VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THỊ THỦY USING ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS IN ESP FOR POST CLERK AT PT & IT HIGHLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL, THAI NGUYEN Sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai nhằm cải thiện kỹ nói mơn tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho giao dịch viên bưu điện trường trung học Bưu Chính Viễn Thơng Cơng Nghệ Thơng Tin Miền Núi, Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HA NOI, 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  TRẦN THỊ THỦY USING ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS IN ESP FOR POST CLERK AT PT & IT HIGHLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL, THAI NGUYEN Sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai nhằm cải thiện kỹ nói mơn tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho giao dịch viên bưu điện trường trung học Bưu Chính Viễn Thơng Cơng Nghệ Thông Tin Miền Núi, Thái Nguyên M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Assoc ProF Dr Vo Dai Quang HA NOI, 2013 i STATEMENT OF THESIS ORIGINALITY I, Tran Thi Thuy, K20D, declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and that the substance of the thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Signature Tran Thi Thuy ii ACKNOWLEDEMENTS The largest debt of all is to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Vo Dai Quang, who has given me much invaluable advice and encouragement since the very beginning I am indebted to all the lecturers of the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, Universities of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable teaching and assistance during my study at the College My sincere thanks also go to my friends, colleagues, and students at Post Telecommunication and Information Technology Highland Secondary school, Thai Nguyen for their support and cooperation in helping me complete this thesis Last but not least, my gratitude is extended to all members of my family for their love and continuous encouragement during the time I carried out this study iii ABSTRACT “The specific English for post clerk” is the compulsory subject which has been taught in Post Telecommunication and Information Technology Highland Secondary school in Thai Nguyen (PT & IT highland secondary school) for a long time; however, the result it obtains is not as good as we have expected After completing the course for a post clerk (24- month course), most of the students in my school are not able to use English in their career There are numerous reasons for this reality, in which teaching method is one of the considerable causes As a teacher of the school, the writer has carried out this study in order to something or “act” something to change or to improve the students’ learning result This paper aims at improving accuracy and fluency in speaking skills via role-playing activity The writer hopes that role-playing will bring for teachers and students in the school new atmosphere in teaching and learning the specific English which is formally thought as difficult subject and hard to overcome Moreover, the writer is eager to see the changes in students’ attitude toward the subject; from their thinking that they have to learn the subject, into that they want to take experience with the subject It is hoped that this thesis will make some useful contributions to the teaching and learning of English at PT & IT highland secondary school iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PT: Post Telecommunication IT: Information Technology PO: Post Office PC: Post clerk ESP: English for Special Purposes Ac: Accuracy Fl: Fluency v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: The Holistic Rating Scale Table 2: Students’ mark of two oral tests before role-playing Table 3: Students’ mark in term of accuracy and fluency in Pre-test Table 4: Students’ mark in term of accuracy and fluency in Post-test Figure 1: Percentage of students in different ranges of mark before role-playing Figure 2: Percentage of students in different ranges of accuracy mark in Pre-test Figure 3: Percentage of students in different ranges of fluency mark in Pre-test Figure 4: Percentage of students in different ranges of accuracy mark in Post-test Figure 5: Percentage of students in different ranges of fluency mark in Post-test vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page Statement of thesis originality i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv Table of content v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale to the study Aims of the research Objective of the research Scope of the research Signification of the research Structural organization of the thesis PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis 5 1.1.1 Related research 1.1.2 Related research 1.1.3 Related research 1.2 Review if theoretical background 1.2.1 Statement of analytical framework chosen 1.2.2 Review of theoretical preliminaries employable as tools for conducting the thesis 1.2.2.1 Role Play 1.2.2.1.1 Definitions of Role play 1.2.2.1.2 Types of Role Play 11 1.2.2.1.3 Significance of Role Play in teaching speaking 14 1.2.2.2 Speaking 15 vii 1.2.2.2.1 Definitions of Speaking 15 1.2.2.2.3 Criteria to evaluate Speaking skills 16 1.2.2.3 Motivation in Second Language Teaching 1.3 Summary 19 20 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research orientations 21 21 2.1.1 Research questions 21 2.1.2 Research hypothesis 21 2.1.3 Research setting 21 2.1.3.1 The syllabus 21 2.1.3.2 The Students 24 2.1.3.3 The Problems 25 2.1.4 Research types 26 2.1.5 Research approaches 26 2.1.6 Principles/criteria for intended data collection and data analysis 27 2.2 Research methods 28 2.2.1 Major methods vs Supporting methods 28 2.2.2 Data collection instruments and procedure 28 2.2.2.1 Data collection instruments 28 2.2.2.2 Procedure 29 2.2.3 Data analysis procedure 30 2.3 Summary CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Findings related to research question 30 31 31 3.1.1 The students‟ accuracy and fluency before Role-playing 31 3.1.2 The students‟ accuracy and fluency after Role-playing 35 3.1.3 Discussion 37 3.2 Findings related to research question 39 3.2.1 The students‟ motivation before Role-playing 39 3.2.2 The students‟ motivation after Role-playing 40 3.2.3 Discussion 41 viii 3.3 Findings related to of research question 41 3.4 Summary 42 Part C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation 43 Concluding remarks 43 2.1 Conclusion on objective 43 2.2 Conclusion on objective 43 2.3 Conclusion on objective 43 Limitations of the current research and suggestions for further ones 44 PART D: REFERENCES 45 In English 45 In Vietnamese 46 Data sources 46 PART E: APPENDICES Appendix A: Interview questions for teachers Appendix B: Questionnaire for students Appendix C: Tables of criteria to evaluate speaking skills I II III 35 in Hue city.” But the student (in PC’s role) makes a question based on the procedure she has just learnt before (ask the destination place): “Where you want to send?” It’s not necessary to make that question when the information has been already mentioned More frequently, errors in making simple sentences are also made by students For instance, instead of saying “What kind of flowers would you like?, they say: “What kind of flowers you would like? All those errors belong to accuracy ones Similar reality happens to fluency errors; students have made long pause between words and sentences, which make the conversation delayed 3.1.2 The students’ accuracy and fluency after Role-playing When role-playing was used as a game during the two situations chosen from the course, a Post-test was done in the same way and evaluated in the same categories as Pre-test The result of Post-test is presented in the following table and charts Order Ac (1) Ac(2) Average Fl(1) Fl(2) Average Student 4.0 4.5 St 4 4.0 3.5 St 4 4.0 4 4.0 St 5 5.0 5 5.0 St 5 4.5 4.5 St 3 3.0 4 4.0 St 5 5.0 5 5.0 St 3 3.0 3.5 St 6.0 6.5 St 10 5 5.0 5 5.0 St 11 4.5 4.5 St 12 2.0 2.5 St 13 5 5.0 5 5.0 St 14 3.5 3.5 St 15 4 4.0 4.5 St 16 3 3.0 3 3.0 St 17 4.5 4.5 St 18 3 3.0 3 3.0 St 19 3 3.0 2.5 St 20 6 6.0 6.5 St 21 4.5 4.5 St 22 4 4.0 4.0 St 23 5 5.0 4 4.0 St 24 3.5 3 3.0 St 25 4 4.0 3.5 36 St 26 3.5 4 4.0 St 27 3 3.0 3.5 St 28 3.5 3.5 St 29 4 4.0 4 4.0 St 30 5.0 5.0 Table 4: Students’ mark in term of accuracy and fluency in Post-test 70 70 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0-3.0 3.5-4.0 4.5-6.0 6.5-7.5 8.0-9.0 0-3.0 3.5-4.0 4.5-6.0 6.5-7.5 8.0-9.0 Figure 4: Percentage of students in Figure 5: Percentage of students in different different ranges of accuracy mark in ranges of fluency mark in Post-test Post-test As shown in the charts, the students’ ability in making speech is a big change via role-play activities In term of accuracy criterion, 40% of the students, who have obtained from mark 4.5, meet the requirement of the subject In that number, there are two students reaching mark and 7, which has not been gained by anyone in pre-test Surprisingly, there is a slight increase in the percentage of students who meet the required marks in term of fluency; 44% of them (13 students) have reach a wider range of mark, from 4.5 to 6.5, which has never been touched with in the pre-test Two marks appearing in fluency test is a big surprise and a great effort of the students in mountainous area Along with the increased number of students who pass the required mark in accuracy and fluency, there is a slight decrease and a displacement in the number of students getting the lower ranges of marks While in pre-test 50% (accuracy) and 57% (fluency) of students get very low marks (from to 3), the number get down to 23% (accuracy) and 16 % (fluency) of the students after the post-test It is understandable for the increase in the number of students in the range mark 3.5 to 4.0: 37% in accuracy test and 40% in the fluency one 37 3.1.3 Discussion Through analysis of the result of students in pre-test and post-test, it’s clear to see how much progress they have gained via role-play activities Before role-play is used, most of students fail in communicating with a supposed foreigner Errors are made frequently during the speech, which results from their mechanical memorization of the models in book When answering the interview question number (In which levels students often gain in term of accuracy in speaking skills?), all the teachers just smiled and one said that: “It‟s disappointed to talk about the students‟ accuracy If they were tested in term of accuracy only, most of them would certainly fail.” Similarly, other teachers state that some students are not even aware of who they are talking to, and what they are talking about; this causes not only mistakes in forming sentences, but mistakes in their knowledge of career Actually, those errors are made by many students in the Pre-test For example, in Mails and parcels service, when a customer makes a request: “I‟d like to send this document by mail service It‟s very important Can you recommend a service I should use? ” Instead of recommending him registered or express mail service as follow: PC: For peace of your mind, you‟d better use registered or express mail service Registered Mail service is reliable and convenient way to send important document; your mails will be imprinted with a unique tracking number and traced during the process of receiving, transferring and delivering Or: PC: EMS is the fastest, reliable, safe and convenient postal service with reasonable price Some students in PC’s role said: PC: Would you prefer to send it by Ordinary Mail, Registered, or Express Mail Service? It can be said that the “PC” here does not listen to the customer respectably with enough enthusiast For a PC specifically, this can be not acceptable The similar errors happen in the second situation (Retail Service) The following is a sample for the situation: Selling newspapers PC: Good morning, sir Can I help you? C: Good morning, madam I‟d like some newspapers issued in English, please 38 PC: Yes, sir But which ones would you like? C: „Vietnam news‟ and „Vietnam economy times‟, please PC: How many would you like, sir? C: One of each PC: Here you are and it costs you 10,000 VND in total C: Thanks Here is my money PC: Thank you Here‟s your change C: Thanks and good-bye PC: You‟re welcome Good-bye and see you again / However, the situation given to students is: “A customer wants to buy a Vietnam Investment Review and a Saigon Time Daily, but there aren‟t any Vietnam Investment Reviews left.” And this is the dialogue between two students: PC: Good morning, sir Can I help you? C: Good morning, madam I‟d like some newspapers issued in English, please PC: Yes, sir But which ones would you like? C: “Vietnam Investment Review” and “Saigon Time Daily”, please (Long pause) PC: But there aren’t any Vietnam Investment Reviews left How many would you sir? like, C: One of each PC: Here you are and it costs you 10,000 VND in total C: Thanks Here is my money PC: Thank you Here‟s your change C: Thanks and good-bye PC: You‟re welcome Good-bye and see you again / However, those errors have disappeared when role-play is applied under the teacher’s guiding There appear good students to deal with the situation above They said: “I‟m sorry, there aren‟t any Vietnam Investment Reviews left Would you like another one? Now we have several “Vietnam economic Time” and “Vietnam News” with much hot news today” 39 It’s a wise “PC” to advertise other products to customer, and increase receipts for the PO’s business This is highly evaluated in conservations between the two roles As shown clearly from the charts, we can see a considerable change in the students’ ability in making speech Nevertheless, the level of progress measured was only done with the students in our school; it may be much better with students whose proficiency was higher 3.2 Findings related to research question 3.2.1 The students’ motivation before Role-playing Through the investigation of the interview among teachers and classroom observation, most of students were unmotivated during the speaking lesson In all five sections to observe, there were always 2, or students, who were sitting at the end of classroom, not paying attention to the lesson They often did the private things such as playing game, chatting…while their friends were practicing dialogues by blackboard In the interview with teachers, when asked “How is the students’ concentration to the lesson?”, per teachers said that it’s very hard for them to attract all students to the lesson because they have to pay attention to the couples practicing They also claimed that although they had tried their best to explain the importance and necessity of this course toward PC career, students seems to ignore it Some said that it is only a minor subject, and it is rare to encounter with foreign customers in remote mountainous areas To make the matter worse, the teachers complained that all the students seem to forget their Basic English knowledge to build simple sentences and the knowledge of profession they had studied before; therefore, teachers had to delay the lesson to explain it again Actually, students thought that there was no relation between ESP and the previous subjects, everything in the ESP course was new for them, and they could learn from beginning Indeed, misunderstanding about the importance and its relation with other subject cause difficulties and hindrance in learning the subject This, of course, result in their bad motivation in speaking lesson Role-play technique is expected to activate the students’ knowledge and develop their interest in speaking lessons 40 3.2.2 The students’ motivation after Role-playing Five follow-up questionnaires were delivered to 20 students chosen randomly from class to explore their attitude toward ESP course with the application of role-play activities The result is presented in the following table: Questions Number of students Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Question Question 10 Question 14 Question 12 Question 10 Table 4: Degree of students’ agreement about the importance of the subject and the usages of role-play in the subject Table reveals that students’ attitude has changed considerably in compared with that before role-playing is used As shown in the table, students agree and other strongly agree that ESP for PC is useful for their future occupation Many of them have a wider view of the globalization and using English in communicating Surprisingly, a half of participants strongly agree that ESP for PC is beneficial in revising their knowledge of PC’s career A student shared that “it‟s easy to learn by heart the procedure, but only practicing again and again helps them to master it; ESP for PC is the second chance for them to revise their lessons.” So, many students have changed their mind about the role of ESP for PC, and perhaps, they will learn the subject more actively Answering the question 3, most of participants agree that role-playing makes them exciting and comfortable during the lesson In general, role-play is popular to both students and teachers because it not only helps to improve students’ speaking skills but also meets the demand of learning English for communications However, the reason may lie in the way role play is used As discussed in previous sections, dividing the class into groups of three helps all students be involved to the lesson under the control of the teacher Taking their turns of a PC, a customer, and a listener, three students can have many times to practice and to listen to their friend’s remark In responses in the next two questions about their motivation and interest toward speaking lessons, the students’ attitude has gained big difference from the stage before 41 role-playing Most of them agree that they are motivated and encouraged to encounter with the subject However, on the other side, about one third participants disagree and some even strongly disagree to that idea This may leaves further consideration for next researches 3.2.3 Discussion The results of the study reveal that students’ attitude toward the subject has changed from “a task to do” to “a game to play” via role-play activities It is proven that the use of role-play in teaching speaking is effective to increase students’ motivation According to the participants, role-play in their speaking lessons makes the teaching and learning here more enjoyable and interesting Their change in viewing the importance of the subject helps them have positive attitude toward learning English speaking lessons Especially, for shy students, role-play helps them by providing a mask, where students with difficulties in conversation are liberated From the finding of the study, with the presence of role-play activities, it is shown that the use of roleplay makes the class more active and alive Students are willing to participate without any force from the teacher, because they work together with their classmate by pairs work and group work activities Thanks to all those advantages, it can be concluded that role-play in teaching speaking makes the students more motivated in learning and easier to grasp the lesson 3.3 Findings related to of research question According to the result from classroom observation and responses from direct interview of the teachers, the process of applying and using role-lay activities in speaking lessons often leaves many challenges for both teachers and learners In the role of a teacher, a controller and an observer, the writer of the thesis has recognized several problems when using role-play activities in teaching speaking Firstly, the students’ limited vocabularies causes obstacle in their expressing ideas in English Therefore, they tend to the equivalent Vietnamese whenever they cannot find the English words This fact leads to failure of role-play activities When 42 interviewed, some teachers said that students sometimes try to translate so complicated Vietnamese sentences into English; and they failed because of limited equivalence Secondly, some teachers think that too much noise and over time consuming are main disadvantages of using role-play in speaking lessons As the role of a controller, teachers find it difficult in noise and time management Once English atmosphere is “warm” enough, students are allowed to practice freely with their partners; this requires a great effort of the teacher in the role of a controller Students also share the same troubles with teachers while taking part in role play Some students complain that their partners not co-operate in activities, leading their low motivation in speaking class This is a real challenge for teachers while conducting role-play activities In order to overcome those obstacles and fully benefit from role play activities, teachers should consider the following suggestions: o Teachers should learn about role play activities and how to employ and make use of them in class o Teachers should tend to play as a controller or a participant rather than a teacher in role-play activity; they should participate at the right time, providing help, observing students’ behavior and giving assessment o Essential structures and vocabularies, especially terms in specific professions, should be carefully and sufficiently provided and explained before practice o Teachers’ modeling is sometimes necessary because it gives the clearest and simplest guidance to students o Creating supporting environment may encourage students and make them feel confident to complete the tasks o Class management will be done effectively with the participation of other teachers as participants in role-play activities 3.4 Summary To conclude, this chapter has answered the three research questions with a thorough analysis and discussion of the collected data Major findings as detailed above would be summarized in the conclusion as the final chapter of the current research 43 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation The paper has served as a thorough study on current situation of using role-play activities to improve speaking skills in ESP for post clerk at PT & IT highland secondary school The study is aimed at developing students’ accuracy, fluency as well as increasing their motivation in speaking skills To achieve the goals and to get full answer for three research questions at the beginning of the research, the combination of different methods and techniques are used Finally, all the aims and objectives have been reached; the hypothesis has been also demonstrated The research reveals that using role-play activities is quite effective in helping students make progress in speaking skills, and encourage them to speak Details on which levels to obtain in the objectives will be concluded in the following sections Concluding remarks 2.1 Conclusion on objective The first objective of the study is to identify the students’ degrees of progress related to speech accuracy and fluency via role-play activities As shown in the finding and discussion analysis, students have made progress during each situation in the study Obviously, the result of the study gives us a lighter picture about future post clerks when they make conversations with foreign customers Of course, the level of accuracy and fluency of the students here is not very high and the marks they get in oral tests are only acceptable, but their speaking ability has been improved considerably in compared with reality before that 2.2 Conclusion on objective The second purpose of the study is to clarify the changes in the students’ motivation via role-play activities By observing the class and interviewing some teachers and students, we can see that the learners’ motivation changes much, and it is shown in their more active attitude in learning Many students, who once considered this subject a minor one, have now changed their mind to support that it is a useful course and beneficial to their future career The writer hasn’t given a conclusion whether they are interested in this subject or not, but certainly, they don’t feel afraid of it and don’t get bored with the speaking lessons any more Therefore, it can be 44 concluded that role-playing brings students enjoyment, and most students will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning 2.3 Conclusion on objective The third objective of the study is to establish the major types of difficulties encountered by learners and teachers in using role-play activities, and then propose possible solutions to the problems identified After process of experiment and observation, many problems in using role-play activities have revealed, such as the students’ limited vocabularies, too much noise, over time consuming or not cooperated students Several solutions are proposed to decrease the disadvantages of role-play activities However, in my opinion, the most important thing to get success in teaching language skills in general and speaking skills in particular is that: the choice and application must fit well with the context and the students’ competence as well Limitations of the current research and suggestions for further ones Although aims and objectives set at the beginning of the study have been accomplished, it still bears some limitations Due to the shortage of time, limit of knowledge and the scope of the study, the study cannot cover all the effectiveness of role-play in four language skills Therefore, further research may deal with the use of role play teaching other language skills such as listening, reading and writing A similar experimental study should be carried out to find out the effectiveness of using role-play to enhance students’ ability and their motivation in gaining the listening, reading and writing skills in English Furthermore, a research in wider scope and with more participants in different competence may give more general conclusion 45 PART D: REFERENCES In English A.L Chaney and T.L.Burke, (1998) Teaching Oral Communication in Grade K-8, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p 13 Band Knight, (1991) Assessing speaking skill- A workshop for teacher development Shinshu University, Japan Bruce Roger (c2007) The Complete Guide to The TOEFL ® Test: Speaking Boston Mass: Thomson Byrne, D.(1986) Teaching oral English England: Longman Doff, A (1988) Teach English: A Training Courses for Teachers-Trainer‟s Handbook Cambridge: CUP Ellis, R (1997) Second language Acquisition Oxford: OUP Garder, R.C (1985) Social Psychology and Language Learning The role of Attitudes and Motivation London: Edward Arnold Harmer J.(1989) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman Harmer J.(1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman Singapore Publishers 10 Harmer J (1994) The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman 11 Http://www.ieltsessentials.com/pdf/BandcoreDescriptorsSpeaking.pdf 12 Http://iteslj.org/articles/Belchumber-CLT.html 13 Jeremy Comfort [et al] (1994) Speaking Effectively: Developing Speaking Skills for Business English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 14 Joanna Budden, British Council, Spain Role-Play Submitted by TE Editor on January, 2004 15 Joyce, B & Weil, M (Eds.).(2000).Models of teaching Boston Allyn and Bacon 16 Kathleen M Bailey (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking New York: Megraw-Hill EST/ ELT 17 Kris, Pamela A Role Play Activity with Distance Learners in an English Language Classroom National University of Malaysia 18 Ladousse, Gillian Porte (1987) Role Play Oxford University Press 19 Littelewood, William T (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 46 20 Lori Levis (2002) Pole-Playing as a Teaching Stategy Staff Development and Presentation 21 Mead, Nancy A - Rubin, Donald L (1985) Assessing Listening and Speaking Skills ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills Urbana IL 22 Neuman, WL (2005) Social Research Methods Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches Allyn and Bacon 23 Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995) Oxford University Press 24 Rebecca Belchumber (2007) The advantages of Communicative Language Teaching Internet TESL Journal, Vol XIII, No.2, February 25 Richards, J.C.& Rodgers, T (2001) Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed) New York: Cambridge University Press 26 Richards, J.C (2006).Communicative language teaching today New York: Cambridge University Press 27 Snieder, R & Larner, K, 2009, The Art of Being a Scientist: A Guide for Graduate Students and their Mentors Cambridge University Press 28 Vicki Hollett (c1989) In at the deep end: Speaking Activities for Professional People Oxford: Oxford University Press 29 Williams, M and Burden, R L (1997) Psychology for Language Teacher: A social Constructivist Approach Cambridge University Press In Vietnamese 30 Nguyễn, Thượng Thái (1998) Tiếng Anh cho giao dịch viên bưu điện Post Office publisher 31 Vũ, Huy Thông (2002) Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành dành cho giao dịch viên bưu điện Data sources Published Books Newspapers and Magazines 3.Internet I PART E: APPENDICES APPENDIX A Interview questions for teachers Question 1: Are the students aware of the importance of ESP subject in their future career? Question 2: In what way students apply Basic English knowledge in ESP subject? Question 3: In which levels students often gain in term of accuracy in speaking skills? Question 4: Does the students’ mechanical memorization help them increase the speech speed? Question 5: How is the students’ concentration into the lesson? Question 6: What difficulties you have to cope with in teaching the subject? II APPENDIX B Questionnaire for Students Tick (√) the column that is true for you (2): SA: Strongly agree (3): A: Agree (4): D: Disagree (5): SD: Strongly disagree Questions SA A D SD (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ESP for PC is very useful for students’ future profession ESP for PC helps students practice their knowledge of PC’s career Role-playing creates exciting and comfortable atmosphere in classroom Role-playing is a suitable method to help students revise their Basic English knowledge With the help of role-playing, students are much more motivated, and feel free when the lesson comes III APPENDIX C: IELTS Assessment Criteria: Speaking Band Fluency and coherence  speaks fluently with only rare repetition or selfcorrection; any hesitation is content-related rather than to find words or grammar  speaks coherently with fully appropriate cohesive features  develops topics fully and appropriately I Lexical resource  uses vocabulary with full flexibility and precision in all topics  uses idiomatic language naturally and accurately Grammatical range and accuracy Pronunciation  uses a full range of structures naturally and appropriately  produces consistently accurate structures apart from ‘slips’ characteristic of native speaker speech  uses a full range of pronunciation features with precision and subtlety  sustains flexible use of features throughout  is effortless to understand  speaks fluently with only occasional repetition or self-correction; hesitation is usually content-related and only rarely to search for language  develops topics coherently and appropriately  uses a wide vocabulary resource readily and flexibly to convey precise meaning  uses less common and idiomatic vocabulary skilfully, with occasional inaccuracies  uses paraphrase effectively as required  uses a wide range of structures flexibly  uses a wide range of pronunciation features  produces a majority of error-free sentences with only very occasional inappropriacies or basic/nonsystematic errors  sustains flexible use of features, with only occasional lapses  is easy to understand throughout; L1 accent has minimal effect on intelligibility  speaks at length without noticeable effort or loss of coherence  may demonstrate language-related hesitation at times, or some repetition and/or self-correction  uses vocabulary resource flexibly to discuss a variety of topics  uses some less common and idiomatic vocabulary and shows some awareness of style and collocation, with some inappropriate choices  uses paraphrase effectively  uses a range of complex structures with some flexibility  frequently produces error-free sentences, though some grammatical mistakes persist  shows all the positive features of Band and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band  is willing to speak at length, though may lose coherence at times due to occasional repetition, self-correction or hesitation  uses a range of connectives and discourse markers but not always appropriately  has a wide enough vocabulary to discuss topics at length and make meaning clear in spite of inappropriacies  uses a mix of simple and complex structures, but with limited flexibility  may make frequent mistakes with complex structures, though these rarely cause comprehension problems  uses a range of pronunciation features with mixed control  shows some effective use of features but this is not sustained  usually maintains flow of speech but uses repetition, self-correction and/or slow speech to keep going  may over-use certain connectives and discourse markers  produces simple speech fluently, but more complex communication causes fluency problems  manages to talk about familiar and unfamiliar topics but uses vocabulary with limited flexibility  attempts to use paraphrase but with mixed success  produces basic sentence forms with reasonable accuracy  uses a limited range of more complex structures, but these usually contain errors and may cause some comprehension problems  shows all the positive features of Band and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band  cannot respond without noticeable pauses and may speak slowly, with frequent repetition and self-correction  links basic sentences but with repetitious use of simple connectives and some breakdowns in coherence  is able to talk about familiar topics but can only convey basic meaning on unfamiliar topics and makes frequent errors in word choice  rarely attempts paraphrase  produces basic sentence forms and some correct simple sentences but subordinate structures are rare  errors are frequent and may lead to misunderstanding  uses a limited range of pronunciation features  speaks with long pauses  uses simple vocabulary to convey personal information  has insufficient vocabulary for less familiar topics  attempts basic sentence forms but with limited success, or relies on apparently memorised utterances  makes numerous errors except in memorised expressions  shows some of the features of Band and some, but not all, of the positive features of Band  only produces isolated words or memorised utterances  cannot produce basic sentence forms  speech is often unintelligible  uses a range of connectives and discourse markers with some flexibility  has limited ability to link simple sentences  gives only simple responses and is frequently unable to convey basic message  pauses lengthily before most words  little communication possible  no communication possible  no rateable language  does not attend  generally paraphrases successfully  can generally be understood throughout, though mispronunciation of individual words or sounds reduces clarity at times  attempts to control features but lapses are frequent  mispronunciations are frequent and cause some difficulty for the listener ... & IT HIGHLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL, THAI NGUYEN Sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai nhằm cải thiện kỹ nói mơn tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho giao dịch viên bưu điện trường trung học Bưu Chính Viễn Thơng Cơng... course for post clerk Basing on the textbook by Nguyen Thuong Thai, namely “Tiếng Anh dành cho giao dịch viên 22 bưu điện” (1998), a group of teachers working in the Basic Science Faculty have... joining, teaching and learning English are always seriously taken care to develop Especially, in recent years, renewing teaching methodology into communicative approach is the concern in teaching foreign