A study on the reality of teaching conversational skills to non-English major students at Phuong Dong Unversity Difficulties and some suggested teaching techni.PDF

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality of study project report i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations and tables vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. The rationale of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Aims of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
3. Research questions of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
4. Scope of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
5. Methodology Error! Bookmark not defined.
6. Design of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1. Overview of teaching speaking skills to foreign learners of EnglishError! Bookmark not
defined.
1.1.1. Nature of speaking skill Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1.2. Teaching speaking skill- methodological objectives . Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2. Conversations Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.1. Concepts of conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.3. Units of conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.4. Native speakers' conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3. Teaching conversational skills Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.1. Approaches to teaching conversation skills Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.2. Principles of teaching conversational skill Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1. The research context Error! Bookmark not defined.
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2.1.1. Description of the English course for non-English major students and its objectives at the
faculty of foreign languages, Phuong Dong University Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.2. Description of the students at Phuong Dong UniversityError! Bookmark not defined.
2.1.3. Description of the teachers at Phuong Dong UniversityError! Bookmark not defined.
2.2. Methods of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3. Research design Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.1. Sample and sampling Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.2. Research Instruments Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.3. Data collection Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.3.4. Data analysis Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1. Teachers and students’ personal information Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2. Difficulties from teachers and students Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.1. Students’ English proficiency and learning motivationError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.2. Students’ attitudes toward speaking skill Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3. Teachers/ students’ perception of English conversationsError! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.4. Difficulties of teaching and learning conversations and conversational activities in classesError!
Bookmark not defined.
3.3. Suggested techniques and activities for teaching conversational skills to non- English major
students Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3. 1. Overview of teaching problems Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.3.2. Suggested teaching techniques to improve the effectiveness of teaching conversations to
non-English major at Phuong Dong University Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.4. Activities used in conversation classes to improve students’ conversational skillsError!
Bookmark not defined.
PART C: CONCLUSION 45
1) Limitations of the study 45
2) Suggestions for further study .45
REFERENCES Error! Bookmark not defined.

APPENDICES Error! Bookmark not defined.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PDU: Phuong Dong University
HNU: Ha Noi National University
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1: Rivers and Temperley’s framework (1978:4)
Figure 2: Littlewood’s framework (1981:86)
Figure 3: Nolasco and Arthur ‘framework (2000)
Figure 4: William Littlewood’s framework
Table 1: Teachers’ genders
Table 2: Students’ genders
Table 3: Teachers’ years of teaching
Table 4: Students’ years of learning English
Table 5: Students’ English proficiency
Table 6: Students’ learning motivation
Table 7: Students’ attitudes toward speaking skill- Teachers’ ideas
Table 8: Students’ attitudes toward speaking skill- Students’ ideas
Table 9: Teachers and students’ concepts of conversations
Table 10: Factors of a good conversation
Table 11: Content of conversations in the textbook
Table 12: Students’ difficulties
Table 13: Teachers’ difficulties
Table 14: Conversational activities in classes
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Table 15: Students’ attitude toward conversation activities

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. The rationale of the study
In Vietnam today, learning English has become a rising demand among Vietnamese
people. Also, English is chosen to become a compulsory topic in high schools, colleges,
and universities. This fact results from the open door policy of Vietnamese government to
develop its economy and therefore the demand of communicating in English appears to
serve the needs of foreign investors as well as Vietnamese enterprises. For many years the
focus on reading and writing skills under the influence of grammar translation and audio
lingual methods in high school curricula has made students pay more attention to grammar
and vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, high school graduates are more confident in doing
grammar and vocabulary written tests than listening and speaking tests. In English classes,
students are timid in interacting with teachers and friends and that affects their ability in
speaking and listening in English. Whereas, the application of Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) into teaching English has required students to acquire good competence of
communicating in English, especially speaking and listening skills. Therefore it is
necessary for teachers and students to change their attitudes as well as teaching and
learning methods to have good English communicative proficiency.
In some recent years, Phuong Dong University has provided students who learn
English as a non-major subject an English integrated course including four skills: listening,
speaking, reading and writing skills. Four skills are taught in one unit following topic-
based books named: Streamlines, Headway, and now Know How. Among the skills,
students are not very confident, or even afraid of speaking lessons and tests. Five years
teaching there gave me chances to teach different first-year and second-year students and
most of them feedback the same reality of feeling nervous and stressed in learning and
doing speaking tasks. Even though there are some changes in the old curricula, and there is
a switch in applying CLT in English classes, students do not show a better attitudes and
results in learning this skill, which is considered the focus of the new curricula.
Under this circumstance, I have had some casual talks among students and teachers

at Phuong Dong University and found out that students are worried about speaking in front
of the class and find it very difficult to talk with others in English. The actual performance
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of English speaking tests showed that students were more confident in speaking
individually if they had information for the teachers‟ questions. However, when they were
asked to interact with other student in conversations, they spent a lot of time preparing for
these and finally still felt worried and did an unnatural and unstructured conversation.
Some of them even failed to speak from the very beginning of the conversation. The result
of the interviews and tests suggested me a topic for my minor thesis in the Master course in
English Teaching Methodology; that is “A study on the reality of teaching conversational
skills to non-English major students at Phuong Dong University (PDU): difficulties and
some suggested teaching techniques.” The paper attempts to clarify the difficulties of
teaching conversational skills and suggest some activities that are practical in teaching
these skills in English speaking lessons. Some suggestions in teaching and learning
methods are also put forward, which are relevant to CLT application.
2. Aims of the study
The research investigates the reality of teaching conversational skills to non-
English major at Phuong Dong University. The main goal of the research is to identify the
difficulties of teacher and students when they deal with conversational skills to recommend
techniques and activities in classes to help teachers reduce difficulties.
3. Research questions of the study
The study aims at answering the following questions
1. What are the difficulties of teachers at Phuong Dong University conversational skills to
non-English major students?
2. What are the difficulties of non-English major students at Phuong Dong University
when learning conversational skills?
3. What techniques and activities are effective to teach non-English major students at
Phuong Dong University conversational skills?
4. Scope of the study
In this study, the investigator intended to focus on the difficulties of teachers and

non English major students when they teach and learn conversational skills. Because these
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obstacles are the common worry among teachers and learners and from these difficulties,
techniques are selected to help teachers reduce them in teaching and help students to have
more confidence in conversing in English classes.
5. Methods of the study
To fulfill the above aims, the investigator has chosen both qualitative and
quantitative methods for the study. All the comments, remarks, suggestions and
conclusions are drawn out from factual research, observation, experience and discussion
among teachers and learners. Data for analysis are gained through the following sources:
- Survey questionnaire: This method is used to find out the difficulties the teachers
and students at Phuong Dong University face when they interact in conversation lessons.
The questionnaires are useful for getting data of the attitudes and behaviors of the teachers
and learners when facing these difficulties. It is very convenient for the researcher to
conduct the research when she does not have much time for the research and she does not
need to directly do it.
- Interviews and observation: The methods are significant in getting more
qualitative data by getting closer to the objects of the study. Moreover, observation done
by the researcher is leading to more objective data and open new perspective of the study.
6. Design of the study
This minor thesis consists of three parts:
Part A -INTRODUCTION: states the rationale, aims, research questions and
design of the study.
Part B – DEVELOPMENT: includes three chapters:
Chapter 1- LITERATURE REVIEW: provides theoretical background that is
relevant to the purpose of the study.
Chapter 2 - METHODOLOGY: presents the methodology of the study including
the research context, methods of the study, research design
Chapter 3- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: deals with the data analysis of two
questionnaires designed for teachers and on English major students to find out their

difficulties in teaching and learning conversational skills and the finding of the
study and suggests some useful techniques for teaching conversational skills to
non- English major students.
Part C- CONCLUSION: summarizes some main contents of the study, points out
the limitations and suggest directions for further study.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Overview of teaching speaking skills to foreign learners of English
1.1.1. Nature of speaking skill
Oral skill or speaking skill among four macro skills (including listening, speaking,
reading, and writing) is considered one of the most important in learning languages.
According to Bygate (1987), speaking help learners “carries out many of their basic
transactions. It is the skill by which they are most frequently judged, and through which
they make and lose friends. It is the par excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of
professional advancement and of business. It is also a medium through which much
language is learnt, and for many is particularly conductive for learning.” For some
language learners, learning to speak a language is learning the language and their
improvement in the language competence is the progress in speaking competence. That
results from the fact that listening and speaking skills is used much more than reading and
writing skills in daily life. Speaking and listening skills are used in daily communications
and learning these skills is learning to communicate.
To define speaking, different authors have different concepts about it. These
definitions are stated to clarify the requirements for the speakers and the functions of
speaking in social communication. In the first place, speaking is defined as “an interactive
process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing
information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). In communication, speakers have to
know how to use their vocabulary and grammatical structures to produce information and
analyzing information they get from other speakers. In this process, the speakers are not
required to have the “linguistic competence” to use vocabulary or grammar or

pronunciation but also the “sociolinguistic competence” which decides when, why and
how language is produced in certain situations. In addition, Brown and Yule (1983) make a
useful distinction between two functions of speaking: interactional function (which serves
to establish and maintain social relations) and transactional functions (which focuses on the
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exchange of information). According to Bygate (1991:5), speaking, regarded as a skill,
should consist of two sub types of skills: motor-perceptive skills and interaction skills.
Motor-perceptive skills include “perceiving, recalling, and articulating in the correct order
sounds and structures of the language”. Whereas, interaction skills, as Wilkins say, are
those of “controlling one‟s own language production and having to make one‟s own
choice”. Interaction skills require speakers to make decisions about “what to say, how to
say it, and whether to develop it, in accordance with one‟s intentions, while maintaining
the desired relations with others.” (cited from Bygate: p5)
In short, speaking is a fundamental skill that helps humans communicate. Language
learners should be aware of its functions and prepare for themselves both linguistic and
sociolinguistic competence to become successful speakers.
1.1.2. Teaching speaking skill-methodological objectives
The development of different approaches asserts a different perspective on the
importance of speaking and teaching speaking skill. For many years, language teaching
aims at helping learners achieve linguistic competence, which is the ability to master the
sounds, words, and grammar patterns. In the mid-1970s, the notion of linguistic
competence is extended to the communicative competence-the ability to interact with other
speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from the ability to perform on discrete- point tests
of grammatical knowledge. Therefore, teachers should study what objectives materials and
methods aim at when they teach speaking skills. Here are some accounts of major
objectives of oral materials that are adopted from Bygate (1987)
Rivers and Temperley (1978) distinguish skill-using and skill-getting through a
diagram (Figure 1). Yet, these skills do not reflect the success of language learning as even
beginners have skills they can use to communicate at least something. Moreover, activities
should be designed to “bridge” the gap between two processes. The authors suggest using

“pseudo-communicative” skill-getting activities, which would lead “naturally into
spontaneous communication” (1978:5).

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Figure 1: Rivers and Temperley’s framework (1978:4)

Little Wood (1981) provides another framework for defining exercises in figure 2.








Figure 2: Littlewood’s framework (1981:86)
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Littlewood makes a distinction between pre-communicative and communicative
activities. Pre-communicative activities “isolate specific elements of knowledge or skill
which compose communicative ability, and provide learners with opportunities to practice
them.” (1981:85). The aim of this phase is for the learners using acceptable language with
reasonable fluency, without concerning “communicate meanings effectively.”
Communicative tasks, on the other hand, ask learners to “integrate his pre-communicative
knowledge and skills into “the full activity of communicating meanings”, providing what
Littlewood calls “whole-task practice”.
Training learners part-skills or let them practice total skill, or whole task practice,
help them develop speaking skill. However, the activities selected should be suitable with
the learners‟ level of ability.
1.2. Conversations

1.2.1. Concepts of conversation
There are varied definitions of conversation regarding its nature and functions. In
daily life, conversation is understood as a communicative activity in which two or more
people talk about certain topics. In classes, conversation is understood by some students as
a list of continual questions and answers. However, in some well-known books, the
following authors give different views on conversation.
First, M. Bailey (2005: 42) claims that “conversation is one of the most basic and
pervasive forms of human interaction.”
Second, Pridham (2006: 2) defines conversation as “any interactive spoken
exchange between two or more people” and “can be:
 Face-to-face exchanges: these can be private conversations, such as talk at
home between the family, or more public and ritualized conversations such
as classroom talk or Question Time in the Houses of Parliament.
 Non face-to-face exchanges, such as telephone conversations;
 Broadcast materials such as a live radio phone- in or a television chat
show”
Third, Nolasco and Arthur (2000: 5) suggest conversation “refers to a time when
two or more people have the right to talk or listen without having to follow a fixed
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schedule, such as an agenda.” In conversation, „„everyone can have something to say and
anyone can speak at any time”.
While Pridham gives us a definition which shows the nature of conversation
regarding interactional and transactional functions of spoken language, Nolasco and Arthur
emphasize the freedom of speakers in conversation. Last, in my opinion, conversation is a
talk between two or more people. In a conversation, speakers have chance to express their
opinion about certain topics. In addition, the chance of speaking is fair among speakers
and good speakers are also good listeners.
1.2.2. Functions of conversation
There are few authors stating the functions of conversation. However, the most
common ideas about that come from two authors: Brown and Yule when they assert "two

different kinds of conversational interaction can be distinguished-those in which the
primary focus is on the exchange of information (the transactional function of
conversation), and those in which the primary purpose is to establish and maintain social
relations (the interactional function of conversation)” (Brown and Yule, 1983). In
transactional uses of conversation the primary focus is on the message, whereas
interactional uses of conversation focus primarily on the social needs of the participants.
As stated by Nolasco and Arthur (2000:5), conversation targets at exchanging
information, creating and maintaining social relationships such as friendship, negotiating
status and social roles, as well as making decision on and doing joint actions. The social
function is considered the primary purpose of conversations.
Bailey (2005) also mentions the function of conversation is “interactive” when she
notices the participation of two or more people in a conversation.
In linguistics, Brown and Yule (1983) look at conversation through two main
functions of transaction and interaction while other authors pay more attention to its
“interactional” function. However, it is agreed that doing all these tasks of a conversation
is difficult to native speakers, let alone foreigners.
1.2.3. Units of conversation
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There are different ways to call the components of a conversation. M.Dobson
(1974) named questions, answers and exclamations “the elements of conversation”.
Pridham (2001) raises question „What does conversation consist of?” He believes that the
knowledge of conversation should go far beyond “words” or “sounds”. He adds situation is
another factor that we should consider when we want to build a conversation. Yet, no
authors above analyse carefully the structure of conversation and guide learners how to
construct a conversation appropriately as Nolasco and Arthur (2000). They stress on
exchange as the basic unit of conversation. They describe the structure of conversation in
the following figure:
Example:
A: Jane
B: Yes

A: Could I borrow your bike, please?
B: Sure, it‟s in the garage.
A: Thanks very much.
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A

Figure 3: Nolasco and Arthur’s framework (2000:5)
As can be seen from the figure, conversation includes some exchanges. Each exchange is
constituted of two moves that are called “an initiating move” and “ a response”. The move
can be also named “turn” and can be “taken without using words” e.g. by a nod of the
head. (Nolasco and Arthur, 2000: 5)
Each move can function differently, for example, request or acknowledge. To identify the
function of the move, factors such as the speakers, the place and time the conversation
takes place, as well as the position of the move in the stream of speech should be taken into
account.
Another characteristic of conversation, according to these authors, is open- ended and the
potential to develop in any way. Based on this feature of conversation, the following
example cannot be a conversation even though it is composed of a series of exchanges:
A: How much are the oranges?
B: Eighteen pence each, madam.
Turn 1
[Solicit: call]
„Jane‟


Turn 2
[Give: available]
„Yes‟

Turn 3
[Solicit: request]
Could I borrow your
bike, please?


Turn 4
[Give: comply]
„Sure, it‟s in the
garage.‟


Turn 5
[Acknowledge: thank]
„Thanks very much‟

Exchange 1
Exchange 2
Exchange 3
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A: I‟ll have two, please.
B: That‟s thirty six pence!
The two speakers want to finish their business as quickly as possible. Instead, they may do
this in order to get some discount or develop their social relationship that is always
potential in real life. Normally, students often make unfinished conversations by giving
some exchanges and make it to an end as soon as they can because they think that way is
safe to them and enough for speaking tasks. The difficulty makes teachers headache when
they try to find the way to initiate and sustain class conversations.
1.2.4. Native speakers' conversation
To learn how to make conversations successfully in English, it is best to find out the way

native speakers form a conversation. A normal conversation could follow these rules:
o usually only one speaker speaks at a time
o the speakers change
o the length of the any contribution varies;
o there are techniques for allowing the other party or parties to speak;
o neither the content nor the amount of what we say is specified in advance
(Cited from (Nolasco and Arthur, 2000: 7)
Not all the conversations happen in that way, but it shows us the move and the exchange as
well as the unpredictability of conversation content. That also requires speakers‟ flexibility
in making a conversation and teachers‟ consideration in guiding students how to construct
a normal conversation without limiting their freedom in exchanges.
In short, following the model conversation and guarantee all the requirements and
principles of a real conversation is a hard work to most learners, especially beginners.
1.3. Teaching conversational skills
1.3.1. Approaches to teaching conversation skills
Richards (1990: 76-77) states two major approaches to teaching conversation skills directly
and indirectly. The direct approach “involves planning a conversation program around the
specific microskills, strategies, and processes that are involved in fluent conversation.”
This is appropriate for English major students who learn speaking as a separate skill, not
integrated skill. In these speaking classes, teachers have chance to teach students
microkills, strategies, and processes of a conversation and instruct them to practice
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regularly. Moreover, students are at high level of English have background to understand
conversational knowledge better than students who do not major in English.
The indirect approach implies that conversation should not be taught, but rather students
acquire conversation skills by taking part in meaningful tasks. The direct approach calls
students‟ attention to conversational rules, conventions, and strategies while the indirect
one allows students to be set loose to engage in interaction.
Richards (p.79) is somewhat critical of indirect approach in which he remarks „ the focus is
on using language to complete a task, rather than on practicing language.” However, the

indirect approach should be employed to teach non-English major students for the
following reasons:
o The time for conversation lesson is limited,
o Students are required to fulfill the tasks in books
o Students are at low level of English
The question is “How do teachers design meaningful tasks to guide students to make a
good conversation without learning its rules, conventions and strategies?”
To find out the answer to the above question, teachers should be aware of some principles
of teaching conversations to get a base for preparing appropriate tasks to teach students.
1.3.2. Principles of teaching conversational skill
Teaching conversational skills should be teaching “how”, not teaching „what‟. That means
teachers should teach students the way to make a normal conversation and the way to
overcome obstacles in conversing. Tasks and strategies they use to teach should prepare
students for the following principles of conversation.( by Richard (1990: 79-80), cited from
Brown(2001, p.277))
- How to use conversation for both transactional and interactional purposes
- How to produce both short and long turns in conversation
- Strategies for managing turn-taking in conversation, including taking a turn,
holding a turn, and relinquishing a turn.
- Strategies for opening and closing conversations
- How to initiate and respond to talk on a broad range of topics, and how to develop
and maintain talk on these topics.
- How to use both a casual style of speaking and a neutral or more formal style
- How to use conversation in different social settings and for different kinds of social
encounters, such as on the telephone and in informal and formal social gatherings
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- Strategies for preparing trouble spots in conversation, including conversation
breakdown and comprehension problems
- How to maintain fluency in conversation through avoiding excessive pausing,
breakdowns, and errors of grammar or pronunciation

- How to produce talk in a conversational mode, using a conversational register and
syntax
- How to use conversational fillers and small talk
- How to use conversational routines
1.3.3. Activities used for conversation classes
According to William Littlewood there is a continuum of classroom activities to promote
communicative (or conversational) competence








Figure 4: William Littlewood’s framework (cited from Nolasco and Arthur (2000))
Nolasco and Arthur (2000) claim the significance of using different types of
conversation activities to students of other languages as follows:
o Controlled activities: give students confidence and support
o Awareness activities: Increase sensitivity in students to what they are
aiming at
o Fluency activities: Give students the practice they need to use English for
communication
o Feedback tasks: Allow students to reflect on their own performance so that
they become aware of areas in which they have to improve
Control Performing memorised dialogues
Contextualised drills
Cued dialogues
Discourse Chains
Role play

Creativity Improvisation

Creativity


Step 1: Controlled activities
Performing memorised dialogues
Contextualised drills
Cued dialogues
Discourse Chains
Role play
Improvisation

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* Summary
The introduction part reviews commonly know theoretical issues in teaching speaking and
conversation. The last goal of any speaking course is to develop students‟ communicative
competence through meaningful activities in and outside classes. Conversation skills are
basic ones that students need to achieve for that goal, thus teachers should be aware of the
nature and the principles of teaching these skills and the activities used for teaching
conversation classes. The choice of the activities which are appropriate to students at
different levels depends on teachers and their understanding about students‟ motivation.
Nevertheless, the basic principles from controlled to free activities should be employed as
students are normally young and vulnerable to so difficult or unfamiliar tasks. They need
to be taught step by step and have chance to improve their conversation skills through
interacting with teacher and friends in class. These principles will be used in my real
teaching conversation lessons to non-English major students at Phuong Dong University as
a pilot practice for my own teaching. The interviews with students and other teachers after
the lessons will help me change my teaching method appropriate for my students.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
2.1. The research context
2.1.1. Description of the English course for non-English major students and its
objectives at the faculty of foreign languages, Phuong Dong University.
The study is conducted at the faculty of foreign language, Phuong Dong University
where students learning English are divided into two groups. One group majoring in
English spend four years learning English skills such as listening, speaking, reading,
writing, translating, etc. Another group majoring in Chinese, Japanese learn English as the
second foreign language. They learn integrated skills in a 12 credit course in three
semesters. Students learn some textbooks such as Know How and New Headway. These
books are usually theme-based and skill-based to introduce students with basic knowledge
of grammar, vocabulary and skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These
knowledge and skills are taught interrelated in one lesson from elementary to intermediate
levels. Each book consists of from 12 to 14 units in which listening and speaking practice
is encouraged. The reading and writing lessons are placed before or after the two other
skills to stimulate students to use English in form of spoken language first and followed by
written language. The textbooks chosen are quite in common use among non-English
major students at other universities and are proved to be appropriate with the students. The
content is aimed at introducing the language skills and knowledge as well as some cultural
knowledge to help students understand and know how to use English outside classroom,
not only inside classroom.
The aim of this course for non-English major students is to develop students‟
communicative competence in English. After the course, students are expected to
communicate in English at the intermediate level. Students normally will learn English as a
second foreign language and their need after learning this course is to communicate with
foreigners in spoken form. Therefore, communicative teaching method is used as the main
way of instruction and interaction in class. In addition, students are tested after each
semester with four skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking. Knowledge of
grammar and vocabulary is also assessed as a small part in the test. The final result will be

the average mark after summing up the marks of four skill tests. In these tests, the
requirements are set as follows:
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- General knowledge of English grammar and a number of words in use.
+ Do exercise on grammar or vocabulary tests
+ Answer questions related to grammar and vocabulary knowledge through doing
reading, listening, speaking, or writing tasks.
- The capacity of communicating in English in common situations in spoken and written
forms.
+ Answer questions after reading or listening to a passage
+ Speak and write a passage based on a given topic or situation
2.1.2. Description of the students at Phuong Dong University
As stated above, non-English major students at the faculty of foreign languages learn
English as second foreign languages from the third semester (at the beginning of the
second year) to the fifth semester (at the beginning of the third year). They start at different
levels of English since some of them learn Chinese and Japanese as the main foreign
languages before they enter the university. Students who have a certain competence of
English forget a part of what they learned after one year learning other languages.
Students, however, are interested in learning English as they are aware of the
opportunity of getting good jobs if they are competent at English. Moreover, most of them
are getting used to learning strategies and teaching methods of foreign languages, thus
teachers do not have to spend too much time training them how to learn English in classes.
2.1.3. Description of the teachers at Phuong Dong University
To ensure teaching about 800 students learning English as major and non-major
subjects, the faculty of foreign languages employs and hires about 20 teachers. Most of
them graduated from some institutions of training teachers of English such as: The College
of foreign studies, Viet Nam National University, and Ha Noi University. The qualification
status of the teaching contingent is that 10% have doctoral degree, 70% have MA degree
and the rest have bachelor degree. Most of the teachers are enthusiastic and active in
teaching. The frequent meetings or discussions on how to improve the teaching and

learning quality are held to get new ideas about changing teaching and learning methods as
well as adapting materials appropriate to students.

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2.2. Methods of the study
The study employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This is,
according to Wisker.G (2001:138) “a common approach”. Questionnaires are used as a
kind of quantitative method of study to collect information from teachers and students. The
questionnaires include both closed and open-ended questions which give teachers and
students chance to express their opinions on the difficulties of teaching and learning
conversational skills as well as their favourite techniques in teaching these skills. Besides,
interviews and group observation are used to get quantitative data for the study. Interviews
get the research get closer to the participants who are teachers and students. Their in-depth
thinking noted during the interviews will help the researcher have more insight looks into
the study issue. Moreover, observations give a condition for the researcher to check
whether the teachers and students do what they say in the lessons.
2.3. Research design
2.3.1. Sample and sampling
The data of the study is collected from two main sources: survey questionnaires and
interviews. The survey questionnaire is conducted among 10 teachers who have from 3 to
10 years experience in teaching non-English major students at Phuong Dong University. 5
out of 10 teachers had MA degree in English teaching and language study. 3 of them are
attending an MA course at some universities and, 2 teachers have BA degree in English.
Especially 9 teachers are female and only one teacher is male. They work at the faculty of
foreign languages at Phuong Dong University as the role of full-time and part-time
teachers.
The questionnaires for students are delivered to 100 students learning in three groups. They
are majoring in Chinese and Japanese and learning English as a second foreign language.
They are second-year students who are taking part in a second semester of their English
course. They are supposed to pass first semester tests and get the elementary level of

English. The students are required to master four skills of English that is, listening,
speaking, reading, and writing at the elementary level and are learning lessons at pre-
intermediate level. These students have one semester learning English in the first half of
their third school year. Their views on the research questions and their suggestions for the
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next semester are useful for the researchers to analyse the problems and give appropriate
solutions to it.
In addition, three teachers and five students are asked to take part in interviews. These
teachers and students are at different ages and have different experience in teaching and
learning English. They come from different groups of participants and are willing to be
interviewees and ready to give honest answers to the interview questions.
2.3.2. Research Instruments
The data for the study comes from both a quantitative method called survey
questionnaires, and two qualitative methods namely interview and group observation.
a. Instrument 1: Survey questionnaire
The employment of questionnaires is appropriate to the thesis questions as “they are often
used to gather information about attitudes, behaviours, activities, and responses to
events…It is a method of gathering large number of responses…” (Wisker, 2001:147). The
survey questionnaires, as stated above, are completed by both teachers and students. In the
first step, teachers and students were asked to write their answers on the delivered list of 10
questions and return these to the researchers after three days to make sure that they have
time to think about the questions and answers. Especially, two teachers asked to receive the
questions through emails because they were teaching in another province. They also sent
their reply three days after the questions were sent. The contents of the questions are
detailed as follows.
First, the questionnaire for the teachers includes 10 questions. The questions are designed
in the form of both open and close- ended ones. The closed-ended questions help the
participants save time in finding the answer to these while the open-ended questions help
the researcher get closer to the participants‟ ideas and have varied answers to the problem
raised. However, for the time limitation of the teachers, there is only one open-ended

question which takes teachers and students time to write down the answers. In 10
questions, the first 3 questions focus on exploring their view on the students‟ English
proficiency, their motivation of learning English and their attitudes toward speaking skill.
The evaluation of learners‟ capacity will affect the teachers‟ choice of teaching methods
and activities. The next 4 questions in the list aim at discovering the teachers‟ viewpoint on
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the nature of conversation, the contents of conversation lessons in the books for non-
English major students, and their difficulties in teaching conversations to their students.
The perception of teachers about English conversations has much influence on their
teaching method and students‟ perception. Thus, getting their ideas on this is a reason for
their choice of activities and techniques in the next questions. Besides, questions about the
conversation contents and their obstacles in teaching these contents to non-English major
students help the researcher get base for the suggested solutions in the next chapter. Last,
the three ending questions are spent for checking what activities the teachers have used for
their conversation lessons and their effectiveness and getting their ideas on the solutions to
the difficulties they meet when teaching this kind of skills. All in all, teachers play an
important role in teaching and learning process. Under their instructions, students know
what to learn and how to learn. Therefore, teachers are an important source of information
that any researcher cannot neglect.
Second, students, as the second main participants of the study, are involved in the survey
willingly, and answer a list of 10 questions. Like the teachers, the students‟ self-perception
about their English proficiency, motivation and attitudes toward speaking are discovered
through first three questions. The next four questions ask students about their conversation
knowledge and their thinking about the conversation content in their textbooks. Students,
in addition, spend time generating their obstacles when learning conversation skills. The
last three questions ask students about their teachers‟ activities in conversation classes,
students‟ preferences for the activities and their expectations in the next semester. The
consistency of teachers‟ and students‟ number of questions and the question arrangement is
the researcher‟s intention in order to get a consistent data from two sides of teaching and
learning subjects. The similarities or differences, if available, will be very interesting to

analyse and from that help the researcher draw conclusions.
b. Instrument 2: Interviews
Compared to the survey questionnaires, the semi-constructed interviews play more or less
important role in data collection step. This brings more direct answers to the issues stated
and other information and can be used “to supplement information provided in a
questionnaire” (Wisker, 2001:164). On the other hand, it is quite time-consuming and the
number of participants is much more limited. Therefore, choosing the interviewees is also
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a hard work for the researcher. Three teachers and five students are chosen to satisfy some
criteria including different ages, genders, experience in teaching and learning English,
willing interviewees, and suitable schedules with the interviewer. To save time for the
interviews, the questions are delivered to them two days before the face-to-face interviews
to give the participants time to think about the answers and note down the main points.
The group of five yes/no and wh-questions targets at the problems of teaching and learning
conversational skills. The content of the questions for the teachers and students are similar
with the aim to get different perspectives of teachers and learners for the problems.
Question 1 asks teachers and students for students‟ English capacity. They are asked to
choose the skills students are good at among grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Question 2 intends to figure students‟ attitudes toward speaking
English and the reasons why they like or dislike it. Question 3 aims at getting students and
teachers ideas about the reality of teaching conversations in classes. Question 4 asks for
students‟ feedback about the lessons designed in students‟ textbook and their comments on
the content of the lessons. Finally, question 5 is designed to get students‟ comments on
their teachers‟ usage of activities to teach these lessons. The fifth question for teachers
focuses on the usage of articulation question which is considered related to conversation
teaching.
Instrument 3: Observation
The observation is a supplementary source to the first two study instruments. It enables the
researcher “to capture what people actually do rather than what they say they do.” (Wisker,
2001:178). The researcher directly observes what other teachers and their students teach

learn conversational skills in classes. The observation is difficult to carry out as teachers
are reluctant when being observed and students are do not behave naturally when there is
another teacher in their classes. However, in the condition that the promise of without
interfering their teaching process is kept; two teachers agree to let her attend her classes to
fulfill the observation checklist for the sole purpose of studying.
2.3.3. Data collection
The first stage of the data collection was delivering the questionnaires to 15 teachers
and 100 students at the foreign language faculty, Phuong Dong University through
handouts and emails. Two groups of students were the two observed groups and one group
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was being taught by the researcher. After three days, the questionnaires were collected and
analysed to get the figures for the study.
The second stage took places soon after the questionnaires were collected. Three
teacher informants were interviewed in the room of English teaching staff at Phuong Dong
Univeristy. Each interview lasted from 10 to 15 minutes in the break time after each
teaching period. Five student informants gathered in a classroom and one by one were
interviewed in another room to ensure the objectiveness of the interview. All the answers
were jotted down in forms of notes and two students are allowed to answer in Vietnamese
since they are not confident in answering in English. The notes were also collected and
analysed by generating the ideas in form of transcripts.
The observation tasks were actually done at the same time with the questionnaire
delivery. The reason for it is that after observing the lesson the researcher delivered the
questionnaires to the students and the teacher for the sake of convenience.
2.3.4. Data analysis
Data analysis is not only the process of reading out the data collected but the process
of interpreting the data under the viewpoint and experience of the researcher. The analysis
will bring a lot of suppositions in the research questions into light. These results will be
presented in forms of tables and charts that help to compare different viewpoints of
teachers and students on the research problems.