Suggested ways to improve speaking skills for non english major students at quy nhơn university

The ultimate goal of these 15 questions is to investigate teacher’s attitude towards the need of teaching speaking to non-English major students, the materials in use, their difficulties

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

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SUGGESTED WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING

SKILLS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS AT QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilments of

the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL)

Submitted by ĐOÀN THỊ THANH HIẾU Supervisor: PETER LEONARD, M.A

Ho Chi Minh City, 2008

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Chapter I presents the following sections First, section 1.1 introduces the background to the study Second, section 1.2 indicates statement of purpose Then, research questions and significance of the study are discussed in section 1.3 and 1.4 respectively After that the assumptions and limitations are listed in 1.5 and 1.6 Then section 1.7 briefly describes the methodology of the study Finally, the overview of the study is presented

1.1 Background

In learning any foreign language, communicative competence is what everyone wishes to achieve Indeed, among the four skills speaking can be considered the indispensable skill to learners because their ultimate target is to communicate Although most learners know its importance, it is not easy for them

to reach their goal The reality shows that most non-English major students meet difficulties in speaking English They can be very good at reading or writing but ironically, they are unable to speak even a simple sentence let alone communicating with native speakers of English To improve this situation, teaching method plays an important role However, English language teaching in most Asian countries including Vietnam has been greatly affected by teacher-centered, book-centered, grammar translation methods and an emphasis on rote memory These traditional language teaching approaches largely focus on teaching and learning English passively

In Vietnam, English is formally taught as a foreign language to pupils in junior and senior high school These seven years are mostly translation-based; the pupils rarely, if ever, need to speak English at all They mainly receive

considerable passive exposure to grammar, translation, and vocabulary from written sources, but little exposure to communicative situations, or required to use English actively At the university level, students study English for academic purposes and therefore, writing and grammar are the most emphasized skills In the first and the second courses, university students have to take 4-credits and 3-credits of “General English” respectively and then they take more specialized English courses in which they focus on their field related English texts and learn related terminology The curriculum in junior and senior high school is a top-down curriculum; the Ministry of Education dictates all the decisions regarding the textbook selection and the exams Nevertheless, not much control is exerted on teaching methodology On the contrary, at the university level, teachers have freedom to choose the textbook and activities for their classes The tradition of teaching in Vietnam is basically teacher-centered one Furthermore, classes are large (frequently 60-100 students in a class) In general, Vietnamese non-English major students do not have much exposure to English outside the classroom As a result, not being able to express orally in English is unavoidable

1.2 Statement of purpose

The study aims at

Š emphasizing the importance of speaking skills in learning English

Š finding out the reality of teaching and studying oral skills at Quy Nhon University

Š identifying problems of practicing speaking in non-English major classes and suggesting teaching strategies to cope with them

Š putting forward some suggestions for the improvement of speaking ability of non-English major students

1.3 Research questions

The research questions of the study are

Š Is speaking skill important in learning English?

Š How much are teachers and non-English majors at Quy Nhon University interested in speaking skill?

Š What are solutions to deal with problems of speaking in non-English major classes?

Š What are practical and effective ways to stimulate and improve speaking skills of non-English majors at Quy Nhon University?

1.4 Significance of the study

It is usually accepted that studying English as a foreign language will be more effective if the teacher knows vital factors affecting it In fact, several English teachers go to class and teach automatically without merely thinking of any effective way to teach or improve students’ speaking skills Because of this reason, students’ English speaking has not been much ameliorated So far, there have been a lot of researches on speaking skills in order to better English speaking

of non-majors However, the biggest shortcoming of these studies is that they did not realize the root of the problems and thus they hardly change the bad situation The outstanding point of this paper is identifying realistic difficulties in speaking

of non-English major students through surveys and introducing practical strategies

to deal with them It is hoped that the study can be of some value in showing the necessity of knowing these factors and thus teachers can take advantage of these

as helpful teaching instruments

1.5 Assumptions

Being a compulsory subject for non-English majors at universities, students

do not pay much attention to English in general and speaking skills in particular

One thing that makes English teachers worry a lot is speaking ability of English major students Ironically, although most of them study English for seven years, they cannot even pronounce a simple English sentence correctly In speaking classes, students do not want to say anything in English It seems that they are afraid of being wrong and being corrected They satisfy with this reality for a long time only because this shortcoming does not much influence their studying result Whenever I teach non-major classes, I always want to do something to make the situation better I have cherished the hope that there will be some ways to improve speaking skills of non-English majors effectively It is this paper that makes my expectation become true

1.6 Limitations

It goes without saying that there are many other subjective and objective factors affecting speaking ability However, because of the time constraint and the lack of information on this field, the paper cannot include all aspects Anyway, it

is expected that the significant aspects related to practicing English speaking were carefully noted and reflected Besides, the researcher herself is a non-native speaker of English, so sometimes her way of presenting ideas may not be native-like Thus, she inevitably made technical mistakes as well as other minor shortcomings

In views of these limitations, the paper can only be considered as a preliminary study and any conclusions are tentative

1.7 Methodology

Factors affecting studying language in general and English speaking are cited from two kinds of sources: The first source is the materials or references in which these aspects have been described, classified, and interpreted The second source is getting to know the reality through surveys Thanks to this, suggestions

put forward in this paper are more practical More importantly, with the

experience of over five years of teaching as well as the reference to other senior teachers, several teaching strategies, techniques, as well as activities useful for teaching speaking are suggested and clearly pointed out

1.8 Overview of the study

The paper consists of six chapters

Chapter I introduces the background of the study, statement of purpose, research questions, significance of the study, limitations, methodology, and an overview of the study

Chapter II reviews theoretical aspects related to speaking skills that are relevant to the purposes of the study

Chapter III presents research design and procedures related to the survey

Chapter IV investigates and analyzes attitude of both teachers and students toward teaching and learning English speaking

On the basis of the previous chapter, chapter V deals with the implications

to the teaching speaking skills to non-major students

Chapter VI is the conclusion of the study and puts forward some suggestions for further research

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter discusses theoretical aspects related to speaking skills as well

as English speaking learning It analyzes the position of speaking skills among the four skills Besides, speaking and communication in different teaching methods is also clarified The next part talks about the role of speaking in studying English of non-majors Finally, the information about prior research on the study is provided

2.1 Speaking and the four skills

It is the fact that there are four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing To master a language, a skill is not enough Therefore, all of them should be taught and should be learnt In reality, communication is carried out through two forms: the written form and the oral form Which is more essential? Which came first in human history? Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote, “success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language.” Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place

to be It is no doubt that speech marks the appearance of human race and the difference between people and animals These two things are enough to signify the great importance of speech or oral skill It can be said that speaking is fundamental

to human communication Just think of all the different conversations we have in

one day or compare that with how much written communication we do in a day Which do we do more of? In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills Is this a good balance? If the goal of the language course is truly to enable our students to communicate in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language classroom Indeed, speaking should be put first among the four skills It deserves the most attention of both teachers and learners

2.2 Communicative competence

What does one need to know in order to speak in another language? It goes without saying that one needs sufficient vocabulary, adequate grammar, and syntax to express his/her ideas correctly Such knowledge belongs to linguistic competence However necessary linguistic competence is it is not enough for a person to communicate competently in another language It needs something more than that In 1974, Hymes raised the concept of communicative competence Communicative competence includes not only linguistic competence but also sociolinguistic and conversational skills to know what to say in particular contexts,

to particular people, and for particular purposes Following Canale and Swain (1980) communicative competence consists of four components: grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competences

Grammatical competence is concerned with “the knowledge and skill

required to understand and express the literal meaning of utterances” It belongs to the lexical and grammatical domain

Sociolinguistic competence indicates “an understanding of the social

context in which communication takes place, including role relationships, the

shared information of the participants, and the communicative purpose for their interaction” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986, pp.71)

Discourse competence refers to intersentential relationships This

competence enables speakers to manage turn-taking in a conversation, to open and close a conversation, to keep a conversation going, and to repair mistakes in conversations Effective speakers and listeners have also acquired language skill

of discourse markers, expressions that speakers use to express ideas, show relationships of time, indicate cause, contrast, and emphasis

Finally, strategic competence is “composed of verbal and non-verbal

communication strategies” The speakers with strategic competence can stretch their ability to communicate effectively in their new language Therefore, although they have not acquired all the grammar of the language, they can use turn-taking and conversation management strategies and are able to use small talks to open a conversation, initiate and respond to talk on a wide range of topics They can also use compensatory strategies such as gestures, circumlocution, and topic selection

to handle breakdowns in communication

Communicative competence has been considered an ultimate target of language teaching and learning As language teachers, we really expect our students to be able to communicate in real social situations with speakers from other cultures

2.3 Motivation

Motivation is of particular interest to educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning Even Dorneyei (1998, pp.34) stated that “motivaton is a key to learning” In fact, the desire to learn can come from

many causes Motivation is usually referred to as extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act in a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades) Talking about extrinsic motivation is to mention two sub-types: integrative and instrumental motivation Students with integrative motivation expect to integrate themselves into the culture of the target language

On the other hand, students with instrumental motivation learn language as a means to achieve a goal: to get a better job, to play in an orchestra, or to read books It is clear that integrative motivation is more powerful than instrumental motivation But whatever kind of motivation students have, it is clear that highly motivated students do better than ones without any motivation at all

In addition to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation also plays a vital part in most students’ success or failure as language learners Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is created by factors in the classroom In reality, not many students bring extrinsic motivation to the classroom They may even have negative attitude about their language learning Therefore, it is what happens in the classroom that can draw their attention In that case, physical conditions, method, success, and the teacher have a significant effect on students’ language learning

As for non-English major students, language learning is a compulsory task

in their curriculum They learn a language just because they have to take the language exam That is all For this reason, few of them bring extrinsic motivation

to language class The only thing that makes them feel eager to study is what happens in the classroom The most important factor is the teacher It is teachers’ duty to arouse students’ interest and involvement in the subject even when they are not really keen on it It is by their choice of topic, activity, method, and linguistic content that they are able to activate the class It is by their attitude to

class attendance, their enthusiasm, and their humor that they may change negative feelings of students towards the subject Indeed, thanks to all these factors, real motivation is certainly built up within each learner

2.4 Speaking and communication in different teaching methods

Today English is the world’s most widely studied foreign language, and foreign language learning has always been an important practical concern Therefore, what is the best way to teach foreign languages is always at the center

of discussions on teaching methods History has seen significant innovations in language teaching methods Societies are developing with a lightning speed, so methods need adjusting to cope suitably with the situation Richards and Rodgers state, “Changes in language teaching methods throughout history have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of proficient learners need, such as a move toward oral proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the goal of language study; they have also reflected changes in theories of the nature of language and of language learning” (1991, pp.1) Each new method both breaks through the old ones and inherits positive aspects of the previous paradigm

There was a time when oral work was reduced to an absolute minimum while so many written exercises were given much attention Today, everything has changed Linguists, teachers, and learners have realized the importance of speaking and communication while approaching foreign languages in general and English in particular Therefore, the “communicative language teaching” is not a strange term for language teachers Indeed, they need to know the fact that “the single greatest challenge in the profession is to move significantly beyond the teaching of rules, patterns, definitions, and other knowledge “about” language to the point that we are teaching our students to communicate genuinely, spontaneously, and meaningfully in the second language” (Brown, 2000, pp.14) The following parts not only briefly review language teaching methods used

popularly in Vietnam but also point out the role of speaking and communication within each method

2.4.1 The Direct Method

After reform movements, linguists began to turn their attention to natural characteristics of second language learning They argued that second language learning should be like the first language learning Consequently, the Direct Method was born This is a method which supports oral interaction, direct and spontaneous use of the target language in class, no translation between the two languages, demonstration and action to teach new vocabulary Richards and Rodgers (1986, pp 9-10) listed main principles of the method

Š Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language

Š Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught

Š Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and-answer exchanges between teachers and students

in small, intensive classes

Š Grammar was taught inductively

Š New teaching points were introduced orally

Š Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas

Š Both speech and listening comprehension were taught

Š Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized

At this stage, linguists started to realize the necessity of communication and speaking skill For this reason, oral communication is ranked the third in the listed principles In the meantime, they also know how to reinforce this ability Question-and-answer exchanges between teacher and students in small classes can help improve much oral skill It is really a big breakthrough of this method and it can act as a foundation for later methods

2.4.2 The Grammar-Translation Method

In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Grammar-Translation Method was widely used to teach foreign languages As the name reveals, this method

“focuses on grammatical rules, memorization of vocabulary and of various declensions and conjugations, translation of texts, doing written exercises” (Brown, 2000, pp.15) To this day, a modern updated method dominates language teaching in most countries However, the Grammar-Translation Method “remains

a standard methodology for language teaching in educational institutions” (Brown,

2000, pp.15) Richards and Rodgers (1986, pp.3) pointed out major characteristics

of the Grammar-Translation Method

Š Grammar Translation is the means to help learners acquire the second language Grammar rules are analysed carefully Then they are applied to translating sentences and texts into the target language While the target language

is hardly paid attention to, the mother tongue “is maintained as the reference system in the acquisition of the second language” (Stern, 1983, pp.485)

Š Reading and writing are the center of language teaching Speaking and listening skills are ignored

Š Accuracy is the prerequisite in translation Students are expected to translate exactly in order to pass many written exams

Š Vocabulary is presented in the mother tongue and the target language; the grammar rules from the reading text are taught and illustrated Then translation exercises are given to practice

Š According to Howatt (1984, pp.13), the distinctive feature of this method is the main focus on the sentence This is a try to make language learning easier

Š The student’s native language is used to give instructions, explanations and provide new knowledge

There is a problem which should be paid attention to That is, speaking and communication has no place in this method It seems to be intentionally forgotten

It is easy to understand this fact At that time, its object was “to know everything about something rather than the thing itself” (W.H.D Rouse, quoted in Kelly,

1969, pp.53) In spite of its disadvantages, until now the method is still widely practiced, especially in non-English major classes It proves to be effective in such kinds of class Students can be tired of long lists of vocabulary and complex grammar rules However, anyway they can understand what the teacher is saying Actually, with their level it is very difficult for them to master new knowledge in English Therefore, using Vietnamese to teach is specially preferred to English by non-major students That is the reason why the Grammar-Translation method is still popular in several schools and universities in Vietnam

2.4.3 Communicative Language Teaching

Experiencing a lot of changes and ups and downs, foreign language teaching in this era has found its way That is the application of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) A word that is usually repeated in this approach is communication or communicative The goal of CLT is to help learners develop communicative competence As a result, everything related to this approach, such

as syllabus, teaching activities, design, materials, links to communication Brown (2000, pp.266-267) summarized the content of CLT by the four following characteristics

Š Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence

Š Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes Organizational language forms are not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes

Š Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use

Š In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in rehearsed contexts

To be suitable to communicative approach, teaching and learning activities aim to “enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication, and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction” (Theodore and Rodgers, 1986, pp 76) It goes without saying that this approach

emphasizes communication or speaking skill than ever CLT requires everything provided that it helps to develop communicative competence CLT’s practicality and appropriateness make it popular in most educational institutions all over the world

2.5 The role of speaking skills in studying English of non-English majors

To understand the role of speaking skills to non-English majors, it is necessary to know the target they want to achieve Undoubtedly, non-English majors study English just because it is a compulsory subject in their curriculum, and more importantly, their final exams test English At present, language examinations for non-English majors in Vietnam usually test writing and reading only As a result, speaking skill is often ignored or forgotten by students and even teachers It is because of this misunderstanding that students cannot be aware of the importance of speaking in English study As a matter of fact, students do not bring any motivation when studying this unnecessary skill The task of teaching oral skills to non-English majors can be daunting In short, it needs time and great efforts of English teachers to help students improve their speaking skills

2.6 Prior research on the study

Today, English is a compulsory subject for nearly all non-English majors in Vietnamese universities Educational officials and English teachers have been continually trying to adjust syllabus so that it is suitable to the present demand of the society Ironically, how hard they have tried, non-English majors still have a gap in their English It can be said that non-majors are very afraid of English speaking Practically, they hardly speak a simple sentence in English although

they are very good at grammar and writing They can do many written tests but do not force themselves to speak English This is a depressing reality in most universities in Vietnam in general and in Quy Nhon in particular It is clear that every English teacher in Quy Nhon University realizes this issue, but she/he ignores it It is simply because that it is very difficult for them to improve the situation Even when they have chances to give their opinions in their master theses, they also avoid using non-English majors as their subject to study It is certain that up to now, there have not been any researches on English study of non-English majors at Quy Nhon University, let alone suggestions to help their speaking skills better In summary, this is a real chance for non-English majors to raise their voice and get help from linguistic teachers More importantly, it is hoped that this paper can give a small contribution to improvement of English study of non-majors not only at Quy Nhon University but also in other universities

in Vietnam

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

In chapter III, the procedure for a survey is listed It composes of the sample, survey instruments, data collection, and data analysis

3.2.1 The sample

The objectives of this paper are to (1) investigate the speaking skills of English majors (intermediate level) at Quy Nhon University and (2) introduce ways to improve the situation Subjects of the study are English teachers and the first and second-year students Ten teachers attended the survey are in charge of non-English major classes There are three teachers that have taught English for 3 years and are participating higher classes The other seven teachers have got master degrees and have over 6 years of experience A total of 350 students of five English learning classes from different majors at Quy Nhon University participated in the study They ranged in age from 19 to 27

non-3.2.2 Survey instruments

To carry out the investigation into the present studying and teaching English speaking at Quy Nhon University, I employed a familiar but very effective tool, questionnaires The reason I used questionnaires for both teachers and students because they help get results objectively and relatively exactly Moreover, respondents can answer freely and genuinely without any fear of pressure Besides, with multiple-choice questions respondents do not have to spend too much time or knowledge on thinking about answers In addition, when choosing questionnaires, I am able to arrange the questions systematically and reasonably according to my intention

The questionnaire for students consists of two parts: personal information and general information The first part aims to find out the background of students that is an important factor for later analysis In this part, students give such information as sex, years of studying, hometown, and their English level The second part includes 13 closed-ended questions and 2 open-ended questions that concern about students’ English speaking skill The first question is a general one that plays a role of a basis for the next questions The group of the questions 2, 3, and 4 expresses students’ attitude towards English speaking skills Students’ difficulties in speaking English are clarified in the next three questions The questions 8, 9, 10, and 11 are their attitude towards speaking error treatment The last three questions are related to speaking activities and the final is an open-ended question inviting students to give suggestions to improve speaking skills of non-English majors

The questionnaire for teachers is also composed of two parts, one of which provides teachers’ personal information such as gender, qualification, and time of

teaching English There are 6 opened-questions and 9 closed-questions in the second part of the questionnaire The ultimate goal of these 15 questions is to investigate teacher’s attitude towards the need of teaching speaking to non-English major students, the materials in use, their difficulties in teaching speaking to non-major students, frequency of teaching speaking, activities used to teach speaking, and their ways of speaking error treatments

There are 15 English teachers responsible for teaching English to English major classes Some of them are attending higher classes in other provinces At the time of implementing the survey, twelve English teachers were teaching non-majors They were ready to take part in the survey In order to save time, the questionnaire was distributed to them in their 15 minutes’ break Twelve copies were recollected rapidly at the end of the break hour

non-3.2.4 Data analysis

After collecting the questionnaires from teachers and students, I checked, arranged, and sorted answers Suitable answers are decoded and analyzed using SPSS statistical package All data and numbers are collected exactly without any

subjective opinions of the writer Tables are automatically drawn by the software SPSS Therefore, findings are reliable and practical

Questionnaire for students

The questionnaire for students is made up of 15 questions that aim to investigate speaking skills of university sophomores These questions seek the answers to five main problems: (1) preferred class skill, (2) attitude towards

studying speaking, (3) preferred activities, (4) student’s habit of speaking, and (5) attitude towards speaking error treatment

The first part of the questionnaire is designed to find out students’ experience of studying English Most of the students involved studied English for

7 years and a few of them were acquainted with English for 3 years These data reveal the fact that the majority of students have studied English for a long time Therefore, they are expected to master English well and to be able to communicate with foreigners

As possibly observed here, a significant number of students (63.6%) attended the language classes because it was a part of the general curricular program and graduation required their passing marks from their English classes 22.5% of the students was more inclined to learn college English for better job opportunities and its effect on their future career While by 8.6% of the students came to classes because of their interest in English, only 5.3 % of the students realized the necessity of English in modern life

Its role in their future career 68 22.5

Being interested in English 26 8.6

Its necessity for modern life 16 5.3

Table 1: Students’ purpose of studying English

Preferred class skill

Mentioning the four English skills, nearly a half of the students asked (137 students, 45.4%) liked speaking skill most They thought that English speaking was very interesting and necessary for every English learner and that speaking was the prerequisite of an English learner 62 students (20.5%) were fond of listening and 57 students (18.9%) preferred writing to the other three skills Reading was the favorite skill of 46 students (15.2%) Data in the table 2 illustrate this reality

Table 2: Preferred skill

Attitude towards studying speaking

Table 3 indicates different opinions of students about the four English skills The results are striking that more than half of the students (154 students, 51.0%) assumed that speaking was the most important skill among the four The number of students backing up the importance of listening skill is 103 out of 302 students, occupying 34.1% Writing skill ranks the third (26 students, 8.6%) and reading the last (6.3%) Hopefully, with the right awareness of the meaning of speaking skills students will possess high level of speaking

Skills Number of

students Percent

Writing 26 8.6

Table 3: Frequency of students’ appreciating the importance of skills

When asked to give opinions about the level of necessity of speaking, more than two-thirds students (81.1%) thought that it was very necessary 38 students (12.6%) agreed that it was necessary for English learners Only 19 students (6.3%) did not pay much attention to speaking and assumed that it was not necessary

Speaking skill is Number of students Percent

Table 4: Frequency of students’ appreciating the necessity of speaking skill

Preferred activities

114 out of 302 students (37.8%) admitted that pair work was the best activity to practice speaking Next comes group work preferred by 97 students (32.1%) and class work is an effective activity of 68 students (22.5 %) Not many students (23 students, 7.6%) was fond of individual work This is reasonable because they understand the fact that only by speaking directly with someone can students easily improve their speaking ability Teachers should know this so that they are able to exploit students’ ability

Activities Number of students Percent

Group work 97 32.1

Table 5: Preferred activities

Most of students would like to study speaking through games Nearly half

of the students (148 students, 49.1%) was fond of playing games because games helped them to understand and remember lessons easily 74 students (24.5%) found games interesting and exciting While 44 students (14.5%) realized the usefulness of games in reducing stress in learning, few students (6 students, 2.0%) had negative feeling about games They concluded that playing games was just a waste of time and easy to make noise disturbing neighbor classes A small number

of students (30 students, 9.9%) agreed with the four above opinions Indeed, game

is a useful tool to practice speaking Through games, students can speak freely in a comfortable atmosphere, which helps them absorb the new language naturally and easily

Why do you like games? Number of

make noise 6 2.0

Table 6: Students’ appreciation of games

Students’ habit of speaking

It is clear from the table that non-major students do not have a habit of speaking English The highest number of students (208 students, 68.9%) spent less than five minutes in a period on speaking English 78 students (25.9%) stated that they tried to practice speaking in 15 minutes Fewer students (12 students, 4.0%) paid more attention to speaking and spent 30 minutes practicing it This bad habit discourages them to speak anything in English More than half of the students asked felt afraid and unconfident when they had to stand up and speak something

in English According to the survey, what makes students worry most in speaking English is the shortage of vocabulary, wrong grammar, and wrong pronunciation This is considered one of the biggest obstacles teachers usually face when they teach speaking to non-English majors

Time of speaking English

in a period

Number of Students Percent

Table 7: Students’ habit of speaking

Attitude towards error treatment

Students’ feeling

Number of students Percent

Bored with their ability 63 20.8

Useful for their knowledge 45 14.9

Table 8: Students’ feeling when being corrected

Towards speaking mistakes, English teachers know which mistakes they should pay attention to and which one they should ignore Students hold different feelings when being corrected As revealed from the figures, the majority of students (182 out of 302 students, 60.3%) felt more confident when helped to recognize their errors On the contrary, 63 students (20.8%) were not confident in their speaking ability on being corrected Meantime, 45 students (14.9%) considered error identification very useful for their knowledge and 12 students admitted that they did not have any feeling in the case of being corrected

Talking about the method of correcting mistakes, there are two different opinions Some linguists think that teachers should correct students as soon as they have made mistakes so that they can easily recognize their mistakes and remember longer The others state that if students are corrected while they are talking, they usually feel disappointed and ashamed with their friends Therefore, the better way

is to wait until they finish their talk Amazingly, students do not have the same views as linguists 185 students (61.3%) preferred being corrected when they finished their talk Meanwhile, 117 students, occupying 38.7 % liked teachers to point out their errors when they were talking

Ways to correct mistakes Number of

students

Percent

At the end of the talk 185 61.3

At the moment of speaking 117 38.7

Table 9: How to correct mistakes?

Questionnaire for teachers

The questionnaire for teachers consists of 15 questions, all of which focus

on survey teachers’ experience of teaching English speaking to non-English major students 12 copies of questionnaire were assigned to English teachers and returned with fully completed answers The questionnaire is to highlight such issues as teacher’s attitude towards the need of teaching speaking to non-English major students, the materials in use, their difficulties in teaching speaking to non-majors, frequency of teaching speaking, activities used to teach speaking, and their

ways of speaking error treatments All of the information is clearly presented in tables and figures

Data from table 10 give background information of teachers involved in the survey It is understandable that female English teachers outnumber male teachers,

9 and 3 respectively Seven teachers have got master degree and the other five have just graduated or are attending higher classes There are 9 experienced teachers out of 12 teachers because they have taught English over 10 years or from

5 to 10 years The rest three teachers do not have much experience in teaching because they have taught for under 5 years

Background information Number of

teachers Percent Gender male 3

9

25.0 75.0 female

Qualification BA 5

7

41.7 58.3

Table 10: Background information of English teachers

Teachers’ attitude towards the need of teaching speaking to English major students

non-Is speaking skill necessary to

non-English majors?

Number of teachers

Percent

Table 11: Teachers’ attitude towards the need of teaching speaking to

non-English major students

Being teachers with teaching experience for over 3 years, all of them understand the nature of learning a language They are aware of the fact that to be called to know a language, learners have to know how to speak that language Therefore, when asked whether speaking skill was necessary to non-English majors or not, all of twelve teachers gave a certain answer that they did Of course, with such a right awareness teachers will try to distribute evenly teaching time among the four skills Nevertheless, the reality is quite reverse It is clear from

Table 12: Parts taught much in class

The materials in use

As revealed from the figures in table 13, the highest number of teachers (8 teachers, 66.7%) utilized New Headway as mandated textbook when teaching English to non-English majors Surprisingly, there are two teachers (16.6%) who did not use any textbook as the main book in class They just chose some necessary grammatical points to teach It goes without saying that questions for

the final exams focus on these grammar spots The other two teachers used English Grammar in Use, one of whom added Reading 1 and New Headway as textbook Undoubtedly, there are not any consistent mandated textbooks for non- English majors Consequently, the result collected from students is certainly not the same

Reading 1, New Headway,

Table 13: The materials in use

Except the two teachers who did not use a textbook, all of the rest gave answers to this question Most of the teachers (7 teachers, 58.4%) agreed that the in-use book was suitable with students’ level and it encouraged students to communicate Meantime, three teachers (25.0%) felt that the book currently using did not motivate students to communicate The following table illustrates this issue

The textbook is Number of

teachers Percent suitable and encourages students to 7 58.4

communicate

does not encourage students to

Table 14: Teachers’ appreciation of textbook

Ten out of the twelve teachers gave their answers to this question As shown, eight teachers (66.7%) said that their textbook focused on the four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking While one teacher (8.3%) found that the in-use book only paid much attention to reading, writing, and grammar, the other insisted that it only concentrated on reading This is quite reasonable because they are using different books for their teaching

The textbook focuses on Number of

teachers Percent

reading, writing , grammar 1 8.3

Table 15: Skills the textbook focus on

Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking to non-English majors

It is clear that English teachers confront a lot of obstacles in teaching speaking to non-English majors Nevertheless, there are three main difficulties overall To a half of the teachers surveyed (50%) their greatest difficulties are classes are too crowded and teaching time is not enough As a matter of fact, there are from 60 to 150 students in most of non-English major classes in Quy Nhon University Meanwhile, time teaching for English is only 45 or 60 periods per

semester and teachers are required to provide students much knowledge Because

of these reasons, they usually ignore speaking part in the book and only teach what end-of-semester exams include According to 33.3% of the teachers, the biggest problem is that students bring no motivations to class and they do not want to speak It is true that most of non-English major students study English just because

it is a compulsory subject in the university Unfortunately, speaking is not included in their exam Consequently, what non-English major students care about

is parts that their exams require and of course not speaking 16.7% of the teachers felt very difficult because students were weak at speaking English

Difficulties Number of

teachers Percent Classes are too crowded and teaching

Students have no motivation and do

Students are weak at speaking English 2 16.7

Table 16: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking to non-English majors

In reality, although many students have experience learning English for seven years, they cannot even produce a simple English sentence This serious situation is resulted from the fact that end-of term exams at high schools are in only writing The problem leaves disastrous consequences when students approach university environment Apparently, teachers cannot teach well with such boring classes All of the twelve teachers admitted that they felt bored, tired, and stressful

in English speaking periods The following table confirms this truth

Teachers’ feeling in Number Percent

speaking periods of teachers

Table 17: Teachers’ feeling in speaking periods

Frequency of teaching speaking

Talking about frequency of teaching speaking in a period, half of teachers said that they spent 20 minutes on teaching speaking Four teachers (occupying 33.4%) answered that they saved 15 minutes for practice English speaking The rest two teachers (16.6%) spent 30 and 60 minutes for training speaking respectively Table 19 provides information about this part

Frequency of teaching speaking

Table 18: Frequency of teaching speaking

Activities used to teach speaking

According to table 19, there are two main activities teachers usually ask students to do in order to practice speaking They are pair work and group work Definitely, these are two most effective activities of training speaking 50.0% of the teachers concerned stated that they usually applied pair work and group work

to their speaking teaching Four teachers (33.3%) used only pair work, and two teachers (16.7%) used only group work

Teaching activities Number of

Table 19: Teaching activities

Ways of speaking error treatment

There are many things to discuss when talking about speaking error correction The first aspect which needs to care about is how often teachers should correct speaking errors Amazingly, twelve teachers gave only two answers to this question and the answers occupied the same ratio (50%-50%) Concretely, half of them always corrected students’ speaking errors and half of them sometimes corrected students

Frequency of speaking error

treatment

Number of teachers

There are many types of speaking errors, but it does not mean that teachers have to correct all of them Understanding this factor, nearly half of the teachers (5 teachers, 41.7%) only corrected pronunciation, a very important error in speaking Among the rest seven teachers, three of them (25%) paid attention to grammar and pronunciation errors; the other three thought that grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary were three mistakes speaking teachers needed to treat Only one teacher (8.3%) considered vocabulary a main mistake to care about

Types of speaking errors

corrected

Number of teachers Percent

Table 21: Types of speaking errors corrected

When is the suitable point of time to correct speaking errors: as soon as students make mistakes or to wait until students finish their talks? This is a delicate problem causing much argument among educators As experienced teachers, ten teachers (83.3%) believed that after students finished their talks was suitable time to correct their mistakes However, two teachers (16.7%) assumed that both ways of error treatment should be used according to each case It means

that in some cases, teachers can wait until students finish their sentences, but in some others, they should interrupt students and point out their errors

When to correct speaking

mistakes?

Number of teachers

Percent

after students finish their talks 10 83.3

as soon as students make

mistakes and after they finish

their talk

Table 22: When to correct speaking mistakes?

One more important thing about error treatment is how to correct As the traditional way of Vietnamese teachers, 50.0% of the teachers asked corrected mistakes of each student by themselves In the meantime, three teachers had students correct themselves with the purpose of helping them to remember their shortcomings longer Two teachers (16.7%) thought of another way to save time: gather all mistakes and correct by themselves Only one teacher gathered all mistakes and asked other students to correct

How to correct speaking errors?

Number of teachers Percent correct mistakes of each student 6 50.0

have students correct themselves 3 25.0

gather all mistakes and correct 2 16.7

gather all mistakes and ask

Table 23: How to correct speaking errors

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Chapter V discusses some problems challenging teachers when they teach speaking At the same time, the author, with her own experience and reference from other teachers, suggests practical ways to improve speaking skills of non-English major students

5.1 Discussion

5.1.1 Needs of non-English majors

First of all, it is necessary to know what learner needs are According to Hitomi Masuhara in Materials Development in Language Teaching, ed Brian Tomlinson, Cambridge University Press, 1998, when a person studies a foreign language, she or he possesses different kinds of needs that affect her/his learning They are personal needs, learning needs, and future professional needs Personal needs come from age, gender, cultural background, interests, educational background, and motivation Learning needs derive from learning styles, past language learning experience, learning gap, learning goals and expectations for the course, learner autonomy, and availability of time Future professional needs refer

to language requirements for employment, training, or education Obviously, English majors do not have any future professional needs Most of them study English just for learning needs, especially learning expectations of the course This truth is expressed clearly in the questionnaire At the beginning of the

non-questionnaire, students are asked to reply the question why they learn English Eighty percent of them gave a consistent answer: they study English just because

it is a compulsory subject at university Ironically, it is a truth Their answers are completely understandable After graduation, they find a job suitable to their majors and they can work well without English Then, English becomes abundant and unnecessary It is certain that non-English majors need something other than English Once English is not a need of theirs, it is very difficult to force them to study In summary, understanding needs of students helps English teacher apply suitable strategies and methods to their teaching More importantly, they are able

to choose correct classroom activities, language skills, language type, subject and content which have a great influence on students’ studying

5.1.2 Time duration for teaching speaking

In practice, at Vietnamese universities, there is almost no time for teaching speaking just because final exams do not test speaking, just writing and grammar

As a result, oral skills are ignored by both students and teachers The bad result this situation leaves behind is that students cannot speak even a simple English sentence even though they are very good at grammar or writing Moreover, teachers cannot require officials to increase teaching time for English when it is not a student’s major So what is the best solution for this reality? In my opinion, teachers should integrate teaching speaking into other skills It means that students can practice speaking while they are studying writing, reading, listening, or grammar Teachers should make use of every minute to let students speak For example, in writing periods, teachers can ask students to discuss topics and give their ideas before writing When studying listening, students should be told to guess what is going to be talk about in the tape They can work in pairs or groups

to share ideas and after that listening task takes place Only by this way can students’ oral skills be improved clearly and greatly