From the researcher’s own experience and according to the findings in the study, there are some difficulties from the teachers, students in teaching and learning process such as time limitation, lacking of equipment, the use of mother tongue. In order to success in teaching speaking skill, some considerations and suggestions are offered on the using of communicative activities.
While the students are communicating as best as they can, the teacher moves around the room, listens, and determines what the students know and do not know, and this diagnosis provides the framework for future teaching. In this way, teaching
is designed to meet actual needs of the students. Furthermore, a close attention to students may help teachers restrict the use of mother tongue in doing the activities.
The teacher should not correct grammar during a communicative activity. As a matter of fact, communication deals with the conveying of information; hence, interrupting students to correct or call attention to errors will disturb the flow and inhibit the speaker. In addition, assessment should focus on whether information has been successfully conveyed or not.
It is not suggested that teacher’s correction for accuracy is eliminated. It may well happen that a student succeeds in getting a message across in a grammatically or pragmatically imperfect way. However, teacher’s correction should be given at some other stages and not during the communicative activity. More importantly, the students communicate to each other, knowing that the language they produce will not be assessed in the first instance by the teacher but rather by their partner for its adequacy in the completion of a task.
In short, this chapter, on the basis of the findings reported in the previous chapter, suggests some kinds of communicative activities with designed samples which can be applied for the textbook English 10 in order to enhance students’ oral communication. Together with some suggestions and considerations for using these activities, the researcher hopes to provide teachers with some basic steps in applying communicative activities in the process of teaching and learning.
CONCLUSION
It seems no doubt that communicative activities are widely used in teaching and learning English at many high schools nowadays. So far, thanks to the advantages of these kinds of activities, teachers of English have probably exploited them to improve the speaking ability for their students. Furthermore, students are given chances to learn and practice their English in truly communicative situations.
However, the application of them at Do Luong 1 high school is limited and difficult due to many factors. Therefore, with a view to find out some communicative activities to help develop speaking skill for 10th students of Do Luong 1, this theme has been chosen for the thesis.
The study has mainly dealt with the question of how to enhance 10th students’
speaking skills at Do Luong 1 through communicative activities. While reviewing theoretical issues such as factor and concepts relating to language teaching, the nature of speaking skill, types and characteristics of communicative activities as well as the roles of teachers in class, the thesis also provides findings about situation of applying communicative activities by teachers to improve oral skills for 10th students at Do Luong 1. This real situation was exposed through classroom observation and survey questionnaire. Finally, several applicable communicative activities are suggested based on the teaching and learning situations at the researcher’s school as well as the suggestions for using these kinds of activities.
However, it is undeniable that the study has a number of limitations. Firstly, the survey was carried out with only a small number of teachers and students at Do Luong 1. This may not enable the researcher to collect sufficient data and get a general picture of studied data. Therefore, later research on this topic should be carried out on a larger number of subjects. Secondly, the qualitative method of the study to have more sufficient data can be collected. In addition, these suggested communicative activities are not enough and not very systematic, thus there should be more activities to enhance speaking skill for first year students in general as well as the whole students at Doluong1. Finally, this paper was written within the limited
academic knowledge, methodology and little experience in teaching from the author, mistakes and errors, therefore, are unavoidable. From these limitations of this study, the researcher wishes that further studies can be done to achieve much better results.
Limitations of the study
Although the research has offered some helpful findings, it has also shown some unavoidable mistakes due to the researcher’s limitation of experience and knowledge.
Firstly, the study aims to investigate the current situation of using CAs in teaching speaking skill for 10th graders at Do Luong 1 high school, but the participants of the survey were limited. Therefore, the results may not reflect fully the whole situation of learning and teaching speaking skill.
Secondly, the questionnaires may not cover all CAs used by teachers, which leads to less reliable results.
Then, the results of research only collected and analyzed from questionnaires, class observation and interviews and it is absent of discussion which might be incomplete.
Finally, this study only focuses on the teaching of English speaking skill to the students at Do Luong 1 high school, the author does not have more chance to deal with other three skills in language teaching: Listening, Reading and Writing. In spite of the unavoidable limitation, the author believes that this study will be beneficial to the teaching of speaking skill to the students of the 10th grade in particular and all students at Do Luong 1 high School in general.
Suggestions for further studies
This study only focuses on problems encountered in teaching of English speaking skill to the students of the 10th grade at Do Luong 1 high School and suggests some communicative activities in order to motivate students to speak English. The study only mentions a small theme related to the teaching and learning of speaking skill. Some suggestions for further researches are recommended.
Firstly, there should be more research in designing communicative activities to help both teachers and students have more advantages in applying and practising them more effectively.
Secondly, speaking and listening are crucial skills that the learners need to marster well to take part in communication. There should be a study on problems encountered and solutions in teaching listening skill at upper secondary school.
Finally, the researcher also hopes to have more chances to cooperate with other colleagues to combine and compile some more supplementary materials that are useful for students when dealing with speaking topics and activities.
In summary, the author hopes that the further studies will overcome all the existing limitations of this study and help to improve the quality of English teaching and learning at Do Luong 1 high school as well as at other high schools in Nghe An.
REFERENCES
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8. Byrne, D. (1991). Teaching Oral English, London: Longman
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Cambridge University Press.
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Cambridge University Press, pp. 67-85.
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22. Thornbury, S. (2005). How to teach speaking, Perason Education Limited, Longman.
23. Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge University Press.
APPENDIX 1
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for students)
This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “Improving speaking skill for 10th grade students through communicative activities”. Your assistance in filling the following items is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data.
Background information:
- Your gender: Male Female
- Your age: ………..
- Your name: ………...
- Your years of learning English: ………
Please tick (√) where appropriate or write in brief where necessary (You can choose more than one answer to some questions)
Student’s attitudes towards the role of English speaking skill 1. Why do you learn English? (Please tick more than one option) a. To be a compulsory subject in curriculum
b.To get a good job in the future c.To pass the examinations
d.To communicate with foreigners
e.To entertain yourself (listen to songs, read books and magazines in English) Others: (Please specify): ………...
2. How interested do you feel in speaking English classes? (Please tick only one)
a. Very interested b. Rather interested c. Little interested d. Not interested at all
3. How often do you speak English in class?
a. Very often b. Sometimes c. Rarely d. hardly
4. When do you often speak English at school?
a. When I talk with your friends.
b. When my teacher asks you.
c. When I am interested in the topic and activities.
5. Do you have any difficulties in English speaking lessons?
Yes No
If yes, tick one or more than one options for the causes of your difficulties in English speaking lessons?
a. Being afraid of losing face b. Not enough time for preparation c. Too much teachers’ talking time d. Not getting used to speaking English e. Low level of English language proficiency f. Unable to find words or structures
g. Unable to find ideas
h. Introversion (shy, timid, and reserved) i. Not paying much attention to speaking skill
Others (Please specify): ………...
Student’s attitudes towards communicative activities
6. What kinds of communicative activities do you like to participate in your class? (more than one option is possible)
a. Discussion b. Interviews c. Using songs d. Discourse chain e. Role play
f. Communicative games g. Question and answer
h. Others: ………
7. What do you think about of the tasks in the textbook English 10?
a. Very difficult b. Quite difficult c. Not so difficult d. Quite easy
8. What forms of the activity do you like to take part in?
a. The whole class work b. Groups work
c. Pairs work d. Individual work
9. What is the effectiveness of practicing the activities for you?
a. You can speak more fluently b. You feel more confident
c. You have chance to practice English
d. You are more interested in learning English e. Your English is much improved
f. Others: ...
10. What are your difficulties in practicing the activities? (more than one option is possible)
a. You lack vocabulary to express your opinion b. You are afraid of making mistakes
c. You fear for being criticized or losing face d. You feel shy while speaking in front of the class e. You have nothing to say
f. Others: ...
………..
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
APPENDIX 2
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for teachers)
This survey questionnaire is designed for my study ““Improving speaking skill for 10th grade students through communicative activities”. Your assistance in filling the following items is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data.
Background information:
- Your gender: Male Female
- Your age: ………
- Your name: ………
- Your years of teaching English: ………
Please tick (√) where appropriate or write in brief where necessary (You can choose more than one answer to some questions)
Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of English speaking skill 1. What do you think about the importance of speaking?
a. very important b. important c. unimportant
2. What do you think about your students’ speaking ability?
a. very good b. good c. acceptable d. bad
3. Do you teach speaking in the integration with other skills?
a. Yes b. No
4. In your experience, what makes students afraid of speaking? (more than one option is possible)
a. poor background knowledge
b. poor vocabulary and grammatical knowledge
c. low accuracy and fluency
d. others: ……….
Teachers’ attitudes towards communicative activities
5. What do you think about the communicative activities for speaking practice in the textbook 10? (more than one option is possible)
a. various d. interesting
b. enough e. boring
c. poor f. helpful
6. When do you usually use communicative activities?
a. at the beginning of the lesson b. during the lesson
c. at the end of the lesson d. out of the class time
7. What kinds of communicative activities do you usually use in your English teaching process?
a. Discussion b. Interviews c. Using songs d. Discourse chain e. Role play
f. Communicative games g. Question and answer
h. Others: ………
8. What forms of the activity do you usually organize?
a. the whole class work c. pairs work b. groups work d. individual work
9. Why do you think communicative activities should be used in speaking lesson?
a. To encourage students to speak the target language
b. To stimulate the students’ motivation c. To have the students get out of shyness
d. To meet the demand of students’ communicative purposes e. All the above mentioned reasons
Others reasons………..
10. How successful will your speaking lesson for 10th graders be if no communicative activities are made use of?
a. Less successful
b. As successful as periods used communicative activities c. More successful
d. No idea
11. During a communicative activity, you should a. Not to interfere
b. Interfere whenever you find your students make mistake c. Collect students’ common mistakes without interfering them d. Join the activities with students as a participant
e. Encourage all students to participate in the activities
12. Which of the following things do you think teachers should make to get effectiveness of communicative activities?
a. Make good preparation b. Encourage students
c. Discuss and share the experience with colleagues d. Organize the class work appropriately
Other things………
13. What do you think the benefits of the use of communicative activities in teaching speaking to 10th graders at Do Luong 1?
a. Increasing students’ motivation in learning b. Providing communicative contexts for students
c. Creating natural learning
d. Helping students develop their language skill totally
Other benefits:………
Difficulties in using communicative activities to teach speaking skill
What difficulties do you meet when carrying out the communicative activities?
14. In terms of students’ side
a. they often keep quiet and only speak when they are asked b. learners are too shy to speak in front of the class
c. they are not interested in the topic 15. In terms of your own side
a. it’s difficult to organize
b. it takes too much time to make a lesson plan 16. In terms of objective factors
a. lack of materials b. size of class c. time allocation d. atmosphere in class
Other difficulties that you face: ………...
Thank you very much for your cooperation!
Appendix 3
Questions for Teachers Interview
The interview is composed of open-ended questions addressing the use of CLT at Do Luong 1 high school. Other questions may be added based on subjects’ answers to the questionnaire.
1st question: How do you evaluate the current “Tieng Anh 10” in terms of CLT?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of this teaching material?
2nd question: What do you think about using CLT in English speaking classrooms?
3rd question: In your opinion, how do students like CAs? And how do your students in
English speaking classes benefit from them?
4th question: What is your dominant role in CAs?
5th question: What are some of the difficulties you have faced personally when attempting CAs in your English speaking classroom? Were you able to overcome those difficulties? How?
APPENDIX 4
CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST
Speaking Skills Teacher's Name:
Theme: Date/ Week:
Note:
1: Very bad 2: Bad 3: Fair (Average) 4: Good 5: Very good
A. Preparation/ Organization Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Organization of lesson
2. Appropriateness of lesson within framework of general syllabus
3. Use of class time
4. Lesson plan (realistic/lesson links/ teachers' sensitivity to the lesson plan/ timing)
5. Lesson's impacts on learning
B. Classroom Procedure Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Pace
2. Instructions, Explanations 3. Feedback to students 4. Degree of Difficulty 5. Confidence
6. Adaptability
7. Physical Presence and Movement
8. A variety of Activities (fluency or accuracy oriented)
9. Students' involvement in the classroom process
10. Flows of the class
C. Interaction and Class Atmosphere Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Interaction between Ts and Ss
2. Interaction among students 3. General Class atmosphere
4. T's provision of safe and supportive context for practice
D. Materials and Resources Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Choice of Materials
2. Class handouts (quality, format, attractiveness)
3. Whole-learner Materials (blackboard use, visual aid, etc)
4. Use of materials (approaches/ exploitation/
interest to learners/ affective sides)
E. Teaching Strategies and Skills Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Teacher's decision making the classroom
2. Achievement of the lesson aims/objectives 3. Motivation for learners
4. Classroom management
F. Teacher's Qualities Comments 1 2 3 4 5 1. Teacher's roles in action. (manager/
facilitator/ social worker/ monitor/ model/
counselor/ facilitator/ friend/ informant, etc) 2. Students' Care
3. Teacher's Knowledge 4. Teachers' Pronunciation
5 Teacher's Confidence (non-verbal language)