaking skills The statistics showed in Chart 4.3 below indicate that reasons for the learners’ current learning are quite varied

Generally, most learners affirms that meeting their job’s requirement is the first major purpose for their comeback study; overseas work/study comes second, followed by language knowledge extension; and the two least principal purposes are for traveling and teaching children As regards the most important one, more than 50% learners cite to meet their job’s requirements On the other hand, slightly over

one third of the learners polled (18.5%) improve their speaking skills mainly in

order to work/study overseas; and this figure is the same for those wanting to extend the language knowledge To travel to other countries and to teach children at home

are voted for as the most important purposes by only 13.4% and 2.5% learners respectively

It is obvious that most of the adult learners are returning to school for related reasons such as enhancing their promo-ability, gaining skills for other jobs to replace the ones lost through corporate downsizing and reductions in force, or changing careers, etc other than for personal goals

career-the most major

second major

third major the least

Table 4.3 Learners’ purposes for studying speaking skills

4.1.2 The learners’ personal and classroom-related difficulties

As just mentioned above, the adult learners are strongly aware of the important role of English speaking ability in their lives and/or careers Quite often, these adults are compelled to come back to school and take evening classes by necessity rather than choice Accordingly, their motivation is likely to be high enough for successful conscious learning in and out of class

However, the result from Question 4 shows that the majority of the adult

learners take part in class activities passively and very passively (84.9%) whilst only

a modest 13.4% get involved in their classes actively and very actively In addition, the learners’ drop-out-of-school rate is high and very high according to a massive

92.3% of the teachers interviewed The findings are presented in Chart 4.4 and Table 4.4:

Chart 4.4 Learners’ participation in class speaking activities

Adult learners’ drop-out rate Quantity Percentage

Table 4.4 Teachers’ opinions on the adult learners’ drop-out rate

Contrary to their fairly high motivation, the adult learners’ passive

participation in class activities and high drop-out-of-school rate deserve the

researchers’ great attention

Question 3 and Question 5 ask the learners to identify personal and

class-related difficulties they face when returning to school to improve their speaking

skills

As can be clearly seen from Chart 4.5, the adult learners’ main personal

difficulties are again those relating to their jobs Specifically, shortage of time due to

too much work is selected as the most difficult by a large number of learners

(59.7%) 34 informants (28.6%) vote for tiredness caused by workload as the most

important problem Only 5 learners (4.2%) choose regular absence and the same

percentage is cited for family commitments as the most major difficult Their bad

memory is the main cause of only 2 learners (1.7%)