Using visual aids to improve 10th grade students english speaking ability at a hight school

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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

<b>SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES </b>

<b>PHAM THI HONG GAM </b>

<b>STUDENTS’ ENGISH SPEAKING ABILITY </b>

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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

<b>SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES </b>

<b>PHAM THI HONG GAM </b>

<b>STUDENTS’ ENGISH SPEAKING ABILITY </b>

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ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

<b>TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ </b>

<b>PHẠM THỊ HỒNG GẤM </b>

<b>SỬ DỤNG GIÁO CỤ TRỰC QUAN NHẰM CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH KHỐI 10 </b>

<b>TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG PHỔ THÔNG </b>

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<b>DECLARATION </b>

I hereby certify that dissertation, which I spent a lot of enthusiasm has never been submitted for any other degree or diploma in any other universities before. I also declare that this dissertation in the result of my own independent word except for quotation and citations which have been duly acknowledged.

<i> Thai Nguyen, May, 2022 </i>

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<b>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS </b>

First and foremost, it is my pleasure to be supervised by Dr. Duong Duc Minh, to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude. Without his all-around supervision and careful guidance, this paper could not be completed.

My sincere thanks go to all the staff at the School of Foreign Languages for giving me assistance and the lectures who conducted the Master’s course for providing me with valuable knowledge.

I would also like to express my deep sense of gratitude to my colleagues and students, whose participation in and dedication to the research remain invaluable. Without their precious support, the thesis would not have been shaped.

Last but not least, all my heart is dedicated to my parents, who have been

<b>providing me every piece of care and support to complete this research. </b>

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1.1. Rationale for the Study... 9

1.2. Aims of the Study ... 11

1.3. Scope of the Study ... 11

1.4. Significance of the Study ... 12

1.5. Structure of the Thesis ... 12

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ... 14

2.1. Speaking ... 14

2.1.1. Definition of Speaking ... 14

2.1.2 Aspects of Speaking ... 15

2.1.3. The teaching of Speaking ... 18

2.1.4 Speaking Teaching Activities ... 21

2.1.5. Characteristics of Successful Speaking... 24

2.1.6. The Teaching of English Speaking in Vietnam ... 25

2.1.7 Principles of Teaching Speaking ... 27

2.2. Visual aids ... 27

2.2.1. The Definitions of Visual Aid ... 27

2.2.2. Types of Visual Aids ... 29

2.2.3. Benefits of Using Visual Aids in Language Learning ... 32

2.3. Attitude in Language Learning ... 33

2.3.1. Definition of attitude ... 33

2.3.2. Attitude towards language learning: ... 34

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2.4. Previous Studies on Using Visual Aids for Improving Students’ English

speaking ability ... 35

2.5. Summary ... 38

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ... 40

3.1. Research Design ... 40

3.2. Settings of the Study ... 41

3.3 Time of the Research ... 42

3.4. Data Collection Instruments ... 43

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ... 54

4.1 Research Question 1: To what extent do visual aids improve the students’ English - speaking ability? ... 54

4.1.1 Results of the pre-test ... 54

4.1.2. Determining Problems and Actions ... 54

4.1.3 Classroom Action Research Process ... 56

4.2 Research Question 2: What are the students’ attitudes toward using visual aids

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5.3.2. To the English Teachers ... 76

5.3.3. To the Researchers ... 76

5.4. Limitations of the Study ... 76

REFERENCES ... 78 APPENDICES ... I APPENDIX I: STUDENTS’ ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE ... I APPENDIX II: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET ... V APPENDIX III. SAMPLE LESSON PLANS ... IX APPENDIX IV. PRE-TEST, PROGRESS TEST & POST-TEST ... XV APPENDIX V: SOME CLASSROOM PICTURES ... XXVI

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<b>LIST OF TABLES </b>

Table 3.1 Speaking Scoring Rubric ... 44

Table 4.1 The Pre-Test Mean Score ... 54

Table 4.2 The Problems and the Proposed Solutions... 55

Table 4.3 The Planning ... 56

Table 4.4 The Progress Test Mean Score ... 62

Table 4.5 The Post-test Mean Score ... 63

Table 4.6 The Comparison among the Pre-test, Progress test and Post-test Mean Score 63 Table 4.7 The students’ responses to Students’ attitude questionnaire on using visual aids in learning speaking ... 68

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<b>LIST OF FIGURES </b>

Figure 2.1: Stage of Speaking ... 15 Figure 3.1: An action research cycle (Burns, 2010) ... 41 Figure 4.1 Students’ performance on difference aspects of speaking ... 63

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<b>ABSTRACT </b>

This research is aimed at improving the English speaking ability of grade ten students at Thai Nguyen ethnic boarding school using visual aids the explored students’ attitude towards the use of visual aid in teaching and learning speaking. The research was carried out through action research that consisted of one cycle with three meetings. The data of the study were in the forms of qualitative and quantitative data. The quantitative data were acquired through pre-test, progress test, and post test. Whereas the qualitative data were obtained from the observation during the implementation of the actions; informal interviews with the students in a grade 10 class. Thirty-one students in class 10A3 participated in this intervention. The results of the research show that there was improvement of the students’ English speaking ability using visual aids. The visual aids used in this research was video, pictures, real objects and flashcards. The videos could get students’ attention and improved their learning motivation. The students could have better understanding on the use of English in real situation as they learnt appropriate models of speaking English through videos. Results also showed that the students made improvements in some aspects of speaking skills, such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and fluency. They were more confident to speak English and actively participated during the teaching and learning process. Results from the attitude questionnaire also revealed that most of students agreed that learning speaking with visual aids could facilitate the students to practice speaking skills. There was also improvement of speaking skills’ aspects of students which were the fluency and vocabulary. Their opinions on the use of visual aids were very good due to the fact that their answers were positive. The students also thought that learning with visual aids would be more effective if it conducted more than once. Based on the results of the action research, the researcher proposed implications and recommendations on using visual aids to improve students’ English speaking ability for the students, teachers, and future researchers.

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<b>CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION </b>

Aiming at providing readers an overview about the research, in the initial chapter, the rationale, together with the aims, objectives, the scope and significance of the study are going to be discussed. Moreover, to bring clear guidance for the whole study, the research questions and organizational structure of the study are being

<b>presented. </b>

<b>1.1. Rationale for the Study </b>

In the context of the global integral era in the 21<small>st </small>century, English can be understood as an international language because people from many different countries use it to communicate. “English as a tool of communication has been playing an important part in acquiring cultural, scientific and technical knowledge, for collecting worldwide information and carrying out international exchange and cooperation” (Liu, 2010, p. 136). According to Ihsan (2011), the importance of English includes the ability to communicate both the orally and in writing. Therefore, competence of using English accurately and fluently is of great importance to a lot of people. In Vietnam, nowadays, the role of English has been more and more increasingly crucial. People need to master all skills of English namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Moreover, English speaking ability is very important because it is the key to unlock the door of the world. Budiastuti (2007) conceded that speaking is “verbal language” to deliver ideas or express thoughts and feelings. In fact, speaking skill is a very crucial skill for every second language learner. They also agreed that speaking seems to be the most important skill a learner should acquire. One of the responsibilities of English teacher is to enable students to communicate effectively through oral language. Nunan (1991) states that mastering the art of speaking is the most significant aspect of learning a second or foreign language. He further says that the success of learning a second or foreign language is based on terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language. It is considered as the most demanding skill as long as the ability to speak a language is judged the same as mastering that language. As a means of communication, speaking is one of the most crucial skills to be improved and boosted (Leong & Ahmadi, 2017). Speaking is one of the productive skills that must be mastered by the students in learning a language.

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Brown stated that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves the actions of receiving, processing and producing information due to the context of a speech.

In the teaching context at Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding School, there existed some problems for speaking skills that the researcher came across to help the students improve their speaking performance in the classroom. The first problem was that speaking skills was rarely taught in the classroom because each unit had a lesson of speaking. Moreover, according to the National Curriculum in Viet Nam, there were 10 lessons of speaking per year. Therefore the time for practising speaking skills was not much in class. The second problem in the speaking class was that the students were shy to speak, they were afraid of making mistakes and errors, they have limited vocabularies, they find it difficult to express their ideas or opinions and keep their talking, they could not pronounce a lot of words in their sentences well, and they always tended to forget what to say when they were sharing their ideas. Furthermore, the students were still passive in participating, mostly in the tasks of enhancing the speaking skills. The final problem was that the format of the test for General Certificate of Secondary Education focusing on grammar. In fact, although students study four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, the time for speaking is not much. Therefore, students do not have much chance to speak. Moreover, the content of speaking is quite easy, so it appears to demotivate students. Most of the English lesson time was spent on teaching and learning structures students did not have much opportunity to practice speaking and eventually lost their interest in learning speaking.

It is considered as a good way to develop students’ speaking skill is using visual aid. Visual aids are the types of assistance in teaching and learning English which has huge potential for English Language Teaching because this can fulfill the needs of different learners (Lohr, 2002). They are also expected to have more opportunities to practice speaking, which in turn will make them tend to the speaking class. In the Longman (1998), visual aids were defined as “something that people can look at to help them understand, learn, remember, etc. such as a picture map, photograph, or film. Visual aids were often used as materials in education” ( p.1490). It used a media in delivering the material. In addition, the use of illustrations, visuals, pictures,

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perceptions, mental images, figures, impressions, likenesses, cartoons, charts, graphs, colors, replicas, reproductions, or anything else used to help one sees an immediate meaning in the language might benefit the learner by helping to clarify the message, provided the visual works in a positive way to enhance or supplement the language point. One of the beneficences in using visual aid was able to help the students catch the material that was being spoken. Furthermore, Wright (1976, p.13, as cited in Davidson & Abebe, 2012) mentioned that “ visual aids used to motivate the students to speak, to create a context with which his speech will have meaning to provide students with information to use in speech, including objects, action, and events, to provide non-verbal prompts to dialogue invention”.

Therefore, the author decided to apply the visual aids to improve students’ ability in speaking skill at Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding School. In an attempt to improve the situation, the researcher conducted an action research entitled “Using visual aids to improve 10<small>th </small>grade students English speaking ability at a high school” to see whether visual aids application could improve the students’ speaking ability or not. As an English teacher, the researcher expected that this study can contribute a part in enhancing the English speaking ability for the 10<small>th</small> students in particular and all the students in Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding school in general.

<b>1.2. Aims of the Study </b>

The researcher wanted to employ visual aids to improve the students’ English speaking ability. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to know whether the visual aids could improve students’ English speaking ability or not. In addition, this study would also aim to explore the students’ attitudes towards the visual aids application in boosting the students’ English speaking ability.

With the aims mentioned above, the current study answered the following research questions:

<i>- To what extent do visual aids improve the students’ English speaking ability? - What are the students’ attitudes toward using visual aids in speaking lessons? </i>

<b>1.3. Scope of the Study </b>

This study focused on applying visual aids to improve students’ speaking abilities for the 10th students at Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding School, Thai Nguyen

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province in the second semester of the academic year 2021-2022. Accordingly, the scope of this action research included the students in class 10A3 with a total of 31 students. Besides, this study was also carried out within 3 speaking lessons which were taught in the first semester according to the English curriculum assigned by the

<i>MOET and DOET and then explored students’ attitude towards using visual aids in </i>

speaking lessons.

<b>1.4. Significance of the Study </b>

The result of this research hoped to give some theoretical and practical advantages. In terms of academic advantage, this research could provide beneficial and referential contributions in providing general knowledge of improving the students’ English speaking ability. Concerning practical advantages, the researcher hoped to bring some benefits:

a) to the researcher, the research could give practice in developing the author’s knowledge and skill in problem-solving improvement.

b) For English teachers at Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding School, the results of teaching speaking with visual aids can be used as a model for improving students' speaking skills with visual aids.

c) Students in 10th grade at Thai Nguyen Ethnic Boarding School would be more interested and driven to learn and speak English naturally and joyfully as a result of the research..

d) to other researchers, the result of this research can be used as a reference for those who want to conduct research about improving students’ speaking skill by using visual aids.

<b>1.5. Structure of the Thesis Chapter I: Introduction </b>

This part is the introduction which contains the rationale, aims and specific objectives of the study, research questions, methods, scope of study and proposed organization of the thesis.

<b>Chapter II: Literature Review. </b>

This chapter is the literature review which includes a review of previous studies and of theoretical background with an overview of English-speaking teaching

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approaches and other related concepts. This chapter also sets out the general theoretical issues as the basis for understanding the different teaching methods which focus on developing English speaking ability using visual aids.

<b>Chapter III: Research Methodology </b>

This chapter presents the research methodology which presents in details about the method approaches used in the study, the procedure of an action research, data collection instruments, and data analysis procedures.

<b>Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion </b>

This chapter focuses on the results of the tests (pre-test and post-test) and questionnaires that aim to explore the effects (if any) of using visual aids to improve students’ English speaking ability and their attitudes towards the use of visual aids in learning speaking. In addition, this section also provides discussion about the effectiveness of using visual aids in teaching and learning English speaking in grade 10 at Thai Nguyen ethnic boarding school.

<b>Chapter V: Conclusion and recommendation </b>

This part includes the conclusions, recommendation, limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research.

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<b>CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW </b>

This chapter reviews the theory and research in the areas that lay the solid foundation for this study. The first section gave the speaking definition, aspects of speaking and principles of teaching speaking. In the second section, the researcher provided an overview of visual aids, including definition of visual aids, types of visual aids and benefits of using visual aids in teaching speaking as well. The third section discussed the attitude in learning language. Finally, the last area was a review of related studies.

<b>2.1. Speaking </b>

<i><b>2.1.1. Definition of Speaking </b></i>

Speaking was one of two kinds of productive skills besides writing. Speaking, according to Nunan (2003), is the most productive aural or oral skill. Producing organized linguistic statements to convey meaning is what it entails. Furthermore, Brown (2004, p.34) defined speaking as “the ability to communicate in a specific language”. It was also characterized as the ability to communicate. It may be concluded that speaking is a person's ability to communicate their thoughts, feelings, or whatever is on their mind to others. The learners studied English in order to improve their language ability in speaking ( Richard and Renandya, 2019). Speaking was used for a variety of purposes, including expressing an opinion, describing something, and complaining about something.

Brown (2004) stated that speaking was a productive skill that can be directly and empirically observed to express thought and feeling orally; those observations were invariably colored by the accuracy and fluency. Tarigan (1999) stated that speaking the capability in pronouncing sound or word to express or convey though, idea, feeling. Based on the meaning above, the researcher concluded that speaking was capability to utter the articulation of sound to express or to deliver thought, opinion and wish to the other person. According to Harmer (2007, p. 343) speaking is “a complex skill because at least it was concerned with components of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation”.

The goal of a speaking course was usually to teach students how to express themselves in the target language, how to deal with basic interactive skills like

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exchanging greetings, thanks, and apologies, and how to convey their needs, request information, and so on. It meant that pupils should learn the linguistic components; if they could master these components, they would have no trouble expressing their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Harmer’s (2007) definition emphasizes the importance of speaking for attaining communication goals, stating that speaking is an important component of daily human existence and that people form social relationships through spoken interactions.

Based on the definitions of speaking above, the researcher could summarize that speaking is the capability of using language, a skill to share someone ideas, information, suggestion and feeling to another people orally

<i><b>2.1.2 Aspects of Speaking </b></i>

In teaching speaking, there were some aspects that need to be considered by the teacher. Brown (2004, pp.268-269) proposed four aspects of speaking skills, namely “fluency, accuracy, pronunciation, and vocabulary”. They became the main requirements for the teacher to design the speaking activities for his or her students. Therefore, a good speaking activity had to cover all these four following aspects.

<i>a. Fluency </i>

Many experts state their definition about fluency. Starts with definition from Byrne (1997, p.9) when indicates that speaking “fluency is the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably accurately and without hesitation”. The good speakers are practice in the manipulation of the fixed elements of the language and the practice in the expression of the personal meaning. The different stages, practical and production stage can be identified in Figure 1 below:

<b>Figure 2.1: Stage of Speaking </b>

Focus on accuracy Fluency Accuracy Focus on fluency

In Figure 1, it is clear that speaking accuracy is the focus of learning in elementary level, while in advanced level, the focus is speaking fluency. Moreover, Thornbury (2002, p.6) states about fluency: “Speakers’ fluency suggests that pausing

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is equally important”. Nolasco and Arthur (1987, p.1) state that speaking fluency refers to natural language use whether or not it results in native – speaker – like language comprehension or production. While, Fillmore (in Richards & Renandya 2019, p.75) defines speaking fluency in terms of “the ability to fill with talk…the ability to talk coherent, reasoned and semantically dense’ sentence “showing” a mastery of semantic and syntactic resource of the language”. A fluent speaker has good ability in mastering and expressing the language.

A speaker was considered as a fluent speaker if he/she can use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false start, word searches, etc. (Nunan, 2003, p. 55). Speakers needed to know where he/she had to pause and stop his/her speaking in an appropriate place. Furthermore, it could be said to speak fluently if a speaker does not produce word per word at a time in his/her speaking. Therefore, a good speaker was demanded to produce words in his/her speech into groups of words that form a meaningful unit that means phrases or clauses.

<i>b. Accuracy </i>

It was stated that accuracy happens when students’ speech matches what they say when using the target language. (Nunan, 2003). Specifically, accuracy dealed with the grammatical structures which cover some aspects, including speech, tense, phrase, sentence, etc. Thus, to achieve accuracy, the students were demanded to use the correct grammatical structures and suitable word choices in their speech.

According to Encarta Dictionaries (2021), accuracy means “correctness: the correctness or truthfulness of something, ability to avoid errors: the ability to be precise and avoid errors”. Brown (1995, p.254) also defines accuracy as “a clear, articulate, grammatically and phonologically correct language”. In a language teaching, accuracy is achieved to some extent by allowing students to focus on the elements of phonology, grammar and discourse in their speaking output. Brumfit (1997, p.52) also states that accuracy is not generally problematic. It reflects a concern that has always been strong in the history of language teaching, which will result in usage rather than in use of language in the classroom. Accuracy refers to a focus of the user and it tends to be form – based. Speaking accuracy can be

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summarized as a use of language by controlling the language system, which consists of grammar, vocabulary and phonology.

<i>c. Pronunciation </i>

Pronunciation is the way we pronounce a word, especially in a way that is accepted or generally understood. The way we speak also conveys something about ourselves to the people around us. Learners with good English pronunciation are more likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas. Celce-Murcia et al., (1996) defined pronunciation as the production of the sounds used to make meaning. It also includes attention to the particular sounds of language, and aspects of speech beyond the level of individual sounds, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm, voice production, and in its broadest definition, the gestures and expressions related to the way we speak.

At the beginning level, the goal of teaching pronunciation was focused on clear and understandable pronunciation. Students should be able to distinguish the differences of sounds in English, including vowels and consonants. Furthermore, the pronunciation goals could concentrate on elements that enhance communication at the advanced level, covering stress patterns, intonation, voice quality, reduction, linking sounds, etc. However, Nunan (2003) noted that most people think of pronunciation as the sounds we make while speaking. As speakers of a language, we need to be able to understand each other. The pronunciation patterns that native speakers use reflect those commonly accepted by particular speech communities.

In brief, pronunciation is the way in which we pronounce a word and convey something about ourselves to people. Pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning, while learning sound patterns refers to learners using targeted sounds and sound patterns as quickly and interactively as possible. The most important processes are identifying sound patterns, to find a real world context, and designing communication-based classroom tasks. The teacher can apply teaching the processes of pronunciation in order to provide a model for teaching English pronunciation.

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<i>d. Vocabulary </i>

According to Jackson (2000), vocabulary “is the stock of words in a language, or that is known or used by an individual, or that is associated with particular activity. Vocabulary can be defined as the words we teach in the foreign language”. (p.23). Thornbury (2002, p.13) also states vocabulary is very useful for anyone who studying a foreign language. In this case that vocabulary is one important are that should not be neglected in language and learning, and it is very communication with other people in spoken or written form.

Vocabulary became an essential part of language learning, which can determine students’ English speaking fluency. They could generate sentences only by using words, so it was impossible to speak fluently without having an ample vocabulary site. Some students had only limited vocabulary, so they encountered some difficulties in expressing themselves. Therefore, the English teacher had to put some effort to enrich the students’ vocabulary.

Vocabulary is generally a matter of remembering, unlike e.g. learning grammar, which is a system based mainly on rules. (Thornbury, 2004) To be able to teach as effectively as possible, it is important to know, how words are remembered and stored in students’ minds and how long term memory is organized. “One of the important roles of the language teacher is to help their students find the easiest way of conveying new information into the already existing system of the mental lexicon”. (Thornbury 2004, p. 93) Moreover, students need to acquire the ability to store the information for as long as possible.

Finally, Thornbury (2004, p. 25) advises to visualize a picture for a new word or to link an abstract word with some mental image. Images drawn by students themselves have the best outcomes. Besides imaging, there are other mnemonics, such as making clues from associations with similarly sounding word and its meaning in the mother tongue.

<i><b>2.1.3. The teaching of Speaking </b></i>

Mastering speaking skills was one of requisites when learning a second or foreign language. Many consider improvement in oral proficiency as the standard to evaluate the success of language learners or the effectiveness of a language courses.

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However, the concept of teaching and learning speaking had been addressed differently in different periods. In the early 1970s, speaking was believed to be

<i>“repeating after the teacher, reciting a memorized dialogue, or responding to a mechanical drill” (Shrum and Glisan, 2000). This approach concentrated on </i>

proficiency at sentential level prevailing in Audiolingual and Situational Language Teaching. Since the 1980s, speaking has experienced significant shifts due to the emergence of the constructs of communicative competence and proficiency. The communicative competence theory had led to the development of communicative syllabus, notional syllabuses and functional syllabus, as well as proposals of task – based and text – based approaches. The focus of teaching speaking then was on fluency that could be developed through various tasks requiring learners to attempt real communication in spite of their limited proficiency in English. Today the bottom

<i>line in teaching this skill was how to help learners move beyond the level of linguistic competence (mastery of the linguistic system), to achieve communicative </i>

competence (understanding of how to use English appropriately for a range of different communicative purposes, particularly social purposes, educationally – related purposes and work – related purposes) (Richard & Renandya, 2019). In their paper in 2013, Richard & Schmidt also summarized principles reflected by current approaches to the teaching of speaking as follow: (1) Speaking and oral interaction is seen as the basis for learning; (2) Non – native usage as well as native usage both serve as models; (3) English for cross – cultural communication is a primary goal; (4) Models in classroom materials are often informed by corpus analysis; (5) Functional or other types of communicative syllabus predominate; (6) Both accuracy and fluency are a primary goal with a greater tolerance of errors; (7) Oral proficiency was viewed as dependent upon mastery of lexical phases and conversational routines; (8) Cultural awareness is addressed; (9) Pair and group activities predominate in the classroom.

Regarding the procedure of teaching speaking, Rao (2012) stated that it needs two processes, namely forging an instrument and giving the students practice in its use. At the former stage, the teacher had to present students with a functioning language system which became more and more sophisticated in its operation, and to

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give students well – designed practice, requiring students to do much practice in the obligatory associations of the new language lexical item, morphological and syntactical patterns, and sentence type. Meanwhile, the second level of the activity get students involved in a competitive activity or a game willingly.

According to Brown (2001), teaching speaking included showing the details of how to communicate and negotiate the ever exclusive meaning of language. He emphasized that speaking classes should require leaners to develop micro skills of oral communication ranging from verbal devices to non – verbal strategies. The researcher also classified classroom speaking performance into six types: imitative, intensive, responsive, transactional, interpersonal, and extensive.

In speaking classes, teachers should be aware of various speech activities as they are quite distinct in form as well as function and require different teaching approaches. Brown and Yule (1983) stated that there were three principal functions of speaking: talk as interaction, talk as transaction, and talk as performance. First, talk as interaction, or conversation, has a primarily social function, reflects role relationships and speakers’ identity, may be formal or informal, uses conservational conventions, reflects degrees of politeness, employs many generic words, uses conversational register, and is jointly constructed. While this speech activity focused on speakers and how they wish to present themselves to each other, the second function - talk as transaction - is mainly on the message - what is said or done. Talk as transaction is featured by information focus, various communication strategies, negotiation and digression, and frequent use of questions, repetitions and comprehension checks. Finally, talk as performance refers to situations where the information was transmitted before an audience like morning talks, public announcements, and speeches. Talk as performance was characterized by a focus on message and audience, predictable organization and sequencing, consideration on both form and accuracy, and monologic version. Distinguishing these three speaking types would be of help for teachers to decide the most appropriate approaches and activities in their speaking classes.

A more elaborating model for types of classroom speaking performance is suggested by Brown (2000). He states that there are six main types, including

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imitative, intensive, responsive, transactional, interpersonal and extensive. In the first type, learners imitate “human tape recorder” speech, for example to practice an intonation contour or to try to pinpoint a certain vowel sound. Imitation accounts for a very limited portion of classroom speaking time and was conducted not for the purpose of meaningful interaction but for focusing on certain element of language form. The second type, intensive speaking, included any speaking performance that was designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect of language. It could be self – initiated or form part of some pair work activity where learners were going over certain forms of language. Next, responsive speaking refered to sort replies to teacher or students – initiated questions or comments. These replies were usually sufficient and did not extend into dialogues. Transactional speaking performance went one step beyond responsive language. It was carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information, which might have more of a negotiable nature. Interpersonal speaking (or dialogue) was carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information. Finally, extensive performance (or monologue) might include oral reports, summaries or perhaps short speeches. This kind of speaking was often conducted by intermediate or advanced students.

<i><b>2.1.4 Speaking Teaching Activities </b></i>

Some research had been devoted to discussing effective activities utilized in teaching speaking. The influential classifications of speaking activities were those suggested by Rivers and Temperley (1978), Littlewood (1981), Harmer (1993), and Penny Ur (2004).

Rivers and Temperley (1978) discussed the two vital processes in learning to communicate - skill getting and skill using, as well as pseudo – communication activities that enabled the students to make a shift between the two main processes. They mention fourteen categories of use students had to learn and propose a list of activities that teachers could employ to check their students’ involvement. The list included establishing and maintaining social relations, expressing reactions, hiding one’s intentions, talking one’s way out of trouble, seeking and giving information, learning or teaching how to make or do something, conversing over the telephone,

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problem – solving, discussing ideas, playing with language, acting out social roles, entertaining others, displaying one’s achievements, and sharing leisure activities.

Regarding the order of using, Littlewood (1981) classified two types of activities in speaking classes: pre – communicative activities and communicative activities and then subdivided each into two. Pre – communicative activities, also called preparatory activities that included structural activities and quasi – communicative activities, aimed at making the students use the language with desired fluency without thinking of giving the message accurately. Communicative activities, or whole – task practice, were designed to alter the pre – communicative activities knowledge and skills into communicating meanings. There were two types of communicative activities, namely functional communication activities (sharing information with restricted co – operation, sharing information with unrestricted co – operation, sharing and processing information, processing information) and social interaction activities (the classroom as a social context, simulation and role – play).

Harmer (1993) distinguished two kinds of speaking activities: practice activities and communicative activities. Practice activities were further divided five into groups: oral drills, information gap activities, games, personalization and localization, and oral interactions. Meanwhile, communicative activities were composed of reaching a consensus, discussion, replaying instruction, communication games, problem solving, talking about yourself, simulation and role play.

In Ur’s (2004) taxonomy, there were three main types of oral activities. The first one was brainstorming activities, including guessing games, finding connections, ideas from a central theme, and implications and interpretations. The second kind was organizing activities with comparing, detecting differences, putting in order, priorities, choosing candidates, layout problems, and combining versions. The last ones were compound activities like composing letters, debates, publicity campaigns, surveys, and planning projects.

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The choice and implementation of speaking activities were dependent on a number of factors. Brown (2000) suggested some principles for designing speaking techniques as follow:

(1) Use techniques that covered the spectrum of learners’ needs, from language – based focus on accuracy to message – based focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency. Make sure that our tasks included techniques designed to help students to perceive and use the building blocks of language. Do not bore your students to death with lifeless, repetitious drills.

(2) Provide intrinsically motivating techniques. Helped the students to see how the activity will benefit them. Often students did not know why we ask them to do certain things; it usually paid to tell them.

(3) Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts. It took energy and creativity to devise authentic contexts and meaningful interaction, but with the help of a storehouse of teacher resource material, it can be done.

(4) Provide appropriate feedback and correction. It was important to take advantage of teachers’ knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for the moment.

(5) Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening. When teachers focused on speaking goals, listening goals may naturally coincide, and the two skills can reinforce each other. Skills in producing language were often initiated through comprehension.

(6) Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication. Part of oral communication competence was the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control conversations, and to change the subject.

(7) Encourage the development of speaking strategies. Students hade a chance

<i>to practice such strategies like asking for clarification (what?), asking someone to repeat something (Huh? Excuse me?), using fillers (Uh, I mean, well) in order to gain </i>

time to process, and so on.

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In conducting these activities, teachers playd a significant role as instructor and facilitators. Marzuki (2019) claimed that English teachers have at least four roles in a speaking lesson. First, when carrying out the communication activities, teachers had a role of a prompter in helping students because they may get stuck in expressing ideas or forgetting ideas. Second, teachers were the participants. Next, teachers could be the judgers to give feedback to students’ performance. Then teachers finished doing the role in teaching when they made evaluation on students’ progress in learning speaking skill. A speaking test might be designed in the end of communication course.

<i><b>2.1.5. Characteristics of Successful Speaking </b></i>

According to Ur (1996, p.120), states that the characteristics of successful speaking activity consists of several points. The characteristics will be explained as follows:

a. Learners talk a lot: as much as of the period of time allotted to the activity is on fact occupied by learner talk. It seems obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pause.

b. Participation is even: classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly even 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 because they want to contribute to achieve a task objective.

d. Language is of an acceptable level: learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of language accuracy.

To communicate effectively, one must develop many different, but it connects/interrelated each other. According to Brown (1994, p.5) an effective speaker must know how to:

1. Produce the sounds of language

2. Combine sounds into words and words into sentences

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3. Choose words that express meaning clearly 4. Speak with clear enunciation and articulation

5. Adjust volume, speech, pitch, tone, and inflection of voice appropriately to listeners

6. Adapt to different audiences

7. React appropriate to different kind of responses 8. Organize messages clearly

9. Examplify illustrate and generalize when necessary 10. Adapt style and level of formality to situation

It can be concluded that speaking is a process in which the speakers express their idea to the listeners.

<i><b>2.1.6. The Teaching of English Speaking in Vietnam </b></i>

<b> The considerable growth and expansion of English in Vietnam had been </b>

<i>witnessed since 1986 and was marked by the overall economic reform known as Đổi mới (Renovation). At present, English was a compulsory subject at both lower and </i>

upper secondary levels and an elective subject at primary level where English was introduced from Form 3 – 5. At higher education level, English was regarded both as a discipline and as a subject. Besides, various English courses had been offered by different centers outside the Formal Educational System. The rapid development of English was easily seen and the quality of English teaching and learning could be denied. However, the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam were confronting many obstacles. In the scope of this study, some problems in teaching English speaking were going to be highlighted.

One of the first problems was related to the teaching approach. Although teaching English had been said to follow communicative trend with the focus on practical communication skills, the presence of communicative approach was not clearly seen in classrooms (Hoang, 2010). Teachers of English had had opportunities to attend training programs with a focus on training communicative teacher and were interested in the new method; yet they continue teaching in the traditional ways. The current situations of English classes were that teachers and students work mainly with reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary exercises. Speaking and listening

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were rarely taught though exercises for these two skills are designed in the textbooks. The reason for this lies in the fact that the major motivation for teaching and learning English is bound to examinations which do not test their speaking skill.

Secondly, according to Hoang (2010), the teaching and testing were not in parallel. While communicative approach had been adopted as mentioned above, most of the exams, including end – of – school and university entrance exams – focus on reading comprehension, vocabulary and structural patterns. Furthermore, such international exams as Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS), which were suitable for measuring the knowledge and skills of English of those who intend to study in an English – speaking country, were adopted to assess the students’ English capacity at universities. This

<i>appears to make matters more complex (Hoang, 2010). Nguyen et al (2015) adds that </i>

the paradox between the policy of applying communicative trend and the absence of oral skills in exams results from financial and time concerns. Clearly, the skills which were not covered in the testing systems will not draw teachers’ and learners’ attention. Another point to consider was associated with class time allocated for teaching speaking. Many teachers claimed that they do not have enough time to teach their students speaking and communication although they wish to carry out these activities. The time allocated for English in each semester was only enough for teaching grammar, vocabulary, reading, writing, and listening. The teachers would run out of

<i>time if they include speaking and communication activities (Nguyen et al, 2015). </i>

Teachers’ English speaking ability also raised much concern. Not all teachers of English were able to speak this language fluently, particularly those who worked at lower levels of education. A lot of teachers had never spoken English to a native speaker and they mainly use Vietnamese in their classes. It was clear that many teachers could not help their students practice English speaking effectively when they were not competent speakers themselves.

With reference to the problems in speaking classes, Dao (2017) summarizes ten major findings: (1) Teachers let students use much Vietnamese to express the ideas; (2) Teachers did not emphasize English as the medium of instruction; (3) Students’

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background knowledge of English was low; (4) Students were shy and afraid of making mistakes and speaking in public; (5) Students lacked motivation to speak English; (6) The curriculum and textbooks did not contain sufficient amount of exercise for speaking skills; (7) Students were not given enough time for speaking practice; (8) Teachers did not frequently organize communicative task to enhance students’ speaking skills like role-plays, discussion, debates; (9) The environment in speaking class was not really exciting and motivating; and (10) The large class size impede the efficacy of students’ speaking performance.

Above are some of various problems that Vietnamese teachers and learners have to face when it came to English speaking. Obviously, more attention should be paid to improve the quality of teaching and learning English speaking.

<i><b>2.1.7 Principles of Teaching Speaking </b></i>

According to Anuradha et al., (2014), when teaching speaking teacher need follow these principles:

- Encourage students to speak right from the first day. If not, as early as possible and not to wait till she teaches them a stock of words, phrases or sentences.

- Tolerate the students if some of them simply repeat what they say. If a student gave one-word answer to any question, bear it for the time being. Let the learners speak actively with whatever English knowledge they have.

- Propose structures/phrases/words and let the learners use it in different situation and drill as much as possible. Encourage back-chaining or tail-forwarding technique to make long sentence by combining more than ten sentences. Organize role play and pair-work as much as possible and supervise the learners to correct the active ones and activate the passive ones. Be well prepare in advance in terms of lesson plan, activities and tasks. Let learners committed errors and mistakes at the primary stage. Interruption and correction hinder fluency and discourage the learner. (p.54)

<b>2.2. Visual aids </b>

<i><b>2.2.1. The Definitions of Visual Aid </b></i>

It is said that visual aids acted as an assistance to help students in studying process. There are numerous concepts and definitions of visual aids introduced by different authors throughout the time.

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Other modern aids of teaching stated by Subathra (2012) are visual aids. Apart from the traditional visual aids like charts, pictures and models that are still in use in the classrooms; there are other modern visual aids which were in use in the recent years. These aids include the picture slides, motion pictures.

According to Wingard (2000) the aids which were used for teaching language could be seen are called “visual aids”. There were a wide range of visual aids namely blackboard, picture, real object that facilitate the process of teaching. Visual aids could be used in different stages of a lesson, they had many form, cheap to make, easy to find, convenient and effective use in a language class. Another research on visual aids by Canning (1997, p.132) defined visual aids “are projected or non-projected image that could help learner see an immediate meaning”. Rao (2012) introduced one concept that is accepted immensely at the present time which defines visual aids as many types of educational media or aids carrying information used to encourage the effective teaching and learning process, therefore it can be understood as a means to support the teaching process to help students achieve higher performance.

In addition, Madhuri (2013) states about the definition of audio-visual aids that the audiovisual aids are tools of record to improve speaking skills that are used for several times and more than others. It is where the object picture section and gestures have been systematically used with audio-visual work to elucidate meaning. Subathra (2012) emphasizes the best side of audio-visual aids that they made the process of learning has become quite exciting for the students with the audio-visual aids. It helps the students in generating an open mind for learning. At the same time it develops team work among the students as they are required to work in teams for such project-based learning. Within a short period of time these audio-visual aids gained much popularity and have shown their dominance.

Ahmad (2013) emphasizes that in audio visual aids, both the listening (ears) and viewing faculties (eyes) are involved. Such aids include television programs, video films, motion pictures, synchronized audio-slide projectors, computers and computer-assisted instructions and so on. Cartoon films are also a useful medium for developing and chiseling the skills of the students.

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<i><b>2.2.2. Types of Visual Aids </b></i>

There are many kinds of visual aids which enabled to motivate the teaching and learning process of a foreign language. It was indicated that visual aids were classified into three types: pictures, board and projector, Bowen (1982) while it was said that there were two major kinds two dimensional representations and three-dimensional representations, Billows (1961) the former consists of blackboard, pictures, projectors, projected pictures, maps, plans, charts. The latter was dramatization, mime, guesture, facial expression, puppetry and the sand-table. In this study, the author only emphasised on aids which were available in classroom or teacher can make themselves. These included boards, projectors, different types of pictures and mime.

<i>2.2.2.1. Films and Videos </i>

Those which are audio and visual, for hearing and seeing at the same time are audio-visual media. The examples of audio-visual media are the movies. It can be a great medium for language instruction especially for literary topics. Some teachers ask the students to watch a movie showing a film based on literature such as novels or short stories. The simple combination of audio media and visual media are slide/tapes and film strip/tapes. The effect of using these media is almost twice as much as using audioonly or visual-only media. The use of these media has been replaced by the LCD TV or overhead projectors.

Films and videos are very useful and practical examples of ausio-visual aids in which films represent an effective instructional device to cater to the students’ attention and create interest and motivation among them towards effective learning. Educational films may be prepared on any content material or any aspect of knowledge, and behavior. Whereas video is a viable aid towards effective learning and teaching. Teaching with the help of video is called video-aided instruction. In video-aided instruction, learners’ comprehension is generally tested through a questionnaire and video is clearly an instructional medium that generates a much greater amount of interest and enjoyment than the more traditional printed material.

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<i>2.2.2.2 Pictures </i>

Pictures could be classified into text pictures and class pictures. Text pictures could be found easily in the books that were designed primarily forbeginners and elementary students. Pictures could demonstrate the meaning of a single word or word phrases. For instance, in the lesson of teaching vocabulary of some common objects put in a bag, the pictures in the textsshow a list of different objected to illustrate. Class pictures included picture cards and wall pictures. According to Wright and Haleem (1991: 50), “Picture cards are easy and inexpensive for teachers to prepare which means that sets of cards related to language teaching points or to subjects matter can be built up over a period of time. He also said that “the cards can be shown to the whole class or to a single student which allowed the teacher to control who revives the information on them”. Wall pictures compose of photographs, posters, maps, plans, etc. which replace the things that cannot be brought into classroom. By paying attention to the purpose of using pictures as teaching aids, teachers can have appropriate selection of the types of pictures for individual work, pair work or group work.

Bowen (1982, p.15) said that “Wall charts are ideal, however, for pair or group work in intermediate and advanced classes. Work cards could be prepared to accompany the charts so that students might work together to prepare a presentation before the whole class and/or to prepare a wall display”. Pictures had great importance in the sense that what could be described by words could be described through them.

<i>2.2.2.3 Objects </i>

There were two types of objects: real object and representational objects. Realias or real object were anything available without preparation or materials that students can see in class from the things such as tables, chairs, pens, books, etc. to more concrete things such as modern machine, natural phenomena (hot, rain, cold, etc). The teacher and learners themselves could also be sources of realias. Realias, therefore were available around us to be used instantly or brought to class for teaching

<b>and learning process. </b>

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Representational objects were those can replace real objects in case the teacher and students cannot prepare realias for use in classroom. When using representational objects, both teachers and learners should make careful choice and well prepare to avoid misunderstanding of word meaning.

<i>2.2.2.4 Mime </i>

Mime was a performance using gestures and facial expressions to act something without speaking. A gesture was a form of non-verbal communication which is made with a movement of the hands, the body andthe head to show a particular meaning. Facial expressions were the motions of facial muscle beneath the skin that convey emotional state to communicator. Gestures and facial expressions cost teachers nothing but energy to present them. However, they played an important role in the classroom.

As Billow (1961, p.147) stated, “actual presentation of an action, dramatically presents the action better than any other picture can, because, with it, we had movement and the third dimension, for lack of which a picture was sometimes unsatisfactory”. According to Darn (2005), gestures reducde unnecessary teacher talking time and increase learner participation; this in turn develops learners‟ confidence. In addition, gestures reduced fear of silence, make teachers‟ instructions clear and help the teacher in classroom management. In English classroom, teachers‟ gestures can scaffold learners‟ understanding of the language. Gestures could be used to support different aspects of language such as vocabulary and grammar.

<i>2.2.2.5 Projector </i>

The overhead projector was a type of projector. This good device could be used to replace the chalkboard during the lesson because they had the same features in some aspects. Yet, it was more useful in providing clear, vivid and colourful stimuli at all stages: presentation, practice, and production (Bowen,1982). In addition, teachers who used this type of projector did not have to stand backwards to students like using blackboard. PowerPoint software program combined with projector will bring about more vivid, interesting and useful images to help students to keep pace of the lessons.

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<i><b>2.2.3. Benefits of Using Visual Aids in Language Learning </b></i>

Visual aids played a very essential role in teaching and learning a foreign language because of their benefits. Visual aids in the classroom are the latest trend. Many schools are opting to use visual aids in their classroom as it encourages learning through creative means and open lines of communication. Pictures helped individual learners predict information, infer information, deduce information, analyze today’s world so that it can be brought into today‟s classroom and offer social settings which could immerse or expose the learner to new ideas or further promote an already created setting. If a visual is used in a testing or teaching situation it could enhance clarity and gave meaning to the text or to the message being communicated. Visuals could serve to create a solid link between the material learned and the practical application of it on a test (Canning, 1998). The nature of graphic images served as a catalyst and stimulus. Moreover, the visual could offer input, output and/or feedback on materials learned. Likewise, a learner using a visual may be more apt to give an added response to the traditionally expected form. The response might change according to the picture in collaboration with the task as it worked as an interactive

<b>negotiator. Although some practitioners might argue that a picture can serve as an impetus, others would equally argue that the same picture had the potential to urge </b>

an opinion (Canning, 1998). As teachers manipulate texts daily in lessons, teachers could also control and open a picture to a variety of language learning activities as well as a variety of interpretations. Visuals were a good and useful tool for examination purposes because they led the learner into drawing out language from their own knowledge and personal experiences through exposure to and immersion in the stimuli presented to them. Visuals permit strategies to organize knowledge into semantic or associative clusters. In testing and teaching situations picture items could be developed to test whether the students understand the syntax or structure of the target language. Visuals allowed for options, responses, alternatives, patterns and ranges. Students could see immediate meaning in terms of vocabulary recognition provided the item exists in the first language. The advantages of pictures suggest that visuals could help make a task or situation more authentic. Pictures could help testers and teachers to identify or manipulate structures, vocabulary, functions, situations

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and skills. Visuals used as testing prompts could be used to measure semantic and associative clusters. Pictures allowed students to focus on the whole item or a piece of an item. Pictures could give or not give a context depending on what needs to be tested. Pictures offered test takers options for more interpretive responses, patterns and ranges to answer posited exam questions. The use of visual stimuli enabled a learner and/or test-taker the ability to predict information, to infer information as well as to deduce information from the picture or mental image. Another beneficial reason for using pictures on examinations was authenticity. Visuals could bring today‟s world into the language learning environment by serving as an reflection of what exists outside of the foreign or second language classroom. This form of stimuli could allow the learner to analyze his/her own world. Visual stimuli could expose as well as immerse the test-taker into a familiar or unfamiliar environment, social setting or practical environment.

In conclusion, using visual aids in teaching can stimulate students to participate in speaking activities according to teacher’s materials.

<b>2.3. Attitude in Language Learning </b>

<i><b>2.3.1. Definition of attitude </b></i>

In common, attitude was constructed by some different aspects. Wenden (1991) divided attitude into three components, namely cognitive, affective, and behavioural. The first one, the mental element, consists of the beliefs and thoughts about an object, people, behaviour, event, and knowledge. This component seemed to affect the learning very much since it relates to one’s mind, in this case, perception. The second one, the affective component, covered the person’s emotions and feeling towards an object. This affects one’s preferences, such as to stand for or against, or to like or dislike. The last one, the behavioural aspect, deals with an individual’s actions or disposition to practice special behaviour(s) when one was in certain situations.

Besides, the researcher chose Wenden’s (1991) definition of attitude to explore the students’ attitudes towards using visual aids to improve students’ speaking performance. Based on this theory, believing that a task in class would mainly result in positive outcomes results in a favorable attitude towards the task. Therefore, if participants believe that, for example, speaking with visual aids would

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have a significant effect on their speaking performance, then this application would be to their benefit. Attitudes, once formed, could shape the way students think, understand, feel, and behave.

<i><b>2.3.2. Attitude towards language learning: </b></i>

Different people have different attitudes. Some people have very positive attitudes, while others have negative ones. That point of view can be changed over time and within specific situations but are based on life experiences. Different opinions that we hear around us may affect our attitudes toward learning foreign languages. In the end, it can result in changing the overall view towards learning behavior of specific language. There is always a sense of success while learning as a result of having a positive attitude towards languages. By having a positive attitude people tend to think more creatively and have a wish to learn. Having a positive perspective will lead to more successful learning. Lennartsson (2008) stated that students, who have difficulties with expressing attitudes towards learning foreign languages, are much more engaged than other students who are aware of their attitudes.

In addition to other aspects, language attitudes might have significant impacts on foreign language acquisition. The evaluation of attitudes in learning language was essential and necessary in language teaching and learning. Smith (1971) also indicated that “attitude exists through the learning process because it was learned, it can be unlearned. Since it was learned, it could be taught. Liking a foreign language could be learned. No student was born liking or disliking it” (p.81). According to Ellis (1994), both negative and positive attitudes towards the second language were learned. As a result, the teacher needed to focus on the students' attitudes. Attitudes could be positive or negative. They could also be changed. They could either facilitate or hinder the learning process effectively.

Similarly, Nunan (1991) pointed out that “students might get success in learning if they were encouraged and motivated to adopt the right attitudes, motivation, and learning interests in the language, culture and learning environment.” (p.234). Indeed, students’ negative attitudes could also be changed positively to

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facilitate their learning results. Having a positive attitude in language learning is believed to be a good start in their learning process.

Furthermore, according to Todor (2016), positive attitudes are the ones which lead to increased motivation towards learning and lead to better acquiring of the specific language. The focus should be on positive attitudes, not the negative ones because those affect the whole life and lead to loss of motivation. Tódor (2016) claims that student's attitude really has an effect on the whole learning procedure and, basically, it is the main factor which affects the learning success (Kovač and Zdilar, 2017). Many students struggle with the choice of taking an additional language on their college levels. Sometimes it is just to fill the gap of necessary course, but there are cases when it is all about the strong willingness to learn. During the education process there are opportunities to expand the knowledge. It is of great importance when students, at the college level, choose and enroll courses they are really interested in.

In conclusion, students’ attitude played a vital role in maximizing learning and teaching output, and it is one of the key factors influencing the success of second language learning. It would be meaningful when the researcher could help her students develop and maintain their positive attitudes in the language classroom through learning with the aid of using visual aids.

<b>2.4. Previous Studies on Using Visual Aids for Improving Students’ English speaking ability </b>

There were numerous researchers had conducted researches which were dealing with using visual aid in their language classroom in general and in the speaking lesson in particular. They strongly argued that their research findings can solve problems met in students’ speaking performance. In order to support my research topic, I have found some articles in which the researchers examine and investigate the effectiveness of visuals aids in improving students’ spoken competency.

A study of Mohammad (2000) aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using “picture media” in improving the speaking skills of a group of 20 Indonesian, non-native Arabic speakers, a combination between observation and questionnaire used

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to collect data. The findings of this study confirmed that picture media is an indispensable component in improving speaking skills.

Ceyhun (2007) conducted a research in terms of this field. This study aims to improve the speaking ability of EFL students at prep school by using online video at Osmaniye Korkut Ata University. The subjects of study were 20 low level students in five classes in an English class and 20 students were chosen for the treatment group. The materials were used five videos available online. The results of study illustrated that those who watched videos their speaking ability and scored higher than those who did not and in view of gender, the girls were more successful than the boys.

Another study conducted by Arumy (2013) conducted a study through the use of video in grade VIII at SMP N1 Manisrenggo. This study was quasi-experimental study. The sample of the study was divided into groups namely the experimental group (taught using video) and control group (taught using the textbook-based technique). This research was done by employing pre-test and a post-test then analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics as data instruments and data analysis respectively. The results of this study showed that the implementation of video technique significantly improves the students’ speaking ability in the English teaching.

A related study was undertaken in Tanzania in which 102 students coming from 4 schools of Magu were the sample of the study into two groups namely the experimental (2 schools used visual learning aids) and control group (2 schools were not using) (Joseph, 2015). This research aimed at examining the factors that made some schools use the aids and the barriers in other school and lastly the study inquired about other barriers that inhibited performance in public secondary schools. In this study, questionnaires, documentary reviews and cross-examination interviews were used to collect data). The finding of this study indicated that school used learning aids better results than the other.

A research by Santoso (2017) on students’ perception the implementation of visual aids in oral presentation to practice speaking skills was to know the students’ perception on the use of visual aids to practice students’ speaking skills. The

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participants were 89 students from three classes at university. There were three research instruments in this research which were observation, questionnaire and interview. The result of this research shows that presentation using visual aids was implemented well for teaching speaking in the class. Moreover, most of students agreed that presentation using visual aids could facilitate the students to practice speaking skills.

A study of Nurhizrah (2018) conducted a study through the use of visual aids in EFL classroom. The objective of this research was to improve the student’s low speaking skills by using visual aids. This study was action research which comprised three cycles. The participants of this study were the students and teachers of the English Education Department of Education in Lancang Kuning. It was found that visual aids can enable students to improve students speaking performance.

Firda (2018) did research on male – female EFL students’ perception on the use of visual aids to improve their speaking mastery. The sample is 19 students at grade 10. The aims of this study were to find out the male EFL students’ perception on the use of visual aids in learning speaking. The writer used three instruments, they were questionnaire, interview and observation. The result of study gave positive perceptions toward the use of visual aids in speaking performance and visual aids help the students to improve their speaking performance.

Besides investigating the foreign research, the author also looked for the Vietnamese studies on the same topic to highlight the context and the scope of the study. Trang (2020) was a highlighted previous study for meaningful recommendations and positive strengths to make the significant reference.

Trang (2020) conducted significant research under the title “exploring the use of picture in enhancing non-major students oral competency at Ba Ria - Vung Tau University, Viet Nam” with the aim to improve students’ speaking ability through using pictures in teaching procedure text. The participants of the study were 200 first and second first-year students. They come from many provinces in Vietnam. Their ages are from eighteen to twenty years old. Their abilities of English are different from each other. The researcher used three data collection instruments: questionnaire, interview and class observation. The findings of study showed that using pictures in

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