VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** TRỊNH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ REASONING FOR THE STRATEGIES THEY USE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS AT VAN XUAN HIGH SCHOOL, HOAI DUC, HA NOI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LÝ GIẢI CHO VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VẠN XUÂN, HOÀI ĐỨC, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *************** TRỊNH THỊ NHUNG A STUDY ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ REASONING FOR THE STRATEGIES THEY USE IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS AT VAN XUAN HIGH SCHOOL, HOAI DUC, HA NOI NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG LÝ GIẢI CHO VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN DẠY TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT VẠN XUÂN, HOÀI ĐỨC, HÀ NỘI M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Nguyễn Văn Độ, Assoc Prof Dr HANOI – 2015 DECLARATION I, Trịnh Thị Nhung, certify that the thesis entitled “A study on English language teachers’ reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skills at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, Ha noi.” reports the result of the study conducted by myself The minor thesis is submitted to Department of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for Degree of Master in TESOL It has not been published anywhere Hanoi, 2015 Trinh Thi Nhung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ, for his valuable guidance, helpful advice, recommendation, as well as his encouragement during the time I tried to complete this minor thesis Without his supervision, this work would never have been possible I am also indebted to all the professors of Post-Graduate Department for their encouragement and their valuable lectures while I was taking the M.A course in English Language Teaching Methodology at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University (VNU) Their constructive ideas, assistance and advice helped me much during various stages of learning and writing my M.A thesis My deepest thanks also go to my colleagues and my students at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, in Ha Noi who have helped me to collect data for the study Finally, I would like to express my biggest love and thanks to my family for their unconditional contributions during the time I conducted my research It was my parents and my husband who gave me the will to complete this challenging work ii ABSTRACT This research investigates the strategies applied in teaching speaking skills with the new English textbooks for students at Van Xuan High School in Hoai Duc, and explains the question why they used these strategies The thesis is divided into main parts: Part A presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scopes, research methods and the design the study Part B includes chapters: Chapter presents definitions of major terms used in this study, including overview on speaking skills, definition of speaking, theories of teaching speaking skills and strategies in teaching speaking skills; Chapter describes the methodology of the thesis Specifically, the data for this research was collected in the forms of class observation, survey questionnaires and interviews The participants of the interview were English teachers and the participants of the survey questionnaires were 270 grade - 11 - students; Chapter analyses and discusses the results from the class observation, survey questionnaires and interviews; Chapter mentions some findings and recommendations Finally, Part C gives the conclusions of this paper, some limitations and recommendations for further study iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.2a: Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking Table 3.2b: Teacher’s solutions to the problems Table 3.2c: Teacher’s reasons for using speaking techniques and activities Table 3.3a: Students’ reasons for learning English Table 3.3b: Frequency of employed activities Table 3.3c: Student’s attitude towards teacher’s teaching speaking activities Table 3.3d: Student’s expectation from teacher Table 3.3e: Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons Table 3.3f: Student’s achievements from speaking teaching strategies Figure 3.3.1: Student’s opinions on speaking topic in the textbooks Figure3.3.2: Frequency of student’s speaking participation Figure 3.3.3: Student’s opinions about the frequency of teacher’s English speaking Figure 3.3.4: Frequency of student’s English speaking Figure 3.3.5: Student’s progress after applied speaking teaching strategies iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS C.L.T: Communicative Language Teaching No.: Number %: Percentage ST: Story telling IG: Information gap Q&A exchanges: Question and answer exchanges RP: Role play PD: Picture description CS: Class survey 10 PS in groups: Problem solving in groups v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Research Aims of the Research Research Questions Scope of the Research Research Instruments Design of the Research PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Overview on speaking skills 1.1.1 Speaking skills 1.1.2 Theories of teaching speaking skills 1.1.2.1 Functions of spoken language 1.1.2.2 The role of speaking skills in communication approach 1.2 Strategies in teaching speaking skills 1.2.1 Brainstorming 1.2.2 Debates 1.2.3 Discussion 1.2.4 Group work 1.2.5 Simulations 1.2.6 Communicative activities 1.3 Factors affecting the outcomes of learning speaking skills 10 vi 1.3.1 Learners’ aptitude 10 1.3.2 Learners’ attitude 11 1.3.3 Learning strategies 11 1.3.4 Psychological factors 12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 An overview of the research site 13 2.2 Subjects 14 2.3 Instruments of data collection 15 2.3.1 Observation 15 2.3.2 Interview for teachers 16 2.3.3 Questionnaire for students 16 2.4 Data analysis methods 17 2.5 Research procedure 18 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Results from class observation 19 3.2 Results from teachers’ interview 21 3.3 Results from students’ questionnaire 25 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Findings 30 4.1.1 The students and teachers’ difficulties in speaking lessons 30 4.1.2 The teachers’ teaching strategies used in speaking lessons 32 4.1.3 The outcomes from the teachers’ teaching strategies in speaking lessons 32 4.1.4 The students’ expectations towards their teachers 33 4.2 Recommendations 33 4.2.1 A careful plan of the speaking lesson 34 4.2.2 The change in students’ speaking habit and opportunity for students to use English in real life 36 PART C: CONCLUSIONS Summary, major finding and implications on teaching 38 vii a Summary and major findings 38 b Implications on teaching 38 Limitations of the study 39 Suggestions for further studies 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: CLASS OBSERVATION SHEET I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS ……………… II APPENDIX 3: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS …………… III APPENDIX 4: CLASS OBSERVATION SHEET VI APPENDIX 5: TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………… XXXIV viii water power …) -T asks Ss to listen and decide which energy is limited and which is unlimited Ss take turns running to the right chair and sit down The group that scores more T  Ss points wins the game -T goes around the class to control the game -T gives feedback and declares the winner * Expected sources of energy and keys: Limited Unlimited Oil Wind power Coal Natural gas Nuclear power Solar power T  Ss Water power -T leads in the new lesson by asking the questions: Who can tell again about the advantages and disadvantages of these sources of energy? -T invites some Ss to answer the questions Pre – speaking Pre – teaching vocabulary + renewable (a) being replaced naturally T  Ss + reactor (n)  radiation (n) + hydroelectricity (n): using the power of water to (8 minutes) produce electricity Task – Showing the ideas -T requires Ss to work in pairs to decide which statement is about advantage (A) and which is about disadvantage (D) of various sources of energy XXVII S S T  Ss -T moves around the class to help Ss -T calls on Ss to tell their ideas in front of the class * Expected answers: D D D D A D A While – Task – Practicing the dialogue speaking * Activity – Repetition T Ss -T has Ss repeat the dialogue after the T T S -T models the conversation with a S (20 minutes) -T has Ss role play the conversation in pairs S S -T calls some pairs to the front of the class to act out the conversation * Activity – Substitution -T asks Ss to work in pairs to substitute some words in S S the dialogue with suitable words in the Useful Language to make new dialogues -T moves around to control and give help if necessary -T gives feedback * Activity – Showing the ideas -T asks Ss to work in groups of four or five to express their belief on the increasing use of alternative sources of energy in the future, using ideas in Task and Example: S1: I believe that the use of solar energy should be the alternative source of energy in our country S2: I agree with you It is the most feasible way to have solar energy in our country because Vietnam is a tropical country XXVIII Ss  Ss Post – Task – Group Discussion -T asks Ss to work in groups of four to make a list of speaking Ss  Ss things the family should to save energy (10 minutes) -T asks Ss to share ideas with others by changing groups * Suggested ideas: + Try to reduce the amount of water bill or electricity by cutting power such as lights, air-conditioner when necessary + Do not cook with electricity + Make sure there are no leaks in the gas pipes -T moves around to control and helps Ss -T gives feedback -T asks Ss to search the Internet to find out some more Homework T  Ss information about endangered animals (2 minutes) -T has Ss prepare LISTENING for the next period Class: 11D5 Date: 28/03/2014 UNIT 13 HOBBIES SPEAKING Aims: By the end of the lesson, student will be able to : - talk about a hobby - talk about collections Teaching aids: handouts, colored chalk PROCEDURE Stages/ Activities Interactions timing Warm- T Miming game XXIX Ss up mins Divide the class into two groups Ss Ss T Ss T Ss Each group nominates one representative Write these activities ib piece of paper * Swimming * Fishing * Stamp- collecting * Mountain- climbing * Playing computer games * Reading books * Watching TV * Chatting with friend on the phone Ask each representative to mime some activities, and the members of his/ her groups, will have to guess what the activity is The two representative take turns to the miming four times> The group which has more correct answers will win the game 3mins Declare the winner Lead- in : Do you ofter watch TV in your free times? ( Yes) How much time you spend on it every day? ( or hours ) What are your hobbies? Do you spend much money on them? ( Reading/ Yes) Pre- Today we are going to talk more about hobbies In the speaking firdt place, I'd like to help you with some new words mins Vocabulary second- hand book stall: ( explanation) It is a shop which sells old books pen- friend: (question) XXX What you call a friend you know through letters or newpapers ? classify (v) (gap- fill) They stamps into different kinds mins landscape (n) ( guessing meaning ) T Ss Hue is a very famous city with lots of beatiful such S S T Ss S S as the Huong river, Ngu Binh mountian Checking Slap the board game T draws two faces two girls and leads in the coversation Now, what are their names ? While- Lan and Huong Right They are talking about their speaking hobbies mins T delivers the handouts ( questions ) Now work in pairs to read a coversation between them, then one asks the questions that follow and the other answers them Activity Questions- Answers What does Huong say to ask what Lan's hobby is ? What question does Huong make to ask about Lan's ways to collect books ? What does Huong say to ask about the place Lan bought her books ? What question does Hoa put to ask about Lan's way of organizing books ? What does Huong say to ask about Huong's plan for XXXI 10 mins the future T Ss Expected answers Ss Ss What's your hobby ? Could you tell me how to collect your books ? Where you byu your books ? How you organize your collection ? What you plan to next ? Activity : Role- play Now that you have five questions This time you are going to play the roles of Nam and Nga, who are talking about stamps collections You can use those five questions to ask about your friend's hobby and you can use the following information as help Hobby: stamps Post- How to collect stamps: buy from post office, get speaking stamps from oversea pen- frieds T S 10 mins How to organize stamps: classify stamps into S Ss T Ss categories: animals, landcapes, birds Where to keep stamps: in album Plan for the future: collect more stamps T goes around to ofter help if need be T listens to Ss and collects their mistakes for indirect correction Find someone who T ask Ss to work in groups of five to talk about their hobbies, using the following questionnaire help ( T gives handouts to Ss ) XXXII What is your hobby? How much time/ money you spend on your hobby ? Do you collect anything as a hobby? Where you get them and where you keep them ? Do you think anyone who keeps animals as a hobby ? Do you think good friends should have the same hobbies ? T ask Ss to make a report on their friend's hobbies, using the result of the questionnaire in activity Examples Everyone in our group has different hobbies Two out Homework of five spend much time on their hobby every day mins XXXIII APPENDIX 5: TABLES AND FIGURES A RESULTS FROM INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Question 3: What difficulties you encounter most when holding a speaking lesson? Opinions No % Large –sized class 83% Learners’ low English proficiency 50% Not enough time 100% Learner’s reluctance 100% Multi-level class/ Mixed ability class 67% Learners’ lack of motivation 83% Learners’ shyness 67% Learners’ use of mother tongue during group work/ pair work 50% Difficult and boring speaking topics 34% Learners’ uneven participation in class activities 83% Table 3.2a: Teacher’s difficulties in teaching English speaking Question no.4: What are your solutions to these difficulties? Problems Solutions No % Mixed- Organize activities for general level of the class 50% ability class Give more help to the less able learners 83% Encourage collaborative work from learners 83% Allocate easy questions to the less able and less 83% confident learners and more to difficult ones the more able Organize pair work/ group work including good and 50% bad learners Give open – ended questions that allow weaker learners to give their answers, too XXXIV 83% Low Vary communicative activities 34% motivation Give interesting topics 17% and uneven Use interesting authentic materials (songs, films with 17% participation subtitles, games, …) Exploit real events, opportunities for short, 17% Anticipate problems that might arise and prepare 50% spontaneous conversations suggesting solutions to ensure great success Give encouraging and positive correction and 83% feedback on learners’ mistake Give positive marks for your learners’ participation 83% Create language atmosphere 50% Show your confidence and experience in teaching in 50% the communicative way Large- sized Divide the class into pairs/ groups 83% class 67% 50% mother The language used in the classroom must be of the 67% tongue learners’ language level use and Point out the monitor to control the group of Design tasks relevant to learners’ language level Keep students speaking the target language 34% throughout Table 3.2b: Teacher’s solutions to the problems Question 5+6: Option No % Reason IG 50% Sometimes used because it is a bit difficult for the less able learners to ST 17% Sometimes used because it is time consuming to prepare and practice at class XXXV Q & A 67% Exchanges PD Always used because learners are familiar with it and easy to prepare 34% Sometimes used because it is interesting but timeconsuming and not very profitable RP 34% Sometimes used because it is a demanding task Games 83% Sometimes used because it is interesting but sometimes time-consuming Interview/ 50% CS Often/sometimes used because it makes students more confident Discussion 50% Sometimes/often used because it is a bit difficult for the less able learners but it is very interesting PS in 50% groups Often used because it is quite interesting and provide learners with good opportunities to express their own opinions but sometimes learners lack of vocabulary of English and social knowledge Table 3.2c: Teacher’s reasons for using speaking techniques and activities B RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS  Student’s reasons for learning English Reasons for learning English No % Self- interest 81 30% A compulsory subject 189 70% For entertainment 108 40% An international language (to widen the social culture and 135 50% language knowledge) Better job opportunities 162 60% To communicate with the foreigners 54 20% The most means of communication 122 45% Table 3.3a: Students’ reasons for learning English XXXVI  Student’s opinions Interesting Boring on speaking topics in the textbooks 60 50 40 30 20 10 Difficult Suitable Easy Figure 3.3.1: Student’s opinions on speaking topic in the textbooks  Frequency of student’s speaking participation 10.9 10.1 30 49 Always Usually Sometimes Never Figure3.3.2: Frequency of student’s speaking participation XXXVII  Student’s opinions on the frequency of teacher’s English speaking 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Always Often Sometimes Never Figure 3.3.3: Student’s opinions about the frequency of teacher’s English speaking  Frequency of student’s English speaking 60 50 40 30 20 10 Less than 25% of a speaking lesson From 25% to 50% of a From 50% to 75% of a speaking lesson speaking lesson More than 75% of a speaking lesson Figure 3.3.4: Frequency of student’s English speaking XXXVIII  Student’ attitudes towards teacher’s employed activities of teaching English speaking Techniques Rarely Sometimes Usually Always No % No % No % IG 0 53 19.6 217 80.4 0 ST 0 134 49.5 136 50.5 0 Q&A exchanges 0 0 100 0 PD 0 182 67.3 88 32.7 0 RP 0 179 66.4 91 33.6 0 Games 0 45 16.8 225 83.2 0 Interview/CS 0 86 31.8 184 68.2 0 Discussion 0 149 55 45 0 PS in groups 0 114 42.4 156 57.6 0 No 270 121 % Table 3.3b: Frequency of employed activities  Student’s opinion about the outside topics and activities used by teacher Activities Like Dislike No % No % IG 240 88.8 30 11.2 ST 73 27.1 197 72.9 Q&A exchanges 146 54.2 124 45.8 PD 192 71.2 78 28.8 RP 96 35.5 174 64.5 Games 189 70.1 81 29.9 Interview/CS 109 40.2 161 59.8 Discussion 98 36.4 172 63.6 PS in groups 169 62.6 101 37.4 Table 3.3c: Student’s attitude towards teacher’s teaching speaking activities XXXIX  Student’s expectation from teacher Options % Interrupt and correct immediately 34 Get angry and interrupt you to correct 17 Wait until you finish, point out the mistakes and correct only your 50 mistakes Wait until you finish, point out the mistakes and correct for the 67 whole class Table 3.3d: Student’s expectation from teacher  Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons Options Always Often Sometimes Never Lack of vocabularies, grammar structures 25 38 28 and pronunciation competence Lack of expression skill 20 39 34 Lack of ideas and social knowledge 18 33 37 12 Shy to speak in front of the whole class 22 38 32 Afraid of making mistakes 13.1 35.5 34.3 17.1 Lack of speaking opportunities 7.8 50 34 8.2 Table 3.3e: Factors affecting Van Xuan students’ participating English lessons  Student’s progress after applied speaking teacher strategies XL 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Strongly Fairly Slightly Not at all Figure 3.3.5:: Student’s progress after applied speaking teaching strategies  Student’s achievements from speaking teaching strategies Options % Public speaking skill 30% Confidence in any speaking situations 40% Language skills improvement including: grammar structures, 28% vocabularies and so on Problem solving 40% Working as group members 62% Critical thinking 38% Table 3.3f:: Student’s achievements from speaking teaching strategies XLI ... certify that the thesis entitled ? ?A study on English language teachers’ reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skills at Van Xuan High School, Hoai Duc, Ha noi. ” reports the result... reasoning for the strategies they use in teaching speaking skill at Van Xuan high school” Aims of the research The study is aimed at - identifying the strategies used in English speaking lessons and... those speaking teaching strategies have a slight impact on their speaking situation, and 7% never experience any changes in their learning situation In general, the speaking strategies used by Van