(Luận văn thạc sĩ) using role play to improve the first year non major students’ speaking skills at a university in hanoi

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Phan Thị Thu Huyền

USING ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE
THE FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING
SKILLS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HANOI, 2021

Luan van


VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Phan Thị Thu Huyền

USING ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE
THE FIRST YEAR NON-MAJOR STUDENTS’ SPEAKING
SKILLS AT A UNIVERSITY IN HANOI

Field: English Language
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Đỗ Thị Thúy Vân, Ph.D.

HANOI, 2021

Luan van


DECLARATION BY AUTHOR
I declare that the study entitled “Using role play to improve the 1st
year non-major students' speaking skills at a University in Hanoi” is created
by my own findings and I am the sole author. To the best of my knowledge,
with the exception of the indication of reference, this is carried out without
using any other author’s work and is submitted after a carefully checking
progress in order to fulfill the requirements of the M.A degree.
Except where reference has been made in the text, this thesis contains
no material previously published or written by another person.
The study reported in this thesis was approved by Graduate Academy
of Social Sciences.
Author’s Signature

Phan Thị Thu Huyền

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ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS
Although only one name appears as the author of this work, writing a
thesis is indeed a collaborative effort. I would like to express my sincere
thanks to the many people who made it possible.
First and the foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my
supervisor, Đỗ Thị Thúy Vân, Ph.D. for all of her kind support to complete
this research paper. If it had not been for her guidance, as long as the

consultation and comprehensive comments from her, I would have not
Next, I would like to send my special thanks to Mr. Đặng Nguyên Giang
- Dean of the Department of Foreign Languages and the other staff at
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences the Department of Foreign Languages,
Graduate Academy of Social Sciences for affording me the honor of writing
this thesis.
Additionally, I would like to convey my special thanks to the teachers
and students of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Hanoi University of
Industry

whose

kind

participation

and

patient

co-operation

and

encouragement have helped me much in this study. They provided me with
valuable data for the study so that I could have broader prospects of teaching
and learning English speaking activities at Hanoi University of Industry in
general and at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in particular.
Last but not least, millions of my sincere thanks go to my beloved
family, who are always supportive and enthusiastic to me during the progress

of making this.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

DECLARATION BY AUTHOR ....................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEGDEMENTS .............................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF TABLES

...................................................................................... vii

LIST OF CHARTS

.................................................................................... viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Aims of the Study ................................................................................... 4
1.3. Research Questions ................................................................................. 4
1.4. Scope of the Study .................................................................................. 5
1.5. Significance of the Study ........................................................................ 5
1.6. Research Methods ................................................................................... 6

1.7. Structure of the Study ............................................................................. 6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 8
2.1. Speaking .................................................................................................. 8
2.1.1. Definitions of Speaking...................................................................................... 9
2.1.2. Characteristics of speaking............................................................................. 10
2.1.3. Principles of Teaching Speaking.................................................................... 11
2.1.4. Teacher’s Roles in Teaching Speaking ......................................................... 12
2.1.5. Methods of Teaching Speaking ...................................................................... 14
2.1.6. Activities to Improve Speaking Skills............................................................. 16
2.2. Role Play ............................................................................................... 17
2.2.1. Definition of Role Play .................................................................................... 17
2.2.2. Types of Role Play............................................................................................ 19
2.2.3. The Steps for Role Play Activities .................................................................. 22
2.2.4. Significance of role play in teaching speaking skill .................................... 25
2.3. Review of the previous research works ................................................ 26
2.4. Summary ............................................................................................... 27
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 28
3.1. Research Setting.................................................................................... 28
3.2. Participants ............................................................................................ 29
3.3. Research Procedure............................................................................... 30
3.3.1. Conducting preliminary investigation........................................................... 30
3.3.2. Planning the action .......................................................................................... 31
3.3.3. Implementing the action .................................................................................. 33
3.3.4. Observing the action ........................................................................................ 33
3.3.5. Reflecting the action......................................................................................... 34

3.4. Data Collection Instruments ................................................................. 34
3.4.1. Questionnaires.................................................................................................. 34
3.4.2. Observation ....................................................................................................... 36
3.4.3. Interviews........................................................................................................... 36
3.5. Summary ............................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .......................................... 38
4.1. Data Analysis from Questionnaires ...................................................... 38
4.1.1. Questionnaire for teacher ............................................................................... 38
4.1.2. Questionnaires for students ............................................................................ 48
4.2. Data Analysis from Observations ......................................................... 60
4.2.1. The First Observation...................................................................................... 60
4.2.2. The Second Observation ................................................................................. 62
4.2.3. Reflection of the Students’ Speaking Performance ..................................... 64
4.3. Data Analysis from Interviews ............................................................. 65
4.3.1. Teachers’ interviews ........................................................................................ 65
4.3.2. Students’ Interviews ......................................................................................... 66
4.4. Discussion ............................................................................................. 67
4.5. Summary ............................................................................................... 70
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................... 71
5.1. Recapitulation ....................................................................................... 71
5.2. Concluding Remarks............................................................................. 72
5.3. Implications........................................................................................... 73

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5.4. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies ................................. 74
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 76

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS .................................... I
APPENDIX 2: PRE-TASK QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ............. IV
APPENDIX 3: POST-TASK QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS .......... VI
APPENDIX 4: ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY EVALUATION FORM ........... VIII
APPENDIX 5: LESSON PLANS ................................................................... XI
Lesson Plan for Role Play Activity – Cycle 1 .......................................... XI
Lesson Plan for Role Activity – Cycle 2 ................................................ XIV
APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEW FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS ......... XIX

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ABSTRACT
This study is designed and carried out in the hope of exploring the
method of using role play to develop English speaking skills for first year
non-major students at universities in general and at Hanoi University of
Industry (HaUI) in particular. Basing on the theoretical foundation about role
play implementation, this study aims at investigating the real situation of
teaching and learning speaking skill to the first year non-major students at
HaUI including the quality and methods of teaching and learning speaking
skills. It also studied how the speaking skills of the first year non-major
students at HaUI can be improved through using role play activities and
examined the students’ attitudes toward role play activities application in
teaching and learning English. The study analized the effects of using role
play and the difficulties of applying for teacher and students as well as
suggesting some solutions to these problems. In order to achieve the target
survey questionnaires, observation and interviews were employed to collect
the required information. Based on the findings, some implications would be

given for both the teachers and the students. With all these information, this
study is expected to be useful to both teachers and students in teaching and
learning English speaking skills.

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LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1. Teachers’ techniques to encourage students to speak and improve
their English speaking skills............................................................................ 44
Table 2. Students’ knowledge about what students do in role play ................ 54
Table 3. Students' interest in learning if role play is applied in speaking
lessons. ............................................................................................................ 55
Table 4. Results from Post -task questionnaire for students ........................... 56
Table 5. Results of students ’ speaking performance in cycle 1 ..................... 61
Table 6. Results of students’ speaking performance in cycle 2 ...................... 63

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LIST OF CHARTS

Page

Chart 1. Teacher's opinions about the role of speaking skill .......................... 39
Chart 2. Teachers' opinions about students' attitude towards ......................... 40
learning speaking............................................................................................. 40
Chart 3. Assessment on students' speaking competence ................................. 41
Chart 4. Teachers' difficulties in teaching speaking skill ............................... 42
Chart 5. Teachers' opinions about the material ............................................... 43
Chart 6. Teachers' opinions about benefits of role play .................................. 46
Chart 7. Teachers' opinions about difficulties of role play implementation ... 47
Chart 8. Teachers' assessment on students' improvement .............................. 48
Chart 9. Students' opinions about the role of speaking skill ........................... 49
Chart 10. Students' opinions of being afraid in front of the class ................... 49
Chart 11. Students’ difficulties in learning speaking English ........................ 50
Chart 12. Students’ opinions about the role of speaking skill ........................ 51
Chart 13. Students' self-assessment towards speaking competence ............... 52
Chart 14. Students' opinions about the material.............................................. 53
Chart 15. Students' speaking Performance at Good Level (Cycles 1&2) ....... 65
Chart 16. The improvement of students’ speaking skill under role play
implementation ................................................................................. 69

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AR: Action Research
HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry
T: Teacher
Ss: Students

ESL: English as a Second Language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
TESL: Teaching English as A Second Language

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
In the process of globalization and economic integration, there is a
great demand for a linguistic means of international communication. As a
result, English has gained the most dominant status among many existing
languages in our world. It is widely used in all parts of the world, in every
aspect of life, in every branch of the world economy and in many other fields.
Therefore, in order to approach the modern world in a way with fewer
obstacles, learning English is necessary. Our lives in Vietnam have become
far more connected through technology, a global economy, and social media
thus English has become more and more important.
At present, high command of foreign languages helps students so much
in finding good jobs, students’ ability to use English fluently and effectively
in their communication has been of great importance.
Since the emergence of a global movement that calls for a new model
of teaching and learning for the 21st century, it has been argued that formal
education must be transformed to enable new forms of teaching and learning
that are needed to tackle complex global challenges. Experts recognize that
the “transmission” or lecture model is highly ineffective for teaching 21st
century competencies and skills. The concern about transforming the goals
and daily practice of teaching and learning is characterized as knowledge and

technologically driven. How teachers and educators can best support learners
develop essential skills is a big issue. People learn in a variety of ways, so the
challenge for teachers is to discover which methods help them most to acquire
the language.

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In the general context of the world, Vietnamese education is not an
exception. Only good basic numeracy and literacy skills will be no longer
suffice to provide learners. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and
Training is working on an ambitious reform to optimize learning and promote
the competencies needed to master content and apply knowledge. Training
human resources to adapt to the development of society, to meet the demands
of the new era, in addition to intensive knowledge, the education needs to
equip the appropriate skills for students.
There are four skills in teaching and learning a language: listening,
speaking, reading and writing, but out of the four skills, speaking is
considered as the most essential skill to be mastered. For O’Malley and Pierce
(1996), speaking seems to be an important skill focusing on learners’ ability
to communicate effectively through oral language because the disability of the
learners to speak may make them hard to express their ideas even in a simple
form of conversation. However, speaking in English is not simple as learners
have to master certain important elements of English such as pronunciation,
grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. In that case, teachers are
supposed to be creative in developing their teaching learning process to give
attention to the elements of speaking, improve students’ speaking skill, and
make their teaching more exciting.

With various elements of the teaching speaking, many problems occur
in such process. In learning English speaking skills, students often cope with
several problems. Students are not enthusiastic and not confident enough to
use English in speaking class. The influence of their native language, their
low motivation and their shortage of vocabulary make it difficult to use the
language. And the sad fact is that only a small proportion of them can perform
communication in the language well after finishing college. The majority of
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them still remain embarrassed when they have a conversation in English.
This problem may be resulted by the way students are trained in colleges
which is not conducive to learning English as a tool of communication. In
classroom, many students are reluctant to speak English even when they have
opportunities.
The author has noticed that those problems are also experienced by the
first year non-major students of HaUI. The problems with students’ speaking
skills can be caused by a lot of different factors including students’ interest
and attitudes towards learning English, the material, and even teachers’
monotonous and inappropriate use of teaching techniques, which makes
students bored and unmotivated in the speaking lesson, and not confident
about their speaking skills. Thus, it is crucial to propose appropriate
techniques to overcome the students’ low speaking ability. It is the
responsibility of the teacher to find out an effective technique in order to
stimulate the students’ positive attitude towards the speaking class and their
speaking skills (Burns & Joyce, 1997, p.10).
In searching the best method possible to teach speaking skills for
students, the author decided to choose role play activities as an effective one.

The effectiveness of role play activities in improving students’ speaking skills
has been demonstrated in a number of research studies. In specific, role play
has an important role in teaching speaking because it offers students a chance
to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social
roles. In role play activities, students act to be another one in the actual world
situation that is brought into the classroom. “By bringing the outside world
into the classroom, we can provide a lot of useful practice that would
otherwise be impossible in cafes, shops, banks, etc.’’ (Scrivener, 1998,
p.363). Besides, for the shy learners, according to Ladousse (1989), role play

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supports the confidence of shy learners because here they are provided with a
mask where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated. They learn
how to interact with other partners without being afraid that their mistakes
might cause some misunderstanding. In brief, role play is indeed a useful
teaching technique which should be applied by ESL/EFL teachers more often
in the ESL /EFL classrooms.
For the above-mentioned reasons, the researcher has decided to carry out
a study entitled “Using Role play to Improve the First Year Non-Major
Students’ Speaking Skills at a University in Hanoi”.
1.2. Aims of the Study
The general aim of the study is to improve speaking skills for the first
year non-major students of HaUI through using role play activities. In order to
reach the aim, the following objectives are expected to obtain:
1. Researching how the speaking skills of the first year non-major students
at HaUI can be improved through using role play activities;

2. Examining the students’ attitudes toward role play activities application in
teaching and learning English.
1.3. Research Questions
To achieve the aforementioned aim, the following research questions are
addressed:
1. How can the speaking skills of the first year non-major students at HaUI be
improved through role play activities?
2. What are the first year non-major students’ attitudes toward using role play
activities in teaching and learning speaking?

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1.4. Scope of the Study
Due to time constraint, this study only focused on the applicability of
role play activities to enhance English speaking abilities for first year nonmajor students at HaUI. Therefore, subjects of the study were teachers and
students (main stream) at HaUI.
Subjects for the study are: 60 students as respondents to student
questionnaires and 10 teachers as respondents to teacher questionnaires. The
study was implemented during the lessons of the academic school year 20202021 at HaUI.
1.5. Significance of the Study
The author is well aware that the survey statistics are not fully
representative of all the first year non-major students at many universities in
Vietnam. However, she has learnt some of the most popular facts that
occurring in the study which she hopes to propose as the present situation of
teaching and learning English speaking skills at HaUI. After carrying out this
research, she will have more panoramic understanding of the theory and
technique of teaching speaking skills, especially role play application. Then,

the result of this study is expected to give practical contribution to the
teaching of English, particularly at HaUI where the study was conducted. For
teachers, the findings of this research will affirm the use of role play activities
one of the effective teaching techniques to enhance the students’ English
speaking skills. For students, using role play activities can help them to
improve their English speaking skills as well as overcome shyness in order to
be able to communicate in English more confidently. Moreover, for other
researchers who conduct the same study, the result of this study can be a
reference and contribute more information to solve the same problems.

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1.6. Research Methods
In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, action research
procedures were used in this study. Firstly, a survey questionnaire was
delivered to the teachers so that more information on the current situation and
problems they faced and solutions implemented can be collected. Then,
another questionnaire was also given to the first year non-major students to
investigate their problems in learning speaking skills. The information from
questionnaires can help to draw a general picture about the reality of teaching
and learning speaking skills at HaUI and to find out an effective solution that
is using role play activities to improve the students’ speaking skills. To
investigate how speaking skills of the first year non-major students at HaUI
can be enhanced through using role play activities, the author implemented an
action plan in the form of cycles that follows Kemmis and McTaggart’s
model (2000, p.564) which includes planning, implementation, observation,
and reflection. Also, the author distributed open-ended and close-ended

questionnaires designed for both the teachers and the students to examine
their attitudes towards role play activities in improving speaking skills.
To achieve the objectives, both qualitative and quantitative methods
will be exploited in this action research project. The data will be collected via
survey questionnaires, observations and interviews.
1.7. Structure of the Study
An organization of this thesis is clarified to make it easy to understand.
The following is a short description about what each chapter contains.
Chapter 1: Introduction is a brief description of the research including the
reasons for choosing topic, aims, research questions scope,
methods, significance of the study and structure of the study.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review presents theoretical background of the study
including an overview of speaking skills and role play in
teaching the speaking skills of a language.
Chapter 3: Methodology provides background information on the teaching
and learning situation at HaUI and the methods as well as process
of the study.
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussions First, data analysis of teachers’ and
students’

questionnaires

and

the

results

of

preliminary

investigation are displayed in order to come to the conclusion
that it is crucial for the implementation of an action plan in which
role play activities are used. Then, the findings from the
implemented action plan are discussed. Finally, a discussion
emerging from the findings is presented to answer the research
questions.
Chapter 5: Conclusion summarizes the main points of the study, proposes
pedagogical implications. Limitations of the study and
suggestions for further study are also included in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter will provide an extensive review of literature on speaking
skills and role play activities. First, an overview of speaking skills including
definition of speaking skill, types of speaking skills, teaching speaking skills,
assessment of speaking skills and activities to promote speaking skills is
presented. Also, this chapter is also designed to present definition of role play,
types and procedures in using role play, and significance of role play in

teaching speaking skills.
2.1. Speaking
Numerous language students consider talking capacity the evaluation of
knowing a language. For them, the ability to communicate with others is more
essential than the capacity to read, write or understand oral language. They
view speaking as the crucial ability they can obtain and they measure their
advancement with regard to their achievements on spoken communication.
Accordingly, if students don't figure out how to communicate or don't get any
chances to speak during the language lesson, they may get de-inspired and
lose their motivation in learning. Instead, if the students are provided proper
techniques, speaking lessons can be much more attractive, more comfort to
the students.
Freeman (in Risnadedi, 2001, pp. 56-67) affirmed that speaking skill is
one of the students’ most significant capacities which help express their ideas
orally. It can be assessed through speaking tests or examinations. He
additionally claimed that speaking is much more complicated and
troublesome than being assumed because it is not only an oral trail of abilities
that it got from vocabulary and structure.

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According to Johnson (1997), speaking skill as a language competence
plays an important role in life. Firstly, learners have a great desire to use
language to inform and communicate with others. Next, their speeches must
be professional if they want to be a well-rounded speaker or an outstanding
person. Finally, being confident to speak in front of the public offers more
career opportunities for the college or university graduates.

2.1.1. Definitions of Speaking
So far there have been many definitions of speaking given, each deals
with one aspect of speaking, however, they all state speaking involves in
speech and through speech speakers expresses their attitudes, feelings, etc.
In Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009, p. 414), speaking is
“the action of conveying information or expressing ones’ thoughts and
feelings in spoken languages”.
In Brown and Yule’s opinions (1983), spoken language consists of
short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation. Usually, there is a
great deal of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another. Speaker
usually uses non- specific references. They also add that spoken language is
made to feel less conceptually dense than other types of language such as
prose by using the loosely organized syntax, and non- specific words, phrases
and filters such as oh, well, uhuh.
According to Chaney and Burke (1998, p.13), speaking is “the process
of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal
symbols, in a variety of context.”
In terms of language teaching and learning, speaking is considered as
one of the four important language skills (listening, reading, speaking and
writing) to practice and master. In this light, Nunan (2003, p.48) puts it that

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“speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists of producing systematic
verbal utterance to convey meaning.” Also regarding speaking as a skill,
Bygatc (1987, p.3) investigates the distinction between knowledge and skill in
a speaking lesson, which he considers as crucial in the teaching of speaking.

He argues that speaking is considered as a skill which deserves attention
every bit as much as literary skills in both first and second language (Bygate,
1987, p.2). Indeed, to be a good learner of speaking, studying knowledge of
grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc., is not enough but the skill to use
this knowledge to communicate successfully is indispensable.
To sum up, there are different ways to define speaking, i.e., speaking as
an action, a process and a skill. In this study, the term “speaking” will be used
as a skill related to language teaching and learning.
2.1.2. Characteristics of speaking
Speaking has the following characteristics:
The form and meaning of speaking depend on the setting in which it
appears, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences,
the physical environment, and the aims of communication. It is normally
unconstrained, open-ended, and evolving. Nevertheless, speech is not always
changeable. Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur in certain
discourse situations can be distinguished and charted.
Proper speaking requires that learners not only understand the way to use
specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but
also that they master when, why, and how to produce language.
Speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions which differ from
written languages. A good speaker collects this arrangement of skills and
knowledge to be successful in a given speech act.

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It is undebatable to conclude that speaking is essential to
communication. By evaluating how good speakers express, what speaking

tasks can be applied in class, and what specific needs learners mention,
teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral proficiency.
2.1.3. Principles of Teaching Speaking
For Thombury (2005), teaching speaking is a long-term progress starting
at giving the learners guidelines to create and express their thoughts in
English or any types of foreign languages and more critically, show them the
way to articulate this original dialect accurately. Then, the teacher keeps on
giving learners instructions on where they can begin to evaluate their sound
productions, basing on specific criteria. At the point when learners can do this
cycle of evaluation on their own, the initial role of the teacher to correct their
possible mistakes no longer exist; however, the teacher remains a significant
role in class. They could give appropriate encouragement to invigorate the
learners' interest in speaking and in request that they talk, repeat and imitate
themselves more regularly.
According to Nunan (1991, pp.54 - 56), there are five main principles of
teaching speaking. These principles will be listed and explained in detail below:
Awareness of Difference:
It is unavoidable that there are obvious differences between the context
of teaching and learning a second language and a foreign language.
Specifically, a foreign language context is the one which has the target of
learning speaking in a special environment, not a communicative language
popular in the community; However, a second language context’s target
language is, definitely, the language of communication purpose in the society.
Accordingly, when teaching speaking, teachers should focus on this feature to
conduct suitable speaking activities.
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The Importance of Fluency and Accuracy:
In general, accuracy in speaking can be understood to be the extent of
speech in which what students spoke matches what people, especially native
people, use in communicative activities; and fluency - in another extent - is the
capacity of using language quickly and confidently with little hesitations of
pauses in an unnatural manner or time-consuming word searched from speakers.
Since fluency and accuracy are crucial to the effectiveness of
communication, teachers should pay serious attention to teaching and guiding
students to be better at these features.
Providing Opportunities:
Providing students with opportunities to talk is also a good method to
increase the speaking ability of students. Teachers should do it more regularly
during the lessons and encourage all students in class to take chances to speak.
Tasks Planning:
It is recognizable that having a well-prepared teaching plan will help
teachers to be more organized and the lesson will be increasingly effective.
Designing classroom activities
In a speaking lesson, classroom activities are critical because students
are made to involve in the target speaking language with better effectiveness.
In order to design appropriate activities for students, teachers should spend a
certain amount of time to research the class situation.
2.1.4. Teacher’s Roles in Teaching Speaking
Regarding teachers’ roles in teaching speaking, Harmer (2007) states
that teachers play a crucial role in teaching speaking and it is necessary for
teachers to follow the activities below:
Firstly, teachers should apply the language students are learning to deal
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with the subject matters and besides, stimulate the involvement of students in
the class. Next, teachers can encourage students to present their background
and subject knowledge by asking questions instead of giving information
directly. They can set up the speaking topic with the students and consult and
comment to each of their contributions.
In addition, students can be encouraged by their teachers to speak as
much as possible when teachers give further suggestions basing on students’
presentation and trying not to use a student’s short utterance to start another
lengthy turn. Teachers should clearly pay attention to what students intend to
say by giving opportunities to other students and trying not to cut off an
exchange too early.
Another thing that teachers are expected to do is taking serious notice
of the usage of natural feedback rather than assessing or evaluating the
students’ speaking and requiring them to follow the judgment carefully.
Finally, teachers need express certain compliment on the students’
demonstration but on their contribution to content of the conversation that the
teacher had prepared previously.
With the above-mentioned expected activities done by teachers in a
speaking class, teacher’s roles are recognized to be of great importance. The
viewpoint of Brown (2009) clarifies that there are three important roles of
teacher to make the students speak fluently. First of all, teachers play the role
as a prompter. This means the teacher cannot help the students when they lost
their idea. Sometimes students are silent during their conversation. Without
disrupting them, it will stop the sense of frustration for some students when
they lose their language or ideas. The second role is to be a participant.
Precisely, the teacher can join one or two groups as an ordinary participant
during the lesson. Even if, the teacher can join the activity but not interrupt
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the activity too much. The last is feedback provider. The teacher is a person
who gives proper feedback to the students once they have completed their
presentation. Students should be given credit right after their accomplishment
as well as instructed on the matters that need improving by their teacher.
In sum, teachers’ roles should motivate the students to speak
independently without disrupting from the teacher and when giving them
feedback the teacher should not over-correct the students’ mistakes unless it
de-motivate them to speak during the activity. It is believed that the students’
speaking skill will improve after the teacher and the students obey the
suggestions.
2.1.5. Methods of Teaching Speaking
Presently many linguistics and teachers of English share the opinion
that establishing a classroom environment where students have real-life
communication, authentic activities and meaningful tasks would help students
improve their speaking competence. The lesson is considered successful when
students collaborate in groups or pairs to accomplish an objective or to
complete a task. Byrne (1991, pp.22-31) points out that there are three stages
in the teaching of a speaking lesson to foster learners’ oral capacity, which are
described as follows:
The presentation phase
In this phase, teachers play the central role, which means they work as
information provider. Up to know, speaking materials are mainly written in
two forms of dialogues and prose in every coursebook. And these two forms
must be introduced in different ways.
According to Byrne (1991, p. 22) to present a dialogue, the teacher
should follow the ten steps such as: Using pictures to establish the setting and

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Luan van