Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS teaching speaking skills through problem solving activities to second year non english major students at hanoi university of business and technology

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG QUỲNH LIÊN

TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES
TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY
OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
Dạy nói thơng qua các hoạt động giải quyết vấn đề cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không
chuyên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS
Field : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Code : 60.14.10

HANOI, 2012

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐẶNG QUỲNH LIÊN

TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES
TO SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY
OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY
Dạy nói thơng qua các hoạt động giải quyết vấn đề cho sinh viên năm thứ hai không

chuyên Tiếng Anh Trường Đại học Kinh doanh và Công nghệ Hà Nội

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
Code : 60.14.10
Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỤY PHƯƠNG LAN, M.A

HANOI, 2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration………………………………………………………………...…………i
Acknowledgements……..……………………………………………………...……ii
Abstract……………...……………………………………………………..........................……..iii
Appendices…………………………………………………………………......................………vii
List of abbreviations……………………………………………………..……......................…..viii
List of tables and charts…………………………………………………….......................……..viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...…......................….1
1.

Rationale of the study……………………………………………...............…......…..……….1

2.

Aims and research questions of the study………………………………........................…….3

3.

Scope of the study……………………………………………………….……........................3

4.

Significance of the study………………………………………………....................…....….3

5.

Methods of the study………………………………………………….….....................….…..3

6.

Design of the study…………………………………………………..….....................……….4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……………………………………………......................................5
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………....…...…...........................…5
1.1.

Communicative language teaching and Collaborative learning….….......….....................5

1.1.1. Communicative language teaching (CLT)…………………………………..........................5
1.1.2. Collaborative learning (CL)……………………………………………...….........................7
1.2.

An overview of speaking skill…………………………………..………................….......8

1.2.1.

Definition of speaking skill……………………………………..….……...................…...8

1.2.2.

Components of speaking………………………………………...…....................………...9

1.2.3.

Characteristics of a successful speaking activity……………...……......….....................10

1.3.

Problem-solving activities in teaching speaking…………….……....................…….....11

1.3.1.

What is the problem-solving activity? ………………………..…...................…..….....11

1.3.2.

Benefits of using problem solving activities in teaching speaking…....................…..…12

1.3.3.

Types of problem-solving and procedures of problem-solving activity in speaking

lesson………………………………………………………………....................................….…15
a. Types of problem-solving activities…………………………….......................…………….….15
b. Problem-solving activity procedure………………………………….......................………..…16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………………………………………….……18

2.1.

Setting of the study…………………………….………………….….…….18

2.2.

The learning materials…………………………….……………....................……...……19

2.3.

The participants………………………………….…………...…...................…..…..…..19

2.3.1.

The students……………………………………….…………….....................…….….…19
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2.3.2.

The teachers…………………………………….....................…….…………….…….…20

2.4. Action research procedure…………………………….……..........................……….….…..20
2.4.1.

Problem identification………………………………….…………….....................…….21

2.4.2.

Preliminary Investigation……………………………………….…….....................……21

2.4.3.

Plan of action………………………………………………….….....................………..22

2.5.

Evaluating students‟ speaking proficiency………………….….....................…………..25

2.6.

Methods of data collection……………………………….…………….......................…25

2.6.1.

Interview………………………………………………….…………....................……..25

2.6.2.

The teacher‟s classroom observations……………………...……..…....................…….25

2.6.3.

English speaking tests……………………………………….………….........................25

2.6.4.

Questionnaire………………………………………….………….......................………26

2.7.

Data collection procedure………………………………………….….......................….26

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS and Discussions………………..……...............................28
3.1.

Research question 1: How would problem-solving activities improve students‟ speaking

English skill?.................................................................................................................28
3.2. Research question 2: What are students‟ attitudes towards problem-solving activities in
speaking lessons?............................................................................................................31
a. Students‟ attitude towards speaking skills………………………………......................………31
b. Students‟ attitude towards problem-solving activities in speking lessons….....................…...33
c. Factors

of

problem-solving

activities

affect

on

students‟

interest

in

speaking

English………………………………………………………………….......................…...……..37
Part C: Conclusion………………………………………...……..................................………40
1. Conclusion……………………………………………………….....................…...…………40
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study……………………....................………....….40
REFERENCES………………………………………………………......................……....……42
APPENDICES……………...…………………………………………...........................………..vii

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APPENDICES
Appendices

page

Speaking criteria and marking sheet

I

Record of Students‟ scores in pre- and post-tests

II

Marking sheet for oral test Module 3

III

Marking sheet for oral test Module 4

IV

Speaking Communicative observation form

V

Interview Questions for students

VII

Post-intervention survey questionnaire (English version)

VIII

Post-intervention survey questionnaire (Vietnamese version)

XI

Sample oral progress test A2

XIV

Sample oral progress test A3

XVI

Sample oral progress test A4

XVIII

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONs
HUBT:

Hanoi University of Business and Technology

CLT:

Communicative language teaching

CL:

Collaborative learning

ESL/ EFL: English as a second or foreign language

List of tables and charts
List of tables

page

Table 1: Participants‟ characteristics

20

Table 2: Data collection instruments

28

Table 3: The tendency of the test scores

30

Table 4: Number of students Number of students increased their score in each component 30
in post-test.
Table 5: Students‟ comment on the difficulty of speaking skill

34

Table 6: Students‟ self-assessment in their speaking English performance

35

Table 7: Students‟ comment on teachers‟ problem-solving activities

36

List of charts
Chart 1: Student‟s score of pre-oral test and post-test

29

Chart 2: Students‟ performance in speaking lesson

31

Chart 3. Student‟s attitude towards speaking skills

32

Chart 4: Students‟ feeling about speaking activities

33

Chart 5: Students‟ evaluation of the improvement in their speaking skill

34

Chart 6: Students‟ evaluation on problem-solving activities given in their speaking lessons

37

Chart 7: Factors affect students‟ interest in speaking English

38

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Part A: Introduction
This chapter is to introduce the rationale and the way she identified the problem
facing her students’ English speaking skills. Besides, the scope, the objectives, and
the research questions as well as the methods and design of the study are also
stated clearly.
7. Rationale of the study
With the globalization of trade and economy and the continuing increase of
international communication in various fields, English has become the most
essential language in the world and it is used by most people from many countries
for international communication. That entitled English as a required language for
schools in many countries around the world in general, and in Asia in particular. In
a country like Vietnam where English is used as a foreign language and up to 98%
Vietnamese students choose to study English (among English, Russian, Chinese,
French) as a foreign language subject (Do, 2000 quoted in Canh, 2007), Vietnamese
educators and administrators are putting big concern in how to improve the quality
of English learning and teaching. Moreover, English language teaching focuses on
not only in linguistic competence of the language learners but also in the
development of their communicative ability.
In this context, Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT), where
thousands of students graduate to become businesspeople, knows that English plays
an essential role in their future job as business; hence; with good English
knowledge, students are more likely to have better opportunities as well as do a
good job after their graduation. However, only a few of them can speak in English
well after graduation. Most of them said that speaking is an important skill and they
worries about their slow improvement in their speaking ability, but they do not pay
much attention to speaking lessons. They are often not interested and engage in
speaking activities. The reasons may be due to both teachers and learners. The
teachers teach the students traditionally. The activities given for speaking may not
be interesting enough to get students involved in, and offer them few opportunities

to practice with target language. To students, in learning speaking skill, they often
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find several problems. The most frequently found problem is the influence of their
native language. Other obstacles are the lack of motivation, vocabulary, enjoyment
to practice the foreign language. They are also too shy and afraid to take part in
conversations.
These require teachers to find and apply more effective speaking activities that in
developing learners‟ communicative competence and help students get more
involved in speaking lessons. To deal with these problems, many learner-learner
interactive activities are paid more attention. One of them is problem-solving
activities. Problem-solving is a form of discussion has received a lot of supports
from scholars, educators, teachers for many years. According to Nunan (1989),
communicative problem-solving tasks which learners undertake in small groups can
facilitate language acquisition. Besides, the communication skill is also improved
via talking together to find out a solution for a problem or task given that stimulate
the interaction between the student- student and student-teacher. Actually, problemsolving works well in creating situation and atmosphere for students to practice,
Klippel (1984) claimed that in general, students will have to make suggestions, give
reasons, and accept, modify or reject suggestions and reasons given by others in
problem-solving activities. Other advantage of problem solving is that the ability to
communicate and the self-confidence of students increase when they share their
information and opinion to reach the solution to a problem. In problem-solving
activities in which students use target language as a mean to solve a problem also
increase their motivation, participation and the use of the L2. The reason for this
high interest and involvement lies in the fact that students have to use their
cognitive skills and logic to arrive at solutions to problems relevant to their own
lives. Students learn and acquire the target language by using it for critical thinking

and problem solving.
For these above reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct an action research on
“Teaching speaking skills through problem-solving activities to second-year nonEnglish major students at Hanoi University of Business and Technology” with
the aim to investigate if the activities help learners to improve speaking skills.

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8. Aims and research questions of the study
This research is carried out in order to examine the use of problem-solving activities
to develop the 2nd- year non- English major students‟ English speaking ability at
Hanoi University of Business and Technology. Additionally, it is planned to explore
students‟ attitude towards problem-solving activities applied in speaking lessons.
To reach the aims of the study, the two research questions are raised as follows:
(1) How would problem-solving activities improve the students‟ speaking skills?
(2) What are the students‟ attitudes towards problem-solving activities in speaking
lessons?
9. Scope of the study
To improve speaking skill, the teacher can apply diversified methods and
techniques. However, this study was limited to the application of problem-solving
activities group work to enhance English speaking skill for the second-year students
who were studying English as a minor subject at Hanoi University of Business and
Technology. In addition, this researcher also attempts to find students‟ attitudes
towards problem-solving activities after the six-week implementation.
10. Significance of the study
The study is carried out with the intention to provide teachers of English at HUBT
with a deeper understanding of using problem-solving activities in teaching
speaking skills. In addition, it is expected that this study will serve as a source of

references for teachers of English on the teaching of speaking skills, especially for
those who are searching alternative activities to help their students develop speaking
skill and not get bored in speaking lessons.
11. Methods of the study
As mentioned above, this research adopts an action research in an attempt to
improve students‟ speaking skill and teaching speaking in the teacher – researcher‟s
own class. In so doing, the method including interview, questionnaires and class
observation sheets, oral tests were employed during the process of data collection.

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12. Design of the study
The study is divided into three main parts as follow:
Part A- Introduction: This part presents the rationale, the aims and the research
questions, the scope, significance as well as the methods and design of the study.
Part B- Development: This part consists of three chapters
Chapter 1 – Literature review: In this chapter, relevant literature regarding
speaking skill and problem-solving activities are reviewed.
Chapter 2 – Methodology: In this part, the context of the study is introduced, the
problem is identified, the plan of action is presented, and explanations are given to
instruments of collection, as well as data and data collection procedure.
Chapter 3 – Data analysis and discussions: the data is interpreted, research
questions are answered and major finding are discussed in this section.
Part C– Conclusion: In this part, the finding is summarized. The limitation of the
research and recommendations are also presented in this part.
Besides, the list of references and the appendixes are also parts of this study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the writer attempts to provide a review the theories related to
problem-solving activities in speaking lessons. All of these serve as a basis for an
investigation into using problem-solving activities to teach speaking skills for
students.
1.1.

Communicative language teaching and Collaborative learning.

1.1.1. Communicative language teaching (CLT)
It is difficult to define which teaching method is the most effective if you don‟t
consider the context in which it is applied because most teaching methods bear both
advantages and disadvantages. With the aim of my thesis, I only focus on CLT
which is considered as one of the most effective method to teach speaking skill with
the aim to “develop learners‟ ability and willingness to use the target language
appropriately and accurately for the purpose of effective communication (Seils,
1993).
There are many definitions of CLT by different methodologists. According to
Richards (1998) CLT can be understood as a set of principles about the goal of
language teaching, how learners learn language, the kind of classroom activities that
best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom.
David Nunan (1989:194), states that CLT as “a system for the expression of
meaning. Activities involves oral communication, carry out meaning task and using
language which is meaningful to the learners…The learners‟ role is as an negotiator

and integrator and the teachers‟ role is a facilitator of the communication process.
Futhermore, he also lists five features to characterize CLT:
-

An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target
language.

-

The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.

-

The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language,
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but also on the Learning Management process.
-

An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important
contributing elements to classroom learning.

-

An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities
outside the classroom.

In definition of CLT, Littlewood (1981:1) stresses that the most characteristic
features of CLT is that it plays systematic attention to functional as well as
structural aspect of language. In other aspects of teaching language, Ho (2004)
cities in Littlewood) show that the most common understanding of the
communicative approach is that “providing the teachers with communicative
activities in the repertoire of teaching skill and giving learners the opportunities in
class to practice the language skills taught.
The use of problem-solving as a communicative interactive technique in EFL/ ESL
has been advocated by several writers. According to Littlewood (1990) problemsolving activity is a type of communicative activities that have been designed to
provide opportunities for learners to produce language that they have recently
learnt. In this type of activities, students are encourage to talk together to find a
solution to problems or tasks. He claims that this type of activity dispenses
completely with the need to share information. Students now have access to all the
relevant facts. The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and
evaluate these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a
decision.
Problem solving, in form of discussion, need not be based only on everyday
situations that arise inside or outside the classroom. The teacher may also present
more unusual situations, in order to stimulate the students‟ ingenuity. In these
activities, students must not only analyze information, but also argue, justify and
persuade, in order to reach a common decision. They, therefore, provide a context
for a still wider range of communicative functions. They also make it still more
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necessary for students to develop skills in managing the interaction at the
interpersonal level. This fact often produces a high degree of personal involvement
among the participants.

To sum up, these show that the communicative approach which offer
communicative activities as problem-solving activities may meet the needs and
desires of the learners in the connection between the language and it is taught in
their class and as it is used outside the classroom.
1.1.2. Collaborative learning (CL)
Currently collaborative learning has received much attention of many researchers
and become popular over the last decade. Many researches in education have
demonstrated that students‟ active participation in the educational process increases
their learning and retention. In an active, collaborative, or cooperative learning
environment, students take more responsibility for their own education (Pariseau &
Kezim, 2007). CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered
approach.
In the research: Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional
Productivity by Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Smith, K. A. (1991) show that
“Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups so that students work
together to maximize their own and each other's learning”. Moreover, it involves the
learners in the active exchange of ideas rather than passive learning.
Canh (2003) states that collaborative or cooperative learning is closely connected
with a variety of concepts and techniques with the aim at fostering the interaction
between learners. The theory and practice of cooperative learning operate on the
basis of the principle that learners not only learn from the teachers but also from
each other.
Regarding the benefits of collaborative learning, Panitz (1999) states that CL can
improve learners‟ attitudes by creating a favorable disposition towards the learning
experience through personal relevance and choice. A primary benefit of CL is that it
enhances students' self-esteem that in turn motivates students to participate in the
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learning process (Johnson & Johnson, 1989). Cooperative efforts among students
result in a higher degree of accomplishment by all participants (Slavin, 1987).
Students help each other and in doing so build a supportive community which raises
the performance level of each member (Kagan, 1986). Besides, another obvious
effect on learners is developing students' social interaction skills. By asking group
members to identify what behaviors help them work together and by asking
individuals to reflect on their contribution to the group's success or failure, students
are made aware of the need for healthy, positive, helping interactions (Panitz, 1996;
Cohen, 1991).
Problem-solving are the most essential activities in our daily life, and most often of
these activities are practiced in collaboration with others throughout that lead to a
discussion of several ways of solving the problem. According to Schoenfeld (1989)
(citied in Forman & McPhail. 1993), Collaborative problem-solving activities
provide a context in which support for, constraints on, and challenges to an
individual‟s thinking occur. In many of these situations, achieving the solution to a
problem becomes secondary to negotiation a shared problem definition and a
common means of communication.
1.2.

An overview of speaking skill

1.2.1. Definition of speaking skill
According to Ur (1996:120), all of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and
writing) speaking seems intuitively the most important. Moreover, this is speaking
that is an important criteria to measure who know a language, Pattison (1992)
shows that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being
able to speak the language.
There are famous methodologists discuss the term of “speaking”. Brown and Yule
(1989:14) state in their book: “Speaking is to express the needs request,

information, service, etc.” The speakers say a word to the listener not only to
express what in their mind but also to express what they need. Most people might
spend their everyday life communicating with others. In other words, Nunan
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(2003:48) think that “speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists of producing
systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning.”
Regarding to a social context, there is no doubt that speaking is worth as much
attention as or even more attention than written skill. With the aim to carry out
many of the most basis transactions, the speakers need to be able to speak with
confidence. Bygate (1987) claims definition about speaking that "speaking is a skill
which deserves attention as much as the literary skills in both native and foreign
languages". When students speak in a confident and comfortable way, they can
interact better in real daily situations.
From the above definitions of speaking, it is obvious that speaking is one of the
basic skills that must be mastered by students since it is very important for them to
communicate in the class or outside the class. Moreover, when students speak in a
confident and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations.
1.2.2. Components of speaking
According to Canale & Swain (1980), Speaking include four components. They are
grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competencies. Grammar
competence is understanding and using grammatical structures accurately and
unhesitatingly relative to fluency. Sociolinguistic competence includes speech acts
such as apologies and compliments. Discourse competence involves effective
negotiation of ideas within a given discourse. Strategic competence is when
speakers have mastered language strategies, allowing them to stretch their ability to
communicate effectively in their new language.

In other words, Syakur (1987) claims that speaking is a complex skill because at
least it concerns with components of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and
fluency. The description is as follows:


Pronunciation is the students‟ way to utter English well and it deals with

phonology.


Grammar concerns with how to arrange to correct sentences in conversation.

The utility of grammar is to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language
both in oral and written form.
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

Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in conversation.

Without having a sufficient vocabulary, one can‟t communicate effectively.


Fluency and accuracy: Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently

and accurately suited with professional necessity. Basically, being fluent means
being able to keep the language coming.

1.2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
To help students not get bored with speaking activities in class time, the teachers of
English are required to make activities in order to improve the students speaking
skill or to make the teaching-speaking run more easily and interestingly. In order to
organize speaking activities successfully, it is essential to identify the characteristics
of a good speaking activity. Klippel (1985) thinks that an effective speaking lesson
needs to have three features:
a. Message oriented communication which indicates the moments in foreign
language when target language is used as a vehicle of communication.
b. It has learner – centered activities in which students’ feelings, purposes and
ideas are the focus.
c. In speaking lesson, active learning, cooperation and empathy which emphasize
the students’ active participation in the speaking process.
According to Ur (1996:120), a successful speaking activity needs to have four
typical characteristics:
a. Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period of time allocated to the
activity is in fact occupied by learners talk. This may be obvious, but often most
time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses
b. Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of
talk active participants. All get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly
evenly distributed
c. Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in
the topic and have something new to say about it, or they want to contribute to
achieve a task objective
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d. Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterances

that are relevant, easy comprehensible to teach other and of acceptable level of
language accuracy.
From their ideas above, we can see that the two authors appreciate highly features
of a successful speaking activity which prioritize the maximization of learners‟
speaking time and equal chance for everybody to speak. These characteristics are
closely related to the theme of this study in hope that learners involve much, more
actively and enthusiastically in speaking lessons.
1.3.

Problem-solving activities in teaching speaking.

1.3.1. What is the problem-solving activity?
In EFL/ESL classroom, the use of problem solving as a communicative activity is
now very popular. It is a form of interactive and collaborative learning. It has been
supported by several writers as (e.g. Klippel, 1984; Byrne, 1986, Snow, 1996) this
type of activity has by now used a lot in the L2 classroom.
In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995), a problem is a thing that is difficult to deal
with or to understand, and the term of “problem-solving” is defined as the act of
finding ways of dealing with problems. In the book: Problem solving in a foreign
language (2010), Heine defines problem-solving as higher-order cognitive process
that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills.
In Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (Richards,
J. C., Platt, J., & Platt, H. 1997) problem-solving activities are defined as simple
tasks, often involving word puzzles or simple drawings, used to stimulate pair work
and oral discussion among small groups of second language learners. The use of
such tasks is characteristic of some phases of lessons in the communicative
approach.
Being citied in Byrne (1986:94) Problem-solving activities consist of „a range of
activities which require the learners to find „solutions‟ to problems of different
kinds”.

They are utilized in the class to facilitate communicative skills. The

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students are often in pairs or groups, and they are encouraged to talk together to find
out a solution for a problem or task given.
Littlewood (1981: 38) supports problem-solving activities in which learners must
not only analyze information but also argue, justify and persuade, in order to reach a
common decision. He also admits that this type of activity dispenses completely
with the need to share information. Students now have access to all the relevant
facts. The stimulus for communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate
these facts, in pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision.
Having the same idea with Littlewood, Yahya thinks that problem-solving is
“thinking that is directed toward the solving of a specific problem that involves both
the formation of responses and the selection among possible responses”.
In Keep Talking (1984), Klippel shows that in problem-solving activities, learners
have to find solutions to various types of problems. He also stresses that most of the
problem-solving tasks often require pair or group work throughout, and lead to a
discussion of several ways of solving the problems. In fact, the language which is
needed for problem-solving activities depends on the topic of each exercise, but in
general students will have to make suggestions, give reasons and accept, modify or
reject suggestions and reasons given by others.
It can be concluded that problem-solving can be implemented as the alternative
activities to teach speaking. It is one of the most preferable communicative
activities in language classes. They show not only the competence and knowledge
but also the performance of the learner and their communicative skills. Questions

which require students to be reasonable and logical help students to learn language
in an interesting way. In problem solving activities, the problems may be based on
real or imaginary situations, and students are expected to find possible solutions for
the problems.
1.3.2. Benefits of using problem solving activities in teaching speaking.
It is acknowledge that problem-solving activities have been used popularly in
English speaking classrooms because of a range advantages as follows:
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Firstly, problem-solving activities in speaking lessons increase the amount of
students‟ participation. Being citied in Snow (1996), during class speaking practice,
the more students who can talk at any given time, the better. It is known that lessons
have limited time, so it is easy for students to get bored very quickly waiting for
their classmates' answers. That leads to starting doing something different as
chatting instead of practicing speaking English. Implementing such suitable
problems that require learners to use language to solve is one venue instructors can
take to increase students‟ motivation and participation in the classroom. Ur (1996,
128) refers that solving a problem in speaking lesson works well, producing a high
level of participation and motivation; as with many simulation tasks, participants
tend to become personally involved; they begin to relate the problem as an
emotional issue as well as an intellectual and moral one. Moreover, pair or smallgroup work in problem –solving allows more students to practice speaking than
large-group discussions or teacher-centered activities do. In other words, Michael
H. Long says if we have five or six groups, then there will be five or six times the
amount of talking.. When the teacher divides the learners into groups of four or five,
there will be at least six or eight students speaking at the same time.
Secondly, problem-solving activities increase language practice opportunities. One
of the main reasons for low achievement by many classroom EL learners is simply

that they do not have enough time to practice the new language. With the aim to
offer learners more changes to speak, problem-solving provides the students with
the opportunities for individual personal expression (Lawrence, 1972). Moreover,
in order to arrive a decision, students need to interact with each other, so the total
individual practice time is available to each student and each student has chance to
practice language by exchanging ideas with the other. This follows the idea of
Rivers (1987) that interaction as the key to improving EFL learners‟ speaking
ability. In short, problem-solving activities provide equal opportunity to all students
to think, speak and act while discussing to solve problems

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Thirdly, problem-solving activities improve the quality of students‟ talk. In the
research on the quality interaction between problem-solving and Jigsaw tasks,
Poupore (2005) refers that the strongest characteristic of problem-solving activity is
to push learners output toward more complete levels, which gave them increased
opportunities to play with their linguistic knowledge. In this way, students will get
chances to interact with other students. He also mentions that in problem-solving
tasks, students have more freedom to control the task and to control the language
that they want to use.
Fourthly, students will learn from each other. In a class there are always weak and
strong students. The foundation of problem-solving activities is collocation in group
work, so students have opportunities to share the ideas with their friends. That
would help the ability of students to overcome independently the language arising
in the process of communication. Shumin (1997) said that problem-solving
activities foster interaction and collaboration among students that complement the
affective factors in the L2 learning. He also states: “Self-esteem, empathy, reduced

anxiety, and improved attitude and motivation are all fostered when students are
engaged in genuine interaction”. Teachers themselves benefit from collaborative
learning. According to Bruffee (1993), by applying this approach, they help
students form groups or societies in which students get assistance from one another
to make progresses, and to overcome problems facing them in their new knowledge
environment.
Fifthly, in a way, students acquire language unconsciously since their whole
attention is engaged by the activity. By providing personal, social, and crosscultural issues to define, they sometimes simulate real life situations.
Last but not least, with the benefits discussed above, problem-solving activities
offer students with opportunities to develop not only their social skills as
questioning, responding, giving suggestions, but also other academic skills like
critical thinking, decision making, discussing, explaning, ets.

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In conclusion, the reason why problem-solving activities should be applied in
teaching speaking is that they enhances students‟ learning
-

Increasing the amount of students‟ participation.

-

Increasing language practice opportunities

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Improving the quality of students‟ talk

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Learning with peers

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Helping promote students‟ reasoning and decision making

Collaborative problem-solving in small groups also provide a place where:
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learners actively participate,

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respect is given to every member,

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projects and questions interest and challenge students,

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diversity is celebrated, and all contributions are valued,

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students learn skills for resolving conflicts when they arise,

1.3.3. Types of problem-solving and procedures of problem-solving activity in
speaking lesson.
a.

Types of problem-solving activities

Problem-solving activities include many different kinds of problem. To make an
effective speaking lesson using problem-solving activities, the teacher needs to
choose problems carefully. They are needed to meet two criteria as (1) the problem
should engage student interest and (2) require the students to develop and
implement the principal concepts of the course in order to successfully solve the
problem. Many of these problems, that would interest, encourage and require
learners to speak with and listen to others, involve processes which the students
commonly use in real life.
A variety of problem-solving activities can be used to develop speaking skills.
Below are some of the common ones.
Snow (1996) suggests different types of problem solving activities/tasks include:

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 Making a decision: Students are required to discuss with their classmates to
make certain decisions to reach final solution for a problem.
For example: Your foreign teacher has been offered two jobs upon return home, a
stable but boring job in a bank and a riskier but more rewarding job putting out oilwell fires. Which should he or she take?
 Prioritizing a list: the students are asked to discuss to put in order of priority.
The priority may be preferred, identify, etc.

For example: On graduation your group will be given a group ticket to visit three
places in the world. What are your first three choices and why?
 Listing steps: the students discuss to give a suggested procedure (step-by-step)
for doing something.
For example: Your English teacher wants to apply for driver‟s license in your
country. In order, what are the proper steps?
 Making plans: These activities are offered to get students to talk in order to
arrive at a decision for a plan.
For example: Your school system is short of money and needs to raise more. Come
up with a plan to improve funding for education.
 Planning campaigns/ advertisements:
For example: Your group has been given the job of selling a new detergent. Come
up with a 30-second advertisement to be presented to the class.
b. Problem-solving activity procedure
A problem-solving group is suggested by Tuckman (1965) quoted in Wright (1987)
includes four stages named forming, storming, norming and performing
Stage 1 Forming: In the group, there is some anxiety. There is a great deal of
dependence on the leader (the teacher) and a great deal of behavior directed towards
finding out the nature of the situation and also what behavior is acceptable.
At the same time, group members attempt to find out what the task is, what the rules
are for carrying out the task and the methods that are appropriate

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Stage 2 Storming: There is now conflict between sub-groups and also rebellion
against the leader. Opinions are extreme and there is resistance to group control.
Role relations are not agreed upon. All of this behavior is a resistance to the

demands of the task.
Stage 3 Norming: The group develops cohesion: norms of behavior emerge and
participants begin to accept group control. Conflicts are forgotten and members
begin to support each other. At this stage co-operation is the rule and there is open
exchange of views and feelings about the task and each other.
Stage 4 Performing: All individuals‟ problems are resolved and there is a great
deal of interpersonal activity. Members‟ roles in the group now lose their rigidity
and become more functional. At this stage solutions to the problems of the task are
found and all efforts are devoted to completing the task.
Tuckman (1965) cititied in Wright (1987)

Summary
This chapter, the researcher has just discussed the background of her paper with
concepts of the key terms such as Communicative Language Teaching,
Collaborative Learning-foundation to carry out problem-solving. In the end, an
overview of problem solving activities in developing speaking skills has been
provided.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
In the previous chapter, the literature related to the topic has been reviewed as a
theoretical basis for the study. In this chapter, four main categories are addressed.
The first one is the setting of the study, which describes the students’ learning
context and learning materials in their second year at Hanoi University of Business
and Technology. In the second category, the methods of data collection are
presented carefully. The introduction of the action research participants lies in the

next part. The most important part of the chapter, which is the procedures of the
study, describes in details the problem identification and the plan of action.
2.1. Setting of the study
This study is carried out at Hanoi University of Business and Technology (HUBT),
a private university in Hoang Mai District, Hanoi. It is well-known with providing
good training in business and technology. Business consists of several different
majors such as Banking and Finance, Accounting, Business Administration and
Commerce. Identifying the importance of English for students‟ job - “better
English, more opportunities”, Board of administrators consider English as a
compulsory subject to all students regardless the majors they are learning.
Therefore, the students have to study English during three and a half years at HUBT
and to complete 72 credits of English (equivalent to 1080 periods) before taking the
Graduation examination by the end of the fourth year. The students have to take part
in three English lessons each week. Each lesson lasts for approximately four hours.
They are accessed with the two tests, mid-term test and final one. In the mid-term
test, they have to do a test with four language skills – listening, reading, writing and
speaking. The result of the mid-term test accounts for 40% of the total score. The
final test, computer-based multiple-choice, is in charge of the rest 60%. The English
course lasts for seven semesters and in the last semester, the students are trained
with TOEIC and pass a TOEIC test.

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2.2.

The learning materials

A series of Market Leader (Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and Intermediate) by
David Cotton, David Falvey, and Simon Kent (2000) have been used as main
material for students at HUBT since 2005. “Each book consists of 12 units based on
topics of great interest to everyone involved in international business” (Cotton,
Falvey, Kent,2000). With the aim to improve students‟ ability to communicate in
English, The Market Leader (Pre-intermediate) is used and it is fortunately designed
with full of authentic models of spoken language, communicative activities, pair
work, and group work to help students practice using the language in the classroom.
Besides speaking, the book provides input in reading, and listening, with guidance
for writing tasks. Each unit ends with a motivating case study to allow students to
practice language they have worked on during the unit. There are also other
components such as Practice File, Audio materials, Test File that consolidate and
support the work in the main units as well as assess students' progress through the
course. However, there should be some modifications to the group structuring,
especially the tasks, so that the problems of speaking activities such as not even
participation, students‟ inhibition, nothing to say, use of mother tongue can be
solved, and students can quickly make progress in the process of second language
acquisition, as well as meet the course requirement at university.
2.3.

The participants

2.3.1. The students
This is an action research that was conducted with 31 second-year non-English
major students in class TC1626 at Hanoi University of Business and Technology
(where the researcher has been teaching). The students were at the age range of 19
to 21, including 21 girls and 10 boys. Their level of proficiency in English was
roughly attributed to elementary (after one year studying English at university).
Most of the students come from different high schools in different regions all over
the north of Vietnam.

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