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Họ tên : Nguyễn Thị Hơng Giang Ngày sinh : 7/10/1976 Nơi sinh : Phúc Hà - Đồng Hỷ Thái Nguyên Đối tợng : HVCH K14 K2005 2008 Khoa : Ngôn ngữ Văn hoá Anh Mỹ Trờng : ĐHNN- Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội MÃ thẻ th viÖn: M4070339 vietnam national university, hanoi college of foreign languages department of post-graduate studies Nguyễn Thị Hương Giang a study on the problems in teaching english speaking skills to the minority students at sonla ethnic boarding high school and some suggested solutions (Tìm hiểu khó khăn dạy kỹ nói cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số trờng THPT Dân tộc nội trú tỉnh sơn la số giải pháp khắc phục) M.a minor thesis (coursework) Course: K14 Field: English teaching Methodology Code: 601410 supervisor: ngun bµng, ma Sơn La, 2008 Declaration I, Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, certify that this thesis is entirely my own work and contains no material which has been submitted for the examination in any other course or accepted for the award of a degree in any other university or institution The thesis also contains no material previously published or written by other person, except where due reference is made in the text Sonla, November 2008 Signature Nguyen Thi Huong Giang ii acknowledgements For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Nguyen Bang, MA from College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for his invaluable guidance, criticism and his encouragement in the process of completing the minor thesis I am also grateful to all lecturers and the staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Department, College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful lectures and guidance during my study at the Institution I truly wish to thank all the colleagues and the students at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School for their assistance and co-operation in giving me valuable information Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my family, whose patient love enabled me to complete this work iii Abstract The importance of speaking is undeniable in language teaching and learning Therefore, understanding the teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skills is apparently necessary to gain effective teaching and learning This minor thesis was carried out with an attempt to investigate the areas of difficulties and obstacles that the teachers have encountered when teaching speaking skills to the minority students at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School (SEBH) The Thesis is organized in parts: First, the Introduction presents the rationale, aims and significance of the study, research questions, scope, method and design of the study The Development is divided into chapters Chapter one provides some theoretical background of related issues concerning the definition of CLT, characteristics of CLT as well as the teacher’s and student’s role in CLT Moreover, there is a presentation of the language skills, the nature of speaking skills, the characteristics, the role of speaking in language teaching and learning, the approaches to teaching speaking and some problems in teaching speaking Chapter two carries out about the research setting, the methodology, the instrument, and the subjects of the study There also presents the results of the two survey questionares designed to find out the problems that teachers and students at SEBH have encountered in teaching and learning speaking skills Chapter three provides researcher’s findings of the problems in teaching and learning speaking skills Another very important part of this chapter is the suggested solutions which help overcome the major problems as well as improve the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills at SEBH Finally, the Conclusion summaries the study and offers some suggestions for further study iv List of abbreviations Clt: Communicative Language Teaching Sll: Second Language Learning Elt: English Language Teaching Sebhs: Son La Ethnic Boarding High School Moet: Ministry of Education and Training v List of tables Table 1: Description of teachers’ experience Table 2: Teachers’ attitudes towards speaking skills and teaching English speaking in the text book Table 3: Teachers’ CLT training background Table 4: Teachers’ perception of CLT Table 5: Number of teachers who have applied CLT in teaching speaking skills Table 6: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skills to the minority students Table 7: The teachers’ attitudes towards reluctant speakers Table 8: Techniques to minimize the difficulties in teaching speaking Table 9: Methods applied in teaching speaking Table 10: Students’ reason for learning English Table 12: Students’ opinions on the speaking topics Table 13: Factors that make the students reluctant to speak Table 14: Teachers’ reactions to students’ mistakes Table 15: Students’ opportunities to speak English outside classroom Table 16: Teachers’ current techniques to encourage students to speak English vi Table of contents Declaration……………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements………………………………………………… …………….ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………… iii List of abbreviations……………………………………………….…………… iv List of tables…………………………………………………………….………… v Part Introduction……………………………………………………… A: Rationale………………………………………………………………………… Aims and Significance of the study………………………………………………….2 Research questions………………………………………………… …………… Scope of the study……………………………………………………………………3 Method of the study………………………………………………………………….3 Design of the study………………………………………………………………… b: Part development………………………………………………… ………… Chapter one: literature review………………………………….… ………4 1.1 Communicative Language Teaching…………………………………… ………4 1.1.1 Definitions of Communicative Language Teaching ……………… …… 1.1.2 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching………… ………….5 1.1.3 The teachers and students’ role in Communicative Language Teaching…….6 1.2 Language skills…………………………………………………………………… 1.2.1 Oral communication…………………………………………………… ……7 1.2.2 Oral skills…………………………….……………………………… …… 1.3 Speaking skills…………………………………………………………………… 1.3.1 Definitions of speaking……………………………………………… …… vii 1.3.2 The characteristics of speaking……………………………………… …… 1.3.3.The role of speaking in language teaching and learning……………… ……10 1.3.4 Approaches to the teaching of speaking……………………………… ……11 1.3.5 Problems with speaking activities………………………………… …… 12 1.4 Summary………………………………………………………………… … 13 Chapter two: the study……………………………………… …………………… 14 2.1 Research setting……………………………………………….………………… 14 2.1.1 An overview of the research site……………….…………………… .… 14 2.1.2 Description of the teachers of English in SEBH…………….……………….14 2.1.3 The students at Son la Ethnic Boarding High School…………….………….15 2.1.4 The current situation of English teaching and learning at SEBH…… …… 15 2.1.4.1 The materials of teaching and learning……………………… …….…15 2.1.4.2 The teaching and learning English speaking skills……………… … 16 2.2 Methodology study……………………………………………………….………16 2.2.1.Participants…………………………………………………………….… ….16 2.2.2 Research instruments……………………………………………….……… 17 2.2.3 Data analysis……………………………………………………… …… .17 2.3 Presentation of the statistical results…………………………………… ………17 2.3.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionaire…………………….……… 17 2.3.1.1 Methodology……………………………………………………… 17 2.3.1.2 The findings …………………………………………………… … 18 2.3.2 Data analysis of students’ survey questionare……………………… …… 24 2.3.2.1.Methodology……………………………………………………………24 2.3.2.2 The finding…………………………………………………… ………25 2.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………… 32 Chapter three: findings and suggestions………………………… ……… 33 3.1 Findings……………………………………………………………… ………….33 3.1.1 Problems from the teachers………………………………………………… 33 3.1.1.1 Lack of training in CLT……………………………………………… 33 3.1.1.2 Teaching method is not satisfactory………………………………… 34 3.1.2 Problems from the students………………………………………………… 35 3.1.2.1 Low English proficiency………………………………………………35 viii 3.1.2.2 Lack of motivation…………………………………….………………35 3.1.2.3 Lack of confidence…………………………………………………….36 3.1.2.4 Use of the mother- tongue during group work………… ……………36 3.1.3 Other Problems……………………………………………………………….36 3.1.3.1 Classes are of big size…………………………………………………36 3.1.3.2 Lack of necessary facilities…………………………………….…… 37 3.2 Possible solutions……………………………………………………….……….37 3.2.1 Improving CLT knowledge for the teachers……………….………………37 3.2.2 Using suitable techniques for error correction in English speaking lessons.38 3.2.3 Implementing of some kinds of communicative activities………….…… 38 3.2.4 Providing more interesting topics to encourage students’ participation …40 3.2.5 Providing more opportunities to practise speaking English……………… 40 3.2.6 Helping students to be confident……………………………………….… 40 3.2.7 Building a habit of speaking English for students in class……… ……… 41 3.2.8 Training students to become efficient speakers………………………… 41 3.2.9 Making good use of emotional factors………………………………….….41 3.2.10 Equipping teaching facilities……………………….……………… ……42 3.3 Summary…………………………………………………………………… …42 part c: conclusion……………………………………………………………… 43 Summary of the study………………………………………… …………………43 Limitations of the study……………………………………………………………44 Suggestion for further study……………………………………………………… 44 References…………………………………………………………… …………… 45 Appendices………………………………………………… ………………………… i Appendix a (A questionnaire completed by the teachers)……………………………….i of their teachers and their classmates gradually The students who have entered the puberty often pay too much attention to their reputation, and are concerned about their face-saving, so they are afraid of losing face when speaking rusty English before others, thought it is inevitable to make mistakes It seems that the more mistakes they make, the more frightened they will be The students often come to class with an expectation that the teachers will explain and speak everything while students sit quietly listening to and taking notes what the teachers say, and speak only when the teachers ask them Lazy in thinking, slow and shy in reacting prevent students from being familiar with active learning They, therefore, become passive listeners instead of speakers as being expected and finally give up This factor adds more hindrances to the teaching speaking skills at Son la Ethnic Boarding High school 3.1.2.4 Use of the mother- tongue during pair work and group work Students using Vietnamese during group work and pair work has been a big obstacle for the teaching of speaking skills The fact that the students prefer to speak Vietnamese in pair work and group work is a result of the two constrains as low English proficiency and lack of motivation Their limited English vocabulary and sentence structures have prevented them from communicating with each other efficiently As a matter of course, they often use Vietnamese in stead of English for communication They found speaking in Vietnamese easier than in English Gradually, using Vietnamese become a habit even when many students are quite capable of expressing themselves in English and that is why many of them not have the habit of speaking English in class This will not only constrain students’ ability to think in English but also prevent them from improving their speaking skills 3.1.3 Other problems 3.1.3.1 Classes are of big size Large classes are considered as other factors affecting process of teaching English speaking skills All English classes at SEBH have an average class size of between 45 and 50 students All teachers share that their classes are overcrowded They further specify that it is hard to teach in classes of such size This is similar to Harmer’s opinion (1993: 5): “Classrooms that are… overcrowded can be excessively demotivating.” Although large classes have their own advantages like they provide richer pool of human resources, it is also a big challengess for teachers In these classes, students may get fewer opportunities to practise English and make them lose their interest in speaking lessons in particular and in learning English in general It is also very hard for teachers to organize activities and control the class The teachers' voice is not loud enough to attract all the students or it is not clear enough to everyone Learning in such classes, only good and talkative students make use of the chances to raise their voice At the same time, shy and less able students cannot be given enough care, attention and encouragement In addition, students’ levels in these classes vary greatly This causes a major problem for the teachers to keep all the students motivated 3.1.3.2 Lack of necessary facilities The poor classroom equipment is also part of difficulties in teaching speaking skills The teaching condition in this school is not good There is no language lab The only type of teaching aids that the school has is cassette recorders, but they are not in good conditions The materials for reference and self- study are not available for both teachers and students There are only some English books in the library and the form of this set of book is more like reading rather than speaking Furthermore, it was published about ten years ago, it is not upto-date enough, and it can't broaden their mind In fact, teachers may go out to find their own reference but it is very hard for students, because they have to stay inside the hostel during the week days Through the difficulties mentioned above, it is necessary to have some suggestions with the hope to overcome these problems Within the scope of the study, the researcher does not have the ambition to find out the solutions to all the problems mentioned above But only some solutions that could solve these problems will be suggested The researcher also believes that they could improve the quality of the teaching, and consequently the quality of the learning of English speaking skills at the school in particular and at other schools in Son la in general 3.2 Suggested solutions Basing on several difficulties of the teachers analyzed in the previous parts and the present situations of teaching and learning at SEBH, some suggested solutions to overcome these difficulties will be given as follows: 3.2.1 Improving CLT knowledge for teachers From the findings in the previous part, we can see that the teachers of English at SEBH in general have tried to apply CLT in their English teaching Nevertheless, their insight of CLT is not sufficient, because they have not been trained in CLT sufficiently To solve this problem, it is recommended that seminars, workshops and training courses should be regularly held for the teachers to improve their knowledge on CLT Besides the administrators’ support, teachers should make effort to their self-study to gain knowledge Self- study is an effective solution since the teachers could achieve knowledge from other sources such as books, magazines, radio, television, etc In addition, peer observations or even informal talks that allow colleagues from the same working contexts to have the opportunities to exchange ideas, share experiences and innovations is considered to be one of the effective approaches to teachers’ professional development 3.2.2 Using suitable techniques for error correction in English speaking lessons It is advisable for the teachers to give students suitable ways of error correction In terms of CLT, language is a system for the expression of meaning (Richard and Rogers, 2001) In other words, the primary function of language is interaction and communication; thus the primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features During communicative activities teachers should not interrupt students in mid-flow to point out grammar, lexical or pronunciation errors All the errors of the students should be treated tactfully The teachers should correct serious mistakes or just stop if the students' answers are unclear Another better way to correct students' errors is to write common errors and correct them as a class discussion at the end of the activities This helps promote a safe atmosphere for students and enables them to assist each other in correcting errors Correction, in addition, is not necessary to be always corrected by teachers Self-correction is an effective alternating method Teachers can give a kind of signal, which has been regulated between teachers and students, teachers can help students to recognize and correct their mistakes It is important to help students fell that making mistake is something unavoidable, and thus, they feel free and self-confident to speak 3.2.3 Implementing some kinds of communicative activities Attraction of speaking classes can be enhanced if the task of exploring and designing classroom activities is paid due attention to Activities will be more attractive if teachers exploit from different sources like linguistic journals, magazines and internet Course books can also become a plentiful source of effective and interesting materials for speaking classes if the activities and topics there are properly and appropriately adapted to students’ level and specific characteristics To enhance the effectiveness of classroom activities, it is worth paying attention to the matter of grouping students for group work and pair work activities In fact, pair work and group work have become the dominant activities in the class This is a quite effective way because students can work with different partners in the class This makes them more motivated and keeps their interest during the class time Thus, teachers should pay attention to more kinds of activities such as communicative games, role play, songs and drama These can change the atmosphere of classroom, create authentic situations for students to practise speaking English and help them to develop their creativity and ability Example 1: With the topic “Volunteer work” (Unit 4) in the textbook “Tieng Anh 11”, the teacher can use the Competition game – Describing the pictures to help students talk about different kinds of activities related to volunteer work Teacher divides the class into small groups of or students and gives each group a set of pictures Students are required to describe the activity in each picture in one sentence only Which group finishes first and has the most correct and meaningful sentences will be the winner This activity helps students to have a good warm- up before going to the main tasks of the lesson, increase students’ commitment to speak English fluently, get the students, maximum participation in class time and keep the class lively and dynamic Example 2: With some difficult topics such as: Illiteracy ( Unit 5), World Population ( Unit 7), Nature in danger ( Unit 10), etc it is hard for students to memorize the vocabulary , thus the teacher can use “ Competition game-Crossword puzzle” to help students memorize the new words right at the class This activity will provide with funny and easy way to memorize the difficult vocabulary 3.2.4 Providing more interesting topics to encourage students’ participation In order to encourage students to participate in English speaking lessons, the teachers should provide some interesting topics The topics can be in the textbook or outside the text-book It will be better if the topics are related to the lessons to create a feeling of security that the students are learning something in the lessons but not something outside Besides, the teachers can adapt the topics in the textbook to make them more suitable, interesting and familiar to the students Sometimes, it is advisable to let students choose the topics they like to talk about For example, in a discussion activity the students have to talk about type of competitions and contests in the world, the teachers can choose the similar ones in Vietnam because the students may have more information about them such as: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” (Ai triệu phú?)- The Vietnamese version of the British game show The maximum cash prize is one hundred and twenty million VND Or: “Arena 100” (Đấu trường 100)- The biggest show with the highest number of players, 100 3.2.5 Providing more opportunities to practise speaking English Besides the activities organized in the classroom, it is necessary to provide out-of class activities which students can communicate with other speakers in the target language This can be achieved by organizing extra activities in English like seminars or forming an English speaking club and film- making contests in the school to involve each student in an English speaking atmosphere Because 45 minutes for each speaking period is short for students to practice English From the real situations, the students have less chance to speak English Joining in those activities, the students will form a habit to speak English and an awareness of the importance of English language It also helps students find the joy within learning, hence, increases the motivation in learning 3.2.6 Helping students to be confident The finding indicates that students felt reluctant to speak due to the lack of confidence This is also a big obstacle for teaching speaking skills In order to help students to be effective and confident speakers, first of all teachers need to provide students with as much practice as possible because of the fact that practice will help students feel better prepared and thus more confident The teachers should point out students’ speaking ability; give immediate praise and encouragement so that they will have no fear but enough bravery to speak Moreover, the teachers should create and establish the classroom culture where speaking English aloud is the norm Possible feedback from teachers or classmates might be of great help in encouraging and relaxing shy students to speak more In conclusion, in order to improve the quality of teaching speaking skills, the teachers need to help students to build their confidence, which is a key to the success of teaching and learning process 3.2.7 Building a habit of speaking English for students in the class In order to enhance the students’ speaking interest and better motivate the students to speak, it is important for the teachers to help the students to form a habit of using English The teachers should set a good example for the students, which means they have to use English almost during the lessons but the English used should be easy for students to understand otherwise they will lose interest in the lessons It is also important to encourage the students to use English not only when learning speaking skills but also other skills In addition, the teachers should let the students have more chance to practise listening to get acquainted to native speakers’ voice Having had a habit of speaking English in the class, students will participate more often in classroom speaking activities 3.2.8 Training students to become efficient speakers The students will never achieve their goals in learning speaking if they are not efficient speakers In addition, the difficulties in learning speaking skills of the students reflected in the study are the lack of words or structures and ideas to speak In order to help students overcome the difficulties, it is therefore, an important responsibility of the teachers to help students to become efficient speakers First, the teachers help students understand the nature of speaking process: an active process, which requires students to actively take part in the speaking process They no longer depend on the teacher’s lecture; they must actively join all speaking activities in order to overcome difficulties in learning vocabulary and structures In addition, the teachers train their students to become self-studiers as they have certain knowledge and English language ability If they can self- study effectively, they are eager to learn and they are more interested in speaking English Therefore their vocabulary, structures, grammar and speaking speed are also much more improved If students become efficient speakers and develop their autonomy in learning, not only student’s difficulties will be overcome but also teachers’ heavy task in lecturing, and amount of time speaking Vietnamese will be reduced The teachers, at that time, play the role of instructors whereas students can play the central role in speaking classes 3.2.9 Making good use of emotional factors In the course of growth, students are not mature psychologically, and their feelings are very frail The teachers must be able to arouse the learners’ active feelings and remove or restrain their passive feelings A language teacher could pass his kindness, encouragement' trust and respect to the students by means of words, expression and action, and arouse the interest of students Only in a relaxing teaching atmosphere can students have happy mood and dare to speak English Though the students' mistakes are unavoidable, the teachers may use some suitable methods to correct these mistakes and sometimes they don't have to correct them at all Teachers should also praise or encourage students more, though their oral English is not good enough, help them to experience success And we know one success may bring another; many times of success can reinforce the students' self-confidence; then they may have the desire to express themselves in English 3.2.10 Equipping teaching facilities To improve the quality of teaching and learning English speaking skills, an adequate attention should be paid to the aspect of classroom facilities Besides the existing teaching facilities such as: board, chalk, cassette player, course book; it is necessary to equip classroom with modern equipment like computers, projectors, and TV for students to watch English programs, films, VCD, etc Equip the library with various reference books Add English magazines, novels, newspapers in the library In a word, one can enjoy English at any time and any place Students must involve themselves in these situations and cherish every chance to practice English The library is not only useful for students but also for the teachers as they can read in free time, improve their specialized knowledge as well as English language These devices would be of great importance in making the lectures more effective as the teachers can explain the subject matter lively and efficiently and save a lot of time in writing down everything on board as usual This also would change the atmosphere of classroom dramatically and make students more eager in learning As mentioned above, the classes are big size Inside the classroom, students sit in long rows with students being in one row, thus becoming very immobile for communicative activities while the teachers are under pressure to cover the allocated syllabus in the time allowed From this problem, classroom must be larger than now and decorated suitably for communicative activities Chair and tables should be arranged in a way that students can move around conveniently to join with their classmates to accomplish the tasks With such facilities, the process of teaching and learning will be more effective 3.3 Summary In this chapter, some major findings based on the data analysis of the study at SEBH context have been presented It leads to a conclusion that there are many difficulties that the teachers face when teaching English speaking skills at SEBH In order to reduce these difficulties some suggested solutions have been offered with the hope of improving the situation Part c: conclusion Summary of the study The importance of speaking is undeniable in language teaching and learning Therefore, understanding the teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skills is apparently necessary to gain effective teaching and learning With the hope of finding the way to improve the teaching and learning of speaking skills to minority students at SEBH, the researcher has carried out this study She has tried her best to reach what she aimed her study at The study consists of three parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion The first part presents the rationale, the aims and significance, the research questions, the scope, the method and the design of the study The second part includes three chapters: Chapter Literature Review provides some theoretical background of related issues concerning the definition of CLT, characteristics of CLT as well as the teacher's and student's role in CLT Moreover, there is a presentation of the language skills, the natures of speaking skills, the characteristics, the role of speaking in language teaching and learning, the approaches to teaching speaking and some problems in teaching speaking Chapter two, namely the study, carries out the research setting, the methodology, the instrument, and the subjects of the study There also presents the results of the two survey questionnaires designed to find out the problems that teachers and students at SEBH have encountered in teaching and learning speaking skills Chapter three- Finding and Suggested sollutions - consists of researcher’s findings of the problems in teaching and learning speaking skills The problems fall into three categories: problems from teachers’ side, problems from students’ side, and other factors Another very important part of this chapter is the suggested solutions which help overcome the major problems as well as improve the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills at SEBH The last part – Conclusion- in which the summary of the study, some limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are presented Limitations of the study Although the study is carefully and clearly designed and based on reliable data, it has the major limitations Due to the limitation of time, lack of resources and the researcher’s ability, drawbacks are unvoidable Firstly, the study only carries out an investigation into the difficulties in teaching English speaking possessed by students’ grade 11, so to some extent, the results may not be generalized for all students of the school Secondly, the researcher only used survey questionaire as the main instrument for data collections Thus, the perceptions may not always be accurate and reliable In order to make obtained result more reliable, different instruments for data collection should be applied Thirdly, only some suggested solutions have been proposed to deal with those difficulties of the teachers Despite of the unavoidable limitations, the researcher believes that this study is beneficial to the teaching of speaking skills to the minority students at Son la Ethnic Boarding High School Suggestions for further studies This study has only focuses on the teaching of English speaking skills to minority students at SEBH; it has no chance to deal with other three skills in language teaching: Listening, Reading and Writing Moreover, the study has only mentioned a very small part of the issues related to the teaching and learning of speaking skills There are some suggestions for further researches: - A study on the problems in teaching Listening/ Reading or Writing to the Minority students at Son la Ethnic Boarding High school - A study on techniques and activities for the minority students which help them improve their speaking skills The author hopes that the further studies will be overcome all the existing limitations of this study and help to improve the quality of the teaching and learning English at SEBH particular and at other schools in Son la in general References Bailey, K.M and Savage, L (1994) New ways in teaching Speaking USA Bock, G ( 2000) Difficulties in Implementing Communicative Theory in Viet Nam Teacher’s Edition , 2, 24- 28 Brindley, G ( 1986) Some Current Issues in Second Language Teaching Prospect, Vol No April 1986 Breen, M , and C N Candlin.(1980) The Essentials of a Communicative Curriculum in Language Teaching Applied Linguistics Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: CUP Brown, Roberts and Nation, P Teaching Speaking: Suggestions for the Classroom http: // jalt – puplications org / tlt/ files / 97/ jan/ speaking html Byrne, D ( 1988) Focus on the Classroom HongKong: Modern English Publications Byrne, D (1991) Teaching Oral English London: Longman Bygate, M ( 1987) Speaking Oxford: OUP Bygate, M ( 1991) Speaking Oxford : OUP Canale, M and Swain M( 1980) Approaches to Communicative Competence Singapore: RELC Dublin F (1995) (ed) The craft of Material Writing In P Byrd (ed), Material Writer’s guide (p 64- 78) Boston: Heinl and Heinl Elaine Tarone and George Yule ( 1989) Focus on the Language Learner Oxford: OUP Habermas, J (1970) Towards a Theory of Communicatine Competence In Dreitzel, H (ed) Harmer, J (1993) The practice of English Language Teaching Harlow: Longman Hymes, D H ( 1971) On Communicative Competence In Pride and Holmes (eds) and Brumfit, C J and Johnson, K (eds).1979 Hymes, D H ( 1972) In Richards J C ,and Rodgers, T S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP Jack C Richards and Theodore S Rodgers ( 1986) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge :OUP Kayi, H ( 2006) Teaching Speaking The Internet TESL Journal, Vol XII, No11, November Larsen- Freeman, D ( 1986) Techniques and Principles on Language Teaching Oxford: OUP Long, M , and Crookes, G ( 1992) Three Approaches to Task- based Syllabus Design TESOL Quaterly Mc Carthy, M ( 1993) Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers Cambridge : OUP Nunan, D ( 1989) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Cambridge: OUP Nunan, D ( 1990) Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom Sydney: MUP Nunan, D ( 1991) Language Teaching Methodology New Jersey: Prentice Hall International Nunan, D ( 1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinl and Heinl Publishers Pattison, P ( 1987) Developing Communication Skill Cambridge: CUP Pattion, P ( 1992) Developing Communication Skills CUP Penny Cook, A (1989) The Concept of Method, Interested knowledge, and The Politics of Language Teaching TESOL Quaterly Richards, J C ( 1983) Communicative Needs in Foreign Language Learning, ELT Journal V37 1983 Richard, J C and Rodgers, T S ( 2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP Sagvinon, S J (1983) Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice Reading Addison- Wesley Publishing Company Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching, Practice and theory CUP Van, H V ( 2006) Tiếng Anh 11 Nhà Xuất Bản Giáo Dục Appendix a Survey questionaire for teachers This questionnaire is designed for my research into the proplems in Teaching English Speaking skills to the Minority students at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperration How long have you been teaching English? …………… years What you think about the importance of speaking skills for students at high school? the most important as important as other skills ( reading, listening, writing) not so important as other skills ( reading, listening, writing) others ( Please specify)…………………………………… What are your opinions on the text book “ Tieng Anh 11”? good but difficult good and appropriate bad book others:……………………………………………………… Have you ever been trained in Communicative Language Teaching? no, I have never been trained in CLT yes, in English Teaching- Training courses yes, in English Language Teaching workshops others ( Please specify)………………………………… As for you, CLT: ( You may circle more than one) is learner- centered always emphasizes on fluency more than accuracy focuses on meaningful tasks rather on language itself does not teach grammar is used only for teaching speaking skills, not other skills considers the teacher as a facilitator give students opportunities to communicate with each others Do you apply CLT in teaching speaking skills to the minority students at SEBH? yes no I use…… What are your difficulties in teaching speaking skills to the minority students in grade 11 at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School? students’ low level of English students’ shyness students’ lack of motivation lack of time students’ use of mother- tongue during group work / pairwork large- sized classes difficult speaking topics others: ………………………………………………… What you when your students are reluctant to speaking English in class? get angry and ask them to stand get them to speak encourage them to speak by asking easier questions let them sit down without asking them again others:……………………………………………………… What you when your students show low motivation in speaking lessons? suggest interesting topics for discussion let them choose topics to discuss carry out on – going assessments use authentic materials nothing 10 What you to deal with students’ low level of spoken English? select and organize simple communicative activities give students chance to prepare and allotted time to prepare give instruction in Vietnamese criticize them for their level neglect them 11 What you to prevent your students from using Vietnamese in speaking class? more around to observe remind them to speak English let them be criticize them 12 How often you speak English in your speaking class? always as much as possible sometimes never 13 Can you give some suggestions to have better way of teaching English speaking skills to the students at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………… Thank you for taking time to complete this questionaire Appendix b Survey questionaire for students This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into the difficulties in teaching English Speaking Skills to the minority students at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation Did you learn English before High School? yes no If yes : How long did you learn English before? ………………….years Why you want to learn English? to pass examinations to be a compulsory subject in curriculum to get a good job in the future to speak English to foreigners to listen to songs, read books, magazines in English others:…………………………………………………… How important is the speaking skills to you? very important rather important little important not important at all Why you like learning English speaking? to improve the knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and phonology to communicate with foreigners to get a chance to have a university place or a work place in a foreign company after finishing school to get good marks speaking skill is very interesting How you feel about speaking English? easy difficult normal very difficult Are you afraid of speaking English in class? usually rarely sometimes never What you think about speaking topics in the textbook “ Tieng Anh 11”? interesting boring all right not suitable Are you willing to speak English in class? yes, I like speaking very much sometimes rarely never except when asked by the teacher What factors make you afraid of speaking English in class? being afraid of losing face not getting used to speaking English not paying much attention to speaking skills boring teaching others:……………………………………………………… 10 What you think often prevent you from speaking English in class? ... worthless to study the subject All of the above reasons have inspired the author to the research on ? ?The problems in Teaching English Speaking Skills to the Minority students at Son La Ethnic Boarding. .. Boarding High School and some Suggested Solutions” with the hope to make a small contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School Aims and. .. exist many difficulties facing English language teachers in Vietnam in general and English language teachers at Son La Ethnic Boarding High School in particular in teaching speaking skills to students