Sử dụng các đoạn phim tiếng Anh theo ngữ cảnh nhằm thúc đẩy học sinh trong các giờ học nói Một nghiên cứu hành động tại trường THPT Bố Hạn, tỉnh Bắc Giang

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





PHẠM ĐỨC CƯỜNG

USING CONTENT-RELEVANT VIDEOS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS
IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT BO HA HIGH
SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE

(SỬ DỤNG CÁC ĐOẠN PHIM TIẾNG ANH THEO NGỮ CẢNH NHẰM THÚC ĐẨY
HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI
TRƯỜNG THPT BỐ HẠ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG)


M.A. Minor Programme Thesis


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111




HANOI – 2014

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




PHẠM ĐỨC CƯỜNG




USING CONTENT-RELEVANT VIDEOS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS
IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT BO HA HIGH
SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE

(SỬ DỤNG CÁC ĐOẠN PHIM TIẾNG ANH THEO NGỮ CẢNH NHẰM THÚC ĐẨY
HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI
TRƯỜNG THPT BỐ HẠ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG)


M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. LÊ HÙNG TIẾN



HANOI – 2014
i

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ―Using content-relevant videos to motivate
students in speaking lessons: An action research at Bo Ha High School, Bac Giang
Province” is my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of
Languages and International Studies, VNU – Hanoi, and that this thesis has not, wholly or
partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions.


Hanoi, 2014


Phạm Đức Cường

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Le Hung
Tien for his valuable guidance, feedback and assistance on my thesis, especially for his
lectures on research methods.
Second, I also wish to thank my teachers at University of Languages and
International Studies, VNU – Hanoi for their interesting lectures, which helped to build
the argument in my study.
Next, my sincere thanks must be given to the helpful librarians at University of

Languages and International Studies, VNU – Hanoi.
And I am also indebted to my beloved students and colleagues at Bo Ha High
School, Bac Gang province for their enthusiastic cooperation in completing the
questionnaire and taking part in the lessons to be tested during my action plan.
Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my family for their
support and encouragement during my study.





















iii

ABSTRACT

In attempting to better speaking skills for the non-English majored students at
BHHS using content- relevant videos in lessons, this study mainly focuses on three issues:
(1) students‘ attitudes toward the use of relevant videos in their speaking lessons; (2) the
impacts of using videos in speaking learning; (3) suggestions to students and teachers so
that using relevant videos could be effectively applied at BHHS. In order to collect the
data for the thesis, three instruments were used: the questionnaire for the students, the
teacher‘s observation sheet and the students‘ journals. Research findings showed that the
students were actually highly positive in their attitudes towards using CRVs in speaking
lessons. It was revealed that using CRVs in class was beneficial to help BHHS students
improve their performance in speaking lessons. In addition, the students and other
teachers also offered some suggestions for the teacher and author so that learning and
teaching speaking with CRVs would be more successful. Based on the findings, some
implications would be given for both the teacher and the students. The author really hope
that this study useful for motivating both the students and the teachers to teach and lean
English better at BHHS.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi
LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1. The rationales of the study 1
2. The scope and significance of the study 2
3. The aims of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 3
5. The design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1. Core concepts 4
1.1. Communicative Language Teaching 4
2. Teaching Speaking 7
2.1. Definition of speaking 7
2.2. Background to teaching speaking 8
2.3. Principles for teaching speaking 10
2.4. Goals for a successful speaking lesson 11

2.5. How to evaluate speaking ability of students 12
3. Using content – relevant Videos (CRVs) in the classroom 14
4. Section-conclusion 16
Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………… 17
1. Action research (AR) 17
1.1. Definitions of AR 17
1.2. Key characteristics of AR 18
1.3. Why AR? 20
1.4. The spiral of AR? 21
2. The current situation of teaching and learning English at BHHS 24
v

3. The Speaking topics in “Tieng Anh 10” 26
4. Participants 27
5. Data collection instruments 27
5.1. Student Questionnaire (See Appendix 1) 27
5.2. Classroom Observation (See Appendix 2) 28
5.3. Students’ journals (see Appendix 3) 28
6. Data collection procedure 29
6.1. Preparation 29
6.2. Implementation 29
7. Data analysis 30
Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………………… 35
1. Results from the questionnaire 35
2. Results from observation sheet 36
3. Results from the students’ journals 38
Chapter 4: IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS…………………………………… 40
1. For students 40
2. For the teachers 41
PART C: CONCLUSION 43

1. Summary of the findings 43
2. Limitations and suggestions for further study 44
REFERENCES 45
APPENDIXES I













vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CRVs : Content-relevant Videos
BHHS : Bo Ha High School
CLT : Communicative Language Teaching
ELT : English as a Foreign Language
FL : Foreign Language
SL : Second Language
AR : Action Research
M.A. : Master of Art

vii


LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES
Table 1: Key contrasts between spoken and written language………………………… 7
Table 2: Speaking topics of the textbook ―Tieng Anh 10‖ …………………………….27
Table 3: Students‘ responses to possible problems…………………………………… 33
Table 4: Students‘ responses to degree of likes……………………………………… 33

Table 5: What the students want to gain from CRVs…………………………… 34
Table 6: Results of observation 1……………………………………………………….35
Table 7, 8, 9: Results of observation 2, 3, 4………………………………………….36
Figure 1: Interaction in the curriculum ………………………………………………….9
Figure 2: Simple action research mode………………………………………………….23
Figure 3: Detailed action research mode……………………………………………… 24
















1

PART A: INTRODUCTION

In this part, the author will set reasons for carrying out the research, the objectives that
need to be acquired after all, the scope and significance, the aims, the methods, and the
design of the research.
1. The rationales of the study

In today‘s global world, the importance of English can not be denied and ignored
since English is the most common language spoken everywhere. With the help of
technology development, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including
medicine, engineering, and education, which, in my opinion, is the most important arena
where English is needed. Particularly, as a developing country, Vietnam needs to make
use of this world-wide spoken language in order to prove its international power. This can
merely be based on the efficiency of education system. Consequently, English should be
practiced in terms of speaking at school; at least it must be compulsory for high school
students to do to keep up with the commanding future.
In Vietnam, The Ministry of Education and Training has paid more attention to
teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English than ever before. It is strongly
stated in the project entitled ―Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the
National Education System, period 2008 – 2020‖, which can be known as ―National
Foreign Languages Project 2020‖. According to this project, most of Vietnamese youths
whoever graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities will have been
capable of using a foreign language, especially English, confidently in communicating,
studying and working in an environment of integration by the year 2020. (Decision N0
1400/QD – TTg by MOET 2008).
In addition, English language is supposed to be compulsory from the grade 3 to the
grade 12 with four skills to be taught and learnt. In these days, teaching and learning
listening and speaking skills receive more concerns for the communicative target of using
English in the future to be better.
To this aim of the project, speaking considered as a communicative skill deserves
more attention in teaching and learning a foreign language. For the realization of the
2

importance of developing speaking skills for students, the author decided to do a research
on the speaking skill.
For another reason in which the students at Bo Ha High School have not been
interested in the speaking skill [either inside or outside class], together with his good

experience benefited from the time of teaching some courses on listening and speaking
skills using relevant English videos for students at several English Centers in Hanoi, the
author found out that using videos in the right way would be one of the best motivation
for the students to learn speaking better.
In short, with an attempt to motivate and develop the BHHS students‘ speaking skills,
the author would like to conduct a small research on “Using English content-relevant
Videos to Motivate Students in Speaking Lessons: An Action Research at Bo Ha High
School, Bac Giang Province”.
2. The scope and significance of the study
This thesis mainly focuses on the impacts and advantages of using videos on students‘
speaking learning in class. Moreover, their attitude towards using videos in class is also
one of the concerns of study. Then, some suggestions to help students improve the
effectiveness of using videos to learn speaking skills are offered.
The study involves the participation of 47 students from grade 10A1 of BHHS. They
are willing to take part in the action lessons enthusiastically.
It is noteworthy that the research was a great attempt to examine a relevant issue in
Vietnam. Therefore, once finished, it can bring a number of benefits to involved parties
such as students, teachers, educational administrators, and the researchers of related
fields.
I hope that, with the study to be conducted in a very particular context, the effective
impacts of using videos in speaking classes will make BHHS students‘ speaking skills
better in the future.
3. The aims of the study
This study is designed to bring a new and real world into speaking classes for BHHS
students. In general, it has three purposes. First, it is to investigate the impacts of using
relevant content videos in speaking lessons. Second, it aims at finding students‘ attitudes
3

toward the use of videos in classroom. Finally, it is to provide the teachers with some
suggestions to make best use of English content videos in their teaching with a view to

better their students‘ speaking skill.
These objectives were accomplished by answering the following questions:
1. What are the students’ attitudes towards the using of content-videos in speaking classes?
2. What are the impacts of this action to students’ learning improvement?
3. What are the suggestions to the teachers and the students for using videos in class?
4. Methods of the study
The theoretical background of the study is based on the theories and ideas presented in
many books and linguistics articles published by a number of writers on language
teaching in general and English relevant videos in particular.
This study employs three data collection instruments including questionnaire,
students‘ journals and observation sheet. By conducting a survey in terms of
questionnaires, a vast amount of information can be collected in a limited amount of time.
It is also proved to be cost – effective and time-saving. Next, students‘ journals provide
extensive data for the study. Then, the teacher‘s observation sheet is used to reflect
students‘ improvement in speaking.
5. The design of the study
The study consists of three parts:
Part A, introduction, briefly states the rationales, the aims, the scope and significance,
methods, and design of the study.
Part B, development, appropriately contains four chapters, literature review,
methodology, results and discussion, and implications and suggestions.
Part C, conclusion, concisely restates the summary of the findings, limitations, and the
suggestions for further study.





4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is intended to present the background theory underlying the issue,
including the definitions and the relevant knowledge around core concepts, followed by a
review of related studies in the same field.
1. Core concepts
Any language teaching approaches that teachers apply, how to elicit students is a
critical job teachers need to perform in any second foreign language classrooms.
However, it is only when Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) appeared and
asserted its dominance over other contemporary approaches was the use of eliciting
techniques intensified and most advanced as one of the signs of modern language
teaching. This helps explain why motivating students‘ speaking through right using
videos in class is closely associated with CLT. Therefore, whenever the use of content
videos is discussed, it must be looked back to this underlying approach.
1.1. Communicative Language Teaching
1.1.1. Definitions and goals of CLT
According to Richards (2005: 3), ―Communicative Language Teaching can be
understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn
the language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of
teachers and students in the classroom‖. CLT has been considered a response to formerly
dominant approaches namely Grammar-Translation or Audio-Lingual since it filled the
gap which the two latter failed to do.
According to Harmer (2001: 86), CLT features ―learning sequences which aim to
improve the students‘ ability to communicate‖. Expressing the same point of view on the
ultimate goal of CLT, Rudder (2000) claimed that ―the essence is language for
communication and self-expression‖. Therefore, it should be drawn from these views that
communication is both the means and the foremost aim of English language teaching. In
other words, teaching students how to use the language and how to communicate in a
language is considered to be at least as necessary as learning the language itself.
5

According to Celce-Murcia (1995: 10-24), communicative competence emphasizes
five aspects of competence: discourse competence, linguistic competence, actionable
competence, and socio-cultural competence, strategic competence, in which discourse
competence or the competence ―to do with the selection‖ is considered the core goal.
1.1.2. Classroom activities in CLT
Communicative approach highlights the importance of using different types of
classroom activities where various competences are developed. Also, students‘ talk can be
elicited through activities of different types.
There are many ways to classify classroom activities under this approach. In terms
of competence the activities aim to develop at learners, in CLT, classroom activities are
divided into two main categories: accuracy and fluency activities, as defined by Richards
(2005:13). Fluency is the use of language that occurs when a speaker engages in
meaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoing communication
despite limitations in his or her communicative competence. On the contrary, accuracy is
the ability to use the language correctly.
With regard to the extent of guiding students to receive for practice, there are three
main types of practice namely mechanical, meaningful, and communicative practice. In
Richards‘ view (2005:15), mechanical practice refers to an activity which students can
successfully carry out without necessarily understanding the language they are using.
Repetition drills and substitution drills can be designed to practice use of particular
grammatical or other items. However, they quickly become boring and cannot be used at
all for developing other language skills. At this point, teachers move to meaningful
practice which refers to an activity where language control is still provided but where
students are required to make meaningful choices when carrying out practice. At this
kind, students are likely to be aware of the meaning of what they are saying. The last kind
of practice where practice in using language within a real communicative context is the
focus, where real information is exchanged and where the language is used is not totally
predictable. At this stage, students have to choose the language they use and the meanings
they will express. These choices are certainly based on the knowledge and skills gained in

earlier presentation and practice activities.
6

When it comes to forms in which classroom activities are conducted, there are jig-saw,
task-completion, information gathering, opinion-sharing, information-transfer, reasoning
gap and role-play activities (Richards, 2005:20).
1.1.3. Learner–centered learning and the roles of teacher and student in CLT
The employment of using English videos inside English-as-a-Foreign-Language
(EFL) classrooms signals a new shift in the centre of the class, i.e. students are at most
attention, not teachers. Thus, it is important to understand the nature of learner-centered
learning and what roles of the teachers and students play in such modern classes.
1.1.3.1. Learner – centered learning
Leaner – centered learning is concerned with allowing learners a greater role in the
management of their own learning. This can be done firstly by providing opportunities for
learner choice in terms of what to learn, how to learn, and how to be evaluated. Secondly,
this can be achieved by giving students rather than teachers the maximum time to perform
tasks in class (Nunan, 2003). Teachers need to encourage students to take full advantage
of these opportunities to acquire new knowledge, largely depending on each student‘s
own style and pace of learning. However, more freedom given to students does not
necessarily mean that teachers leave the lesson uncontrolled. While CLT implies the
lessons are more student-centered, this does not mean they are unstructured (Belchamber,
2007). This leads to the necessity of redefining the roles of teachers and students to fit
into the new form of learner-centered learning.
1.1.3.2. New roles of teachers and students
In recent years, under the influence of humanistic and communicative theories,
great emphasis has been placed on ―learner-centered‖ teaching, i.e. teaching which makes
the learners‘ needs and experience central to the educational process (Harmer, 2001:56).
The new form of learning requires teachers and students to shoulder new roles. Rudder
(2000) saw that teachers were traditionally viewed as experts who would impart his or her
knowledge or expertise to their students. That explains why teachers were those who

talked too much in the class while students did not bother too utter a word. In the light of
CLT, teachers have adopted different innovative roles, one of which is to increase
students‘ talk. It is spotted by Harmer (2001) that in order to act this role effectively,
7

modern teachers have to perform many roles at the same time such as controller, assessor,
organizer, prompter, participant, resource, tutor, observer, performer and teaching aid.
From this point of view, it is understood that the teacher must be ultimately well-
controlled throughout the lesson as he or she is required to play many roles at the same
time.
This radical change paves the way for that of students. Since teachers make every
effort to elicit students‘ talk, students in turn should take every opportunity to talk in
class. That students raise their own voice somehow signals their increased activeness in
learning process.
2. Teaching Speaking
2.1. Definition of speaking
According to Bailey (2005), if you have learned a language other than your own,
which of the four skills – listening, speaking, reading, or writing – did you find to be the
hardest? Many people feel that speaking in a new language is harder than reading,
writing, or listening for two reasons. First, unlike reading or writing, speaking happens in
real time: usually the person you are talking to is waiting for you to speak right then.
Second, when you speak, you cannot edit and revise what you wish to say.
In language teaching, the four skills are described in terms of their direction.
Language generated by the learner (in speech or writing) is referred to as productive.
Language directed at the learner (in reading or listening) is called receptive. Another
important idea is the channel, which refers to the medium of the message (aural/ oral or
written). Therefore, speaking is the productive aural/ oral skill. It consists of producing
systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning. Although speaking is totally natural, it in
a language other than our own is anything but simple.
Spoken language and written language differ in many significant ways, here are

some key contrasts (van Lier, 1995, p.88).
Spoken language
Written language
 Auditory
 Temporary; immediate reception
 Visual
 Permanent; delayed reception
8

 Prosody (rhythm, stress, intonation)
 Immediate feedback
 Planning and editing limited by channel
 Punctuation
 Delayed or no feedback
 Unlimited planning, editing, revision

2.2. Background to teaching speaking
According to Kathleen M. Bailey (2005), for many years people taught speaking
by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized textbook dialogues. Audio-
lingual repetition drills were designed to familiarize students with the sounds and
structural patterns of the target language. People supposedly learned to speak by
practicing grammatical structures and then later using them in conservation.
The concept of habit formation, of behaviorism, is the theoretical basis of the
audio-lingual method. Since learners needed to form good habits, lessons involved a great
deal of repetition. Students were not supposed to form bad habits, so teachers treated
spoken errors quickly. Teachers worried that if the errors were left untreated, the students
might learn those erroneous forms.
For many years, teaching speaking involved providing students with the
components of the language, in hopes that they would eventually put them all together
and speak. So students might spend several semesters repeating after the teacher, studying

grammar rules, reciting dialogues, and learning vocabulary. Unfortunately, actual
conversations did not sound like the textbook dialogues.
During the late twentieth century, language acquisition research made us
reconsider some long-standing beliefs about how people learn to speak. Several studies
led to the conclusion that we had got the basic idea backwards: people don‘t learn the
pieces of the language and then put them together to make conservations. Instead, infants
acquiring their first language and people acquiring second languages learn the pieces by
interacting with other people.
This realization has several interesting implications. If we believe that people
learn languages by interacting, then learners should interact during lessons. As a result, a
method called communicative language teaching arose. Two versions of communicative
language teaching emerged. The weak version says teachers should teach the components
9

of the language but include communication activities. The strong version says since
students learn through interacting, lessons should consist of opportunities to communicate
in the target language. In this method, teachers often downplay accuracy and emphasize
how students communicate when they speak the target language.
However, in order to communicate well in another language, we must make
ourselves understood by the people we are speaking with, and this is not an easy task –
especially at the beginning and intermediate levels. There is some need to be accurate in
speaking the target language. This is tricky because, as we saw in the speaking-writing
contrast, there is limited time for planning and editing speech during conversations.
The following figure depicts the many linguistic elements involved in speaking.
The left column lists four areas of linguistic analysis, but it is the centre column that
concerns us as teachers. It labels the units of spoken language.

Figure 1: Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy, and
Authenticity (Longman, 1996)
Now we can see from the top to the bottom of the pyramid, all the levels of
language operate when we speak, and conversation is not really simple at all. It is
important for language teachers to understand these units of language and how they work
distinctive
feature
Phoneme
Morpheme
Word
Phrase
Clause
Utterance
Text
Discourse
Syntax
Morphology
Phonology
syllable
intonation
rhythm

stress
10

together. Given this background information, we will now consider five principles for
teaching speaking.
2.3. Principles for teaching speaking
According to Bailey (2005), there are five main principles for teaching speaking.
 Be aware of differences between second language and foreign language learning
contexts.
Speaking is learned in two broad contexts: foreign language and second language
situations. The challenges we face as a teacher are determined partly by the target
language context.
A foreign language (FL) context is one where the target language is not the language
of communication in society. Learning speaking skills is very challenging for students in
FL contexts because they have very few opportunities to use the target language outside
classroom.
A second language (SL) context is one where the target language is the language of
communication in the society. Second language learners include refugees, international
students, and immigrants or some who want to achieve notable speaking skills.
 Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy.
Accuracy is the extent to which students‘ speech matches what actually say when
they use the target language. Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language
quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word
searches, etc.
 Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and
limiting teacher talk.
Research has repeatedly demonstrated that teachers do approximately 50 to
80 percent of the talking in classrooms. It is important for us as language teachers to be
aware of how much we are talking in class so we do not take up all the time the students
could be talking.

Pair work and group work activities can be used to increase the amount of
time that learners get to speak in the target language during lessons.
 Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning.
11

Research suggests that learners make progress by communicating in the language
because interaction necessarily involves trying to understand and make ourselves
understood. This progress is called negotiating for meaning. It involves checking to see if
we have understood what some has said, clarifying our understanding and confirming that
someone has understood our meaning.
 Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both
transactional and interactional speaking.
When we talk with someone outside the classroom, we usually do so for
interactional and transactional purposes. Interactional speech is communicating with
someone for social purposes. It includes both establishing and maintaining social
relationship. Transactional speech involves communicating to get someone done,
including the exchange of goods and/ or services.
Most spoken interactions ―can be placed on a continuum from relatively
predictable to relatively unpredictable‖ (Nunan, 1991, p.42). Conversations are relatively
unpredictable and can range over many topics, with the participants taking turns and
commenting freely. In contrast, Nunan states that ―transactional encounters of o fairly
restricted kind will usually contain highly predictable patterns‖. Speaking inside the
classroom need to embody both interactional and transactional purposes because language
learners will have to speak the target language in both transactional and interactional
settings.
2.4. Goals for a successful speaking lesson
According to Richards (2008), a language teacher should know some of the
following goals for a good speaking lesson.
• Activities address specific aspects of oral skills.
• Sufficient language and other supports for tasks.

• Balance of accuracy and fluency activities.
• Modeling for speaking activities.
• Activities are suitable for students of different proficiency levels.
• Students have ample talking time.
• Students participate actively in lessons.
12

• Grammar and pronunciation errors are addressed appropriately.
• Activities have take-away value.
• A progression from controlled practice to freer practice
• Opportunities for personalization.
• Students experience success.
2.5. How to evaluate speaking ability of students
According to Susan, a linguist M.A. from the University of Delaware,
Pennsylvania, when students have learned vocabulary, done role plays and strategic
interaction, and practiced speaking to one another or to the teachers, now it is important
for teachers to know how to evaluate their progress. The teachers should give out
objective grades in speaking class, and they can use the following criteria for evaluating
students‘ speaking abilities.
 Create a Rubric
Most teachers will be familiar with the concept of grading with a rubric, a table
with different criteria and a grading scale. The columns in the table will represent
potential skill levels of the students. For each criterion, define what level of the ability a
student at each of the levels would exhibit. Take the average level among the criteria and
we have an objective grade with suggestions for areas in which our students can improve.
 Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a basis quality of language learning. Though most second
language learners will never have the pronunciation of a native speaker, poor
pronunciation can obscure communication and prevent an ESL student from making his
meaning known. When evaluating the pronunciation of our students, listen for clearly

articulated words, appropriate pronunciations of unusual spellings, and assimilation and
contractions in suitable places. Also, listen for intonation. Are students using the correct
inflection for the types of sentences they are saying? Do they know that the inflection of a
question is different from that of a statement? Listen for these pronunciation skills and
determine into which level the students fall.
 Vocabulary
13

After noting students‘ pronunciation levels, move to vocabulary. Vocabulary
comprehension and vocabulary production are always two separate banks of words in the
mind of a speaker, native as well as second language. We should encourage students to
have a large production vocabulary and an larger recognition vocabulary. For this reason
it is helpful to evaluate our students on the level of vocabulary they are able to produce.
Are they using the specific vocabulary we have instructed them in the semester? Are they
using vocabulary appropriate to the contexts in which they are speaking? Listen for the
level of vocabulary our students are able too produce without prompting and then decide
how well they are performing in this area.
 Accuracy
Grammar has always been and forever will be an important issue in foreign
language study. Writing sentences correctly on a test, though, is not the same as accurate
spoken grammar. As students speak, listen for the grammatical structures and tools we
have taught them. Are they able to use multiple tenses? Do they have agreement? Is word
order correct in the sentence? All these and more are important grammatical issues, and
an effective speaker will successfully include them in his or her language.
 Communication
A student may struggle with grammar and pronunciation, but how creative is she
when communicating with the language she knows? Assessing communication in our
students means looking at their creative use of the language they do know to make their
points understood. A student with a low level of vocabulary and grammar may have
excellent communication skills if she is able to make you understand her, whereas an

advanced student who is tied to manufactured dialogues may not be able to be expressive
with language and would therefore have low communication skills. Don‘t let a lack of
language skill keep your students from expressing themselves.
 Interaction
Being able to say what you mean with a foreign language is one thing, being able
to interact with others is another. Ask your students questions. Observe how they speak to
one another. Are they able to understand and answer questions? Can they answer you
when you ask them questions? Do they give appropriate responses in a conversation? All
14

these are elements of interaction and are necessary for clear and effective communication
in English. A student with effective interaction skills will be able to answer questions and
follow along with a conversation happening around him. Great oratory skills will not get
anyone very far if he or she cannot listen to other people and respond appropriately.
Encourage our students to listen as they speak and have appropriate responses to others in
the conversation.
 Fluency
Fluency may be the easiest quality to judge in our students‘ speaking. How
comfortable are they when they speak? How easily do the words come out? Are there
great pauses and gaps in the student‘s speaking? If there are then your student is
struggling with fluency. Fluency does not improve at the same rate as other language
skills. You can have excellent grammar and still fail to be fluent. You want your students
to be at ease when they speak to you or other English speakers. Fluency is a judgment of
this ease of communication and is an important criterion when evaluating speaking.
Apart from Susan‘s viewpoints on how to evaluate students‘ speaking ability
above, the author will apply The Circular N0 1/2014/TT – BGD, ― Six – Level Foreign
Language Capability Framework for Vietnam‖ (dated 24 May 2014 of the Minister of
Education and Training. (See appendix 4).
3. Using content – relevant Videos (CRVs) in the classroom
Why use videos in the classroom? Videos can illustrate and reinforce ideas, frame

concepts, stimulate discussion, break up a lecture and hold students‘ attention, especially
in speaking classes. Videos are effective when used with appropriate teaching methods
(Sherer & Shea, 2011). The following are just a few techniques that should be used to
videos in the classroom:
 Preparing to use videos for instructional purposes
- Preview the video for relevant content.
- Consider desired learning outcomes when designing learning activities (such as
focus questions) for before, during, and after the video.
- Choose short clips (research suggests a few minutes is optimal length).
15

- Prepare focus questions and other prompts for students to engage in while
viewing.
- Edit video, if necessary.
 Pre-viewing instructional activities
- Ask students to predict what they will see in the video.
- Facilitate an open-ended discussion or conduct an opinion poll about the topic to
allow teachers to gauge the existing or background knowledge that students may
have about the subject.
- Provide guiding questions or structuring information that lets students know what
information they should focus on.
 Instructional activities for use during a video
Depending on the length or complexity of the video, consider pausing throughout to:
- Ask questions to gauge student comprehension.
- Have a quick discussion or debate on the topic.
- Ask students to predict what might follow.
 Post-viewing instructional activities
- Discuss main ideas and interpretations.
- Ask students to write a response that draws connections between ideas or
evaluate the video.

- Conduct another background check or opinion poll and compare it with one
completed prior to viewing a video. This will help teachers to assess the
knowledge or information students have gained from the video.
In addition, using videos for student-centered activities is very useful. A number of
student-centered activities involving videos can be done individually or in small groups.
Here is the idea explored by Sherer and Shea (2011) that ―give students more choice, self-
direction, and engagement in their learning‖ (p.58). For this way, teachers can ask
students to present videos they have searched for that relate to lesson content (chapter,
topic, etc.). They can explain why they choose a particular video and receive feedback
from classmates.

16

4. Section-conclusion
The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many second and foreign
language teachers and learners. Teachers and textbooks make use of a variety of
approaches, ranging from direct approaches focusing on specific features of oral
interaction to indirect approaches which create conditions for oral interaction group work,
task work and other strategies (Richards, 1990).
In Vietnam context now, it is a really vital but hard job for teachers of English to
teach students how to speak English well. In general, in this study the author wishes to
master some techniques on how to use a relevant video in a speaking lesson effectively to
motivate student learning.