Problems encountered and strategies used by teachers in teaching english speaking skills to high school students a study at nhan viet high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

LAI THI THAM

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND STRATEGIES
USED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS:
A STUDY AT NHAN VIET HIGH SCHOOL
Major: English language
Course code: 60220201

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2020


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND STRATEGIES
USED BY TEACHERS IN TEACHING ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS:
A STUDY AT NHAN VIET HIGH SCHOOL
Submitted to the
Faculty of English Language
in partial fulfillment of the Master‟s degree in English Language
Course code: 60220201
By
LAI THI THAM
Supervised by

LE VAN TUYEN, Ph. D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, JUNE 2020


The thesis entitled Problems encountered and strategies used by teachers in teaching
English speaking skills to high school students: a study at Nhan Viet High School was
successfully defended and approved on June 30th 2020 at Ho chi minh City University
of Technology (HUTECH).

Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D

Examination Committee
1. Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D
Chair
2. Tran Quoc Thao, Ph.D

Reader 1

3. Pham Huy Cuong, Ph.D

Reader 2

4. Truong Cong Bang, Ph.D

Member

5. Tran Thi Minh Phuong, Ph.D

Secretary Member

On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair

i


HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE

HCMC, June 2020

MASTER’S THESIS REPORT

Student name: Lai Thi Tham

Sex: Female

Date of birth: 02 – 09 – 1986

Place of birth: Bac Ninh

Major: English Language

Student code: 1841900025

I- Thesis title:
Problems encountered and strategies used by teachers in teaching English speaking
skills to high school students: a study at Nhan Viet High School
II- Objectives and contents:
-

To find out the problems faced by the teachers in teaching English speaking skills
to high school students at NVHS.

-

To explore the strategies used by the teachers in teaching English speaking skills
to high school students at NVHS.

III- Starting date: (as stated in the Decision issued by the University )
IV- Completing date:
..............................................................................................................
V- Academic supervisor: (full name, title) Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D.

ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR

FACULTY DEAN

(full name, signature)

(full name, signature)

ii


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I certify my authorship of the Master‟s Thesis submitted today entitled:

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND STRATEGIES USED BY
TEACHERS IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS TO

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS:
A STUDY AT NHAN VIET HIGH SCHOOL
In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Master‟s programs issued
by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh
City University of Technology.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2020

LAI THI THAM

iii


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, LAI THI THAM, being a candidate for the degree of Master
of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to
the retention and use of Master‟s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master‟s Thesis
deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in
accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care,
loan, and reproduction for theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, June 2020

LAI THI THAM

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor
Dr. Le Van Tuyen for his patience, guidance, insightful advice, and constant
encouragement through the whole research process. Without his support and
guidance, this thesis would never have been completed.
I would also like to thank Dr. NGUYEN THI KIEU THU, Dr. TRAN QUOC
THAO and other HUTECH English lecturers for their encouragement and support so
that I could complete this MA course.
Moreover, this thesis is not completed without the help of my lovely
colleagues and students at Nhan Viet High School. I would like to express my sincere
thanks to all of them.
Last but not least, my sincere and warm thanks are for my family and friends
who have supported and accompanied me during a long journey of doing my thesis.

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ABSTRACT
Enhancing students‟ ability to speak English fluently is a desire for all English
teachers in general and for high school ones in particular. However, high school EFL
teachers still encounter various problems although they have employed different
strategies to overcome those problems. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the
problems encountered and strategies used by teachers in teaching English speaking skill
at Nhan Viet High School (NVHS). The study involved 200 students and 06 EFL
teachers at NVHS. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through three
instruments, namely questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations. For
analyzing the data collected, descriptive statistics and content analysis were employed.
The results of the study revealed that most of the teachers experienced the problems
which were caused by both context-related and student-related factors and a variety of

strategies were also used by teachers in the process of teaching English speaking skills
to the students at NVHS.
This study emphasized that understanding the problems that hinder the progress
of learning English speaking skills is important for teachers to apply proper strategies in
teaching speaking skills to students. The study also made several suggestions for both
teachers and students with the aim of contributing a small part to the teaching and
learning of English at NVHS. This study is expected to shed light on the
implementation of teaching speaking skills in NVHS context and in other similar
contexts.

Key words: teaching English, speaking skills, problem, strategies, NVHS

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TABLE OF CONTENT
Certificate of originality .......................................................................................... iii
Retention and use of the thesis… ............................................................................ iv
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. v
Abstract… ............................................................................................................... vi
Table of contents… ................................................................................................ vii
List of tables… ......................................................................................................... x
List of figures .......................................................................................................... xi
List of abbreviations… ........................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1
1.1.

Background to the study ............................................................................ 1

1.2.

Statement of the problem ..........................................................................3

1.3.

Aims and objectives of the study...............................................................4

1.4.

Research questions ....................................................................................4

1.5.

Scope of the study .....................................................................................4

1.6.

Significance of the study ........................................................................ 5

1.7.

Definition of terms ....................................................................................5

1.8.

Organization of the thesis ..........................................................................6

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................7
2.1.

A skill-based approach to teaching and learning English ........................ 7

2.2.

Speaking .................................................................................................. 7
2.2.1. Definitions of speaking .................................................................. 7
2.2.2. The role of speaking in language acquisition ................................. 9

2.3.

Teaching and learning English speaking skills .......................................10

2.4.

Problems faced by the EFL teachers in teaching speaking skills ............12
2.4.1. Context – related problems............................................................12
2.4.2. Student – related problems ............................................................13

2.5.

Strategies for teaching English speaking skills .......................................16
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2.5.1. Definitions of speaking teaching strategies ...................................16
2.5.2. Taxonomies of speaking teaching strategies .................................17
2.6.

Previous Studies...................................................................................... 22

2.7

The Conceptual Framework of the Study ................................................25

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY .........................................................................27
3.1

Research design ........................................................................................27

3.2

Research site .............................................................................................28

3.3

Description of the English Courses at NVHS ......................................... 29

3.4

Sample and sampling procedures ............................. …………………...29

3.5

Research instruments....................................................................... …….31
3.5.1 Questionnaires ................................................................................. 31
3.5.2. Interviews ....................................................................................... 32
3.5.3. Observation .................................................................................... 32

3.6

Data collection procedures .................................................................... 33

3.7

Data analysis procedures .......................................................................... 34
3.7.1 Data from questionnaires ................................................................ 34
3.7.2. Data from the focus teacher interview ........................................... 35

3.8

Reliability and Validity ........................................................................ 35

3.9

Summary of the chapter .......................................................................... 37

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................... 38
4.1

Introduction .............................................................................................. 38

4.2

Result of the study .................................................................................... 38
4.2.1

Problems faced by teachers in teaching English speaking skills to

high school students at NVHS…………………………………………… 38
4.2.2 Strategies used by teachers in teaching English speaking skills to high

school students at NVHS ............................................................................. 46
4.3 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 56
4.3.1 Problems faced by teachers in teaching English speaking skills to high
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school students at NVHS. ........................................................................ 57
4.3.2 Strategies used by teachers in teaching English speaking skills to high
school students at NVHS. ........................................................................ 59
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 61
5.1

Summary of the main findings of the thesis ............................................ 61

5.2

Implications of the research .................................................................... 61

5.3

Limitations of the research ....................................................................... 63

5.4

Recommendation for further research .....................................................`63

LIST OF REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 64
APPENDICES................................................................................................. 69
Appendix A: Informed consent form ................................................................ 69
Appendix B: Teacher questionnaire ................................................................. 70

Appendix C: Student questionnaire in English ................................................. 72
Appendix D: Student questionnaire in Vietnamese ........................................... 74
Appendix E: Teacher interviews questions and responses ................................. 77
Appendix F: Student interviews questions and responses ................................. 82
Appendix G: Classroom observation ................................................................ 85
Appendix H: Report on plagiarism check ......................................................... 89

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1: Demographic information of the student respondents .......................... 29
Table 3.2: Demographic information of the teacher respondents .......................... 30
Table 3.3: Cronbach‟s Alpha Indexes of the teacher questionnaire items ............. 35
Table 3.4: Cronbach‟s Alpha Indexes of the student questionnaire items ............. 36
Table 4.1: Descriptive Statistics of Context-related problems .............................. 37
Table 4.2: Descriptive statistics of student-related problems ................................ 41
Table 4.3: Descriptive statistics of speaking strategies in class............................. 45
Table 4.4: Descriptive Statistics of Strategies Related to Teachers‟ Instruction ... 50
Table 4.5: Descriptive Statistics of the use of out-side class strategies ................. 54

x


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Three key success factors in second language speaking development…10
Figure 2.2: Conceptual framework of the study .................................................... 25

xi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
NVHS:

Nhan Viet High school

EFL:

English as a Foreign Language

L2:

Second/ Foreign Language

TESOL:

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

xii


CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1

Background of the study
It has been a long time that English has become a global language and widely

used all over the world. It is used in non native English countries, in schools,
workplaces and even at home. In other words, English has the role in promoting the

development of economy, politics, society and culture. Khan (2013) states that the
importance of English is noticed and highly appreciated in many sectors such as
financial banking, tourism, business, medicine, education, music, entertainment,
computing, engineering. Importantly, a person who wants to have advanced studies in
scientific research must have professional knowledge of English. Similarly, a company
is able to expand its business operation into foreign markets properly thanks to
managers and non-managerial employees knowing English.
Nonetheless, acquiring the English language requires a lot of efforts from
learners. There are four language skills including listening, speaking, reading and
writing. In order to master these four language skills, learners or non native people have
to experience a long process. They have to learn basic knowledge at the begining; then,
when their English knowledge is better, they can participate in more difficult training
course. Among four language skills, speaking skill is considered as an interesting skill,
but difficult. If someone wants to speak fluently, they must have methods and
techniques in learning. Moreover, teaching strategies is essentially neccesary to help
learners learn more effectively. In other words, the application of teaching strategies is
very important in promoting and motivating learning.
The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second-language
or foreign-language learners. Jesperson (1987:23) states that the essence of language is
human activity in the part of individual to make himself understood by another. From
the statement above, the writer can say that language is an essential part in human life
1


to communicate with others. Therefore, it needs appropriate methods in teaching
speaking. Teaching speaking is the way from teacher to teach their emotions,
communicative needs, and how to interact to other person in any condition or situation.
In teaching speaking, we cannot only teach the spoken language but also the situation
should be considered. The teacher teaches speaking by carrying out the students to
certain situation. Teaching speaking is how to use language for communication,

expressing the idea or transferring the meaning to other people. Teaching itself means
transferring knowledge to person while speaking means to make use of words in
ordinary voice, so teaching speaking is giving instruction to a person in order to
communicate. Harmer (1990) says that the aim of teaching speaking is to train students
for communication. The teacher teaches speaking by carrying out the students in certain
situation when the topic is being talked about. Teacher can give the familiar topic for
student, so that students can improve their ideas and have an oral command of the
language need to describe the topic. In brief, the researcher assumes that in teaching
speaking, teacher should give the occasion to students to use their speaking skill in real
situation without being ashamed or afraid of making mistakes in communicating their
ideas, feeling, and experiences to the other.
From a national perspective, although there are the penetration of many other
foreign languages such as Japanese; Korean; Chinese; German; Spanish… in Vietnam,
English is still considered as a priority language. In fact, most schools in Vietnam are
teaching English; and English is a compulsory subject in examination. Importantly,
English is the neccesary and sufficient condition for students to continue more
advanced studies. In addition, many English centres, both foreign and domestic
investment, are established

with the aim of satisfying high demand in English

language. English, nowadays, is even taught in preschools.
Although there have been a lot of changes in teaching methods, it seems that
teachers in Vietnam still depend on traditional teaching methods in their classrooms.
Consequently, teachers stick to the textbooks, lecturing on the finer points of grammar
2


for the purpose of clear communication, involving little communication amongst the
students for developing communicative competence. Many studies have suggested that

teacher-dominated classes instead of learner- centered classes prevent students from
practicing oral skills effectively (Pace, 1992).
1.2 Statement of the problem
Speaking in an L2 has occupied a unique position throughout much of the
history of language teaching. Carter and Nunan (2001) state that “it has begun to
emerge as a branch of teaching, learning, and testing in its own right only in the last
two decades has, but rarely focuses on the production of spoken discourse”.Teaching
speaking skills to students of NVHS has always been a challenging task to EFL
(English as a Foreign Language) teachers because it is a foreign language. While
learning to speak in English, students of NVHS encounter many difficulties. The major
one is that they do not take tests of listening or speaking. Besides most students of
NVHS find difficulty in communicating freely in English due to certain factors such as
students‟ limited knowledge of English language, lack of confidence
There has not been exam for listening or speaking separately. So, both students
and teachers almost do not concentrate on learning and teaching speaking skill as well
as listening skill at high schools. Teachers teach English language in order to help
learners pass exams. Consequently, they do not invest in skills such as listening and
speaking. It is just that speaking is practiced at schools via actions of pronouncing new
words and reading dialogues. Interactive activities are not sufficient to give students
communication and presentation skills in English classes. School teachers have not
really invested much teaching language skills such as listening, writing and especially
speaking skill.
Because of not paying attention to teaching and learning speaking skill, teachers
have gaps in teaching speaking skill strategies. They are not strict in teaching speaking
skill and do not spend enough time on teaching speaking. They do not set up and
comply with a particular teaching strategy. That is the reason why students are not
3


usually motivated in learning speaking skill. So as to improve the quality of teaching

and learning foreign languages in high schools today, it is not a one-sided thing, but
requires a long process and has continous investment in all aspects such as teachers and
facilities. The education and training sector must offer solutions to improve the quality
of teaching and learning foreign languages in schools. Although many studies have
been conducted to investigate students‟ speaking learning strategies, very few studies
have been carried out to investigate teachers‟ speaking teaching strategies in
Vietnamese High Schools; especially no literature has been found at NVHS. Based on
the lack of attention to teaching and learning speaking and listening skill and gaps in
strategies of teaching English speaking skill as well as gaps in research, this thesis is
going to investigate the problems that the teacher faced and strategies used for teaching
English speaking skill to high school students at NVHS.
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
This study aims to investigate the problems and strategies relating to the process
of teaching English speaking skills at high school. More specifically, the objectives of
the study are as follows:
+ To find out the problems encountered by the teachers in teaching English
speaking skills to high school students at NVHS.
+ To explore the strategies used by the teachers in teaching English speaking
skills to high school students at NVHS.
1.4 Research questions
1. What problems are encountered by teachers in teaching English speaking
skills to high school students at NVHS?
2. What strategies are used by teachers in teaching English speaking skills to
high school students at NVHS?
1.5 Scope of the study
In the field of foreign language teaching and learning, actually there are a variety
of issues for researchers to investigate. However, this study only dealt with teaching
4

English speaking skills. It focused on what strategies the teachers used, the extent to
which those strategies were used, the problems the teachers faced in applying those
strategies to teaching English speaking skills to students at NVHS. What is more, this
issue might be investigated in a lot of schools and universities, but this thesis research
was conducted at NVHS only. The research was conducted at NVHS because this is
one of good private high schools with high quality of education and high entrance
mark.
There are 200 students of three grades of 10th, 11th and 12th and 06 English
teachers at NVHS participating in the survey. The limitation of 200 participants is due
to the limitation of human resources, budget and time. If the survey was done with
more than 200 participants, the margin of error would be lower than 10 percent, but the
author did not have time, human resource and budget to complete the research.
1.6 Significance of the study
It can be said that this study is helpful and brings great benefit to not only
students but also teachers at high schools. Both students and teachers can know which
teaching strategies teachers and students are applying and experiencing, and whether
these strategies are effective or not and which teaching strategy is mostly used and
bring the most effectiveness to students. As a result, students and teachers will prefer to
apply the strategy in learning and teaching English speaking. This research will also be
beneficial to future generations when they start learning English speaking. It is also
helpful for people who have not obtained the effectiveness in teaching speaking
strategies to find out and apply effective strategies to their teaching speaking. In the
consideration of science and theory, the research is a reference for anyone who wants to
have more information about teaching English speaking skills; and it will contribute to
literature of the field of study.
1.7 Definition of terms
There are four key items should be defined in this thesis as follows:

5

Problem: In the study, problems are defined as difficulties that EFL teachers encounter
in teaching English speaking skills to high school students.
Strategy: In the study, In the study, The strategies of teaching speaking are speaking
strategy activities in class (do a survey, compare, discuss, interview, exchange
information, give opinions, play the role, talk about a real-life topic), teachers‟
Instruction (pre-speaking activities, while-speaking activities, post-speaking activities)
and out-side class activities (listen to English, prepare for speaking topics at home,
make clips or videos of their speaking outside class).
High school students: In the study, high school students are students who are educated
at high schools. These students in Vietnam are at the age group from 15 to 17 years old.
And they will experience three grades including 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade at
high school.
Speaking skills: a skill that deserves attention in learning English. Students need to
teach how to speak English Fluently so as to communicate confidently. Students are
required to do pair work with their friends, to consult their teachers when necessary and
other partners outside the classroom.
1.8 Organization of the thesis
This thesis is structured in five main chapters:
Chapter 1 provides the background information of the study which consists of the
outline of the English teaching and learning situations in Vietnam and describing
problems encountered and strategies used in teaching speaking skill at Nhan Viet high
school.
Chapter 2 presents literature review to the study which consists of the theoretical
background of the study from which problems encountered and strategies used in
teaching speaking skill can be found and then transmitted studies.
Chapter 3 indicates the methodology employed including the research questions, the
research design, the research setting, the sample and sampling procedures, the research
instrument, the data collection procedures, the validity and reliability and the summary.
6

Chapter 4 reports the results of the thesis and discussions of the findings
Chapter 5 presents some recommendations to the improvement of teaching and learning
of speaking skills at Nhan Viet high school and some conclusions.

7


CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. A skill-based approach to teaching and learning English
English is taught and learned in most of schools all over the world. Teaching and
learning a foreign language have been impacted by two major approaches including the
skill-based approach and the whole language approach. Accordingly, the skill-based
approach can be understood as direct, or intentional, or formal instructional approach.
The whole language approach can be understood as indirect or incidental or informal
language approach. The skill-based approach is based on behavioral psychology and
structural linguistics to develop its theory. There are five principles that are the basis for
the development of the skill-based approach. They are (1) the whole is equal to the sum
of its parts, (2) there are differences between spoken and written language, (3) oral
language acquisition precedes the development of literacy, (4) language learning is
teacher-directed and fact-oriented, (5) students‟ errors are just like „sins‟ which should
be eliminated at all cost.

2.2. Speaking
2.2.1. Definitions of speaking
According to definitions of Brown (1994), Burns and Joyce (1997), speaking is
regarded as an interactive process of building meaning that includes producing,
receiving and processing information. More clearly, speaking is the involvement of

collection and evaluation of information; then, the meaning will be produced through
verbal or nonverbal manners in different contexts. In the similar meanings, Tarone and
Bigelow (2005) affirms that speaking is one of the most difficult and complex skills to
master. In order to communicate, speakers must combine the listening skill and
comprehensive skill. Without understanding the content of the message that a person is
listening, he/she cannot speak any word. Speaking is considered as a difficult process

8


because it requires the use of grammar, sound, vocabulary and knowledge about the
field mentioned Koran (2015).
It is extremely difficult to master speaking skill of a foreign language. But if
someone is successful in mastering the skill, he/she can be able to practice a perfect
conversation in the language. Chaney (1998) identifies speaking is the procedure of
setting and sharing meaning through the use of oral and non-oral symbols, in a diversity
of setting. Speaking is a skill which deserves concentration in learning English.
Students need to be taught how to speaking English confidently in order to carry their
transactions. Bailey and Savage (1994) have an interesting sentence relating to speaking
as follows: “Speaking in a second language has often been viewed as the most
demanding of the four skills”. It is clear that speaking is a skill that definitely happens
in communication. Speaking helps a person to communicate in the target language.
Speaking is easy for many peoples; nevertheless, be difficult for many other
people, especially for people who are learning second language. In the process of
acquiring new language, students have to face with challenges such as lack of
motivation to speak, reluctance, uninteresting teaching technique…etc. The role of
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension is important. The
reason is that if the speaker is able to master these elements, he will be a good speaker.
In acquiring a target language, teacher is a person who plays an important role in
helping students achieve the success in speaking thanks to teaching techniques and

teaching strategies.
The speaking skill is a significant function in interaction. Students have to
interact well with their friends, teachers and other partners in social relationship. Bygate
(1997) also claims that speaking is the skill by which they are most regularly judged,
and through which they may changed friends. Chany (1998) identifies speaking is the
procedure of setting and sharing meaning through the use of oral and non-oral symbols,
in a diversity of settings. Another researcher, Nunan (2003) declares that language

9


learners use the language speedily and positively with few unusual gaps, which is called
effortlessness.
2.2.2. The role of speaking in language learning
Speaking plays a very important part in learning English. This has been proven
by many researchers. According to many pieces of evidence provided by Brown (1994)
and other researchers such as Ur (1999), Byrne (1986), Bygate (1997) and Brumfit et al
(1980), speaking plays a very significant role not only in the general public but also in
the four language skills. Bygate ( 1997, viii) states that in society speaking is the skill
by which people are most regularly judged and through which they get acquainted with
others or even make friends into their foes. Meanwhile, Brown and Levinson ( as cited
in Hudson, 1991, p.115) show their agreement on the importance of speech as one of
the methods in which one understands somebody‟s personality of estimate, both
through what one says and by the method one says it. In fact, speaking skill has been
proven a necessity and relevance not only in speaking classes but also in other classes
of teaching language skills. Brumfit et al (1980, p.66) claim that preceding oral
discussion in the classroom is always needed to achieve success in other skills. Ur‟s
(1999, p.120) sees the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, speaking
instinctively the most essential: people who comprehend a language are mentioned to
as a “speaker” of that language, as if speaking is of all other types of knowledge, and

that most foreign language learners are essentially interested in studying to speak the
language.
As we all know that speaking is an important skill that any learner wants to
master when accquiring foreign languages. Speaking has the role not only in
communication but also being regarded as a parameter of the proficiency in a foreign
language. A person who is successful in mastering the foreign language when he or she
masters speaking skill, one of four skills. Bailey and Savage (1994) states a right
sentence that “speaking in a second langauge has often been viewed as the most
10


demanding of four skills”. Much in the same way, Ur (2006) claimed that of the four
language skills, speaking seems to be the most important. People who know a language
are referred to as speakers on that language as if speaking included all other types of
skills; and if foreign language students are primarily interested in learning to speak.
2.3. Teaching and learning English speaking skills
Actually, teaching is not an easy career and teaching a foreign language is
always more difficult. One of the most difficult skills in teaching is speaking. The
success of mastering speaking skill of a second language depends much on not only
students themselves, but also teachers and materials. Many teachers uphold their role in
doing more to help their students develop speaking abilities. Consequently, their trend
is always to find out methods and techniques to teach speaking better. Many teachers
plan lots of different activities in class at aim to promote students‟ involvement in
speaking. These activities could be discussion, presentation, debate, description. For
teachers, the design and plan of various speaking activities will create students a plenty
of opportunities to communicate with one an other Chritine and Anne (2012). There is a
fact that these activities is not only speaking, but also presents outcomes at the end of
each activity. Many people or students speak a lots when they feel happy. In other
words, good mood will promote talk and action. Therefore, creating interesting lessons
is important to achieve high result in teaching and learning. Teachers must recognize

students‟ learning needs and demands through the communication of spoken language.
These needs can be cognitive, affective and social needs and be identified based on
theoretical ideas and personal observations. Teachers will base on this recognization to
build up interesting lessons. Teachers should not be people who stand outside to see
students involving in activities; in contrast, teachers have to actively intervene in
students‟ learning; the aim is to provide input, scaffolding and feedback.
According to Musliadi (2016), the goal of teaching speaking skill is to obtain
efficiency in communication. Learners should be able to make themselves understood,
11