A study on students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices at Northern Water Resource College Nguyễn Thị Chúc Quỳnh Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English language teaching methodology Mã số: 60 14 10 Người hướng dẫn: Dr. Mai Thi Loan Năm bảo vệ: 2013 Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Kỹ năng nói; Giao tiếp Content PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationales Nowadays, English is used for international communication more than any other languages in the world. English is recognized as a lingua franca for communication across nations and cultures and is the most desired second or foreign language in most countries in the world. English is used as a second or foreign language in the workplace, international trade, global media, tourism, education, aviation, business, technology and on diplomatic occasions. As a result, the demand for speakers using English effectively is necessary in every country. Teaching and learning English, except for the native language, is thus crucial for communicative purposes to meet the demands of global economics and to cope with the growing local, national and international demands for English skills. In Vietnam, English is becoming more widely used in every field of life and it is an official and compulsory foreign language which has been taught in most schools and universities all over the country for nearly two decades now. People thus have a great concern about learning the language. Many people are aware that English guarantees them good jobs if they are good at English. Among the four language skills known as listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking skill is considered the most significant one that most learners of foreign languages need to achieve. The crucial importance of speaking skill has been stated by many linguistic researchers. For example, Ur (1996:120) states that of all four skills, speaking seems intuitively the most important and people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language, as if speaking included all other skills of knowing that language. Richards (2008:19) also says: “the mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second and foreign language learners. Learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language proficiency”. However, for many years, not much attention has been paid to learners’ speaking competence in Vietnamese English classes and time for speaking practices is limited for many reasons. Consequently, students have poor ability to speak English although they have been learning English for a long time. They speak English badly even in English speaking lessons. They often lack the confidence and feel confused when they are asked to speak English. They regularly find it difficult to express their ideas in English and even some students cannot speak anything but keep silent during speaking lessons. Among many different factors that affect students’ learning to speak English in classroom, the attitude of the students has a very important position. This study has been conducted to investigate the attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices in order to offer some suggestions which might be useful for teachers and students here to develop English speaking skills. 2. Aims of the study This study aims at: - finding out the attitudes of students at NWRC towards learning to speak English - investigating the classroom speaking practices of the students at NWRC - recommending some solutions for teachers at NWRC to improve their students’ speaking skill based on the findings of the study 3. Research questions 1. What are the attitudes that students at NWRC hold towards learning to speak English? 2. How are their classroom speaking practices? 3. What should the teachers do to improve their students’ English speaking skill? 4. Scope of the study The study was carried out at NWRC with the participation of 100 first-year students to find out the attitudes of students towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices. Based on the findings, some suggestions were given to the teachers to help them improve their students’ speaking skills. 5. Significance of the study The result of the study is believed to help teachers at NWRC understand more about the students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their expectations of the teachers’ speaking lessons so that the teachers have suitable methods to improve their students’ speaking skills and encourage students to practise speaking English in classroom. 6. Methodology of the study To conduct this study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used, involving the survey questionnaires and classroom observations. The survey questionnaires were delivered to 100 first-year students to investigate their attitudes towards learning to speak English. Besides, class observations were conducted to see how and what students often did during English speaking classes. Classroom observations helped the researcher survey students’ practices in real situations so that the reliability and validity of the data collected for this study could be achieved. The data collected from the questionnaires and the result of class observations will be analyzed and generalized with a hope for offering some suggestions for the teachers at NWRC to improve speaking competence for their students. 7. Design of the study: This thesis includes three main parts as follows: Part I: Introduction This part includes the rationales, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the significance, the methodology and the design of the study. Part II: Development This part consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review In this chapter, the theoretical background of the study is introduced. It focuses on three main points: theory of attitudes, speaking skills and some techniques as well as activities that are often used in speaking lessons. Chapter 2: Research methodology. This chapter starts with the description of the setting and the participants of the study. It also presents how data were collected through the research methods and research procedures. Chapter 3: Data analysis and Discussions In this chapter, the data collected will be analyzed and discussed. From this, students’ attitudes toward learning to speak English will be found and their classroom practices will be mentioned as well. Part III: Conclusion and Recommendations This chapter gives a short summary of findings and draws out some suggestions that are good for teachers and students in teaching and learning to speak English. Beside that, some recommendations for further researches are also discussed in this chapter. REFERENCES Foreign authors 1. Abidin, M. J. Z., Pour-Mohammadi, M., and Alzwari, H. (2012). EFL students’ attitudes towards learning English language: the case of Libyan secondary school students, Asian Social Science. 8 (2). 2. Bailey, K.M (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking, McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT 3. Bailey, K.M and Savage, L. (1995) New Ways in Teaching Speaking 4. Baker, C. (1992) Attitudes and Language, Great Britain: Multilingual Matters Ltd 5. 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[Online] Available: http://hlst.ltsn.ac.uk/assets/ps/documents/practice_guides/ps0076_getting_started_in_pedag ogic_research_in_the_physical_sciences_aug_2004.pdf (August 9, 2011) 21. Richard-Amato, P. A. (1988) Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom: From theory to practice. New York: Longman 22. Richards. J.C (2008) Teaching listening and Speaking: From the theory to practice, SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 23. Richards, J.C and Renandya, W.A. (2002) Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of current Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 24. Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T. (1986) Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 25. Tamimi, A.A. and Shuib, M. (2009) Motivation and Attitudes Towards Learning English: A Study Of Petroleum Engineering Undergraduates At Hadhramout University Of Sciences And Technology, GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies. Volume 9(2) 2009 26. Tsiplakides & Keramida. (2010) Promoting Positive Attitudes in ESL/EFL Classes, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XVI, No. 1, January 2010 27. Ur, P. (1996), A Course in Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Vietnamese Author 1. Nguyễn Thị Chung (2010) Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of computers in language teaching at Hanam Teachers’s Training College, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 2. Nguyễn Thị Chúc Hà (2006), Students’ Attitudes towards English Grammar Learning at Tran Nguyen Han Upper Secondary School, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 3. Nguyễn T.Thanh Hằng (2006) Teachers’ Attitude toward Applying CLT in Teaching Vocabulary for Grade-10 Students at Nguyen Van Cu High School, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 4. Bá Thị Hiền (2012) Students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English at Ly Thai To High School, Bac Ninh, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 5. Trần Thị Huyền (2008) High school teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards Communicative language teaching to teaching grammar, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 6. Nguyễn Thị Phương Lan (2010) An investigation into the attitudes of teachers and students at the Hanoi college of industrial economics towards speaking activities in the textbook New Headway Pre-Intermediate and some suggestions, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 7. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Loan (2006), Teachers’ Attitudes towards Grammar Teaching in the light of Communicative Approach with the Course book New Headway Pre-Intermediate to First-year Non-Major English Students at Hai Duong Medical Technical University, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 8. Trần Thị Phương (2007) Students’ Attitude about the Role of Rote Learning in Vocabulary Learning Strategies at Nguyen Sieu Upper Secondary School, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 9. Hoàng Thị Bích Thủy (2008), Students' attitudes towards cooperative learning at Nghe An training college and implications for teacher education programs, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 10. Bế Thị Thu Trang (2007), An investigation into Viet Bac 11 th grade students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking skills, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 11. Nguyễn Hạnh Tuyết (2009) An Investigation into Teachers’ and Students’ Attitudes towards the Use of Visual Aids in Teaching and Learning Vocabulary at Le Quy Don Gifted High School, Dien Bien, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 12. Trần Thị Vân (2010), Teachers and students’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of teaching and learning vocabulary through translation activities: A survey research at Tran Nhan Tong high school, Hanoi, Unpublished MA Dissertation CFL-VNU 13. http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Attitude_(psychology) . A study on students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices at Northern Water Resource College Nguyễn Thị Chúc Quỳnh. the students’ attitudes towards learning to speak English and their expectations of the teachers’ speaking lessons so that the teachers have suitable methods to improve their students’ speaking. participation of 100 first-year students to find out the attitudes of students towards learning to speak English and their classroom speaking practices. Based on the findings, some suggestions