Teaching speaking skill to large English classes at Thanh Do University difficulties and solutions = Dạy kỹ năng nói cho lớp học tiếng Anh đông người tại Trườn

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LIST OF TABLES



Table 1: Teachers’ experience
Table 2: Teachers’ facts and opinions concerning large classes
Table 3: Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes
Table 4: Difficulty in managing class and monitoring students’ work
Table 5: Solutions to manage class and monitor students’ work
Table 6: Difficulty in promoting interaction in classes
Table 7: Solutions to promote interaction in classes
Table 8: Difficulties posed by students
Table 9: Solutions to deal with difficulties posed by students
Table 10: Difficulty in giving students maximum opportunities to show the product
Table 11: Solutions to help teachers give students maximum opportunities to show the product
Table 12: Difficulty in selecting activities
Table 13: Solutions to select activities
Table 14: Difficulty in teaching preparation
Table 15: Solutions to teaching preparation

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .i
DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………….….iii
LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………… iv
PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1
2. Review of related studies .1
3. Rationale .3
4. Objectives of the study .3
5. Research questions .4
6. Significance of the study .4
7. Scope of the study .4
8. Methods of the study .4
9. Design of the study .4
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT .6
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .6
1.1. Teaching English in large classes .6

1.1.1. What is a large class? .6
1.1.2. Challenges of working with large classes .7
1.1.3. Attitude towards teaching English in large classes .7
1.2. Teaching speaking skill .8
1.2.1. Concept of speaking .8
1.2.2. The importance of teaching speaking skill in the classroom .9
1.2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity .9
CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL RESEARCH…………………………………………………11
2.1. The English teaching and learning context ………………………………………… 11
2.2. Methods of the study ……………………………………………………………………12


8
2.2.1. Subjects of the study…………………………………………………………… 12
2.2.2. Instruments of the study………………………………………………………… 12
2.2.3. Data collection procedure……………………………………………………… 13
2.3. Data analysis and discussion ………………………………………………………… 14
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND RECOMMANDATIONS ………………………………25
3.1 Findings………………………………………………………………………………… 25
3.1.1. Teachers’ difficulty in teaching preparation…………………………………… 25
3.1.2. Teachers’ difficulty in managing class and monitoring students’ work………….26
3.2. Some recommendations…………………………………………………………………27
3.2.1. Creating a Small-Class Atmosphere in a Large-Class Setting……………………….27
3.2.1.1. Learn students' names………………………………………………………… 27
3.2.1.2. Give clear instructions………………………………………………………….27
3.2.1.3. Use a microphone………………………………………………………………29
3.2.1.4. Move around the classroom or lecture hall…………………………………… 30
3.2.2. Encouraging Class Participation…………………………………………………… 29
3.2.2.1. Divide the class into pairs/groups………………………………………………30
3.2.2.2. Give participation points……………………………………………………… 31

3.2.2.3. Have students contribute material for class…………………………………….31
3.2.3. Evaluating……………………………………………………………………………31
3.2.3.1. Require some groups’ product of the activity to grade ……………………… 31
3.2.3.2. Occasionally require an individual product based on group work …………….31
3.2.3.3. Use peer evaluations at the end of an activity………………………………… 31
3.2.4. Reflecting on your teaching………………………………………………………….32
3.2.5. Selecting activities………………………………………………………………… 32
PART 3: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………36
REFERECES…………………………………………………………………………………38
APPENDICES I
Appendix 1: Questionnaire I
Appendix 2: Classroom observation……………………………………………………… VI


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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Review of related studies
There is vast literature on issues related to the teaching and learning in large classes. The
following division of issues on large classes may help the readers have an overview on this
topic.
a. Advantages and disadvantages in large classes
The advantages of large classes include decreased instructor costs, efficient use of faculty time
and talent, availability of resources, and standardization of the learning experience (McLeod,
1998). However, there are significant disadvantages to large classes, including strained
impersonal relations between students and the teacher, limited range of teaching methods and
discomfort among teachers teaching large classes (McLeod 1998).
b. Class size and student performance
There have been conflicting results among extant researches on the relationship between class

size and student performance. The results of some studies show no significant relationship
between class size and student performance (Hancock, 1996; Kennedy & Siegfried, 1997),
while other studies favor small class environments (Gibbs, Lucas, & Simonite, 1996; Borden
& Burton, 1999; Arias & Walker, 2004). Results vary based on the criteria used to gauge
student performance, as well as the class size measure itself. When traditional achievement
tests are used, small classes provide no advantage over large classes (Kennedy & Siegfried,
1997). However, if additional performance criteria are used (e.g., long-term retention,
problem-solving skills), it appears that small classes hold an advantage (Gibbs et al., 1996;
Arias & Walker, 2004).
c. Effectiveness of teaching methods
The traditional passive view of learning involves situations where material is delivered to
students using a lecture-based format. In contrast, a more modern view of learning is
constructivism, where students are expected to be active in the learning process by
participating in discussion and/or collaborative activities (Fosnot, 1989). Overall, the results of
recent studies concerning the effectiveness of teaching methods favor constructivist, active


10
learning methods. The findings of a study by de Caprariis, Barman, & Magee (2001) suggest
that lecture leads to the ability to recall facts, but discussion produces higher level
comprehension. Further, research on group-oriented discussion methods has shown that team
learning and student-led discussions not only produce favorable student performance
outcomes, but also foster greater participation, self confidence and leadership ability (Perkins
& Saris, 2001; Yoder & Hochevar, 2005). Hunt, Haidet, Coverdale, and Richards (2003)
examined student performance in team based methods. In contrast to these findings, a study by
Barnes & Blevins (2003) suggests that active, discussion-based methods are inferior to the
traditional lecture-based method. A comparison of lecture combined with discussion versus
active, cooperative learning methods by Morgan, Whorton, & Gunsalus (2000) demonstrated
that the use of the lecture combined with discussion resulted in superior retention of material
among students.

d. Students’ preferences for teaching methods
In terms of students’ preferences for teaching methods, a study by Qualters (2001) suggests
that students do not favor active learning methods because of the in-class time taken by the
activities, fear of not covering all of the material in the course, and anxiety about changing
from traditional classroom expectations to the active structure. In contrast, research by Casado
(2000) examined perceptions across six teaching methods: lecture/discussion, lab work, in-
class exercises, guest speakers, applied projects, and oral presentations. Students most
preferred the lecture/discussion method. Lab work, oral presentation, and applied projects
were also favorably regarded. Hunt et al (2003) also noted favorable student attitudes towards
active learning methods.
In Vietnam, Trần Thị Ngọc Bắc (2005) conducted an experiment with the use of group work
and questioning techniques for increasing students’ participation in communicative activities
in large classes at Thái Nguyên College of Education. She came to the conclusion that these
techniques strongly increase the students’ talking time and particiaption and reduce teacher’s
talking time in language activities.


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Đặng Quỳnh Trâm (2006) carried out a survey research to find solutions to improve co-
operative learning in non-English major multilevel classes at Thái Nguyên University of
Education.
In a research by Trịnh Lan Hương (2008), she suggested some communicative activities for
large multilevel classes at Electric Power University to help students acquire grammatical
knowledge in a communicative way.

In 2009, Nguyễn Đức Hưng carried out a study on increasing students’ participation in
commnunicative activities in large classes by using group work and questioning techniques at
Marie Curie High School, Hải Phòng. He proved that the two techniques: group work and
questioning will help students increase their participation in communicative activities in large
classes.

In short, although there have been a variety of books and researches on teaching and learning
in large classes, but there is inadequate research touching upon the issues of teaching speaking
skill to large English classes. Moreover, speaking skill is fundamental to people’s
communication. This fact leads me to do this study.

2. Rationale
Most teachers agree that teaching a small group of students is easier, more enjoyable, and less
time consuming than teaching a large group. Unfortunately, due to budgets, space, or lack of
teachers, many ESL schools only offer large classes. In some schools, large classes may
consist of up to 50 or more students and Thành Đô University is not an exception.
What Gorlach (1995) said is true in the case of Thành Đô University. Class size ranges from
forty to fifty students, which makes it difficult for teachers to arrange activities enabling
students to practice speaking. Over-sized English classes make speaking lessons stiff and
unmoving.

Speaking skill should be kept in mind to be the most popular and effective way of
communication. But how to teach speaking skill effectively when there are so many students
in a class is a matter of great concern.


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The study is designed to find out the problems of large size English speaking teaching classes
and to suggest the use of some solutions to minimize the difficulties of this reality.
3. Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study comprise the followings:
a. To identify the practical problems of large size English speaking teaching classes at Thành
Đô University.
b. To discover suitable solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of
teaching English speaking skill in large classes at Thành Đô University.

4. Research questions
To reach the objectives of the study, the two research questions are addressed:
a. What are the teachers’ most common problems of large English speaking classes at Thành
Đô University?
b. What are the solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of
teaching English speaking skill in large classes at Thành Đô University?
5. Significance of the study
It is hope that the study will help to better my own teaching and give the colleagues at Thành
Đô University and those whose are concerned with large classes in terms of teaching speaking
skill as well as some suggestions to improve this situation at Thành Đô University and also at
colleges and universities nationwide.
6. Scope of the study
This study limits itself to the investigation of teachers of English at Thành Đô University,
Hanoi to find out their difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large non-English-major
classes through questionnaire and classroom observation. The classes observed are first year
non-English-major college students.
7. Methods of the study
Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to carry out the study. That is, the
data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected by means of:
a. Questionnaire
b. Classroom observation


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8. Design of the study
The study consists of three chapters, excluding the Introduction (which contains Literature
review, Rationale, Objectives of the study, Research questions, Significance of the study,
Scope of the study, Methods of the study and Design of the study) and the Conclusion (which
review the main content and findings of the study and end with some suggestions for further
researches).

Chapter 1, Theoretical background, presents the basic theoretical background on two issues:
Teaching English in large classes in general and teaching speaking skill in large classes in
particular.
Chapter 2, Practical research, consists of three parts:
The first part, The English teaching and learning context, provides the background information
about the university, the teachers, the students, the materials as well as facilities for English
teaching and learning.
The second part, Methods of the studies, shows how the research was carried out. Subjects,
instruments of the study, procedure of data collection, and methods of data analysis are found
in this part.
The third part, Data analysis & discussion, presents the results of the questionnaires and
classroom observations.
Chapter 3, Findings and recommendations, proposes the findings concluded from the results of
the third part of chapter 2 and some recommendations for teachers at Thành Đô University in
the hope of helping them to minimize the difficulties and maximize the benefits in large
classes which are not only common in Thành Đô University but also in Vietnam’s universities
and colleges.








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PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND
1.1. Teaching English in large classes
1.1.1. What is a large class?
Firstly, the question to be addressed as we start our study of this module is “what is a large
class?” This question was put to some senior academics attending a UNESCO Regional
Workshop on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Kenya. The views of a large
class were expressed as follows:
“Large classes have more than 100 students enrolled.”
“A large class is one with more students than available facilities can support.”
“There is no fixed number. The large class depends on the discipline- smaller number for
engineering, science, and medicine and large number for the arts, humanities, and social
science.”
“There is nothing like a large class. The large class is only the mind of the orthodox teacher.”
(UNESCO Regional Workshop)
There is no agreed definition of a large class in the literature. Some teachers simply define
“large” as “to many students to learn names by the end of the semester”. Thus, the concept of
a large class varies from teacher to teacher. One person’s large class is what some others
consider as regular, normal, or even small. For example, a social science lecturer may not
think 50 students make for a class. However, a foreign language teacher who works alone with
a class of 50 and who individualizes their teaching finds class to be overcrowded. Therefore,
large class can be understood as one that feels large. That means, if a teacher feel that the class
size stops her/him from working in her/his preferred way, it is large for her/him.


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Ur (1996: 302) also stated that “large class” varies from place to place, and “the exact number
does not really matter: what matter in how you, the teacher see the class size in your own
specific situation.
In our context, we decide to choose Nolasco & Arthur’s definition of large classes in Large

classes (1988) in which they indicate that an average large class may be from 40 students.

1.1.2. Challenges of working with large classes
In large classes, students come from different backgrounds, areas and they are different in
learning styles, preferences levels of English proficiency, and general attitudes towards
English. Therefore, these classes are usually multilevel and cause various challenges for
effective teaching and learning English.
The most difficulty concerning classroom management in which teachers find it troublesome
and stressed is to control the whole class effectively and give students different learning styles
individually. In such large classes, students are easy to get bored, frustrated as stronger student
may feel held back while the weaker ones may feel pressured. Moreover, according to Ur
(1996: 303), teachers of large classes also face with the problems of discipline, correcting
written assignments, creating effective learning for all, finding suitable materials, and
activating all students, especially silent ones.
In large classes, teachers neither make sure if their students are learning effectively because
the tasks given are either too difficult or too easy for many of them nor they can find topics
and activities that keep all students interested because students are crowded and they are also
different. More seriously, teachers find it too difficult to activate students. They do not take
part in class activity, or they are silent, only few students appear to respond to teachers’
questions.
1.1.3. Attitude towards teaching English in large classes
"The issues raised by teaching in large classes are rarely addressed. Those teachers - and they
are numerous - who have to cope with classes that contain 50 or more learners are therefore
often ill-prepared to deal with the situation in which they find themselves in schools." (Hayes,
1999) Most English teachers tend to view teaching English in large classes rather negatively.


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They often associate large English classes with disorderliness, lack of control, lack of students'
attentiveness, lack of teacher-student interactions, and therefore, lack in efficiency and

effectiveness.
Kennedy and Kennedy (1996) wrote in their article Teacher Attitudes and Change
Implementation that "what worries her (a Greek language teacher), however, is the size of the
class since she believes that as soon as the number of groups passes a certain number, it is
difficult to 'control what happens'." Phil Wankat (in Felder 1997) went even further by saying
that "anything you can do in a large class you can do better in a small one".
However, not all English teachers think that class size matters. Such teachers would say that
good teaching is good teaching: what holds true for small classes also holds true for large
ones. Richard M. Felder (1997) holds that "there are ways to make large classes almost as
effective as their smaller counterparts." Recent research shows (Kickbusch, 2000) that
"Reductions in class size to less than 20 students without changes in instructional methods
cannot guarantee improved academic achievement." and that "class size appears to have more
influence on student attitudes, attention, interest, and motivation than on academic
achievement." In reality, it is not very uncommon that some teachers enjoy teaching in large
classes, and they feel that if proper strategies are adopted and the classes are well-organized,
they may have a greater sense of achievement. As Felder (1997) stated that "the instructor's
satisfaction may be even greater in the large classes: after all, many professors can teach 15
students effectively, but when you do it with 100 or more you know you've really
accomplished something."
1.2. Teaching speaking skill
Many language learners consider speaking ability the measure of knowing a language. As for
them, fluency is ability to converse with others much more than the ability to read or write.
They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire and they assess their
progress in terms of their accomplishments on spoken communication. Therefore, if learners
do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunities to speak in the language classroom,
they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the contrary, if the right


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activities are taught in the right way, speaking in lass can be a lot of fun, raising general

learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
1.2.1. Concept of speaking
Speaking is fundamental to human communication. Different linguists have different concepts
of speaking, but they all agree with this idea.
Brown (1994) defines speaking as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves
producing, receiving and processing information.
In Brown and Yule’s opinions (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary
utterance in a range of pronunciation. Usually, there is a great deal of repetition and overlap
between one speaker and another. Speaker usually uses non-specific references. They also add
that spoken language is made to fell less conceptually dense than other types of language such
as prose by using the loosely organized syntax, and non-specific words, phrases and filters
such as oh, well, uhuh.

1.2.2. The importance of teaching speaking skill in the classroom
a. Motivation
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore
view learning the language as learning how to speak the language, or as Nunan (1991) wrote,
"success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target)
language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to
speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning.
On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a
lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun
and dynamic place to be.

b. Speaking is fundamental to human communication
Just think of all the different conversations you have in one day and compare that with how
much written communication you do in one day. Which do you do more of? In our daily lives
most of us speak more than we write, yet many English teachers still spend the majority of
class time on reading and writing practice almost ignoring speaking and listening skills. Do

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you think this is a good balance? If the goal of your language course is truly to enable your
students to communicate in English, then speaking skill should be taught and practiced in the
language classroom.

1.2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
a. Learners talk a lot
Most of the time allotted for the activity is occupied by learner talk not by e 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 evenly 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 as task objective.
d. Language is of an acceptable level
Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensive to each
other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy.
e. Goals are oriented
Encourage learners to reach the objective, they know why they do the activity, the outcome is
clear.
(Adapted from Ur (1996))

This chapter has addressed some major issues in terms of English language teaching in large
classes in general and teaching speaking skill in particular. Regarding to teaching English in
large classes, first the concept of a large class has been defined under different point of views.
Yet, the definition that is suitable for the researcher’s context has been given. Second, some
challenges of working with large classes have been discussed. Third, the attitude towards
teaching English in large classes has been mentioned. Considering teaching speaking skill, the

concept of speaking by different linguists has presented. Additionally, the importance of
teaching speaking skill in the classroom has also mentioned. Finally, some characteristics of a


19
successful speaking activity have been reviewed. In next chapter, the English teaching and
learning context at Thành Đô University; research methods including subjects of the study,
instruments of the study, data collection procedure; and data analysis and discussion will be
presented.




CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL RESEARCH

2.1. The English teaching and learning context

Thành Đô University was founded in 2004, switching from Thành Đô college of Technology.
As a new-born university, it has coped with many difficulties in teaching and learning.
In Thành Đô University, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside
the classrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment – a
chalkboard. The only type of teaching aid that the Foreign Language Department has is
cassette recorders. However, these cassette recorders are not in good condition due to their
oldness. Thành Đô University also has other equipments like projectors, video recorders,
television but they are used for the students of English only.
The materials for reference and self-study are not available for teachers and students at Thành
Đô University. In the library there are only some English book but they are not really helpful
for teachers and students.

In spite of difficulties and challenges, English is always considered of great importance by all

the leaders and teachers because it equips students with additional skills to supplement and
upgrade their knowledge and then find better jobs after their graduation. Therefore, teachers of
English at Thành Đô University are making great efforts to find out appropriate methods to
teach English more effectively.

However, there have been existed some problems needing to be solved. The classes are quite
big with from 40 to 60, even 70 students in a class. Levels of students are variable:


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elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate. There are even some students who have never
learnt English before. They also have different learning styles. Some active students like
communicating and participating actively in speaking activities. Some are still influenced by
traditional method of teaching and learning. They are not aware of their language need in term
of communication in real life situations. They often keep silent and are not willing to
participate in class activities. As a result, it is difficult for the teacher to monitor the class and
engage students in speaking activities in the class.

Moreover, English in one of the compulsory subjects at Thành Đô University but it is not the
main subject and the traditional exam-written exams are being used. Therefore, the attitude
towards English learning is also a matter. Their major is not English so they do not devote
themselves to English learning. Sometimes, in the class, they do not have independent habit of
learning English. They just want to be given exercises to practice grammar to pass the final
exams. Some even think that communicative activities are not necessary and just take time,
not helping them get high mark at the end of the term.

The current teaching material for these non-English major students is New English File
Elementary by Clive Oxenden, Christina Lamtham-Koenig and Paul Seligson (1996) and is
distributed into two semesters with sixty periods for semester 1 and 45 periods for semester 2.
The main aim of teaching English in the first stage is to provide students with background

knowledge of English for their next years. The final test designed by the teachers of English at
the University assesses students’ listening, reading and writing in the first semester and plus
speaking in the second period.

2.2. Methods of the study
2.2.1. Subjects of the study
Teachers were the central unit of analysis in this study because in any teaching and learning
process, the teacher is the key factor, responsible for promoting or restraining students’
learning.
The subjects of this study are 20 teachers of English from Foreign Language Department at
Thành Đô University. Most of them are young and energetic. They are willing to devote their
time and enthusiasm to language teaching: researching and debating to find out an appropriate


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and progressive way to teach English effectively. They are aged from 23-46 and graduated
from Hanoi University of Foreign Languages and International Studies- Vietnam National
University- and Hanoi University.
2.2.2. Instruments of the study
This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods which helped to provide
qualified background data for finding out teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skill to
large English classes. Quantitative data were gathered through survey questionnaire to
teachers and qualitative data were collected via classroom observation.
a. Questionnaires
In this study, questionnaires were selected as one of the important data collection instruments
because it not only provides information gathered from a large number of participants but also
helps to obtain information about different kinds of issues.
Nunan (1992) points out that “A questionnaire is an instrument for the collection of data,
usually in written form, consisting of open and/or closed questions and other probes requiring
a response from subjects”. Richards et al (1994, p.10) also defines questionnaire as an

effective way of collecting information about “affective dimensions of teaching and learning,
such as beliefs, attitudes, motivation, and preferences; and enable a teacher to collect a large
amount of information relatively quickly”. In addition, having the same idea with Richards,
Seliger and Shohamy (1995) also states that questionnaire is an attractive means of collecting
data on phenomena, which are not easily observed, such as motivation, attitude, language
learning strategy use, etc.
b. Classroom observation
The teachers’ lessons were observed and the data from lesson observations was used to clarify
and test the formation collected from questionnaires. Moreover, classroom observations will
help to provide information that the questionnaires can not.
2.2.3. Data collection procedure
a. Questionnaires


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The questionnaires were distributed to the teachers of English at Thành Đô University to get
their opinions on the difficulties they face when they teach speaking skill to large classes and
to find out the solutions they used to minimize the problems.
Questionnaire for the teachers (Appendix 1) includes three parts:
Part 1 consists of three questions about teachers’ personal information
Part 2 compromises of five questions about teachers’ facts and opinions on large classes,
Part 3 includes 2 questions about the difficulties in and solutions to teaching speaking skill to
large English classes.
b. Classroom observation
To get more in-depth information, classroom observations were carried out in 5 classes with
different 5 teachers from April 1
st
to April 29
th
, 2010.

Each observation consisted of three steps: before the lesson, during the lesson, and after the
lesson. In before-the-lesson step, the author met the teacher to know his/her aims in teaching
the lesson, to read his/her lesson plan. In during-the-lesson step, an observation sheet was used
to record the teaching and learning to find out the difficulties and solutions the teacher used.
The after-the-lesson step was for discussion and exchanging ideas between the observer and
the teacher.

In all classes the researcher observed the class size in visible reality. The number of students
in the five classed observed were 55, 51, 50, 52 and 50 respectively. From the fact, we can see
that the class environment in observed classes is not suitable for a speaking lesson. This is a
problem which has great influence on English teaching and learning, especially on teacher’s
management.

2.3. Data analysis and discussion

Data Analysis Participants’ responses were analyzed descriptively by calculating percentages
in order to determine what trends in the data suggested about the teachers’ attitudes and
perceptions towards difficulties in teaching speaking skill in large classes.

a. Teachers’ experience


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Years of teaching experience
N
o
of teachers
%
1-5

14
70
6-10
3
15
11-15
2
10
> 15
1
5
Table 1: Teachers’ experience

The table shows that teachers of English at Thành Đô University are quite young. Fourteen out
of 20 teachers (70%) have been teaching English for more than 15 years. The number of
teachers having from 6 years of teaching account only 30%.

b. Facts and opinions concerning large classes

Questions
No of
students
%
What’s your usual class size?
40
80
What’s the largest number of students you have had in a class?
70
85
At what number do you consider large class?

30
85
Table 2: Teachers’ facts and opinions concerning large classes

The table 2 shows that English classes at Thành Đô University are quite large. Seventeen
teachers (85%) consider a class of 30 students is large and 16 teachers (80%) have taught 70
students in a class. In fact, all English classes at the university start at around 40. So what are
the difficulties facing the teachers when they work with these classes and what solutions they
use to overcome this problem?

c. Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large classes
This section reports on the responses of the teachers to difficulties when they teach speaking
skill in a large class as well as the solutions they used to minimize the problems. The results
from questionnaires will be presented in general with main difficulties, and then the results
will be mentioned in detail with each difficulty and solution in combination with the
classroom observations to show how much the observations reflect the teachers’ options from
the questionnaire.


24


Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes
N
o
of
teachers
%
Promoting interaction
15

75
Selecting activities
10
50
Teaching preparation
9
45
Managing class and monitoring students' work
17
85
Giving students maximum opportunities to show the product
13
65
Difficulties posed by students
14
70
Table 3: Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes
The above table shows that the most common difficulty among teachers is managing class and
monitoring students' work (85%). Promoting interaction in class comes closely with 75%.
Difficulties posed by students are ranked the third (70%). With 13 teachers (65%) selected,
Giving students maximum opportunities to show the product stands at the fourth position. Two
least difficulties for teachers are electing activities and teaching preparation (50%).

Now let have a careful look at each difficulty facing teachers when there are too many
students in an English speaking class.

Difficulty
Options
N
o

of
teachers
%



Managing class
and monitoring
students' work
Organizing the activities
8
40
Giving students equal opportunities to participate in
the activities
16
80
Providing appropriate pace of lessons
15
75
Managing discipline
15
75
Being able to give support and advice to individual
students at the same time
18
90
Selecting ways of evaluation and feedback giving
17
85
Table 4: Difficulties in managing class and monitoring students' work

25
Solutions
Options
N
o
of
teachers
%


Organizing
activities
Putting students in pairs or groups
20
100
Selecting group leaders/monitors
7
35
Grading activities to suit with different level of
students
7
35
Carefully observing and circulating a lot to give
students timely support
20
100
Managing

discipline
Setting up and follow rules in class consistently
20
100
Solutions
Options
N
o
of teachers
%
Giving feedback
Using oral feedback
20
100
Taking note the error then giving that
note to students.
4
20
Giving positive feedback, verbally
(praise) and non-verbally (make eye-
contact, smile, nod)
13
75
Evaluating
Carefully observing the groups and
their members
16
80
Giving participation points
10

50
Requiring some type of group/ pair/
individual product for activities
20
100
Occasionally requiring an individual
product based on group work
6
30
Using peer evaluations at the end of an
activity
4
20
Giving further instructions and
support when necessary
20
100


26

Table 5: Solutions teachers use to manage class and monitor students' work
The percent of 85 shows that the most common difficulty among the teachers in speaking
lessons is managing class and monitoring students’ work of which the three difficulties with
the highest percent concern being able to give support and advice to individual students at the
same time (90%), selecting ways of evaluation and giving feedback (85%) and giving students
equal opportunities to participate in the activities (80%). The difficulty with the lowest percent
is organizing activities (40%).
To deal with this least difficulty -organizing the activities-table 5 shows that 100% of the
teachers decide to put students in pairs and group. This is proved by the classroom

observations. All the teachers observed choose this way to organize the activities. The
observations show the teachers’ pair and group formation as well as the teachers’ supervision
during group work:
 Teachers’ pair and group formation
Out of 5 teachers, three of them asked students to sit in a desk of four. Therefore, it was easy
for them to have students worked in pair. The other 2 teachers let students sit freely. Students
scattered everywhere in the class, even some desks there were only one student. When the
teachers wanted students to work in pair, they had to invite some to move their seats. This is
time-consuming.
All the teachers asked three students who sat nearest o one another in a desk to be a group. For
groups of four the teachers asked two student of front back to turn back and combine with 2
students of next desk. This way of random grouping could save time, as the students did not
have to stand up to change their seats and the teacher and easily control the group.
 Teachers’ supervision during group work
Two teachers went round the class from group to group to see if every member was working,
but did not interfere at the beginning to let her students work on their own. Then she assisted
weaker students with vocabulary and structures, pronunciation, or assign additional tasks for
Encouraging peer teaching and
students’ self-efforts
12
60


27
groups who finished earlier. However, they often corrected students’ errors of pronunciation,
the use of new words and grammar. This distracted the students’ thought and seeking. By
supervising the groups in this way, the teacher played a role of a facilitator and a resource
rather than a controller.
As for the three other teachers, after giving instructions, instead of circulating the classes to
help students, they just stood still and observed. Even they sat at teacher’s desk until the

students finished the activities. This make the students hesitate in asking help from the teacher.
From table 5, we can see that 100% of the teachers choose requiring some type of group/ pair/
individual product for activities as a main way of evaluation the students’ work. Only 20% of
the teachers used peer evaluation.
100% of the teachers considered giving further instructions and support when necessary as a
must-do work to promote students’ participation in class

Difficulty
Options
N
o
of teachers
%
Promoting
interaction
Between teacher and students
15
75
Between students and students
18
90
Table 6: Difficulty in promoting interaction in classes
Solutions
Options
N
o
of
teachers
%
Teaching students

necessary oral
communication skills
Questioning



20



100
Responding
Explaining
Clarifying
Showing agreement and disagreement with
reasons
Asking for repetition
Giving examples
Things teachers should do:
Learning students' names
14
70
Moving around the classroom or lecture hall
16
80


28
Table 7: Solutions to promote interaction in classes
The second difficulty facing teachers is promoting interaction (75%) in the class of which 40%

of the teachers considered promoting interaction between the teacher and students as a
difficult work and 60% - between students and students. That is proven by the observation. A
class with many students will reduce opportunities for the teacher to interact with students.
Students-students interaction also becomes less effective because the limitation of space, the
inflexibility of desks and chairs. They (100%) agreed that teaching students oral
communication skills such as questioning, responding, explaining, clarifying, showing
agreement and disagreement with reasons, giving examples is necessary. Equipped with this
skills will help students become more confident to interact with the teachers and other students
in the class or in groups. They also agree that the teachers should learning students' names and
move around the classroom or lecture hall. By doing that students may feel that the teacher is
interested in them and s/he is trying to help them gain the progress.

The teachers’ response to the questionnaire in good, but the observations are slightly different.
It is observed that the students didn't respond willingly to the teacher’s questions and did not
participate actively in class discussions. Students also rarely asked the teacher questions. They
responded the teacher’s questions with the shortest answers (yes/no) and gave no reasons for
their answers. Thus the teacher received little oral feedback. Exchanging ideas with the
observer, the teacher said, “I want the students to be more demonstrative and more overtly
communicative in their feedback. I want these behaviors: I want the students to ask me
questions, make comments and to respond with nods and shakes of the head, with sounds of
agreement or sounds of understanding. Also, I want them to be both reactive and proactive”.

This fact reveals that students have not been equipped enough necessary oral skills. Moreover,
teachers’ movement around the classes was not often. This seemed to increase the distance
between the teacher and students in a large classes and discouraged students from making
questions to and requiring help from the teacher. Most if the time calling students, instead of
Arranging seats to maximize the teacher’s
opportunities to interact with students
10
50

29
using their name, the teachers just used the pronoun “you”. Calling students by their name is
necessary to enhance the relationship between teachers and students.

Difficulty
Options
N
o
of
teachers
%
Difficulties
posed
by students
Students’ limitation of vocabulary and expressions
10
50
Students’ limitation of background knowledge
8
40
Students’ low motivation in speaking lessons
15
75
Students’ unequal participation
15
75
Table 8: Difficulties posed by students

Solutions
N
o
of
teachers
%
Providing necessary vocabulary and expressions before asking
students to do the task
15
75
Asking students to prepare the basic information of the topic before
going to class
17
85
Observing carefully to remind students of speaking English
17
85
Giving participation points
10
50
requiring an individual product based on group work
6
30
Raising students’ awareness of the benefits to form the habit of using
L2
8
40
Table 9: solutions to deal with difficulties posed by students

Difficulties posed by students (70 %) are the third problem facing the teachers of which

students’ low motivation in speaking lessons (75%) and students’ unequal participation (75%)
seem the thorny problems. Surprisingly, to deal with these obstacles, they used solutions such
as giving participation points, but only 50% of the teachers selected this method to encourage
students’ participation, occasionally requiring an individual product based on group work
(30%) and raising students’ awareness of the benefits to form the habit of using L2 (40%).


30
Through the observations, the observer can know that many students did not actively
participate in the activities. They were reluctant to say some English sentences with the
partner when stood next to them and the speaking would stop when the teachers moved to
other parts of the class. Exchanging ideas with the observer, three teachers said many students
like only learning grammar and then doing exercises in the textbook, they do not like
speaking. The problem of students’ unequal participation happens in mix-ability group where
strong students dominate the activities.
The two least-selected-difficulties are students’ limitation of vocabulary and expressions and
students’ limitation of background knowledge. This was proved by lesson observations.
Before asking students to carry out the activities, all teachers provide students necessary
vocabulary, expressions and some basic information of the topic

Difficulty
Options
N
o
of teachers
%
Giving students maximum
opportunities to show the product of
Group discussion
14

70
Pair practice
15
75
Individual speaking
17
85
Table 10: Difficulty in giving students maximum opportunities to show the product

Solutions
N
o
of teachers
%
Saving time by setting up some rules for students (start and stop work
right after the teacher’s command; be quick when moving to another
activity; be self discipline; and listen the teacher’s instruction careful)
18
20
Putting students in suitable groups (where they have chance to speak
and get help or encouragement from partners)
12
60
Table 11: Solutions to help teachers give students maximum opportunities to show the product

How to give students maximum opportunities to practice speaking is the fourth difficulty for
the teachers of which giving time for individual speaking is ranked the first (85%), then pair
practice (75%) and group discussion (70%). This is obviously true because with a limited
amount of time, the teachers find it difficult to give time for all groups, pairs or individuals to
present their products and therefore difficult to identify how much the goals of lesson were

gained. They all selected the two suggested solutions are: save time by setting up some rules