A study on teaching oral skills to the first year students at Hanoi University of Industry in the Communicative Approach

and students learn 8 periods a week. Hence, depending on the results of the test students will be arranged in an appropriate class basing on their English competence. The English course at HaUI is divided into two stages: The first stage – the stage for General English lasting in five terms. This early stage aims at providing students with general knowledge of vocabulary, phonology, English grammar as well as developing students’ integrated four language skills with the focus on speaking skills. At this very first stage, the textbooks “New Headway” (Beginner, Elementary and Pre-Intermediate) published by Oxford University Press are used in the first three terms. Each of these textbooks consists of 14 units with a variety of topics such as getting to know you, the way we live, let’s go shopping, what do you want to do, going places, etc. However, in the fourth term students learn the textbooks “International Express” published in 2004 by Oxford University Press at three levels (Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate). International Express (Pre-Intermediate level of proficiency) contains 12 units. The topics in this material focus especially on first meetings, work, plans and arrangements, lifestyles, cultures, environment, and transportations. This book includes four main parts: “Language focus” which provides students with grammatical items, “Word power” which concentrates on vocabulary (pronunciation, stress pattern, meaning, etc), “Skills focus” and “Focus on functions” emphasizes four basic skills especially speaking and listening skills. By using this textbook, the students’ communicative competence can be improved and the students can learn the real things from business fields. Students are asked to work in pairs, in groups to practice English in situational contexts. At this stage, in each semester students are required to complete two progress tests, a midterm test and a final test. The second stage – English for Specific Purposes – lasts 60 periods. At this stage, the students are provided with the knowledge of terms and structures related to their future profession. The materials used during this stage vary depending on the majors of the students. These materials collected and designed by teachers at HaUI themselves mainly focus on students’ specific vocabulary, reading and translation. 2.1.2. Description of the Students at HaUI Like the students of other colleges and universities, in order to be the students of HaUI, they have to pass a challenging University Entrance Examination. Students of HaUI come from all parts of the country: big cities, provinces, mountainous and remote areas. New students of HaUI do not have the same level of English language proficiency. Some of them have learnt English for 7 years at secondary and high schools. Some have only learnt English for 3 years and others have never learnt English but French. Students from big cities like Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh seem better. However, they are only good at grammar, not at speaking. They can do grammatical exercises very quickly but they cannot speak fluently. Also, most of them do not feel confident when communicating in English. Moreover, their individual difficulties in attitudes, motivation, studying methods may be the cause(s) of potential problems arising during the course. 2.1.3. Description of the Teachers at HaUI If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most important factor in the teaching process. At HaUI, there are more than 100 teachers of English language (about 55 of them are permanent staff and the rest are temporary ones) aged from 22 to 45 but only some of them have ever been to English speaking countries like Australia and the USA. Most of the teachers are still quite young and even some of them have just graduated from universities so they do not have much teaching experience but the university doesn’t offer new coming teachers any further training courses to adapt the new teaching environment. Besides, in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at this university, the board of administrators divides the major classes into many small English classes. That leads to the lack of classrooms, so that most of non-major English classes have to study English both in the day time and night time as well. Consequently, many teachers have classes all day so they feel exhausted and have enough time to neither prepare for the lessons before class nor get higher education. All of the above reasons create the hardship for teachers during the time they have been teaching English at HaUI. 2.2. The Study 2.2.1. Participants In order to serve the purposes of the study and, at the same time, to facilitate data collection and analysis, a sample of 20 teachers who are currently teaching English to all students at non-major English Departments at HaUI, and the other sample of 90 1st year students randomly selected at Faculties of Economics, Engineering, Chemistry, Electronic and Computer Science. The reasons for the selection are as follows: Firstly, the author chooses teachers and 1st year non-major English students at HaUI because she thinks it will be easier for her to invite more teachers and students to participate in completing the survey questionnaires, and she will have more samples to judge the validity and the reliability of the research data. Secondly, the author invites 20 teachers belonging to non-major English group number 2 because they are all dedicated and receptive teachers. Moreover, the selected teachers have not only the knowledge of English but also knowledge of the subject matter. Thus, the author believes that from these teachers’ experience she will get information about teaching and learning speaking of the first non-major English students. Thirdly, the selected students are necessarily in the classes of the above mentioned teachers with the anticipation that the writer can make a comparison between the information given by the teachers and their students. Then, there will be a discussion about the gap between them. The students under investigation aged from 19 to 25 both males and females are in the first year at the non-major English Faculties. All of them are in the second semester and have one term learning English. In addition, they are willing to do questionnaires . Thus, the information collected from the students can be quite reliable. 2.2.2. The Setting of the Study The study was conducted at the non-major English Faculties of Economics, Engineering, Chemistry, Electronic and Computer Science. The students at these Faculties have to take a four-year training course in which English is considered a compulsory subject. Like many other subjects, English is taught in a formal setting, namely a classroom. The teaching and learning of English is divided into two main stages - General English and English for Specific Purposes. The resource pool for intake of the 1st year non-major English students at HaUI is from two major exam groups – group A and D1 in the university entrance exams. These students taking exams in mathematics, physics and chemistry (group A) or mathematics, literature and English (group D1) so their English competence is in a mixed level. Before being divided into a suitable class, the English Faculty requires the students to take part in a placement test then the students of the same level of proficiency will be placed in a class. However, through informal interview with some teachers and students they said that the placement test is not effective because it is an optional test so those who do not take the test are placed in A class though their English competence is not at A level. That causes uneven level among students in the English classes. 2.2.3. The Data Collection Methods To reach the primary purposes of the study, survey questionnaire has been chosen as main method for data collection for this particular research. There are two questionnaires delivered to teachers and students. One survey questionnaire with 13 questions is designed for teachers who are currently teaching or have taught English speaking to explore the teachers’ conceptions of CLT, their previous experience of it and its classroom implementation. Another survey questionnaire with 15 questions is for the 1st year non-major English students to investigate students’ learning styles, their attitude to the teachers and teaching, including the use of materials. This was originally written in Vietnamese in order to receive reliable answers from all students irrespective of their level. Survey questionnaire is intended to serve as the main source of data because it is undeniable that questionnaire is valuable tool for researching the attitudes, images, concerns, needs, etc. held by a group of interest. Hence, it will certainly be valuable for the author in exploring the subjects’ perceived attitudes towards CLT. Moreover, this research tool is also relatively more comfortable, time-saving and economical to administer as compared with other survey methods like interviewing, telephoning, mailing, videotaping, etc. It also makes the analysis of data easy and simple as all the subjects answer the same questions. This method is also supposed to be of great advantage in the sense that it is easier for the subjects to answer the questions. Besides, the survey questionnaire preserves the subjects’ anonymity so they are more likely to give unbiased answers. 2.2.4. The data analysis 2.2.4.1. Analysis of the questionnaire results 2.2.4.1.1 Teacher questionnaire The aim of this questionnaire was to investigates teacher conceptions of CLT, their previous experience of it and its classroom implementation. The questionnaire consists of 13 questions; the information gathered by means of these questions is presented and analyzed as follows. (i). Participants’ age, gender and years of experience The first 3 questions asked for demographic information only. These results were reported in Table 2.1 to describe the sample of participants that were surveyed. Gender Male 2 Female 18 Age 22-30 13 31-35 6 40-50 1 Years of Experience 1-5 13 6-10 4 11-20 3 Table 2.1: Participants’ age, gender and years of experience In response to question 4, which asked for a definition of CLT, the vast majority (81%) of respondents covered language as communication. These definitions more or less match the notions discussed in the introduction. In response to question 5, every single teacher reported that they use CLT in their teaching. These two questions confirm that the CA is the dominant paradigm and that the efforts to promote it have largely been successful in the sense that most teachers recognize the defining characteristic of the approach and attempt to implement it. (ii) Summary of teachers’ perceptions about CLT Approach Question 6 explores a number of conceptions and misconceptions about CLT in practice. A great deal of data is generated from Likert attitude scales of this type, and space does not permit us to enter a detailed discussion of everything; however, several issues are worth highlighting. Statements (n = 20) Strongly agree ( %) Agree (%) Neither agree nor disagree (%) Dis-agree (%) Strongly disagree (%) 1.Teaching should focus on fluency rather than accuracy. 8 38 34 20 0 2. The students should be the centre of knowledge transmission. The teacher should be their facilitator. 40 56 4 0 0 3. The teacher should strongly encourage the students to learn by themselves through struggling to communicate. 8 62 16 14 0 4. The teacher should spend a lot of time on role play/ games/ group and pair work instead of explicit teaching structures. 20 60 20 0 0 5. The lesson should focus mainly on speaking skills. 4 30 31 35 0 6. The teacher should not correct the students’ mistakes at all unless they cause communication breakdown. 16 42 20 22 0 7. The students should be exposed to authentic language and material all the time. 14 64 14 8 0 8. Language tasks should be meaningful and purposeful. 71 25 4 0 0 9. CLT is an effective approach for your students. 15 60 18 7 0 Table 2.2: Teachers’ perceptions about CLT Approach Statement 1 (S1) indicates that while many would place fluency above accuracy, this controversial conception (arguably misconception) is by no means universally accepted. The vast majority (S2: 40%+56% = 96%) of teachers see students as being the centre of knowledge transmission and a clear majority (S3: 8%+62% = 70%) believe in an inductive approach through “struggling to communicate” which is presumably seen as being achieved through use of role play games etc. (S4: 20%+60% = 80%). The notion that CLT places speaking above other skills (S5) is by no means universally accepted and views on error correction are varied (S6). The role of authentic material is widely recognized (S7: 14%+64% = 78%) although the “all the time” assertion is clearly a debatable point. Seventy five percent (S9: 15%+60%) reported that CLT is effective for their students. (iii). Summary of teachers’ experiences using classroom communicative activities Question 7 was designed to identify teachers' experiences using classroom activities associated with communicative approaches to English language teaching. Findings from this question would reflect the interaction of beliefs with teaching practices Question: Please indicate which of the following classroom procedures you have currently used as part of your English language teaching ? Use it regularly (%) Use it sometimes (%) Never tried (%) Grammar explanation 37 42 21 Group discussion 68 30 2 Pair work 64 28 8 Translation 25 25 50 Dictionary vocabulary exercises 35 37 28 Simulations / role play 56 26 18 Reading and reporting from websites 14 36 50 Reading aloud 39 26 45 Pronunciation drills 39 35 26 Games 34 26 40 Listening to audio tape and answering questions 68 12 20 Call on students to orally respond to any issue/topic 72 17 11 Table 2.3: Teachers’ experiences using classroom communicative activities The activities most of the teachers reported they have used regularly are: Call on students to orally respond to any issues/topic (72%), Group discussion (68%)' Listening to audio tape and answering questions (68%), Pair work (64%), and Simulations/role play (56%) These five most frequently reported activities are commonly referred to in the descriptions of communicative teaching activities. The activities teachers most frequently selected as 'never tried' are - Translation (50% selected) and Reading and reporting from websites (50% selected). Responses to other activities demonstrate differences of choices and dependency of uses among the teachers. One of the most important and commonly reported used communicative activities in the general literature about CLT is "Games", which only 34% of the teachers reported they use regularly and 40% of them said they never tried in the class. It is possible that the teachers are aware of 'Games' as communicative activities but games are not being practiced by half of them because of physical circumstances, such as class size or bolted down desks that prevent free movement. It may be that the idea of playing language games at a university is also inconsistent with their understanding of language teaching. In the case of the activity Reading and reporting from website, only 14% of the teachers said they 'use it regularly' when 50% of them said they 'never tried' it. It seems that these 50% of the teachers were not aware of or comfortable in the use of internet for CLT purposes or their repertoires of the communicative activities were limited. In case of the traditional teaching techniques or activities, 37% of the teachers said that they use Grammar explanation and 35% said Dictionary vocabulary exercises regularly. For 'grammar explanation' it is possible that their intent is probably not to focus on an analysis of grammar but rather to encourage students to correctly use the grammar they already know. CLT also does not restrict teachers from teaching grammar, as correct use of grammar is indicative of and a requirement for communicative competence. Thirty nine percent teachers' responses to activities Pronunciation drills and Reading aloud as 'use it regularly' indicate inconsistencies in their dependency of uses. These teachers possibly use pronunciation drills believing that pronunciation drills are necessary activities to achieve accuracy, as both fluency and accuracy are equally important to achieve communicative competence. Teachers may also use drills depending on the students' needs or types of class they teach. The possible explanation of 65% teachers' (39% said 'use it regularly' and 26% said 'use it sometimes') use of Reading aloud activity is that they might use it as listening and pronunciation activities believing that these facilitate proper communication or at least prepare the students for participating in real communication. Reading aloud activities may also be the part of different communicative games or total physical response activities (iv). Summary of teachers’ difficulties in adopting CLT in HaUI This question explores issues surrounding its implementation. In response to question eight, 100% reported finding problems when implementing CLT in their classroom. The problems, as the table below indicates, are varied but mainly relate to the level of students, to their responsibility and to their learning styles. Class size, the time allocation of lessons and, to a lesser extent, the demands of the examination system are also significant. When asked to elaborate on problems or offer other limitations the vast majority focused on their students and reported that their level or their learning style (shyness) made CLT difficult to be implemented. A number of teachers identified the deferential nature of Vietnam society as a hindrance. This data suggests that it is not so much that teachers do not understand CLT, or do not have access to materials, but that context constrains implementation. Percentage Problems 83% 1. The students’ English proficiency level is too low. 83% 2. Class size is too big. 69% 3. Time is limited. 56% 4. The students’ responsibility is low. 50% 5. The students are not comfortable with CLT. 39% 6. The examination format is not totally CLT-based. 25% 7. The students need accuracy rather than fluency. 22% 8. Material does not facilitate CLT implementation. 20% 9. You are not clear what CLT expects you to do. 16% 10. You are not ready to give up your authoritative role. 3% 11. You mind if your students question or challenge your knowledge. Table 2.4: Teachers’ difficulties in adopting CLT in HaUI The most problematic issue indicated in the two parts of the questionnaire is, on the one hand, a clear understanding and widespread endorsement of CLT and its effectiveness (part 1) and on the other hand, a universal recognition of problems with implementation (part 2). Such problems have been reported elsewhere (see for example Karavas-Doukas, 1996) and are apparently still evident today. (v) Summary of teacher’s solutions to large class Solutions Result (%) Thinking about vision and acoustics 87 Using pair work and group work 80 Getting students to do as much interactive work as possible 80 Enhancing the skills of class management and class organization 74 Using chorus reaction 55 Collecting learner’s diaries for the ease of feedback and reorientation.. 30 Table 2.5: Teachers’ solutions to large class The data in table 2.5 show that most of the teachers (87%) thought that they should think more about vision and acoustics. Teachers can prepare teaching aids beforehand such as diagrams, charts, tables, lists of words or sentences, pictures, real objects, etc. 80% teachers considered group work and pair work activities and students’ co-operation to be necessary for teaching speaking at large class. Many of them (74%) suggested enhancing the skills of class management and class organization. A little more than half of them (55%) supported to use chorus reaction. A few of the teachers (30%) agreed that they should collecting learners’ diaries for the ease of feedback and reorientation. (vi). Summary of teacher’s solutions to lacking knowledge and misconceptions about CLT Solutions Results (%) Organize seminars with the help of experienced teachers, experts 95 Concentrate the work of annual scientific researches on CLT theory and practice 80 Look for CLT knowledge on the internet 75 Self-train with the help of the administration of CLT 55 Organize micro-teaching or peer observations 40 Buy magazines, newspapers, materials on CLT 35 Table 2.6: Teachers’ solutions to lacking knowledge and misconceptions about CLT Table 2.6 shows the data related to the solutions to the constraints of the teachers’ lack and misunderstanding of CLT. Nearly all the teachers (95%) wanted to participate in seminars organized with the help of experienced teachers and experts. A majority of them (80% and 75%) preferred to improve their CLT knowledge by concentrating the annual work of scientific researchers on CLT theory and practice and looking for CLT knowledge on the internet. Half of them thought they should self-train and a few of them (40% and 35%) wanted to organize micro-teaching or peer observations and buy magazines, newspapers, materials on CLT. (vii). Summary of teacher’s solutions to students’ low-level English proficiency Solutions Results (%) Select and organize simple communicative activities 100 Treat learners with enthusiasm, understanding and patience 100 Give learners chances to prepare and allotted time for presentation.. 85 Use reinforcement techniques (praise, feedback remark, etc 80 Exercise brainstorming before speaking activities 76 Organize controlled oral drill and practice for structures, patterns and pronunciation before more complex and creative speaking activities 73 Use Vietnamese and allow learners to use it flexibly 50 Give learners assistance or chances to obtain assistance from friends 50 Do not overwhelm learners with too much presentation of material before speaking; Present material in simple segments 40 Slow down your speaking speed for easier comprehension and produce clear articulation 33 Table 2.7: Teachers’ solutions to students’ low-level English proficiency As to the question of the learners’ very low level of spoken English, all the teachers (100%) agreed to select and organize simple communicative activities, to integrate speaking with comprehension work (reading and listening) and to treat learners with enthusiasm, understanding and patience. A majority of the teachers (85% agreed to give learners chances to prepare and allotted time for presentation. They also suggested using reinforcement techniques such as praise and feedback remark.  (viii). Summary of teachers’ solutions to students’ low communicative motivation Solutions Results (%) Set up a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere in classroom 87 Carry out competitions suitably 80 Give students a proper attitude toward speaking, root out mistaken notions about spoken English 90 Give the students pressure and stimulate them 75 Use authentic materials (songs, films with subtitles, games, television or radio broastcasts, etc.) 88 Show your confidence, conviction, aspiration, experience and humour in teaching in the communicative way 92 Organize regular English speaking 17 Carry out on-going assessments (i.e. give students marks, grades for class participation or in-class work). 25 Table 2.8: Teachers’ solutions to students’ low communicative motivation Question 13 was intended to elicit teachers’ solution to the students’ low communicative motivation. Responses to this question showed that the items selected most frequently by the teachers as solutions to the students’ low motivation are: Show your confidence, conviction, aspiration, experience and humour in teaching in the communicative way (92%) Give students a proper attitude toward speaking, root out mistaken notions about spoken English. (90%) Use authentic materials (songs, films with subtitles, games, television or radio broastcasts, etc.) (88%) Set up a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere in classroom (87%) A majority of the teachers also identified “carry out competitions suitably” (80%) and “give the students pressure and stimulate them” (75%) as two useful ways of motivating student in learning English in class while only a few of the teachers (25% and 17 %) suggested carrying out on-going assessments (i.e. give students marks, grades for class participation or in-class work) and organizing regular English speaking club. 2.2.4.1.2. Student questionnaire The investigation of student learning styles, their attitude to the teacher and teaching, including the use of materials, is documented in student questionnaire. This was originally written in Vietnamese in order to receive accurate answers from all students irrespective of their level. The questionnaire consists of 16 questions; the information gathered by means of these questions is presented and analyzed as follows. (i). Summary of students’ learning styles As with the data generated from the teacher’s questionnaire, space does not permit a detailed discussion of all the data; however a number of significant issues are worth highlighting. Part 1 of the questionnaire (Appendix II) explores learning styles and asks students to indicate whether certain statements are true or false for them. In contrast to the teachers who reported mixed views, the vast majority of students (74%) expressed a preference for accuracy over fluency. Many students (50%+) reported a learning style where loss of face, shyness and a reluctance to question the teacher are important factors and there is an overwhelming preference for a deductive teacher-centred learning style. Such views clearly raise questions about the relevance of some of CLT’s central tenets. n = 90 True False Your needs (fluency or accuracy) 1.You prefer “accurate English” to “fluent but ungrammatical English” 74% 26% Your personality 2. You will loose face, feel very embarrassed and afraid of being called stupid by your peers and teacher if you make a mistake or ask a question in the classroom. 57% 43% 3. You are shy and you don’t like speaking in front of the class. 50% 50% 4. You believe that it is impolite to disagree with your teacher even though you may have a good reason. 51% 49% Your interaction to your teacher 5. You prefer to listen and believe your teacher and follow the textbook rather than learning through struggling to communicate by yourself. 19% 81% 6. You prefer your teacher to explain the content explicitly. 93% 7% 7. You are not satisfied if the teacher does not correct your errors 70% 30% Table 2.9: Students’ learning styles (ii). Summary of students’ opinions about the teacher and teaching Part 2 of the questionnaire was designed to explore student opinions about key CLT assumptions (numbers 8-14) in relation to teaching. It was felt that the Vietnam translation allowed all students to reflect on these assumptions even if they had no perceived direct classroom experience of them. A number of specific findings are worth noting. Questions 8 and 9 show that a majority do not recognize the notion of the teacher as a “facilitator” and the student as “generator of knowledge”, nor do they accept an emphasis on a student-based struggle to communicate (though this question with its explicit exclusion of grammar and lexis is admittedly ambiguous). These responses support the views of many teachers who identified lack of student comfort with aspects CLT. Other answers in this section seem to contradict some of those reported in Part 1. For example, 66% approve of role-play, games etc. and yet many have indicated desire for work on accuracy and a shyness to speak. With authenticity, it is interesting to note that one of the most problematic tenets of CLT that “the native speaker is best” has been endorsed by 84% (23%+61%) of the learners. Statements Strongly agree (%) Agree (%) Neither agree nor disagree (%) Disagree (%) Strongly disagree (%) Knowledge transmission (Roles of Teachers and Learners) 8. English you learn from the lesson should be mainly generated from you and your peers as the students are the centre of the knowledge transmission, the teacher is a facilitator helping the students to generate information. 4 20 26 43 8 9. The teacher should force you to learn by yourself through struggling to communicate, listen, speak, read and write without enough grammatical and lexical knowledge. 1 3 11 47 38 Process or Product 10. The teacher should spend a lot of time on language tasks such as role play/ games/ group and pair works instead of teaching grammar and vocabulary. 21 45 23 9 2 11. The teacher should focus on speaking skill. Listening, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary are secondary. 26 45 16 12 1 Authenticity 12. The teacher should use authentic material all the times. 26 53 18 3 0 13. The teacher should use language that has the same speed, same accents, slang etc as native speakers. 23 61 6 9 1 14. The teacher should engage you to practise meaningful and purposeful language tasks. 25 58 16 1 0 Table 2.10: Students’ opinion about the teacher and teaching The response to question 15 shows that 69% of students recognize any of the items in Part 2 number 3, 8-14 as actually occurring in their classrooms. Of the minority, 31% of students who did not recognize items 8-14 as occurring, the largest number of responses (78%) indicated item 10; language tasks through role plays instead of teaching grammar and vocabulary as occurring most. The smallest number (13%) identified number 13 as occurring and we have already commented on the native speaker issue. 2.2.4.2. Discussion of the findings The combined responses from teachers and learners reveals that participant HaUI teachers have very good understanding of the communicative activities and the general principles of CLT, and they practice the major communicative activities in their classes. Furthermore, many students have indicated a preference for a certain learning style, which is somehow incompatible with CLT. It was also found that the teachers did not support some of the common misconceptions about CLT, which are reported in research literature as one of the major impediments to implementation and practice of CLT in EFL context (Burnaby & Sun, 1989; Karavas-Doukas, 1996; Li, 1998; Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999; Thompson, 1996). EFL teachers in this study identified the following concepts of CLT negatively: "CLT means only group work and pair work" (Li, 1998; and Penner, 1995), "CLT means not teaching grammar (Li, 1998; Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999; Thompson, 1996), "CLT means teaching speaking only" (Li, 1998; Thompson, 1996). It is also found that there are positive relationships between teachers' perceptions about CLT and their classroom practices as EFL teachers in this study report practicing some of the major communicative activities in their classes. Some of the most frequently used activities by the teachers in this study are: games, group-work, pair-work, and simulations/role play. Another significant finding of this study, in contrast with previous studies (Li, 1998; Mustafa 2001; and Penner, 1995), is that majority of the teachers in this study identified that although CLT requires teachers to have high proficiency in English, they believe their English knowledge is sufficient for HaUI context. HaUI teachers' practice of major CLT activities support the idea that their English proficiency is not a major difficulty in practicing and adopting CLT in HaUI. But the majority of the teachers in the present study identified 'students’ low-level English proficiency' as major difficulty in practicing and adopting CLT in HaUI. This is similar to Li's (1998) findings where teachers reported that due to students' low English proficiency they encountered difficulties in trying CLT approach in their classes Majority of the teachers in this study identified “Large class size” as a difficulty in practicing CLT or as a possible constraints in the way of adoption of CLT in HaUI which was also reported by teachers in researches of Li (1998), Mustafa (2001) and Burnaby and Sun (1989) as one of the constraints or difficulties for successful implementation of CLT. HaUI teachers also reported that EFL classes are not well-equipped and convenient which is true as Vietnam may lack resources as an underdeveloped nation and classrooms are also inconvenient may be due to large number of students and immovable desks and chairs which hinders the maximum student participation and successful implementation of communicative activities like role-play, group-work and games. Traditional grammar-based examination was reported as a barrier to implementing CLT in the current study and it was also identified by Li (1998), Mustafa (2001) and Gorsuch (2000). Lack of effective and efficient assessment instruments of communicative competence was also reported by Li (1998), Mustafa (2001) and Grouch (2000) as another major constraints in implementing CLT as in the situations in Korean, Indonesian and Japanese context. HaUI teachers' opinions about the traditional grammar based exams as a difficulty and their priority of training in assessing students are logical as they may have expertise to assess grammar from years of experience but they may not know how to assess communicative abilities of students. Lack of authentic teaching materials and teachers' lack of time and expertise in material development were also mentioned in previous research as major difficulties in implementing CLT, which are reported by teachers in this study also. Mustafa (2001) identified lack of authentic teaching materials as one of the reasons that inhibit the adoption of CLT in Indonesia; Burnaby and Sun (1989) reported that Chinese EFL teachers showed concern about the lack of authentic teaching materials in English and communicative reading exercises; Li (1998) reported that the teachers she studied had little time and expertise in material development as a major difficulty for the success of CLT in Korea. 2. 3 Summary In short, this chapter has presented the data analysis and the major findings of the study. From the findings of the two survey questionnaires, it appears that: Unlike the teachers reported in the previous related studies, HaUI EFL teachers in this study demonstrated very good understanding of communicative language teaching principles and its' practices and teachers reported practicing the major communicative activities in the class, and also did not support some of the common misconceptions about CLT. All teachers claim to use the approach and yet all have problems with its implementation. As for students, the students questionnaires showed that many of them have indicated a preference for a certain learning style, which is fundamentally incompatible with CLT. Based on all the findings that are presented and discussed in this chapter, some suggestions for the application of CLT in teaching oral skills to first-year students at HaUI will be proposed in the next chapter. Chapter 3: Recommendations to the application of CLT in teaching oral skills at HAUI Many things that the teachers report about EFL teaching in HaUI and about the difficulties in using CLT are common to many other universities and colleges in Vietnam. Therefore, the discussion should be extended to other universities and colleges. To reduce these difficulties, the following recommendations need to be considered. For teachers Some EFL teachers in HaUI may be reluctant to try CLT, as it is not familiar or it requires changes of the traditional teaching on their part or due to misconceptions of CLT. So, teachers need assistance and encouragement in trying out new ideas, activities, and materials. Teachers should have the opportunity to retrain and refresh themselves in CLT and more importantly "teachers should receive help in revising, refining, or changing their educational theories" (Li, 1998; p. 697). HaUI teachers need continuing support with CLT and this can be achieved by appointing highly qualified teaching consultants and conducting in-service teacher education programs (Li, 1998). Proper training can teach them how to use CLT in their classrooms and they can be motivated to overcome the difficulties. Certainly, the administrators play an important role in tackling this difficulty. Beside the administrators’ support, teachers should make effort to self-study in an effective solution since the teachers may achieve knowledge from others sources such as books, magazines, radio, television, etc. In addition, teachers should try to overcome the lack of conductive facilities. For example, when the overhead projector is not available, teachers can also organize pair work or group work effectively by: forming a group of three or four students at a same table/row forming a group three or four students at two rows together by asking them to sit face to face for discussions. forming pair-work by grouping two students sitting next to, near, opposite each other. As communication or oral interaction is one of the important components of CLT, teachers may face difficulty in giving and assessing oral tests to a large number of students, which was found by Li (1998) that South Korean teachers "found it difficult to balance content and language when scoring oral exams" (p. 695) and overall they "found it disconcerting that there were no prescribed ready-made assessment tools for communicative competence" (p. 695). Also in the cases of reading and writing assessment, the lack of standard grading categories and criteria will pose a major difficulty in successful communicative assessment. Furthermore, communicative language learning and teaching cannot be successful if the exams do not reflect what was taught and practiced in the classes as part of the communicative syllabus. Gorsuch (2000) concluded that, if the exam is concentrated on only grammar knowledge, a communicative competence development does not meet the needs of students. Therefore, designing communicative assessment standards and criteria for HaUI students needs to be considered seriously and it is a major issue for further implementation of CLT in HaUI. In short, if CLT is applied successfully, there should have the cooperation between teachers and administrators in which teachers are the most important elements. Administrators should give teachers more opportunities to expose to CLT by attending short-term courses or seminar about CLT. Besides, the teachers themselves should self-study to gain more knowledge so that they are confident enough to conduct communicative classes. They should also learn to overcome the lack of teaching aids by exploring things, other sources available around them. In addition, in order to evaluate students’ communicative competence accurately, teachers have to pay much attention to designing communicative assessment standards. 3.2. For students To introduce CLT successfully in traditional language classroom, students’ attitude toward English needs to change. They should consider English as important as other subjects in the curriculum and speaking is their goal in learning English. Until CLT becomes a norm in Vietnam, students should not resist this way of learning. So, teacher needs consciously reorient students to this methodology. In my opinion, to change students’ attitude toward English learning, teachers should enhance students’ motivation by considering the following issues: Creating interesting topics because interesting topics motivate the students and create enjoyable atmosphere in the class. When they are interested in something, they are eager to take part in. Designing exercises, which are suitable for students’ level, because students can finish the tasks suitable for their level. Practically, multi-level classes are popular. The tasks for the students with limited competence can de-motivate good students. So, tasks in the class could be arranged from easy to difficult scale so that the bad can keep up with the others. Organizing English speaking club where students can talk / discuss about their interest, exchange experience in learning English (learning grammar, vocabulary, reading, speaking, etc.), learn English songs together, etc. These activities create English speaking and learning environment for the students to learn. In addition, students need to be well aware of their role as learners, teacher’s role in the classroom, and basic nature of language. Students’ role is no longer passive recipients. They are communicators in the class. They can take part in class activities, can be free to express their own ideas, to put questions to the teachers, to show their disagreements with the teachers. Teachers, on the other hand, are no longer “knowledge-transmitter”. They play the role of a facilitator of the students’ learning, a manager of classroom activities, an advisor to answer students’ questions and to control their performance, and a “co-communicator” to engage in the communicative activities along with the students (Littlewood, 1981). The students’ new role and teachers’ role is a new concept for students. Therefore, teachers should be flexible to manage the class because it takes time for the students to get use to this role, this concept. Students’ resistance in participating in class activities needs teachers’ consideration. Teachers need to be aware of this issue and take steps to lower them so that students are gradually confident in joining class activities. Obviously, teacher is a vital factor in the class. The teacher should stimulate the students to volunteer to speak, and the passive students need the teacher’s attention. They have to be appointed to speak. The easy questions should be given to the weak ones to assure their keeping face. Feedback from the teachers, which de-motivate students and influence the students’ participation in the classroom, need to be avoided. For example, in stead of saying “Wrong”, “Nonsense”, teachers should say positive praise such as: “Try another time”, “Thank you, what about others?”. Students’ anxiety in public speaking is also a problem . To lower it gradually, teachers should consider these remedies to manage group work well. Teachers ask students to form groups for discussions. To avoid the good students’ dominance in group work, teachers should ask students to change their group leader from this student to another so that all students in a group realize their responsibility for the task progress. Also, the information gap in group work should be paid attention to so that each member has opportunities to exchange information. Apart from those, to reduce the students’ use of Vietnamese during group work, teachers should move around the class, observe, and give them help if necessary. Teachers should pay much attention to correct students’ errors because this stage either helps students learn effectively or de-motivates them and make them lose face in front of the class. In students’ error correction, the task of the teachers is “to value students, prize their attempts to communicate, and then provide optimal feedback for the system to involve in successive stages until students are communicating more clearly” (Brown, 2001). These are some suggestions for teachers on error correction in class: It’s not necessary to correct every single mistake because learners can sometimes be encouraged to speak fluently The teacher should not correct the learners rudely because learners are also people! Learner can correct each other because they might feel less threatened if corrected by peers, if the teacher and fellow learners are supportive of this. 3.3 Summary This chapter is the essential part of the study dealing with the suggestions to help the application of CLT more successful in HaUI. A number of recommendations for both teachers and students have been discussed. For the students, teacher should change the students’ attitude toward English by enhancing their motivation. Besides, teachers should pay special attention to low students by asking them easy questions, give compliments and correct students’ errors at the right time. Teachers should also reduce the students’ anxiety in public speaking by forming group-work with both strong and weak students. For the teachers, the administrators should co-operate and give teachers more opportunities to expose to CLT and the teachers themselves should self-study to gain more knowledge about CLT.  PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of the study Findings of this study demonstrate that, participant HaUI teachers' perceptions and practices of CLT and their difficulties in using and adopting CLT in teaching oral skills in HaUI are not similar to other EFL countries. Most significantly, these teachers have positive attitudes towards CLT, showed correspondence between their theoretical knowledge and their practices of CLT, and they did not hold many misconceptions about CLT. The difficulties in using and adopting CLT in teaching oral skills caused by the teachers are lack of training or retraining in CLT, misconceptions about CLT, little time and expertise for the development of communicative materials. The constraints from students, which the teachers perceived, are lack of motivation for communicative competence, resistance to participating in class, low English proficiency. Teachers also reported that the hindrances from the educational system are lack of conductive facilities, large class sizes and lack of authentic materials The recommendations for these difficulties are categorized into recommendation for the students and for the teachers. Firstly, for the students, the students’ attitude toward English needs to change. Teachers can make a change in students’ attitude by enhance students’ motivation. To overcome the students’ lack of motivation in learning English especially in speaking, teachers should create interesting topics, design exercises suitable for students’ level, create the English speaking environment so that students are motivated to learn. Besides, teachers should pay special attention to weak students by asking them easy questions, give complements and correct students’ errors at the right time. Teachers should also reduce the students’ anxiety in public speaking by forming group work with both good and bad students, changing group leader alternatively so that every student can have a chance to speak to their peers. Forming group and changing group leaders can also solve the problem of students’ low English proficiency. Secondly, to overcome the teachers’ difficulties in the application of CLT, there should have a cooperation between teachers and administrators in which teachers are the most important elements. Administrators should give teachers more opportunities to expose to CLT by attending short-term courses or seminars about CLT. Besides, the teachers themselves should self-study to gain more knowledge so that they are confident enough to conduct communicative classes 2. Limitations and suggestions for further study This research focuses on the difficulties of applying CLT in improving the speaking skills of non-English major students. There are some suggestions for further research to be conducted with a view to gaining more benefits for teaching English in HaUI in terms of application of CLT. 1. Like some other major researches in this related field (Burnaby & Sun, 1989; Li, 1998; Sato & Kleinsasser, 1999;), this research did not extend the analysis to determine if demographic factors (i.e., age, gender, years of experience, and field of teaching) have effects on teachers' perceptions, practices, and opinions. Further research can be conducted to determine these factors. 2. The study focused on difficulties of applying CLT in improving the speaking skills of non-English major students. Research should be conducted to affirm what difficulties teachers meet in applying CLT in teaching other skills: listening, reading, writing. 3. Further research should be carried out to discover better ways to introduce students to the new concepts of CLT and this way of learning. Although the researcher has made effort toward conducting this thesis, there undoubtedly exist some limitations. This is understandable and probably inevitable. There is no attempt to measure what people say with what actually occurs and further more qualitative approaches would offer additional insights. Although all the questionnaires were anonymous, it may be that some of the replies are likely to reflect what the teachers and students think the researcher wants to read rather than their real feelings. Moreover, the number of the subjects is small which may influence the implications of the thesis to some extent. The results of the thesis would be more convincible if the number of the subjects is larger. Such limitations are fully acknowledged and reflect the fact that this data was originally gathered for a dissertation on an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, by the author of this paper with no previous research experience. However, despite the limitations, it is felt that the data does offer some valid insights and raises some real issues, which go beyond the specificity of this study.