TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS INTRODUCTION Vinh Cuu, which is one of the largest districts in Dong Nai Province, has attracted a lot of foreign companies and factories Many foreigners work in the companies and factories need to use English to interact with their customers, their workers and partners In order to communicate to foreigners, to find good jobs, many young people and students have to be good at speaking English Of course, more and more people want to use it as a means of communication at work, in business and tourism As a teacher, I am aware that English has been one of the compulsory subjects in secondary schools and high schools in Vietnam In the first term of the school year 2015, all grade 10 students in Dong Nai Province had to take communicative English tests with the four language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing Therefore, English teachers have the responsibility for training and helping their students to become good communicative English users In teaching the four language skills, we think that speaking is the most important skill, but the teaching of speaking in my school has not been effective in terms of communication STUDENTS’ LEARNING PROBLEMS Many students in Tri An School are not good at oral communication in English for a number of reasons: First, they have very few learning speaking strategies because they are usually provided with grammar and language structures which their teachers think that these structures are important for the first and second term examinations Second, they are very shy when they speak out in front of the class because they are not usually trained to use English communicatively Finally, many tasks in the textbooks : English 10, English 11 and English 12 are not suitable for students’ learning needs As a teacher of English, I think that teaching English for “spoken communication” is essential However, my personal experience of its methods is TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS still limited due to many following reasons: The students have very few chances for communication due to the large number of students, time limitations, grammar translation method Most of the teachers don’t get familiar with natural responses to communicative situations except for questions and answer activities between teacher and students Therefore, the students are not confident enough to express themselves in English As a teacher, I know that there are a lot of methods that can be applied in the class However, in this research I focus on grade 11 students’ speaking skill because speaking is a productive skill It involves using speech to express meanings to others Interaction is two-way communication that involves using language and body language to keep our listeners involving in what we are saying and to check that they understand our meanings LITERATURE REVIEW We all know the importance of speaking, teaching speaking to the ultimate goal of our English language teaching Speaking is one of the crucial productive skills and people can evaluate our English competence by listening to our speaking first Nunan (1991) wrote, "Success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students not learn how to speak or not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom, they may then get frustrated and lose interest in learning the language Our responsibility is to improve students’ four language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing I think speaking is the most important skill for my students because the purpose of our English course is really to enable our students to communicate effectively In fact, if the appropriate communicative tasks or activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun The achievement in learning speaking will increase students’ motivation TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS In recent research, it is true that in a language class, it is necessary for the teacher to create a positive classroom atmosphere so that he or she can encourage the students to communicate with each other By doing this, the students can express their ideas, feelings and opinions without feeling afraid of making mistakes Besides, the students can conduct communicative tasks in an effective way Many researchers emphasize the importance of teaching conversations or role play to English language teaching Jack C Richards emphasizes that communicative practice refers to activities where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and where the language used is not totally predictable In agreement with Richards, Willis (1996) states that creating a low stress atmosphere and using the language for real purposes are ways to get meaningful communication and through interaction and students have the opportunity to acquire discourse skills Willis also points out that the essential conditions for effective language learning, such as exposure, use, and motivation In agreement with Willis, Nunan (1991) says that task-based learning views the learning process as a set of communicative tasks that are directly linked to the curricular goals they serve He also stresses the crucial role of communicative tasks in task-based teaching and learning He says that task-based teaching involves an approach where communicative tasks are particularly important because students need to be involved in interactions in the classrooms and real life As a result, this view changes the approach of designing tasks to be developed in the classroom TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS TASK MODIFICATION Roger Nunn suggests that teachers must take into account the following criteria when they design tasks and exercises for English learners or students Let’s consider the areas: Simulating "Real" Conversation Classroom tasks are simulations and can only approximate real-life communication, but real-life skills, such as adjusting to an interlocutor's contribution can be built in Tasks designed to practise interactive ability should be an appropriate task for students They must be able to imagine themselves in the situation Exchanging An interactive task should require students to exchange information, opinions, attitudes, but not for its own sake There should be a real purpose; each participant should need to find something out from the others in order to complete the task Comprehensible Input The task should require the participants to make sure they fully understand what the others tell them and to make themselves fully understood to the others In this way, students will need to adjust to each other's contributions Improvising The task should require both predictable and unpredictable communication Real conversation always involves unpredictability so an ability to improvise needs to be practised For example, an attempt to come to an agreement is unpredictable There is no requirement to actually reach an agreement, so the participants may develop the conversation freely On the other hand, they must exchange the information for an agreement to be possible and cannot easily avoid asking questions TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Mixed- Ability For mixed-ability courses, tasks should favour the production of contributions of all kinds They should allow both weak and strong participants to extend themselves to their full ability For strong participants, making themselves understood to students with less linguistic ability is a useful skill Opportunity and time must be available for candidates (Roger Nunn - Kochi University, Japan) In order to make the tasks more effective and relevant and appropriate for our students, I often redesign the tasks to meet the students’ learning goals Let’s have a look at the following task design Part one: English 11- Unit 1: Friendship (Page 16) Task (Task from the textbook) Role - play: Talk about a famous friend Journalist Interviewee You are interviewing the interviewee You have a friend whom you admire about a friend of his or hers who has greatly She/ He has just won the first just won the first international prize international prize in Mathematics in Mathematics You are being interviewed by a journalist about him or her Before you start, agree upon the basic profile of the friend Use the following suggestions to ask and answer questions: • his/ her name • date of birth • his/ her physiccal characteristics • his/ her hobbies • his/ her personalities • why he/ she is interested in Math • how much time he/ she spends on Maths every day TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS • what makes him/ her a good friend • what made him/ her successful • what he/ she does in his/ her free time Useful language: His or her personalities: Friendly, humorous, quick-witted, good-natured, helpful, honest, pleasant, caring How he or she won the prize: Studious, intelligent, keenly interested in Mathematics, eager to learn, patient, calm Newly- designed Task Role- playing: Instruction: Work in pairs to play roles in the dialogue Change the roles when you have finished Journalist: Hello Our guest today is Phuong, a student who has won a gold medal in Physics We can see you’re very excellent So Phuong, you admire anybody? Phuong: Yes, of course That is my best friend I so much admire him because he is very intelligent and he has just won the first international prize in Maths Journalist: What’s his name? Phuong: His name is Long Journalist: What is his date of birth? Phuong: Uh, it’s on 23rd September 1998 Journalist: I want to know details of himself What are his physical characteristics? Phuong: Well, he’s tall and thin Sometimes I see him as a scientist in his short-sighted glasses TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Journalist: Oh, maybe he is very handsome How about his personalities? Phuong: You know? I admire Long because of not only his excellence but also his good personality In spite of being a good student, he is very modest and he always helps friends in learning He also has sense of humour that makes people laugh a lot Journalist: Long is such a perfect student Why is he interested in Maths? Phuong: Well, he said he loved Maths when he was a little boy He likes counting, figures Journalist: Does he spend all his time studying Maths? Phuong: He spends much time studying it but not all of it He always has a suitable schedule between studying and playing Journalist: What does he in his free time? Phuong: He plays sports with his friends Sometimes he plays rubikcube Journalist: After your share, I know how he has such a great success That’s all interesting Thanks for your share I hope to see you and Long someday Goodbye Phuong: Bye See you soon Rationale: After the weaker students have already practised playing roles in the dialogue, they can make questions with cues based on the dialogue The students work in pairs to make their own dialogue, using their own ideas This task is considered “a communicative task” because the students can exchange real information They use their own ideas to interact with each other We should help students practice playing roles with a model first, then they can make their own dialogue They are provided with opportunities to decide on things in the dialogue and this is considered as simulation Making questions: TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Instruction: Work in pairs to make correct questions, using the word provided Then, ask your partner to answer the questions to make your own dialogue Name What Date of birth What Physical characteristics What Personalities Interest in Maths Time he/ she spends on Maths Hobbies How about Why Does he………………? What Suggested Questions Name Date of birth What’s his/ her name? What is his date of birth? What are his/ her physical Physical characteristics characteristics? How about his/ her personalities? Why is he/ she interested in Maths? Does he/ she spend all his/ her time Personalities Interest in Maths Time he/ she spends on Maths studying Maths? What does he/ she in his/ her free Hobbies time? Part two: English 11 - Unit 3: A Party (Page 36) Task (Task from the textbook) Work in pairs Tell your partner about the party Newly-designed Task Role- playing: TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Instruction: Work in pairs to play roles in the dialogue Change the roles when you have finished Ngoc: Hi! Hang Hang: Hello, Ngoc Ngoc: Well, you look nice today Hang: Thank you You are, too Ngoc: Where did you go last night? Hang: Oh, I went to my friend’s birthday party Ngoc: Who did you go with? Hang: Well, I went with some of my friends Ngoc: How did you go there? Hang: Year, we went there by motorbikes Ngoc: What did you give her? Hang: Oh, we bought a very beautiful dress for her We hope she will like it Ngoc: That sounds interesting Were there a lot of people there? Did you know most of them there? Hang: Uh, there were a lot of people Some of them were my friends and the others were her relatives that I didn’t know Ngoc: What did you at the party? Hang: Well, firstly we sang the song “Happy Birthday!” together and then we ate candies, birthday cakes and played some games Ngoc: How interesting it was! What time did it finish? Hang: Oh, at nine o’clock I am really interested in talking with you but I have some things to Goodbye for now! Ngoc: Bye See you later Hang: Thank you Making questions: TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Instruction: Work in pairs to make correct questions, using the word provided Then, ask your partner to answer the questions to make your own dialogue Birthday party Where With some of friends Who By motorbikes How A very beautiful dress What A lot of people Sing songs and eat candies, birthday cakes At nine o’clock Were there…… What What time Rationale: Helping students to make questions is a very important strategy in teaching oral discourse because in real life sometimes we ask and sometimes we make responses We this in order to help students increase their ability to make questions in real life Suggested Questions Birthday party With some of friends By motorbikes A very beautiful dress A lot of people Sing songs and eat candies, birthday cakes Where did you go last night? Who did you go with? How did you go there? What did you give her? Were there a lot of people there? What did you at the party? 10 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS At nine o’clock What time did it finish? Part three: English 11- Unit 9: The Post Office (Page 104) Task (Task from the textbook) Work in pairs Imagine that one of you is a clerk at the post office and the other is a customer, make a dialogue for each of the following situations You want to subscribe to the Lao dong Daily for a year and have the newspaper delivered to your home every morning before 6.30 Your address is 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Hanoi Your best friend’s birthday is on 16th May You want to use the Flower Telegram Service provided by the post office to send her a greetings card and a bunch of red roses on her birthday Newly- designed Task Role- playing: Instruction: Work in pairs to play roles in the dialogue Change the roles when you have finished Clerk: Good morning Welcome to Thanh Ba post office Can I help you? Thuy: Good morning Well, I want to subscribe to the newspaper? Clerk: Which newspapers you want to subscribe to? Thuy: Well, I want to subscribe to the Lao Dong Daily Clerk: How long have you used this service? Thuy: For a year, please Can you start tomorrow? Clerk: Certainly What’s your address? Thuy: Well, my address is 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Hanoi 11 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Clerk: Ok My staff will deliver the newspaper to your house at 7.00 a.m Thuy: Could you deliver the newspaper before 6.30? Because I have to go to school at 7.00 a.m Clerk: Yes, of course We will deliver it bebore 6.30 Thuy: How much is the fee? Clerk: Well, you pay for per month or for a whole year? Thuy: Uh, just per month Clerk: Yes, it’s 30.000 VND per month Can you fill in this form? Thuy: Yes Here you are Thank you Clerk: You’re welcome It’s my pleasure Thuy: Oh, it’s too late I have to go home See you later Clerk: Bye See you next time Rationale: After the weaker students have already practised playing roles in the dialogue, they can make questions with cues based on the dialogue The students work in pairs to make their own dialogue, using their own ideas It is very essential to help students make questions in teaching oral discourse We this in order to help students develop their ability to make questions in real life Making questions: Instruction: Work in pairs to make correct questions, using the word provided Then, ask your partner to answer the questions to make your own dialogue Greetings The Lao Dong Daily For a year Can………? Which How long 12 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Hanoi Before 6.30 30.000 VND per month What Could How much Suggested Questions Greetings The Lao Dong Daily Hi! Can I help you? Which newspapers you want to subscribe to? For a year How long have you used this service? 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Hanoi What’s your address? Before 6.30 30.000 VND per month Could you deliver the newspaper before 6.30? How much is the fee? REFERENTIAL QUESTIONS Besides using dialogues, I often make referential questions when I teach the four language skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing because using more referential questions in the classroom will provide students with opportunities for real communication I also encourage my students to make referential questions so that they can exchange real information in the class As Nunan (1994) says: Referential questions are questions we ask someone because we don't know the answer In a language classroom, this can mean questions that the teacher asks students and students ask each other He also explains that referential questions can be compared to display questions, for which the answer 13 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS is already clear and the teachers ask just to see if the students know the answer, or for language manipulation We should consider the following example : English 11- Unit 10: Nature In Danger - Reading - After you read (Page 117) Find out why some animals have become extinct We should consider this question “People kill animals for fur, skin and food People keep animals as pets People hunt or capture animals for recreation or entertainment.Which is the most important cause, in your opinion? Why?” (Referential question) The students will have opportunities to express their opinions, exchange real information with each other by deciding on the most important cause This means that I am successful in helping them to produce real communication CONCLUSION It is the second time I have written this research paper, I expect that the research will bring good results to me and other teachers in Tri An High School I strongly hope that communicative tasks in teaching speaking skills are not only useful for students but also for teachers and my school Teaching speaking in a communicative way can be applied in all classes As for students and teacher’s perspectives to teaching and learning grammar, this approach to teaching speaking will change their thinking that the teachers only make use of all exercises in the textbook without any improvements, but it 14 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS is the teacher’s job to design communicative tasks or activities in order to help students to achieve their communication goals of learning and teaching Finally, I would be very thankful for any comments and suggestions regarding possible improvements MẠCH THI THU NGA REFERENCES Brand, S.T and Donato, J M, (2001) Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Multiple Intelligences, Thomas Learning, USA Brown, H Dough (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Prentice Hall Regents Harmer, J.(2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Ltd Hubbard and Jones, P&H.(1983) A Training Course for TEFl, Oxford University Press 15 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Keppel, G (1991).Design and analysis: A researcher’s handbook (3 rd ed ) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1986).Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press Littlewood , W T (1992) Teaching Oral Communication, Blackwell Publishers, UK Roger Nunn - Kochi University (Japan) Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory, Cambridge University Press Willis, D and J Willis (2007)Doing Task-based Teaching, Oxford University Press Willis, J (1996) A framework for task-based learning London: Longman 16 [...]... teachers and my school Teaching speaking in a communicative way can be applied in all classes As for students and teacher’s perspectives to teaching and learning grammar, this approach to teaching speaking will change their thinking that the teachers only make use of all exercises in the textbook without any improvements, but it 14 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS. .. the answer In a language classroom, this can mean questions that the teacher asks students and students ask each other He also explains that referential questions can be compared to display questions, for which the answer 13 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS is already clear and the teachers ask just to see if the students know the answer, or for language manipulation... (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Prentice Hall Regents Harmer, J.(2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Ltd Hubbard and Jones, P&H.(1983) A Training Course for TEFl, Oxford University Press 15 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS Keppel, G (1991).Design and analysis: A researcher’s handbook (3 rd.. .TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING COMMUNICATIVE TASKS At nine o’clock What time did it finish? Part three: English 11- Unit 9: The Post Office (Page 104) Task 3 (Task from the textbook) Work in pairs Imagine that one of you is a clerk at the post office and the other is a customer, make a dialogue for each of the following situations 1 You want to subscribe to... in teaching oral discourse We do this in order to help students develop their ability to make questions in real life 2 Making questions: Instruction: Work in pairs to make correct questions, using the word provided Then, ask your partner to answer the questions to make your own dialogue Greetings The Lao Dong Daily For a year Can………? Which How long 12 TEACHING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS BY USING. .. NJ: Prentice-Hall Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1986).Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press Littlewood , W T (1992) Teaching Oral Communication, Blackwell Publishers, UK Roger Nunn - Kochi University (Japan) Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory, Cambridge University Press Willis, D and J Willis (2007)Doing Task-based Teaching, Oxford University Press... opinions, exchange real information with each other by deciding on the most important cause This means that I am successful in helping them to produce real communication CONCLUSION It is the second time I have written this research paper, I expect that the research will bring good results to me and other teachers in Tri An High School I strongly hope that communicative tasks in teaching speaking skills are... Thanh Ba post office Can I help you? Thuy: Good morning Well, I want to subscribe to the newspaper? Clerk: Which newspapers do you want to subscribe to? Thuy: Well, I want to subscribe to the Lao Dong Daily Clerk: How long have you used this service? Thuy: For a year, please Can you start tomorrow? Clerk: Certainly What’s your address? Thuy: Well, my address is 67 Ngoc Ha Street, Hanoi 11 TEACHING GRADE. .. design communicative tasks or activities in order to help students to achieve their communication goals of learning and teaching Finally, I would be very thankful for any comments and suggestions regarding possible improvements MẠCH THI THU NGA REFERENCES Brand, S.T and Donato, J M, (2001) Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Multiple Intelligences, Thomas Learning, USA Brown, H Dough (1994) Teaching. .. should consider the following example : English 11- Unit 10: Nature In Danger - Reading - After you read (Page 117 ) Find out why some animals have become extinct We should consider this question “People kill animals for fur, skin and food People keep animals as pets People hunt or capture animals for recreation or entertainment.Which is the most important cause, in your opinion? Why?” (Referential question)