How to maximize part-time students ’ involvement in English speaking lessons at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre

ers with interesting topics or appropriate speaking activities and so on to motivate them to get involved in speaking lessons. Learners’ reluctance degree in speaking lessons (Question 2) Figure 2: Learners’ reluctance degree in speaking lessons Figure 2 shows that the number of surveyed learners often feel reluctant to get involved in English speaking lessons accounts for 51.7% while 18.4% of the participants are sometimes reluctant to speak. Only 15.3% of the surveyed are rarely reluctant to get involved in speaking lessons, and 14.6% of the total do not feel reluctant to involve in speaking lessons at all. It can be concluded that most of the learners feel reluctant to speak in speaking lessons due to many reasons, and one of those is that topics are not interesting to learners. Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons (Question 3) Figure 3: Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons As clearly stated from Figure 3, up to 46.4% of the respondents suppose that uninteresting lessons are one of many factors deterring their involvement in speaking lessons, whereas 21.5% of the participants say that boring teaching method make them reluctant to speak. Besides, subjective factors have a certain influence on their interest in speaking lessons such as feeling shy only accounts for 17.5 and not being accustomed to speaking in front of other people makes up 14.6%. Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons (Question 4) Figure 4: Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons The result in Figure 4 shows that teachers’ English speaking affects a great deal to learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. The number of surveyed learners supposing that teachers use too much English in English speaking lessons accounts for 38%, while 36% of the learners state that teachers speak too fast. A very small number of the participants think that teachers speak too much Vietnamese in English speaking lessons (15%), and 11% of the total say that teachers speak too slowly. Learners’ difficulties in speaking lessons (Question 5) Figure 5: Learners‘ difficulties in speaking lessons As shown in Figure 5, 18% of the participants think that finding ideas for the given topic is one of difficulties deterring their involvement in speaking lessons, while up to 41% of the total suppose that finding words is the main reason preventing them from performing their speaking tasks. Poor pronunciation also contributing a not small percentage accounts for 26%. And 15% of the respondents seem to be affected by mother-tongued inference in speaking lessons. In summary, through the data collected from Figure 3, 4 and 5, it can be concluded that there is a variety of factors that make the learners unwilling to speak or affects their involvement in speaking lessons including: subjective factors from the learners themselves such as finding ideas, finding words, poor pronunciation ect and objective ones such as uninteresting lessons, teaching method and so on… Teachers’ talking time in speaking lessons (Question 6) Figure 6: Teachers’ talking time in speaking lessons The information obtained from Figure 6 indicates that teachers always take much time explaining in speaking lessons (70%). Only a small minority (10%) does not do so. And 20% of the respondents think that their teachers talk enough. Teachers’ mistakes correction for learners in speaking lessons (Question 7) Figure 7: Teachers’ mistake correction for learners in speaking lessons The statistics provided from Figure 7 show that most of the learners (72.5%) respond that their teachers interrupt them and correct their mistakes immediately, whereas 18.3% of them state that their teachers wait until they finish and then correct their mistakes. And only 9.2% of the participants say that their teachers do not correct their mistakes and encourage them to speak until they finish. It is amazing to see that none of the teachers only listen to learners and do nothing with their mistakes. It can be said, from the above-mentioned statistics (Figures 6 and 7), that the way of correcting mistakes done by the teachers is inappropriate. In addition, the amount of time taken by the teachers in speaking lessons is not proper. Most of the teachers talk too much. Consequently, learners’ taking time is limited. This proves that teaching method here in Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre still focuses on accuracy and forms, not on fluency and content. Learners’ attitude towards teachers’ activities (Question 8) Figure 8: Learners’ attitude towards teachers’ activities It can be seen from Figure 8, 27% of the surveyed learners say that activities designed by their teachers are interesting to them while up to 51% of the surveyed show their little interest in their teachers’ activities in speaking lessons. And a not small number of the participants (22%) are not interested in the activities designed by their teachers at all. The data collected from Figure 8 indicates that activities utilized by teachers are not interesting enough to draw learners’ attention and encourage them to get involved in speaking lessons. It can be said that speaking activities designed by the teachers play a very significant role in encouraging students to speak in speaking lessons. Teachers should invest more time and effort to design activities suitable to learners’ ability. Teachers’ activities to encourage learners to speak (Question 9) Figure 9: Teachers’ activities to encourage learners to speak The data from Figure 9 clearly shows that role-play is an activity mostly used by teachers because 43% of the surveyed learners reveal the fact. Other activities such as interviewing holds 13%, using games for speaking accounts for 16% and questioning takes up 28%. Role-play can be considered to be a popular activity utilized by most teachers in order to encourage learners to talk in speaking lessons. However, the other mentioned activities should be used flexibly by teachers in speaking lessons. 1.10 Teachers’ activities before each discussion topic (Question 10) Figure 10: Teachers’ activities before each discussion topic As shown in Figure 10, up to 43% of the respondents state that their teachers let them discuss the given topic themselves. However, 32% of the participants say that their teachers provide them with new words relating to the topic and 18% of the surveyed suppose that their teachers give them main ideas about the topic. And only 7% of the learners say that their teachers divide them in to pair and group before each given topic. 1.11 Teachers’ attitude toward learners’ presentation (Question 11) Figure 11: Teachers’ attitude toward learners’ presentation It can be seen from Figure 11, 49 % of the participants say that their teachers give them good comment after their presentation although their performance is not really good. Only 9% of them state that their teachers criticize their mistakes after presentation whereas 15% of the surveyed suppose that their teachers only point out their mistakes. And 27% of the total say that their teachers point out and correct their mistakes after their performance. It is encouraging to see that most of the teachers encourage their learners to speak by giving good comments. The action can be considered to be a good way of promoting learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. 1.12 Learners’ expectations toward their teachers (Question 12) Figure 12: Learners’ expectation toward their teachers From the result collected in Figure 12, it can be easily recognized that 29% of the surveyed learners expect their teachers to let them choose appropriate topics to discuss. And 26% of the participants need more time to work in pair and group while 31% of the surveyed want their teachers to provide them with speaking tasks suitable to their ability. Only 14% of them desire teachers to let them choose partners who share the same opinion with them. It can be said that giving opportunity to learners to choose their appropriate topics for discussion and giving them more time to work in pair and group can help learners a lot in expressing their ideas freely and creatively. However, it is necessary for teachers to invest more time in designing speaking tasks suitable to learners’ ability to help them take part in speaking lessons. In summary, the learners’ desires to speak well and get involved effectively in English speaking lessons are very encouraging. Teachers need to pay more attention to their learner’s needs to help them in time so that learners can improve their speaking. 1.13 Activities help to motivate learners to speak (Question 13) Figure 13: Activities help to motivate learners to speak most The figures in Figure 13 point out that activities can help to motivate learners to speak most such are oral presentation taking up 35% and reporting news holding 28% whereas telling funny stories accounts for 22% and describing picture occupies 15% of the total. 1.14 Factors help learners better get involved in speaking lessons (Question 14) Figure 14: Factors help learners better get involved in speaking lessons It is very interesting to see that confidence and careful preparation for given topics are the two factors that help learners’ involvement effectively in speaking lessons when 30% of the learners state that be confident when presenting news and 30% of the participants say that prepare well given topics and present in front of other members help them participate effectively in speaking lessons, whereas 19% of the respondents say that try to speak English fluently and 21% of the total suppose that actively work in pair and group help them better involve in speaking lessons. 2. Data analysis from Teachers‘ Questionnaire The questionnaire for teachers consisting of 10 questions was delivered to 15 teachers. The data collected was analyzed as follows. 2.1. Teachers’ assessment of the course book “Streamline English-Destination” (Question 1) Figure 15: Teachers’ assessment of the course book “Streamline English-Destination” The statistics in Figure 1 show that most of the surveyed teachers suppose that the course book “Streamline English-Destination” is not only boring but also difficult in teaching speaking to learners when 38% of the surveyed teachers say that the course book is boring and 34% of the surveyed state that the course book is difficult to learners, whereas only 12% of the participants suppose that the course book is interesting to learners and 16% of the total consider the course book to be easy to learners. 2.2 Teachers’ attitude toward the course book with regard to speaking teaching (Question 2) Figure 16: Teachers’ attitude toward the course book with regarding to speaking teaching The information obtained show that 80% of the surveyed teachers suppose that they are not satisfied with the course book, and only 20% of the total seem to satisfy with the course book in applying speaking teaching. 2.3. Teachers’ current teaching method (Question 3) Figure 17: Teachers’ current teaching method As clearly stated from Figure 17, the teaching method currently applied by 42% of the participants is teaching communication whereas 58% of the total use grammar translation to teach in English lessons. The result states clearly that teaching speaking has become increasingly popular at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre. However, the important issue raising here is how these teachers do to teach speaking effectively although teaching communication is applied by a large number of the surveyed teachers. 2.4. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking (Question 4) Figure 18: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking As shown in Figure 18, 27% of the respondents reveal that one of the difficulties that they have confronted when teaching speaking to non-major learners is multi-level class. Whereas, 43 of the surveyed suppose that large-size class is an obstacle of teaching speaking. Learners’ low English proficiency ranks the third (22%), and a small minority (8%) claims lack of teaching aids to be their difficulty in teaching speaking. 2.5. Teachers’ attitude toward reluctant learners (Question 5) Figure 19: Teachers’ attitude toward reluctant learners Figure 19 states clearly that the majority of the participants get angry with the reluctant students (53%) while 32% of the surveyed teachers criticize learners when they are reluctant to speak. None of the surveyed shouts at reluctant learners, and 15% of the total do nothing to motivate learners to speak. 2.6. Teachers’ ways of minimizing learners’ reluctance in speaking lessons (Question 6) Figure 20: Teachers’ ways of minimizing learners’ reluctance in speaking lessons Figure 20 shows that 52% of the participants state that they give learners opportunity to express their own ideas about the given topics to minimize learners’ reluctance in speaking lessons whereas 30% of the respondents minimize learners’ reluctance by shortening the gap between teacher and student, that is be always close to learners and help them with their difficult speaking tasks whereas 11% of the surveyed teachers give learners easy speaking tasks to minimize their reluctance. And only 7% of the total get tolerant with learners’ mistakes to minimize learners’ reluctance in speaking lessons. 2.7. Teachers’ activities to make learners interested in speaking lessons (Question 7) Figure 21: Teachers’ activities to make learners interested in speaking lessons It can be seen from Figure 21, 13% of the participants say that to make learners interested in English speaking lessons they create a natural environment for learners to get involved in while a large number of the total (58%) use interesting topics to draw learners’ attention to speaking lessons. 14% of the surveyed teachers make learners interested in speaking lessons with appropriate speaking tasks to learners’ ability. And 15% of the surveyed let learners talk freely. 2.8. Teachers’ attitude toward discussion topics (Question 8) When asked to express their own opinion about the position of discussion topics, the majority of the teachers (80%) strongly agree that interesting topics can motivate learners to speak in speaking lessons. Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 80% 15% 5% 0% Table 1: Teachers’ attitude toward discussion topics 2.9. Teachers’ activities to motivate learners in speaking lessons (question 9) Figure 22: Teachers’ activities to motivate learners in speaking lessons The statistics in figure 22 reveal that the majority of the participants say that they resort to funny stories to help learners get involved in speaking lessons (45%), while 22% of the participants use games to motivate learners to participate in speaking lessons. And 25% of the utilize pictures. It is worth noting that only 8% of the surveyed teachers use oral presentation to motivate learners to speak. With purpose of collecting factual data, the researcher designed 10 questions, and 9 out of 10 questions were given ready – made answers under multi-choice and the participants can choose their most suitable reply, however, question 10 without under open question aims at receiving valuable experiences of teaching speaking from the participants. And it is very encouraging for the researcher to collect worthy experiences from some of the participants. In their opinions to help learners get involved effectively in speaking lessons, teachers should: choose learners of the same knowledge to give speaking tasks create a free speaking environment for learners encourage learners to speak as much as possible be patient and tolerant with learners use some teaching aids and real things The result collected from question 10 reveals that teaching speaking is not easy at all. It requires teachers not only a great effort but also great enthusiasm. After collecting the data from the two questionnaires for learners and teachers, the researcher would like to summarize findings and give some recommendations. 3. Observation In order to make the study more reliable and more convincing, the researcher attended a class at HP FLC. Unit: 18 – Where have all the fans gone? Class: C1a2c3 Time allowance: 90 minutes Date: March 5, 2008 In this class, the teacher carried out activities as follows: First of all, she asked students to read the text for about 15 minutes. Then she asked them about the new words and structures in the reading text. After that she wrote those new words on the board and explained the meanings and the ways of using structures, which took about 25 minutes. Next, she called some students to make sentences using the given words and structures, which took about 10 minutes. Finally, she gave them a topic of football for discussion. This activity was given 40 minutes, the rest time of the lesson. However, in the view of the researcher, the topic was rather interesting but difficult for students to discuss. With the type of the activity, the teacher did some following steps: Step 1: gave them 10 minutes to work in pairs Step 2: called 4 students to speak their opinion about football, which took about 13 minutes Step 3: asked other students about their favorite football teams and famous footballers, which took about 15 minutes Step 4: finished the lesson To sum up, activities carried out by the teacher were not interesting enough for students to get involved in speaking. According to the researcher’s observation, the atmosphere was not exciting because some of students seemed to be ignored by teacher because she did not move around the class to give help to learners, jut sat down at the teacher’s table or stand near the board. Due to the fact, the more than half of the class kept silent. Chapter 5: findings and recommendation 1. Findings According to the results collected from the two questionnaires distributed to 80 learners and 15 teachers and the researcher’s observation at HP FLC, some findings can be categorized in the following: Course book The findings from the survey show that the course book currently used at the centre is not only boring but also difficult in teaching speaking to learners. Most of the surveyed teachers are not satisfied with the course book. In addition, topics based on the course book are not interesting enough to draw learners’ attention to the lessons. The majority of the learners show the fact and this is one of reasons explaining why learners often feel reluctant to speak in speaking lessons. Current teaching method According to the survey, communication teaching is applied by a large number of teachers. However, many of the surveyed teachers still focus much on grammar-centered approach. They concentrate on accuracy and form more than fluency. Moreover, the survey also states that the majority of the learners suppose that boring teaching method is one of main factors making them reluctant to get involved in speaking lessons. Teachers play a very significant role in enhancing learners to speak or in other words have a great influence on learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. The statistics in the survey reveal that teachers use too much English and speak with too fast speed, which negatively affect learners. Besides, in class, teachers seem to take much time explaining grammatical rules and isolated words in speaking lessons. Their talking time is inappropriate because they occupy almost all the class-time to speak, which leads to talking time for learners is limited and affects their involvement in speaking lessons. Learners do not have enough time for creative and active study. According to the result of the survey, the number of learners expect their teachers to give them more time to work in pair and group in speaking lessons occupy a not small percentage. In addition to this, the method of error correction done by teachers is not proper, either, which minimizes learners’ interest in speaking lessons. Learners are interrupted during their presentation because of their mistakes, and this is an obstacle for fluency of their speaking and a great influence on their continuous thinking. Learners may forget what they intend to speak. Moreover, interrupting learners for error correction may make them puzzled and shy and can be a hindrance to their participation. Teachers’ attitude toward reluctant learners discovered from the survey shows that teachers seem not to be tolerant with learners. Most of the surveyed teachers get angry or criticize their learners when they are reluctant to speak. However, it is not fair if only teachers are to blame for learners’ poor participation in speaking lessons. Learners’ difficulties in getting involved in speaking lessons The finding states that learners themselves have difficulties in getting involved in speaking lessons. According to the survey, learners find it difficult to speak due to the following reasons: their prior learning experiences their anxiety or shyness in class their low English proficiency 1.3.1 Learners’ prior learning experiences In the view of Nunan, David (1999), one of the main reasons explaining the reluctance of speakers is partly due to their learning experience. To the knowledge of the researcher, many of the learners were educated in large classes in school and even at universities and they had little opportunities to speak and others were taught in school and universities where speaking was simply not encouraged. The teaching method given to these learners mainly focuses on grammar and accuracy not speaking. The finding from the survey shares the same opinion and adds that most of the learners meet difficulty in expressing their ideas because of lack of vocabulary. 1.3.2 Anxiety or Shyness in class It can be realized from the finding that learners’ anxiety or shyness is another main factor affecting learners to get involved in speaking lessons. They feel shy and not willing to speak because they are afraid of being laughed by their partners whenever they make mistakes or when being asked by their teachers. And being not accustomed to speaking in front of other members in the class also make them reluctant to speak in lessons. Low English proficiency According to the survey, learners’ low proficiency in English is also a major factor preventing them from speaking. Although they are at intermediate level, they still have difficulty in expressing what they really want to talk. The statistics from the survey prove the fact that their poor pronunciation and mother-tongued inference have bad influence on their involvement in English speaking lessons. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking in speaking lessons The result from the survey indicates that teachers have met difficulties in teaching speaking to learners. The majority of the surveyed teachers say that large – sized class and multi –level class are the two main reasons affecting their teaching. With at least 30 students in each class, and sometimes up to 40 or more than 40 in each class make it difficult for teachers to design suitable speaking tasks or manage learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. In addition, a class of multi-level is also an obstacle for teachers because learners are not the same age and do not have the same background of learning English before. Besides, lack of teaching aids is another trouble for teachers, however, the factor only occupies a small percentage. Teachers’ ways of motivating learners to speak in speaking lessons To encourage learners to take part in speaking lessons, teachers should design appropriate activities for learners. However, findings from the survey reveal that activities made by teachers are not interesting enough to draw learners’ attention or in other words not suitable with learners’ ability. One of the activities mostly utilized by teachers is role-play. Other activities such as interviewing, questioning and games for speaking seem to be put aside by teachers. Also according to the survey, most of the surveyed teachers consider interesting topics to be an effective way to draw learners’ attention in speaking lessons. Up to 80% of the teachers agree that interesting topics can enhance learners to speak while very few teachers create a natural speaking environment for learners or let them talk freely to motivate them to speak. It is discovered that before each discussion topic, the number of teachers let learners discuss the given topic themselves makes up a large percentage whereas some of the surveyed provide learners with new words relating to the topic or main ideas. These activities can be said to be good to learners in helping them widen their vocabulary. And a very small number of teachers divide learners into pair or group before each topic. Other findings With purpose of finding the activities which help motivate learners to speak effectively in speaking lessons, the researcher would like to design some activities such as oral presentation, reporting news, telling funny stories and describing pictures to choose according to their interests. It is very exciting to discover that most of the learners are interested in oral presentation, reporting news ranks the second, telling funny stories occupies number three and the last position is describing pictures. When being asked about factors that assist learners better get involved in speaking lessons, the majority of the surveyed learners respond that confidence and careful preparation for the given topics are the two factors that give them great help. Besides, others suppose that try to speak fluently and actively work in pair and group also help a lot in speaking lessons. Learners’ expectations towards teachers From the result collected in the survey, it can be recognized that most of the surveyed learners expect their teachers to let them choose appropriate topics to discuss and give them more time to work in pair and in group and at the same time provide them with suitable and interesting speaking tasks because these activities can help learners a lot in expressing their ideas freely and creatively. Teachers should pay more attention to learners’ needs so as to help promote their participation in speaking lessons effectively. 2. Suggested techniques for maximizing learners’ involvement in English speaking lessons 2.1 Suggestions for the teachers According to the result of the survey, it is admitted that besides textbook, the teaching method currently applied at HP FLC is also a great problem in teaching speaking to learners. However, it is undeniable that a number of difficulties identified in the survey result are also a big obstacle for teachers. Therefore, in order to improve the situation of teaching English speaking at the centre in general and to motivate intermediate level reluctant learners in particular, teachers should make best use of communication teaching method in the first place, that is create realistic contexts for language acquisition in the classroom so as to develop communicative competence. According to the finding from the survey, the majority of the learners are not satisfied with their teachers’ activities in class, which is a factor make them reluctant to get involved in speaking. In addition, teachers should manage their talking time in a proper way and minimize error correction during learners’ presentation due to the fact that inappropriate error correction can cause counterproductive effect and have bad influence on learners. Moreover, teachers ought to be more tolerant with reluctant learners. To make learners interested in speaking, teachers are suggested to: design interesting activities suitable to learners’ ability in class so that the learners feel motivated to speak. provide learners with appropriate and interesting topics to discuss, especially topics relating to real life to create enjoyable class atmosphere that make them interested to get involved in. provide them with new words and structures concerning the topic in order to improve their vocabulary and help them more confident when expressing their ideas. give learners more time to work in pair and in group because working in pair and in group can help them exchange ideas and learn from each other. create a natural and free speaking environment for learners because this can help learners a lot in expressing their ideas freely and creatively. provide them with suitable speaking tasks and interesting situation for learners to practice speaking. establish close and friendly relationship with learners in order to minimize their reluctance to involve in speaking lessons and help correct their pronunciation when necessary. give learners more compliments, encouragements than criticism. 2.2 Suggestions for the learners As mentioned above, learners themselves have their own difficulties in getting involved in speaking lessons. In particular, many of the learners were educated in large classes in school and even at universities and they had little chances to speak and others were taught in school and universities where speaking was not encouraged. Other subjective factors from learners such as anxiety or shyness in class and low English proficiency also badly affect learners. In order to overcome the difficulties and better get involved in speaking lessons, learners are suggested to: more actively participate in activities given by teachers exchange ideas with other learners in the same group or learn experiences from better students try to speak in class although your voice is not good enough be confident when presenting your ideas and not be afraid of being laughed by other learners because your teachers will be always beside you and give help. prepare well given topics and discuss with your pair or group before presenting in front of other members practise taking the roles of subjects in the conversations with other partners listen to the tape or teachers to correct your pronunciation, which will help you more confident to speak. put yourselves in imaginative situations and find solutions to these situations if any difficulties arise, you can ask your partners or teachers for help Basing on the findings from the survey and teaching experiences of the researcher, some useful and feasible techniques will be presented suggested. 2.3 Techniques to maximize learners’ involvement in English speaking lessons 2.3.1 Pair work and group work Pair work and group work can be considered to be an effective solution for teachers to teach in large-size class and multi- level class. It may take time and class might be noisy, however, learners will step by step get used to the types of activities and can enjoy the benefits which pair work and group work bring about to them. The result of the survey says that learners need their teachers to give them more time to work in pair and in group. It can be said that these activities enable learners to express and exchange ideas with their partners, which helps shy and reluctant learners feel more confident and more motivated. Moreover, these activities help teachers escape from hard and boring work of explaining everything and then calling learners to stand up and answer questions. During pair work and group work activities, teachers act as a guide and give help whenever they need. But with the types of these activities, teachers should always be close to learners to make sure that lazy learners can not take advantage of this chance to talk in mother tongue and sit around. Therefore, teachers should make best use of pair work and group work and design various speaking tasks suitable to each lesson and appropriate to learners’ ability. To apply this technique effectively and properly, teachers should prepare well for the lessons and must be really well-organized. An example of pair work and group work. Teacher gives students the four following situations and let them choose the situation they like best. (see the situations in Appendix 4) Task: Imagine that you want to start a conversation with strangers in each of these situations. What icebreakers would you use? Teacher suggests some solutions as follows: In the third situation I would use icebreakers: “Would you like a drink?” or “What a nice party!” to start a conversation. What about you? After that teacher gives pair work for the learners who share the same choice. Time allowance for pair work: 10 minutes After 3 minutes, teacher asks them to gather with other pairs to practice asking and answering about the situations. Time allowance for group work: 20 minutes Time allowance for the activity: 30 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) 2.3.2 Role-play According to the result of the survey, role-play is an activity mostly used by teachers. This activity should be taken best advantage in language teaching class as it can create the presence of real life situations in the classroom and supply learners with opportunities to develop social skills and creativity. The activity is also very useful for quiet and shy learners. However, it requires careful preparation and organization from teachers to attract learners to the realistic and interesting situations. To this kind of activity, some learners may feel reluctant to participate, therefore teachers are supposed to move around the class to observe and encourage reluctant speakers by giving them suggestions. Basing on teaching experiences of the researcher, some suggestions below can create an exciting atmosphere for all learners in the class and help shy or reluctant learners to participate in. Step 1: Teachers choose interesting situations (teachers can use situation in the text book if they find it interesting enough). Step 2: give it to learners and ask them to take the roles of the subjects in the conversation. Learners can choose the role suitable with them and practice with another partner sitting at the same table or in front of them or behind them. This step is proper with learners of a bit low proficiency and reluctant learners. Step 3: Ask learners to change subjects and create new conversations. Step 4: Ask learners to remember their roles the conversation and then act creatively with their partners in front of other members in the class. This step can be a bit difficult but can motivate good learners and create an exciting class air. Time allowance: 40 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) Two examples of role-play. The first example is taken from the current text book (Streamline English –Destination) the researcher is teaching. (see the situation in Appendix 4) Teachers do as suggested steps above. Step 1: give them the situation Step 2: ask them to take the roles of a new soldier and Sergeant-Major Sergeant-Major: Smith! What are you doing? Smith: I’m listening to the radio, sir. Sergeant-Major: And what are you supposed to be doing, Smith? Smith: I’m not sure, sir. ……………………………… Step 3: Ask learners to change other subjects (Jones, Murphy, Mc Coy, KilRoy and Sergeant-Major) and create new conversations. Step 4: Ask them to remember their roles and act in front of other members. The second example is an interview between a reporter and a new student. The reporter asks the new student about his daily life, his interests and so on. The researcher gives them suggestions and do as suggested above. However, with this situation learners must design and create questions and answers by themselves. Reporter: Hi, I’m from Hai Phong Television Station. Pleased to meet you. Student: Pleased to meet you, too! My name’s Lan. Reporter: Could I ask you some questions about your daily life? ……………………………………………………………….. 2.3.3 Oral presentation Also according to the survey, a lot of learners love the activity. And the researcher has experimented and applied the activity to learners at Hai Phong FLC and found out that the result seems to be very encouraging. Learners show their great interest in the activity. This activity should be used to motivate all learners (both good reluctant learners) and to participate in speaking lesson. With the type of the activity, teachers only take the role as guides and give help if they need. Teachers do not need to give learners situations or topics because they can choose favorite topics suitable with their abilities. Yet, teachers are supposed to divide them in to small groups and arrange time for all groups. These groups will take turn to present orally in front of other members in class. The activity will help learners to work creatively and learn from each other. For example: with a class of 40 learners. Teachers are suggested to do as directed below: Firstly, teachers divide them in to 8 groups of four and then give them some time to reach common agreement about the topic they are interested in most. Secondly, teachers ask them to assign particular work for each member in the same group. Good learners will help other learners in the group look for ideas and arrange ideas in a proper way. At this stage, teachers should be close to learners to help. Thirdly, teachers ask one group (when they are ready) to orally present in front of other members in class. This group will present the topic within 10 minutes and answer questions made by other learners relating to the topic for another 15 minutes. Other groups will take turn to present in the next lessons. 3 groups should be called in each lesson. Finally, when they finish their work, all the class clap hands to encourage and then teachers draw experiences for other group to help them better participation for the next time of oral presentation. Time allowance for each group : 25 minutes Total time allowance for 3 groups : 75 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) 2.3.4 Topic discussion With the type of activity, small discussion groups are the most suitable because of the following reasons: Learners feel more confident and willing to speak with others in small group and not being afraid of shyness. Learners have more chances to express and share opinions and practise speaking English. However, teachers should carry out some procedures for discussion: introduce an interesting and suitable topic depend on the size of the class to divide learners in to suitable group provide learners words or structures relating to the topic to help them widen vocabulary suggest some main ideas about the topic move around the class to keep an eye on learners and make sure that all of them are participating in the topic. encourage them to speak out their ideas Some suggested topics for discussion are: Can money buy happiness? Advantages and Disadvantages of late marriage Advantages and Disadvantages of living in the city Out of work: causes and solutions The importance of English in modern society Food and Health Student life is interesting? Your future job Time allowance: 60 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) 2.3.5 Using funny stories This activity can be useful for all levels of the study. Funny stories can make the class atmosphere more exciting and enjoyable, however, not all funny stories can be told in the class. Some suggestions below can help learners get involved in: Teachers ask all learners to prepare an English funny story at home. Teachers will call 2 or 3 learners to tell the story for each lesson. (Learners will take turn to tell their funny stories and teachers should keep a record to bear in mind learners who have told the story and who have not.) Stories chosen by learners must be short and easy to understand. Learners can translate Vietnamese funny stories into English and then retell in class. Learners must remember the story before telling it in front of other members in the class because the story teller can attract other learners in to the story and understand the story more easily. However, teachers need to take time to edit the story together with story teller before he or she tells the funny story in front of other members in class. Time allowance: 7 - 10 minutes for each story Total Time allowance: 21- 30 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) 2.3.6 Reporting news With the type of activity, learners can look for information very easily from a variety of sources of such as from television, radio, newspaper, internet and so on. This activity can be used to encourage learners to speak and it is very useful to see that learners can help each other to supplement various knowledge of vocabulary and feel more confident. To help learners get involved in effectively, teachers are suggested to: ask learners to choose short and easy to understand news ask them to write new words and explain the meanings of the new words on the board in order to make it easier for other learners to keep up with the news help them check and correct pronunciations of new words before they report the news in front of other members in the class applaud to encourage learners after they finish reporting the news With the type of activity, teachers should assign duty for 2 or 3 learners to prepare the news for each lesson. Learners can choose news appropriate to their ability and teachers are supposed to motivate learners to report many kinds of news to make the class atmosphere more exciting and more friendly. Time allowance: 10 minutes for each piece of news Total time allowance: 20- 30 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) An example of the activity The following is a piece of news about football collected from the internet by a learner Calisto back as a national coach Portugal’s Henrique Calisto has been chosen to take the helm as the national football team’ head coach for a second time, filling in the vacant post left by Austrian Alfred Riedl, who resigned last December. Calisto, who guided Long An to two straight V-League titles in 2005 and 2006, was shortlisted together with British coach Peter With as one of two finalists for the post left vacant after Riedl stepped down following the national team’s disappointing performance at the Southeast Asian Games in Thai land. Calisto will be the second foreigner, following Riedl, who coached Viet Nam twice in the past ten years, to coach in national team twice. Newwords(written by learner who reported the news) take the helm: dÉn d¾t filling in the vacant post: lÊp chç trèng resign: tõ chøc shortlist: chän trong danh s¸ch finalist: ng­êi cuèi cïng left vacant: bá trèng coach: «ng bÇu, huÊn luyÖn viªn To sum up, the learning atmosphere also plays an important role in the success of teaching. If the atmosphere is not friendly and exciting, speaking activities in class seem not to be effective. Therefore, teachers should consider and make best use of some suggested techniques in class and create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere to maximize learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. 2.3.7 Games for speaking The activity can help all learners participate in the game at the same time and can create an exciting atmosphere in the class, however, it will take time for teachers to look for games and design games for all learners to get involved in for the first time. After that teachers should assign work to learners to seek games and design games to play in the class. Teachers take the role of a guide and give help only as soon as learners well undertake the assigned work. Teacher are suggested to divide the class into 4 or 6 groups. ask them to prepare games to play in the class ask 2 groups to play against each other in front of other groups encourage winners with applauding or rewards Time allowance: 5 minutes for each group Total Time allowance: 30- 40 minutes (out of 90 minutes of a lesson) 2.3.8 Questioning This activity can be used to motivate reluctant learners to speak and promote good learners to express their ideas freely. Teachers need to understand the ability of every learner in the class to use appropriate questioning strategy to question learners and can receive their feedback as expected. An example of the activity Teacher: it’s nice today, is it? (then point at a learner and ask him to answer) Learner 1: Yes, it is Teacher: Do you like the weather today? (point at another learner) Learner 2: Yes, I do Teacher: What about you? (point at another) ………………………………………….. Time allowance: it’s up to teachers to make questions during the lesson Part three: Conclusion Summary of the study In the first part of the minor thesis, Introduction, the researcher clearly presented key issues such as the rationale, the aim, scope and method of the study. In the rationale, the researcher has mentioned learners’ desires and needs to learn speaking in the class. In order to investigate the current teaching method and learning situation and also at the same time find out difficulties encountered by both teachers and learners during teaching and learning processes, the researcher has applied quantitative method and carried out the survey through 2 Questionnaires with 80 intermediate learners and 15 teachers together with the researcher’s observation at HP FLC. The survey has successfully collected some valuable results and found out the response to the research question mentioned in the part. With regard to theoretical background, in chapter one of part two, the researcher introduced language issues: nature of language skills, nature of speaking skill and teaching speaking in a clear way. An overview of teaching and learning English at HP FLC has been presented in chapter 2 of the same part. Based on the survey findings, the major factors that make learners reluctant to get involved in speaking lessons in the class have been identified, including course book, current inappropriate teaching method, difficulties that have hindered learners to participate in speaking lessons. And learners’ expectations toward teachers and teachers ‘difficulties in their motivating learners involve in speaking lessons have been discovered, for instance, large-sized class and multi-level class and so on. Finally, suggestions for both teachers and learners have been made and techniques that help maximize learners’ involvement in speaking lessons have been presented in chapter 5, including pair work and group work, role play, oral presentation, topic discussion, using funny stories and reporting news, games for speaking and questioning with hope of giving some contributions to improve the current teaching and learning situation at the centre, based on the findings from the survey questionnaires. Limitations and suggestions for further study Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, the research can not avoid some limitations. The shortcomings of the present study are mainly about the subject of the study and the content of Questionnaires. Firstly, the research has been carried out in a very small scope. The number of learners and teachers involved in the survey is still limited, so to some extent, the findings may not generalized to all learners at the centre. Secondly, the target subject of the study are just for learners of intermediate level at the centre, but not all learners in speaking lessons. Apart from the abovementioned, the two Questionnaires focus mainly on the investigation into factors affecting both teachers and learners in speaking lessons and teachers’ activities to motivate learners to get involved in speaking lessons, so there are possible inadequateness of their content. 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