A STUDY ON THE INFLUENCES OF SOME FIRST CULTURAL FACTORS ON FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENT’S PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LEARNING AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY

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

ĐỖ THỊ HẠNH

A STUDY ON THE INFLUENCES OF SOME FIRST CULTURAL
FACTORS ON FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENT’S
PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LEARNING AT
HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA MỘT SỐ NHÂN TỐ VĂN HÓA MẸ ĐẺ LÊN
VIỆC THAM GIA HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN
NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HA NOI - 2014


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

ĐỖ THỊ HẠNH

A STUDY ON THE INFLUENCES OF SOME FIRST CULTURAL

FACTORS ON FIRST YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENT’S
PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LEARNING AT
HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA MỘT SỐ NHÂN TỐ VĂN HÓA MẸ ĐẺ LÊN
VIỆC THAM GIA HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN
NĂM THỨ NHẤT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG NGHIỆP HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Dr. Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa

HA NOI - 2014


DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
A study on the influences of some first cultural factors on first year non-English
major students’ participation in English speaking learning at Hanoi University of
Industry
is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that it
has not been previously submitted to this University or to any other institutions in
application for admission to a degree, diploma or other qualifications.

Signature

Đỗ Thị Hạnh

Date: August 10th, 2014

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my academic
supervisor Dr. Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa for her conscientious guidance, helpful
suggestions, invaluable critical feedback and encouragement in the writing of this
study. Without invaluable assistance, my study would not have been completed.
I also wish to acknowledge my great gratitude to all my lecturers at University of
Languages and International Studies during my MA course, to the whole staff of the
Post Graduate Department as well as the organizers for this Master Course.
I would like to sincerely thank 60 first year students at Hanoi University of Industry
who participated in the study. My appreciation is also extended to my colleagues at
HaUI for their warm concern and assistance in the process of collecting the data.
Without their participant and support, this study could not be conducted.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family and my friends for their love,
understanding, encouragement and support to help me complete this study.

Hanoi, August, 2014
Đỗ Thị Hạnh

ii


ABSTRACT

This research is implemented to investigate the first cultural factors that influence

students’ participation in English speaking learning activities at Hanoi University of
Industry. The research’s subjects are the first year non-English major students from
HaUI. The results from the questionnaires and the class observations show that the
factors coming from cultural factors such as the different traditional learning style,
collectivism rather than individualism and the fear of losing face have been regarded as
important factors affecting remarkably students’ participation in speaking lessons. The
findings of the research indicate that teachers should help students to be confident, not
to be shy, passive, or afraid of making mistake; improve students’ knowledge of
grammar and enrich their vocabulary; build a cooperative atmosphere in class as well
as create variety of interesting and appropriate activities to increase students’
involvement in teaching speaking English. Implications and suggestions for further
research are made with the hope for better methods to help the teachers reduce their
students’ negative effect of these factors during the process of learning speaking
English.

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATION AND SYMBOLS

HaUI

: Hanoi University of Industry

CLT

: Communicative Language Teaching

SLA

: Second Language Acquisition

ESL

: English as a Second Language

EFL

: English as a Foreign Language

E.g.

: Example

UK

: United Kingdom
: United State

US
L2

: Second Language

iv


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: The frequency of students’ speaking English in class

Figure 2: Students’ questioning or interrupting the teacher
Figure 3: Students’ frequency of expressing their own opinions
Table 1: Teachers’ current teaching activities to increase students’ participation
Table 2: The frequency of teachers’ current teaching activities
Table 3: Students’ participation in speaking activities
Table 4: Activities motivate students to take part in speaking lessons
Table 5: Students’ comfort when speaking English
Table 6: Factors influence on students’ participation in speaking learning
Table 7: What teacher should do to help students overcome the difficulties

v


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………

ii

ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………

iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS…………………………………

iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES………………………………………………

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………

vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………

1

1. Rationale for the study…………………………………………………………

1

2. Aims and objectives of the study ……………………………………………

2

3. Scope of the study …………..…………………………………………………

3

4. Significance of the study ………………………………………………………

3

5. Methods of the study….………………………………………………………

3

6. Research questions of the study...……………………………………………

3

7. Organization of the study………………………………………………………

4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………...........

5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………

5

1. Culture………………………………...………………………………………

5

1.1. Definitions of culture…….…………………………………………………

5

1.2. Elements of culture………………………………………………................

6

1.3. Some cultural factors in the teaching and learning of speaking skills in
classrooms ………………………………………………………………..
1.4. The role of culture in language teaching and learning……………..............

7
9

2. Speaking skills………………………………………………………………

10

2.1. Definitions of speaking skills……………………………………………

10

2.2. Types of classroom speaking performance………………………………

11

2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity…………………………

13

3. Learners’ participation………………………………………………………

14

vi

4. Review of previous studies…………………………………………….............
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………
1. Setting of the study……………..……………………………………………

15
17
17

1.1. Brief introduction of Hanoi University of Industry ……...………………

17

1.2. Students and their background ...…………………………………………

17

1.3. The course book ……………………………………………………………

18

2. The instruments………………………………………………………………

18

3. Subjects………………………………………………………………………

19

4. Data collection procedures….…………………………………………………

20

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS ………………………………………………

22

1. Situation of students’ participation in learning speaking in classroom lessons

22

1.1. Speaking activities used by teachers………………………………………

22

1.2. The frequency of teachers’ current teaching activities …………………

23

1.3. Students’ participation in speaking activities ……………………………

24

1.4. Activities motivate students to take part in speaking lessons ……………

25

1.5. Students’ comfort when speaking English ………………………………

26

1.6. The frequency of students’ speaking English in class ……………………

27

1.7. Students’ questioning or interrupting the teachers ………………………

28

1.8. Students’ frequency of expressing their own opinions …………………

29

2. The influence of some first cultural factors on students’ participation while
learning speaking English in the classroom ………………………………

30

3. Students’ desire in order to overcome those difficulties …………………...

31

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS……………………………

35

1. Major findings and discussion ………………………………………………

35

1.1. The situation of students’ participation in class oral activities…………

35

1.2. Factors influence students’ participation in speaking activities…………

35

2. Recommendations for increasing students’ participation in speaking
activities……………………………………………………………………......
vii

37


2.1. Teachers should be enthusiastic, friendly, helpful and tolerant…………

37

2.2. Teachers need to help our students to improve their knowledge of
grammar and enrich their vocabulary ……………………………………
2.3. Teachers should build a cooperative atmosphere in class ………………...

38
38

2.4. Teachers need to create variety of interesting and appropriate
activities....................................................................................

39

2.5. Students should take risks ………………………………………………...

40

PART C: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………..

41

1. Recapitulation ………………………………………………………................

41

2. Pedagogical implications………………………………………………………

42

3. Limitations and suggestions for further studies …………………………….....

43

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………. 45
APPENDIXES…………………………………………………………………….. I

viii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
In this study, there are six sections. After the introduction, the second section presents
a rationale based on theoretical, pedagogical and contextual grounds, which serve as a
foundation for the study. The third section gives the methodology of the research. The

focus of the study is lined in the fourth and fifth sections. The final section describes
the conclusion of the study.

1.

Rationale

Culture plays a significant role in language teaching and learning. It may decrease
learners’ involvement in classrooms. Being aware of cultural differences and knowing
how to deal with related differences are critical for the success of teaching and learning
in general, and learning participation in particular. According to Wright (2010),
participation is central to second language acquisition (SLA) and therefore, language
proficiency. When students lack proficiency and do poorly on tests, their selfconfidence and motivation in school may be impacted. Students, who are actively
involved, in contrast, report higher satisfaction and higher persistence rates.
With the recognition of the importance of proficiency, especially proficiency of
students’ speaking skills, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) has implemented a
program which lasts five semesters and focuses on teaching English extensively for
communication. Experiencing two-years teaching, the researcher found out that many
students could write and read English well but they could not speak fluently and
correctly. Most of the students found speaking difficult, even uninteresting. Therefore,
they were quite passive in speaking English. They did not actively participate in
speaking activities. Their low participation may be due to a variety of factors in which
first cultural factors such as the different traditional learning style, collectivism rather
than individualism, the fear of losing face, etc play a significant role.

1


This has given the researcher the desire to conduct a research namely “The influences
of some first cultural factors on first year non-English major students’ participation in

English speaking learning at HaUI” to identify the first cultural factors that influence
students’ participation as well as to find out the techniques and activities to increase
students’ involvement in speaking activities at HaUI. I hope that this research can give
a few benefits to teachers, students and people concerned about this field.

2.

Aims and objectives of the Study

This study aims at finding out some first cultural factors influencing first year nonEnglish major student’s participation in English speaking learning, specifically in
English speaking lessons.
The main objectives of this study are as follows:
1.

To investigate the present situation of participation in English speaking learning
activities of first year non-English major students at HaUI. This includes what
activities teachers use in speaking lessons, how often they organize those
activities and how students take part in those speaking activities.

2.

To find out how some first cultural factors influence students’ participation in the
classroom while learning English speaking, such as the traditional learning style,
collectivism rather than individualism and the fear of losing face.

Based on the findings, the researcher gives some suggestions for teachers to stimulate
students in speaking English and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in
teaching speaking English for university students.

3.

Scope of the Study

There are so many aspects relating to English speaking learning including strategies,
methods, ways of learning (learning in class, or learning at home), etc. The above
aspects can be influenced by learners’ first culture. In this study, for the limitation of
2


time, conditions, and materials, this study only focuses on participation of students
with two main issues: the present situation of HaUI first year non-English major
students’ participation in learning speaking and the influence of some first cultural
factors on their classroom involvement while learning speaking English including the
traditional learning style, collectivism and the fear of losing face.
The study involves the participation of 60 first year non-English major students at
HaUI. They have experienced one semester studying English at this university.

4.

Significance of the Study

The significance of the present study would be to contribute some useful information
which teachers can consider in their real English speaking classrooms so as to help
students have more effective speaking lessons.

5.

Methods of the Study

In the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used. The data will be

collected by means of classroom observations and questionnaires. After the data is
collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn and some
suggestions will be made in the thesis.

6.

Research Questions

In the thesis, the following questions will be answered.
1. What is the present situation of participation in English speaking learning of first
year non-English major students at HaUI?
2. How do some first cultural factors influence students’ participation when learning
English speaking in the classroom?

7.

Organization of the Study

This study is going to be divided into three parts, as follows:
3


 Part A, Introduction, deals with the reason for the research and the aims, scope and
methodology of the study. The research questions are also raised in this part.
 Part B, Development, consists of the four following chapters:
* Chapter 1 is intended to give some theoretical background related to culture,
speaking skills and learners’ participation. In addition, some cultural factors in the
teaching and learning of speaking skills in classrooms will be discussed.
* Chapter 2 provides the current situation of participation in learning speaking skills at
HaUI. Information about teachers, students, materials and problems, is mentioned.

* Chapter 3 gives the analysis on the situation and the influence of some first cultural
factors on students’ involvement in English speaking learning in the classroom.
* Chapter 4 focuses on the findings and recommendations about using some activities
to get over cultural difficulties and improving students’ participation in speaking skills
in the classroom.
 Part C, Conclusion, addresses the key issues in the study, summarizing some
shortcomings revealed during the process of completing this research paper.

4


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1:

LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Culture
1.1. Definitions of culture
Levine and Adelman (1993) asserted that “Culture is a shared background (for
example, national, ethnic, religious) resulting from common language and
communication style , customs, beliefs, art, music and all the other products of human
thought made by a particular group of people at a particular time. It also refers to the
informal and often hidden patterns of human interactions, expressions and viewpoints
that people in one culture shared”. Levine and Adelman compared culture with an
“iceberg”. The visible part of an iceberg or culture consists of appearance, food,
language, tradition and customs… and the invisible part includes values, beliefs,
attitudes and communicative styles, perceptions, etc. The visible part of culture is a
small part of a much bigger whole. Therefore, people cannot see the significant
influence of culture on an individual behavior and interaction with others.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary (1995: 285), culture is “art,

literature, music and other intellectual expressions of a particular society or time”
(1995). This concept mentions general culture relating to the exposed parts of culture,
which are easily recognized such as language, food, clothes, etc.
Ferrando (1996, cited in Quang, Nguyen. 2006:16) asserted that “Culture is everything
that people have, think and do as a member of a society” (2006). The concept of
culture, therefore, involves the way people from a particular cultural background think,
feel, act, make friends, worship and behave in a community. Culture distinguishes one
human group from others. It also distinguishes human being from animals. Culture is
shared, learned symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and affects

5


people’s behaviors, norms, values, attitudes, customs, lifestyle, perceptions, taboos,
communicative styles, art, history, geography, economics and political systems…
In short, culture has been defined in different ways by many scholars. Culture is
sometimes identified with notions of personal space, appropriate gestures, time and so
forth. Culture is something to learn, it affects the way we act and respond, including
the visible aspects and taboos of working in other countries.

1.2. Elements of Culture
Because of different ways of defining the culture, there are different classifications of
its elements. In this part, only some classifications of cultural elements from some
famous authors such as Stephen Moore and Stephen Dahl are listed.
According to Stephen Moore (1985:4 as cited by Mai Thanh, Do & Thu Trang, Dao
2006: 5-6) culture consists of the following elements: Beliefs, values, norms, roles,
role conflict, and status.
 Beliefs: are general, vague opinions about the world and about the nature of
society. They vary by society and sometimes by subcultures. E.g. God created
the earth in seven days, or that Jesus was the son of God.

 Values: are vague beliefs about what is right and correct in the world. They
imply that there are certain appropriate forms of action which ought to be taken.
For example, life is precious; thus, it is wrong to kill anybody.
 Norms: are socially expected patterns of behavior. (Actions that are regarded as
normal). E.g. Not talking out loud during a play, wearing black clothes to a
funeral.
 Roles: Social roles are patterns of behavior expected of certain people according
to the occupation or position they hold in society. E.g. Clergyman’ role is to be
sympathetic, well-mannered, well-spoken, religious, and charitable. A heavydrinking clergyman would be regarded with astonishment by most people.
6


 Role conflict: There are innumerable social roles - father, mother, child,
shopkeeper, etc. All of us occupy a number of roles, which are generally
complementary, but sometimes they may conflict, for instance.
 Status: refers to the position of a person or a social role in society according to
the amount prestige received from others. In different societies or cultures,
status varies. In Britain, those with the highest status are the best educated and
the rich, although this will obviously vary within subcultures.
In Stephen Dahl’s description (cited by Mai Thanh, Do & Thu Trang, Dao 2006:6),
culture is “ordered into” three layers, like an onion, where one peel has to be taken off
in order to see the following inner.
 The outer layer, artifacts and products, is the most explicit part including
language and food, architecture and style etc.
 The second layer is norms and values.
 The inner most layer, basic assumptions, represents the core assumptions of
what life is, assumptions about how to handle everyday problems that have
become self-evident, that is communication.

1.3. Some cultural factors in the teaching and learning of speaking skills

in classrooms
Today, educators have become aware of not only the importance of cultural factors in
the teaching of speaking skills but also the great influence of inferences between two
cultures-target and learner’s cultures-on the way of teaching and learning speaking
skills.
Firstly, “influenced by their traditional learning style, Vietnamese students are quiet
and attentive in class” whereas “teachers are considered the complete source of
knowledge”. “The students wait until called upon to answer the questions asked by the
teachers, instead of volunteering”. They are also “good at memorizing and following
7


directions, reluctant to participate (though knowing the answers), meticulous in notetaking, shy away from oral skills (being more comfortable with grammar and writing
exercises) and from group interaction” (Hung Tuong, Nguyen 2002). In addition,
“students often regard the teachers as information providers or knowledge givers. They
pay a lot of respect to teachers by keeping silent and asking no questions in the
classroom. Students, as well as society keep the belief that teaching is the noblest
profession, and therefore, teachers need to be highly respected” (Thuy Duong, Nguyen
2010). Thus, “being talkative, interrupting, questioning, bragging, or challenging the
teachers are not typical of Vietnamese culture. Such behavior is strongly criticized and
avoided”. “Americans, in contrast, regard silence as no communication, noncooperative attitude, and often try to fill the emptiness. Silence is treated as passive or
negative reaction” (Hung Tuong, Nguyen 2002). Furthermore, Vietnamese students
really “lock into the classroom structure and the things teachers say is absolutely right
in their minds. As a result, these lead to silence during speaking lessons. Teachers’ talk
is occupied more than that of the learners’. This teacher-centered methodology has
long been used at schools in Vietnam” (Thuy Duong, Nguyen 2010).
Secondly, “in Vietnam, students are affected by Confucianism, which respects
collectivism more than individualism, in contrast to Western countries. These countries
highly appreciate

personal

independence, and fierce

competition; that is,

individualism”. “In Vietnam, the U.S. person’s individualism may be perceived as
being selfish or egotistical”. “This may be one of the major problems for learners
during speaking activities in classrooms, especially in group work. They prefer
listening to the ideas of others to expressing their own opinions”. “In their view, a
quiet student learns more and he is more respectful than the one who speaks up, and
takes time away from the teacher’s lesson” (Thuy Duong, Nguyen 2010).
Moreover, the Vietnamese prefer “beating around the bush instead of getting directly
to the main point” and usually avoid stating their opinions (Thuy Duong, Nguyen
2010). When the Vietnamese refuse an invitation, for example, they use more
8


avoidable strategies and sometimes give insufficient answers. Americans, in contrast,
use more direct requests and refusals. Therefore, “indirect communication is
considered to be an important way in helping others avoids losing face in Vietnam”. In
class and group activities, “the belief that losing face is a shame affects students’
participation during speaking activities. Learners would rather be considered passive
ones than lose face in front of the class. This is the reason why some keep silent in
class even when they know the answer. Or why, they never raise ideas in discussions.
They are afraid of making mistakes”, so “they hesitate to express their opinions freely
because they are concerned about how others will see them and because they have
been brought up in the collectivistic cultural mode”. “This is quite different from
English cultures, in which students tend to learn from mistakes” (Thuy Duong, Nguyen
2010)

1.4. The role of culture in language teaching and learning
To emphasize the importance of culture in learning and teaching foreign languages, Eli
Hinkel (1999) said: “Applied linguists and language teachers have become increasingly
aware that the second or foreign language can rarely be learnt, or taught, without
addressing the culture of the community in which it is used .This can be with the idea
that culture plays an important role in teaching and learning language”.
To emphasize the influence of cultural factors on the teaching and learning of speaking
skills in classroom, Kramsch (1993) asserted that “culture in language learning is not
an expendable fifth skill tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening,
reading and writing. It is always in the background, right from day one, ready to
unsettle the good language learners when they expect it least, making evident the
limitations of their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to
make sense of the world around them” (1993:1).
In conclusion, language teaching and learning require much more than words and
grammatical structures. It goes without saying that culture is regarded “as mere
9


information conveyed by the language, not as a feature of language itself, culture
awareness becomes an educational objective in social practice, and culture becomes
the very core of language teaching” (Kramsch, 1993:8).

2. Speaking skills
2.1. Definitions of speaking skills
According to Chaney (1998), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning
through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (1998).
Speaking in a foreign language has been viewed as the most demanding of the four
skills. It plays a vital role because it is the step to identify who knows or does not know
a language. When attempting to speak, learners must muster their thoughts and encode

those ideas in the vocabulary and syntactic structures of the target language.
Speaking is not spoken writing. It is different from other skills in the teaching and
learning of language. It needs limited time in response, for example, and it is not easy
to correct when an utterance is made. The speakers must be responsible for their
utterances in a limited time and make sense with what they are saying as Bygate,
Martin (1987) said “It is different from others in its time pressure, which allow limited
time for deciding what to say, deciding how to say it. Saying it and checking that the
main intensions are being realized”, and then adjust their speech based on reaction
from listeners “the words are being spoken as they are being decided and as they are
being understood” (1987).
In conclusion, speaking is the central skill, for many people. The desire to
communicate with others, often face-to-face and in real time, drives us to attempt to
speak fluently and correctly. Speaking is also one of necessary skills that students have
to acquire in learning a foreign language. It helps people to communicate and exchange
information and culture with other countries.

2.2. Types of classroom speaking performance
10


Brown (2001: 266-268) indentifies six categories apply to the kinds of oral production
that students are expected to carry out in classroom, namely imitative, intensive,
responsive, transactional, interpersonal and extensive.
 Imitation is carried out not for the purpose of meaningful interaction, but for
focusing on some particular element of language form. (e.g., learners practicing
an intonation pattern a certain vowel sound).
 Unlike imitative speaking which is designed to practice some phonological or
grammatical aspect of language, intensive speaking provides learners the
opportunity to “go over” and uses certain forms of language through controlled
speech production. Intensive tasks may be directed response, read-aloud, oral

sentence completion or dialogue completion.
 A good deal of student speech in the classroom is responsive: short replies to
teacher- or student-initiated questions or comments. Question & answer,
question elicitation, elicitation for instructions and paraphrasing are responsive
tasks.
 Transactional language, carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging
specific information, is an extended form of responsive language. Tasks are oral
interviews, discussions and conversations.
 Interpersonal, like in the transactional, also carried out in a dialogue. It is
purposed for maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of facts
and information.
 Extensive usually occurs when students are asked to give oral reports,
summaries or short speeches. The kind of register is more formal and speaking
performance is carefully produced. Oral presentations, storytelling, retelling a
story or news event and reporting information are some types of monologue.
Nakamura (2006) suggested a framework of three-dimensional constructs: monologue,
dialogue and multilogue.
11


 Monologue encompasses a range of one-way speaking proficiencies from a
simple phonetic level check (Pre-Monologue) to advanced oral presentation
skills (Creative Monologue).
 Dialogue, of course, refers to two-way, reciprocal speaking ability, but in this
framework two sub-types are distinguished: Transactional, the ability to
exchange information in situations where the context is well defined and with
fixed conventions of speech e.g. classroom situation; and Interpersonal, the
ability to perform in consideration of deeper or less predictable social
relationships.
 Multilogue refers to a speaker’s discussion ability among multiple participants,

not only as a participant but also in such more formalized roles as chairperson.

2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
Classroom activities would be an important component of a language course.
Successful speaking activities in class can result in great improvement of students’
speaking skills. According to Ur (1996: 120), there are four characteristics for a
successful speaking activity.
For the most part, learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time
allocated to the activity is in fact occupied by learners’ talk. This may be obvious, but
often most time is taken up with teacher’s talk or pauses.
Moreover, participant is even. As we know, classroom discussion is not dominated by
a minority of talkative participants. It means that all students get a chance to speak and
contributions are fairly evenly distributed.
Furthermore, motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are
interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or they want to
contribute to achieve a task objective.

12


The last but not least, language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves
in utterances that are relevant, easy comprehensible to teach others and of acceptable
level of language accuracy. If the learners do not have speaking skills, do not
understand the English words that are said by the speaker, do not acknowledge the
language, they cannot grasp meaning of what the speaker means. In that condition,
they cannot be said successful in learning English, because they do not have a
meaningful interaction of English conversation. Through this feature, students who
want to speak English well need to learn and practice it as much as possible.
In short, if we want to have a successful speaking activity or if we want to get students
talking, we need to meet all the above criteria.

3. Learners’ participation
“Students’ participation can be understood as students’ involvement in classroom
activities and in this case, oral activities. It consists of interaction between students and
students; students and the teacher. The interaction between students themselves arises
in pair work and group work. When they work together, students’ participation can be
measured by their sense of responsibility and cooperation. As for the interaction with
the teacher, students express themselves in class discussion or show their ability to
answer the questions raised by teacher or share their knowledge or personal
experiences” (Thi Thao, Tran 2010).
In order to have a successful lesson, students’ participation must be active and even.
There are varieties of factors relating to the quality of students’ involvement in
classroom oral activities.
One of the factors is teacher’s role in language teaching and learning. With an
increasing concern about the CLT approach, in which learners are the centre of the
lesson, the teachers act as controllers, prompters, participants, resources, tutors,
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organizers, assessors or observers (Harmer 1999:57-62). In a lesson, he/she not only
plays the role of the organizer of classroom activities, the prompter to students’
questions but also works as the participant to engage in the communicative activities
along with the students.
Unlike Harmer, Byrner (1986:2) stated the roles of the teacher according to the stages
of teaching speaking: the presentation stage, the practice stage and the production one.
At the first stage, the teacher acts as an informant. He/she prepares the materials and
presents the language as clearly as possible and the students listen and try to
understand. At the practice stage, it is time for students did most of the talking and the
teacher’s role is a skillful conductor of an orchestra giving each of the performers a
chance to participate and monitoring the performance. At the final stage, the

production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide. Above all, the most
important role of the teacher through stages of speaking lesson is a motivator.
Whatever the teacher does in the classroom, the ability of motivating the students to
arouse their interests and to involve in what they are doing will be crucial.
In addition, teacher’s characteristics are also very important to students’ engagement.
The teacher should be natural, warm, pleasant, approachable and tolerant (Barry 1993).
These characteristics can help students feel more comfortable, so they could better
participate in speaking activities.
Furthermore, learners’ learning style indicates different ways they perceive
information, as Keefe (1979) defined: learning style is “cognitive, affective and
physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive,
interact with and respond to the learning environment” (as cited in Brown, H. Douglas
2007:120).
It is certain that classroom atmosphere affects students’ success in language learning.
Lightbown and Spada (1999) pointed out that students seem to feel anxious and less

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constrained but more secured to take part in learning activities in supportive,
cooperative and encouraging atmosphere.

4. Review of previous studies
An investigation into factors that hinder the participation of university students in
English speaking lessons at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University, which was carried out by
Thi Mai, Le (2011) took this matter into consideration. The study mentioned the
factors that hindered the participation of the second-year English major students at Ba
Ria – Vung Tau University in English speaking lessons due to the teacher’s factors,
students’ factors and learning and teaching conditions. The researcher analyzed
activities and techniques often used by teachers to increase students’ participation.

Furthermore, she gave some suggestions for teachers to stimulate students in speaking
English and overcome the difficulties they have to face with in teaching speaking
English.
Faizah Mohamad Nor & Liew Hui Choo’s study (2010) also concentrated on the
factors affecting second language learners’ classroom participation. The study
mentioned the factors that affected the participation of students at a Malaysian
University in the classroom due to students’ fear, anxiety, learning strategies, lecturers’
teaching practices, personality, perceptions of the lecturers as the authority and
perceptions of their roles as universities students. The researcher also suggested some
techniques taken to encourage students’ involvement in classrooms.
Another study is by Thi Thao, Tran in 2010 concentrating on factors affecting the
participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Doson high school and
some possible solutions. In the study, the researcher found out the students’ level of
participation in class oral activities, their attitudes towards the applied teaching
techniques, as well as the factors affecting students’ participation such as teacher’s
factors, students’ factors, classroom factors and materials factors. Then she gave some

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