SKKN sáng kiến kinh ngiệm “improving english speaking skills through extracurrials activities – a pilot care with 10th graders at trieu son high school n0 2”

ABBREVIATIONS
TEFL:
CLT:
EFL:
M.A:
ECAs:
ECA:
MC:

Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Communicative Language Teaching
English as a Foreign Language
Master of Arts
Extracurricular activities
Extracurricular activity
Master of Ceremony

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................... ii
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................1
1. Rationale.................................................................................................... 1
PART 2: PROBLEM SOLVING .......................................................................2
CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGY.....................................................................2
1.1. Research setting ..................................................................................... 2
1.1.1. An overview of Triệu Sơn High School No2 ................................. 2
1.1.2. The teachers of English in Triệu Sơn High School No2 ................ 2
1.1.3. The students in Triệu Sơn High School No2 .................................. 2

1.1.4. The situation of English teaching and learning English in Triệu
Sơn High School No2 ............................................................................... 2
1.2. Research methods................................................................................... 3
1.2.1. Description of the participants ........................................................ 3
1.2.2. Procedures ....................................................................................... 4
1.2.3. Instruments ...................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .............................................11
2.1. Findings from the students ................................................................... 11
2.1.1. From the evaluation forms ............................................................ 11
2.1.2. From interviews ............................................................................ 12
2.2. Findings from the teachers ................................................................... 13
2.2.1. From their observation .................................................................. 13
2.2.2. From the discussion ...................................................................... 13
2.3. Discussion ............................................................................................ 14
2.3.1. The organization of extracurricular activities to intensify students’
participation in speaking activities in class ............................................. 14
2.3.2. The effectiveness of extracurricular activities experimented at
school ...................................................................................................... 14
2.3.3. The students’ response on the organization of extracurricular
activities .................................................................................................. 15
PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................16
1. Conclusion............................................................................................... 16
2. Recommendations on how to organize extracurricular activities ........... 16
2.1. For the students ................................................................................ 16
2.2. For the teachers ................................................................................ 17
2.3. For the administrators ...................................................................... 17
3. Limitations of the study .......................................................................... 18
4. Suggestions for further study .................................................................. 19
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................20
APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... I

APPENDIX 1 ....................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................... III
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APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................... IV
APPENDIX 4 ...................................................................................................... V

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PART 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In learning English at high schools, English speaking skill is one of the
four skills that students must be taught as separately and equally as the others.
However, due to some different objective and subjective reasons, teaching
and learning of this skill is often integrated with other skills such as listening
skill, or is even neglected. Therefore, students do not often enjoy speaking
period as well as find it difficult to participate in speaking activities.
Furthermore, there are a lot of elements of speaking affecting the
ability to speak fluently such as language features (connected speech,
expressive device, lexis and grammar, negotiation language) and the ability to
process information and language “on the spot” such as language processing,
interacting with others… However, in a period of 45minutes, it seems to be
impossible for both teachers and students to control them. Therefore, if
teaching and learning speaking skill takes place within 45 minutes every week
and only in classroom settings, its effect is limited.
In terms of my experiences of teaching English and teaching speaking
skill at Triệu Sơn High School No2, I found that most of my students are
unwilling to participate in oral activities. Most of them only passively sit and

take notes, rarely contribute to the lesson and even do not ask for the teacher’s
help when they have any problems. Reasons for this are varied, including
large classes, psychological or cultural differences, teaching methods,
teacher’s knowledge, student’s lack of idea or language devices, such as
grammatical structures or vocabulary, etc. Whatever reasons they may be, it is
the first target of the teachers to help their learners speak up in class, and
thereby, improve their speaking skills.
Another reason why the study was carried out is that I am the head of
the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union at the school. During the school
year I organize many extracurricular activities for students, so I believe that
using extracurricular activities for English practice is a good way to enhance
students’ English skills, primarily speaking skills.
The above reasons have inspired me to conduct an action research on
“Improving English speaking skills through extracurricular activities – a
pilot case with 10th graders at Triệu Sơn High School No2” with the hope to
make a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking
skills for 10th graders at this school.
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PART 2: PROBLEM SOLVING
CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGY
1.1. Research setting
1.1.1. An overview of Triệu Sơn High School No2
Triệu Sơn High School No2 is located in the West of Thanh Hoa.
Founded in 1968, Triệu Sơn High School No2 is one of the oldest as well as
the biggest schools in the area. At present, there are 21 classes with over 900
students placed into three different grades: grade 10, 11 and 12. The teaching
staff composes of more than 60 teachers of 12 compulsory subjects, of whom
two-thirds are young, creative and well trained whereas the others are

experienced and enthusiastic. In recent years Triệu Sơn High School No2 is
one of the schools which has high percentages of high school graduate and
gifted students.
1.1.2. The teachers of English in Triệu Sơn High School No2
There are six teachers of English currently working at Triệu Sơn High
School No2, four of them have participated in this research for discussion.
Their ages range from late twenties to forty years old, three of them are
female. The years of teaching English are also different, minimum level of
eight years and maximum nearly fifteen years. Most of them have University
Bachelor’s Degree, one Master Degree, and the others have taken the inservice training courses. Without doubt, all the teachers at Triệu Sơn High
School No2 are experienced and enthusiastic in teaching. They are willing to
help their students overcome their difficulties in learning English generally
and in speaking particularly.
1.1.3. The students in Triệu Sơn High School No2
The majority of students in the study at Triệu Sơn High School No2 are
aged from 15 to 18. Most of them come from rural areas and they have learnt
English since lower secondary schools. Among them, there are a large
number of students who are really interested in learning English and want to
develop their ability in using English. In contrast, the other part of students is
low in motivation. They tend to regard English as less important than other
subjects and they study English only in order to pass the examinations.
1.1.4. The situation of English teaching and learning English in Triệu Sơn
High School No2
1.1.4.1. The syllabus of teaching and learning English
At Triệu Sơn High School No2, English is one of the compulsory
subjects in the curriculum. The syllabus and the textbooks for English
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including “Tiếng Anh 10”, “Tiếng Anh 11”, “Tiếng Anh 12” are prescribed

by the Ministry of Education and Training.
The English curriculum for grade 10th students is divided into two
semesters with a total of 105 periods, 3 periods per week. Each period is 45
minutes long.
The textbook which is currently used for teaching and learning English
for grade 10th at Triệu Sơn High School No2 is “Tieng Anh 10” which was
designed following communicative approach. The textbook consists of 16
units with 5 parts in each unit arranging as follows: reading, speaking,
listening, writing and language focus in which a variety of exercises and tasks
was compiled for practice. Also, there exists a consolidate unit after every 3
units. The objective of these units is to examine how well the students have
achieved in the previous units.
1.1.4.2. The teaching and learning English speaking skills
It has been accepted that students’ communicative ability is the proper
aim for language teaching. This makes teaching and learning speaking skills
seem to be an important part in any English course. Like many other high
schools in Vietnam, teaching and learning speaking skills at Triệu Sơn High
School are affected by some constraints such as large class sizes, students’
unfamiliarity with CLT, students’ low English proficiency, students’ low
participation in class time. Normally, in a class at Triệu Sơn High School, a
number of students who have a good knowledge of English are eager and
active during the class while a majority of those with low English proficiency
are very passive. Besides, lack of training in teaching methods, especially
CLT makes it difficult for the teachers to access to new approach, which
makes the teaching and learning speaking skills more challenging.
1.2. Research methods
1.2.1. Description of the participants
There are two reasons why this research aimed at 10th form students at
Triệu Sơn High School No2. Firstly, the 10th form students are the newcomers
to the new kind of textbooks for high schools in which speaking is stressed

equally to other three skills. However, their speaking abilities are limited and
they are sometimes too shy to speak. They have difficulty in expressing their
ideas. Secondly, the students are at pre-intermediate level for which the
organization of extracurricular activities is of great help for them to overcome
speaking abilites limitations. The students here were restricted to two 10th
form classes (among seven 10th form classes at Triệu Sơn High School No2).
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These two classes, which were chosen randomly, account for 90 students.
They are aged from 15 to 16 and all of them have had at least four years of
learning English at lower-secondary schools. They are not the same at English
speaking competence. Some of them are really good and active while a lot of
them are quite passive and unmotivated in learning English.
There are four out of six teachers of English at Triệu Sơn High Shool
No2 participating in this study. These four teachers include two males and
two females. Their ages range from 34 to 38 with at least nine years of
teaching English. One of them has finished an M.A course at Vietnam
National University, Hanoi. The reason for this choice of participants is that
they are all in charge of 10th form classes at Triệu Sơn High School No2.
1.2.2. Procedures
The study strictly followed the steps. First, possible extracurricular
activities were designed based on the students’ level of English and the
requirements of their English program in Grade 10, particularly the expected
outcomes of their speaking ability when they finish Grade 10. Then, the
designed activities were piloted with the selected groups of students.
Following are the activities piloted.
To overcome the problem, the researcher with collegues in English
group organized three extracurricular activities for students in the school year
in order to improve their speaking skills. The researcher planned three

extracurricular activities as follows.
The first extracurricular activity
Theme: Let’s explore English/ Explore English
1. Aims
- Push up the emulation movement of learning and teaching as well as
increase the quality of education within the school.
- Create a friendly and dynamic environment with various forms of study that
attracts students and brings them with interest in learning English.
- Enhance English skills, especially speaking skill for students.
2. Contents
2.1. Content of the competition
There are 5 parts
Part 1: Greeting
- Three teams take part in the first part respectively.
- The maximum point is 10 given by the judge ( not decimal points)
+ 5 scores max for fluency.
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+ 5 scores max for impressiveness.
Part 2: Start
- Each team takes turn to answer 10 questions
- Time allowed: 15 seconds per question.
- 10 scores for each correct answer.
- If time is up with no answer, no score is gained and subtracted.
Part 3: Overcome the Obstacle
- There is a crossword that consists of 6 rolls.
- The obstacle that contains 6 letters is hidden behind a vertical line. This is a
missing piece of a saying.
- 120 scores will be given for the correct answer before the first roll is opened.

- 30 scores added for an excellent expression for the saying.
- 20 scores respectively deducted after 1 roll.
- The team has the wrong answer for the obstacle will have to stop its turn in
this part.
- 30 scores for each correct answer (for the team selecting the roll), other
teams will have right to answer (in circle) and can gain 10 up to 20 scores.
Part 4: Speed up
- Three teams answer 6 questions at the same time. Each question has 3
smaller parts ranging in 6 fields and skills, including phonetics, Vocabulary,
Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
- Time allowed: 90 seconds per question.
+ 45 scores for the correct answer at the first 30 seconds.
+ 30 scores for the correct answer at the next 30 seconds.
+ 15 scores for the correct answer at the last 30 seconds.
- Team with no answer or wrong answer will not be given scores.
- Teams write down and show answers then the judge gives them scores.
Part 5: Finish
- There are 3 packages of questions: 40, 60 and 80 scores.
- Each package has 4 questions. The level of difficulty is equal to scores.
- Time allowed: 15 seconds per question.
+ Package 40: 4 questions of 10 scores.
+ Package 60: 2 questions of 10 scores, 2 questions of 20 scores.
+ Package 80: 1 question of 10 scores, 2 questions of 20 scores, 1 question of
30 scores.
- The content of the competition will be presented on PowerPoint.
- There are also competitions for the audience.
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- Aside from the competition, there are English singing performances from

school’s team.
2.2. Organizational Formality
- Dramatization
- Three teams partake in a competition. Each team has 5 members.
2.3. Participants
- Students from class 10C1 and 10C7
2.4. Place and time
- Place: the schoolyard
- Time: February 17th, 2015
2.5. Attendants
- The Board of School Management
- All teachers of English group ( English Department)
- All head teachers of 10th grade.
- All students of the school.
(The content of the competition will be planned and presented on powerpoint)
The second extracurricular activity
Theme: English singing and retelling stories contest
1. Aims:
- Push up the emulation movement of learning and teaching as well as
increase the quality of education within the school.
- Create a friendly and dynamic environment with various forms of study that
attracts students and brings them with interest in learning English.
- Enhance English skills, especially speaking skill for students.
2. Contents
2.1. Contents of the competition
- In order to take part in this competition, participants must undergo the
preliminary round. The best 10 performances, including 5 singing and 5
storytelling repertories will be selected for the final round.
- To prepare for the final round, contestants will be strongly supported by
their English teachers in phonetics and the way of performing.

2.2.Organizational formality
- Dramatization
- The contestants perform following their orders taken before the competition.
- Three examiners will process their judgments separately and pick out the
best performances.
- Prizes will be sorted out according to types of performances.
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2.3. Participants
- Students from class 10C1 and 10C7
2.4. Place and time
- Place: the schoolyard
- Time: March 24th, 2015
2.5. Attendants
- The Board of School Management
- All teachers of English group ( English Department)
- All head teachers of 10th grade.
- All students of the school.
The third extracurricular activity
Theme: English speaking club.
1. Aims:
- Push up the emulation movement of learning and teaching as well as
increase the quality of education within the school.
- Create a friendly and dynamic environment with various forms of study that
attracts students and brings them with interest in learning English.
- Enhance English skills, especially speaking skill for students.
2. Contents
2.1. Content of the competition
There are 3 parts

Part 1: Greeting
- Three teams take part in the first part respectively.
- Each team participates in the greeting part by short plays from 10 to 15
minutes
- The maximum point is 10 given by the judge ( not decimal points)
+ 5 scores max for fluency.
+ 5 scores max for impressiveness.
Part 2: Answer the questions
- Each team takes turn to answer 10 questions given by the MC
- Time allowed: 15 seconds per question.
- 20 scores for each correct answer.
- If time is up with no answer, no score is gained and subtracted. Other teams
will have right to answer (in circle) and can gain 10 scores.
Part 3: Rhetorics
- Each team assigns a member to partake in the Rhetoric contest that lasts for
10 minutes. Scores will be deducted when exceeding the time allowed.
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- 5 topics will be sent out to contestants for pre-preparation.
- Maximum score is 50, including:
+ 10 scores for fluency
+ 10 scores for pronunciation
+ 10 scores for content
+ 10 scores for performance
+ 10 scores for accent
- Teams select their orders and topics. 5 minutes for preparation.
- There are also competitions for the audienc
- Aside from the competition, there are English singing performances from
school’s team.

2.2. Organizational Formality
- Dramatization
- Three teams partake in a competition. Each team has 5 members.
2.3. Participants
- Students from class 10C1 and 10C7
2.4. Place and time
- Place: the schoolyard
- Time: April 21th, 2015
2.5. Attendants
- The Board of School Management
- All teachers of English group ( English Department)
- All head teachers of 10th grade.
- All students of the school.
After the activities, evaluation forms were distributed to the 90 students
to collect their feedback towards extracurricular activities that they
participated in. This was followed by semi-structured interviews with 10
randomly chosen students out of the piloted groups to obtain their attitudes
and detailed assessment of the extracurricular activities as well as clarification
of important points in the evaluation form.
The four teachers in charge of Grade 10 were invited to observe the
extra-curricular activities and provide their assessment of the activities,
especially their judgements of the effectiveness of the activities on students’
performance in general, and their speaking skills in particular. Feedbacks
from these observers were gathered both from their observation notes and
discussions that followed.
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1.2.3. Instruments
1.2.3.1. Evaluation forms for students

The major mean of data collection is the evaluation forms for students.
Each evaluation form was constructed from two parts: part A for personal
information and part B for content information. The questions in the
evaluation forms were worded carefully in Vietnamese to make it easy for the
students. The evaluation forms were also piloted with the help of three
students before delivering to the large number. The specific strategies were
carefully illustrated with examples, so students could clearly understand them
and increase the accuracy of their responses. The students were encouraged to
share their ideas frankly and accurately, i.e. describing what they actually did
rather than what they should be doing. Besides, the evaluation forms were
collected anonymously in order that students could freely express their ideas.
The full evaluation form is provided in Annex 1.
1.2.3.2. Observation forms for teachers
The four teachers in charge of Grade 10 were invited to observe three
extracurricular activities. During observations, the teachers were observers
and did not take part in any activities. The observers took notes focusing on
the ways that the teachers help students to develop speaking skills and
students performed their actions in using English.
1.2.3.3. Interviews and discussion
The interviews and discussion in this study aimed at obtaining the
participants and observers’ attitudes and detailed assessment of the
extracurricular activities as well as clarification of important points in the
evaluation and observation forms.
Each interview consisted of two parts: the first one for personal
information and the second one for the content information. The number of
prepared questions for the content information for the students was eight. The
interviews were semi-structured, which means there is “a prompt which
requests certain information but the exact shape of the response is not
predetermined” (Cohen, 1989: 28). In the interviews, the researcher
sometimes added some explanation as well as asked for some more detailed

information.
The focused group interviews were conducted in Vietnamese and in
informal ways so that the students were able to express their ideas freely. It
was lucky that all of the students were very enthusiastic in participating in the
interviews. The method of recording information was note-taking.
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After each extracurricular activity was organized, the researcher
discussed with the teachers/observers to find out the advantages and
disadvantages of organization of each extracurricular activity. From these
discussions, the researcher and the teachers could find out the best way to
organize extracurricular activities for 10th graders.

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CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presented and discussed findings from analyses of the
students’ evaluation forms, their interviews, the observers’ notes and
discussion.
2.1. Findings from the students
2.1.1. From the evaluation forms
Ninety students had to answer eight questions in the evaluation form to
express their feedback toward extracurricular activities.
From ninety evaluation forms of the students, the researcher can see
that all students like extracurricular activities. All of them participated in at
least two extracurricular activities. They were all interested in the
extracurricuar activities that had been organized at school. They thought that
all the activities that had been organized at school were very useful for their

language learning. Extracurricular activites had many impact on their
language learning such as: knowledge of grammar, English proficency,
communication abilities, social skills, teamwork skills. When they
participated in the extracurricular activities, they made evident progress. They
felt more confident in using English, their communicative competence was
better, they could speak English more fluently. After participating in three
extracuricular activities, their teamwork skills have been improved
remarkably. But they all thought that extracurricular activities should be led
by students and the time for the activities should be longer. The
extracurricular activities should be organized regularly. Besides the
extracurricular activities that had been organized, the students suggested some
more extracurricular activities that should be organized such as: Skit Contest
(The Skit Contest, hosted by a teacher of English, and aided by other group
members.The six prizes are as follows: The Best Original Creation, The
Traditional Film, The Best Live Prize, The Best English Pronunciation, and
The Best Male and Female Actors. Role play has been a very important
activity in English learning. The Skit Contest allows students to present the
results of their English learning in a dramatic way. It’s a student favourite
because it’s so vivid and interesting), English Impromptu Speech
Contest (The participants draw topics five minutes before they give their
delivery. Then two participants in the same group take the conversation
contest for three to five minutes. Through the role play, students learn the
skills in English conversation and also raise their interest in English),
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Gettysburg Address Recitation Contest (The activity is aimed to improve
students’ ability in expression and the skills in tone and intonation), English
Conundrum Contest (The contest is aimed to improve the students’ expressive
and reactive abilities about life in English. The seven question types are as

follows: general knowledge, English, news, history and festival, slang and
usage, American Culture University. The entries draw lots to pick the
question types. The one who answers the most correctly wins).
2.1.2. From interviews
After three extracurricular activities were organized, the researcher
interviewed the students. The interview was done after school time, in order
not to disturb the teaching learning process. The researcher took ten students
to be interviewed. He asked them what they felt and their feedback toward
extracurricular activities The focused group interview was done on Saturday,
April 26th, 2015 at 05.00 pm. Questions for the interview are provided in
Annex 2.
From the interview with the students, the researcher could see that all
students have been learning English for at least 5 years. Some of them felt
very confident in their English. For them speaking skill is one of the most
important skills in English learning because if they can speak English well,
they can communicate with foreigners, they can use English for their work.
Every day they spend about twenty minutes practising speaking English.
They all think that speaking skill is not difficult if they practise speaking it
everyday and participate in extracurricular activities at school. They all liked
the extracurricular activities. They participated in all of the extracurricular
activities that had been organized at school. Some of them are interested in
“English song singing contests” most because they can perform the English
songs that they like and they can hear favourite English songs singing by
their friends. Others are fond of “English rhetoric” because they can present
the subjects that they are interested in. They can express the skill of
presenting in front of large audience. Some others are interested in “retelling
stories in English” because they can tell and hear the favourite stories in
English. They all admit that by participating in the extracurricular activities at
school, They can see that their English skills improved, especially speaking
skills. Besides that their teamwork skills and the skill of presenting in front of

large audience were better.

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2.2. Findings from the teachers
2.2.1. From their observation
As it was explained in the previous section, observation was done to
get the data from the students’ progress during extracurricular activities
process occurred. In the first extracurricular activity, students had much
difficulty in expressing the ideas in English. They still made mistakes in
pronunciation. They sometimes did not understand what the MC was saying,
so the MC had to sometimes use Vietnamese to explain for the students. But
in the afterward extracurricular activities, the observers and the researcher
found that students were more confident in using English to express their
ideas. There were few mistakes in their pronunciation. Their teamwork skills
were improved.
Based on the result of the observation, the researcher evaluated the
students’ speaking as well as the action procedures of teaching learning
process that he carried out. The result implied that the students got more
significant progress in teaching speaking by organizing extracurricular
activities. They were more confident in expressing their ideas, they talked
more, they spoke English more fluently, and especially their teamwork skills
were better.
2.2.2. From the discussion
After three extracurricular activities were organized, besides the
students, the reseacher also discussed with the teachers/observers. The
discussion focused on the following questions, apart from other relevant
issues. Questions for the discussion are provided in Annex 3.
All of the teachers in the English group agreed that speaking skill is one

of the most important skills in learning English so we must teach it with great
care. In teaching duration, there are many ways to enhance the speaking skills
for the students. Organizing extracurricular activities is one of the best ways
to enhance English skills, especially speaking skills. Extracurricular activities
should be organized regularly, may be once every two months or once a
month. The organization of ECAs should be prepared carefully in order to get
the best result. After each extracurricular activity was organized, teachers in
the English group should have a meeting to evaluate and plan for the next
ECAs.
After observing three extracurricular activities, they saw that
extracurricular activities had been prepared carefully and organized
scientifically. Most of the students were very excited about participating the
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activities while small number of other students felt that it was difficult to
understand all activities that was happening on the stage.
All of the students who participated in ECAs had remarked
improvement in speaking ability because the observer could see that students
were more confident in using English to expess the ideas, they made fewer
mistakes in pronunciation, they can speak English more fluently. The reasons
for such improvement were that students have participated in the ECAs that
had been organized at school. They have chance to share the ideas with each
other, use English more frequently. Besides the students’ speaking ability was
improved. The observer realized that their teamwork skills and the skill of
presenting in front of large audience were better. In order for the
extracurricular activites to be organized better, teachers in the English group
suggested some solutions:
1. Extracurricular should be led by the students in order to enhance the
students’creation.

2. The contents of the extracurricular activities should be designed suitable for
the students’interest and levels.
3. In order to organize extracurricular activities successfully. The reacher
should combine with the organizations in the school.
2.3. Discussion
2.3.1. The organization of extracurricular activities to intensify students’
participation in speaking activities in class
By organizing extracurricular activities for the students, they had a
chance to be active and cooperative in speaking activities so that the speaking
skills of 10th graders would be improved. The participation in extracurricular
activities made the speaking and learning activity more enjoyable and
interesting, so in class students were more interested in speaking activities.
2.3.2. The effectiveness of extracurricular activities experimented at
school
The organization of extracurricular activities could make the students’
speaking skills improve. Extracurricular activities were designed carefully on
PowerPoint. The designs on PowerPoint required the aestheticism so as to
enhance the attention of the students. The activities had brought a new wind
to refresh the teaching of speaking, making the teaching procedures more
effective and interesting to some extents. They encouraged students to
improve and develop their speaking skills and help students to practice for
their real life communication.
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The researcher had organized three extracurricular activities. The
problems found in an annual survey have been solved in three extracurricular
activities. After three extracurricular activities had been organized, the
researcher conducted an evaluation form. It aimed to know the students’
feedback and the effectiveness of extracurricular activities. Through the

above results taken from the evaluation forms, it was effectively to organize
extracurricular activities regularly as a motivator for students to speak. It was
clear that the number of students who were willing to join the speaking
lessons increase considerably. It proved that the speaking lessons were surely
more interesting and enjoyable with the students. In this case, extracurricular
activities played a role as an inspirer to appeal students to speak. Now,
students were confident and willing to use English in speaking lessons. It
showed that students’speaking skills were improved.
2.3.3. The students’ response on the organization of extracurricular
activities
The students admitted that they liked these activities. They did not feel
bored, but more enthusiastic to follow the process of extracurricular activities
organization. The students looked braver and more confident to speak and
expressed their feeling. They also admitted that they became active and full
of concentration in the activities. They were also motivated to speak English.
Considering the explanation above, the researcher concluded that the study
was successful and the organization of extracurricular activities could
improve the students’ speaking skills. The organization of extracurricular
activities could overcome the researchers’ problem that was how to make
students motivated in speaking activity. The students also had a positive
response to speaking lesson after having participated in extracurricular
activities. The students’speaking ability could be improved through
extracurricular activities because in extracurricular activities they could share
information, practise each other which made it easy to understand. And if
they got difficulty of vocabulary and low confidence; of course through
participating in extracurricular activities they could reduce those problems.
They could help each other. So, it was fun and interesting. They could be
motivated and more easily in learning English speaking.

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PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conclusion
Upon the examination of the data, several conclusions were
drawn based on research questions:
1. Holding extracurricular activities systematically can guarantee that students
get enough opportunities to practicing using language in a large of contexts
likely to be encountered in the target culture.
2. Since extracurricular activities are closely knitted into students’ daily life, it
provides good reasons for them to share ideas and information, thus adds
great authenticity to the language use in terms of both audience and task.
3. The richness of extracurricular activities ensures that students get adequate
input and are prompted to create language of their own. So their English has
been improved
4. The extracurricular activities should be organized regularly in order for the
students to have chance to use their English as well as exposure their abilities.
5. In order to inspire students’ motivation to participate in ECAs and study
foreign languages more, ECAs need to be organized according to
students’ current interests and needs, and follow other basic principles like
voluntary basis and students’ initiative.
6. Extracurricular activities have helped the students alot in improving their
English skills, especially speaking skills.
2. Recommendations on how to organize extracurricular activities
Having concluded the research, the success in teaching doesn’t depend
on the lesson program only, but more important is how the teacher presents
the lesson and uses various techniques to enhance students’skills, especially
speaking skills. Regarding to the improvement students’ speaking skills
through extracurricular activities. The writer would like to propose some
recommendations that hopefully will be useful for the student, and other

English teacher or as well as the administrator as follows:
2.1. For the students
- Being aware that speaking is important in English communication, the
students should be trained or practiced to speaking individually or in group.
- The students are hoped not to be shy.
- The students are hoped to be active and creative in enriching their
vocabularies.
- The students are hoped to use English when they take part in extracurricualr
activities although it is hard for them.
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2.2. For the teachers
- The teacher should learn and be creative to find the way of how to organize
extracurricular activities effectively. She must also give motivation and
explanation about the importance of speaking in English communication or
universal communication.
- The teacher should choose the materials that are appropriate and not too
difficult for the students.
- Before organizing the extracurricular activities for the students, the teacher
should make sure that the students have fully understood and have the
information they need.
- To motivate students, activities should be varied, suitable to their levels and
interests.
- The teacher should assign work to students and encourage them to take part
in the activities by giving bonus marks.
- The teacher should keep control the students’ activities.
- The teacher should present the language in an enjoyable, relaxed and
understandable way.
- The teacher should create and maintain a friendly relationship with students

is also of great importance. Students would feel much more self-confident to
communicate if they find their teachers are supportive. Thus, teachers should
always be available to help students when they are in difficulties. Especially,
for reluctant and shy students, teachers should show more care and
encouragement than others. Also, frequent praises from teachers can be seen
as a special gift that motivates students to speak more.
2.3. For the administrators
It is said that to get teacher and learner difficulties solves, it involves
not only the teacher, the learners and the textbook but also the School
Management Board, the Department of Education, and the Ministry of
Education and Training.
The School Management Board should equip more built-in teaching
facilities such as overhead projector, Television and the like so that the
teacher could save time to have it installed and removed before and after each
class. When all teaching facilities are available, the teacher may feel free to
apply new teaching ideas related to his/her lesson plan.
The School Management Board should provide time and Money in
order for foreign language group to organize extracurricular activities
regularly for students.
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The Department of Education and Training should take into
consideration the effectiveness of evaluation as a teaching tool to boost the
education quality. The examinations and test should pay attention to checking
learners’ communicative competence but not only linguistic competence. To
encourage students to speak English, examinations should test students’
ability to speak English rather than always students’ ability to write English. I
think we should change our traditional method of assessing. Instead of testing
just grammar and readings, other skills, especially speaking and listening

should also be tested. Continual assessment during each semester should be
appreciated as well so that students do not have to worry too much about the
final exams but keep trying and learning during the long terms.
This change will help create a better motivation for students to study
because they no longer have to focus on doing grammar exercises and reading
tests. By including the assessment of speaking, listening and writing skills in
the exams, students will be more involved in the class activities. Whether the
assessment of speaking skills should be included in a formal test (45 minute
test, end of semester, end of year or graduation exam) or it should be assessed
independently. If we all apply CLT in teaching and learning a foreign
language and consider the communicative ability as the goal, why don’t we
try to test learners’ communicative ability?
Therefore, I believe a change in the assessment system can help make a
change in the students' attitude and motivation of learning so that they can
achieve better outcome. I hope Vietnamese education in general and
Vietnamese English proficiency in particular will develop more soon.
Besides, it is suggested that administrators should frequently organize
training courses for teachers to improve their English proficiency, teaching
methodology and management skills. In these courses, teachers can exchange
knowledge and experience with each other.
I believe that if all of these above matters are well addressed, English
learners at Triệu Sơn High School No2 in particular and through out the
country in general will benefit from the innovation in teaching methods and
the teaching materials.
3. Limitations of the study
Although the study is carefully and clearly designed and based on
reliable data, it has the major limitations. Due to the limitation of knowledge,
teaching experience and time, lack of resources and the researcher’s ability.
Errors and shortcomings are inevitable.
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- Firstly, not all the 10th students at Triệu Sơn High School No2 were involved
in the interview, to some extent; the results might not be generalized to all
students of the school.
- Secondly, only some suggested solutions have been proposed to deal with
improving students’speaking skills.
4. Suggestions for further study
This study has only focused on the Improving English speaking skills
through extracurricular activities. Moreover, the study has only mentioned a
pilot case with 10th graders at Triệu Sơn High School No2. Hopefully,
therefore, there will be further research on extracurricular activities. During
the study, the author had come up with some points, which can be suggestions
for further study:
As mentioned above, there are some types of extracurricular activities,
so a comparison should be made between the students’ speaking performance
in different kinds of extracurricular activities.
Another study with a larger scope should be done (not only with the
students in the 10th form but also with the students in the 11th form and the
12th form at Triệu Sơn High School No2.)
XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƢỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa, ngày 29 tháng 5 năm 2015
CAM KẾT KHÔNG COPY.

Lê Đình Thắng

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REFERENCES
1. Cohen, A.D. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language.
Essex, U.K.: Longman.
2. Extracurricular-activities Retrieved May 4th, 2014
/>3. Harmer, J. (1983). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London:
Longman.
4. Hoàng Văn Vân, Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Nguyễn Thu
Phƣơng, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn (2006). Tiếng Anh 10. Hanoi: Educational
Publishing House.
5. Holloway, J.H. 1999. Extracurricular Activities: The Path to Academic
Success for Educational Leadership, Princeton.
6. Nunan, D (1991). Language Teaching Methodology. A Textbook for the
Teacher. E.L.T Prentice Hall.
7. Richard, J.C & Rodgers, T.S. (1986). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching, Cambridge: CUP.
8. Sheils, J. (1993). Communication in the Modern Language Classroom.
Council of Europe Press.
9. Wilcox, M.L. “The impact of extracurricular activities on academic
performance for rural secondary students in Indiana” Retrieved May 4th,
2014 from scholars.indstate.edu/bitstream/.../Michael%20Wilcox.pdf

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APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1
EVALUATION FORM FOR STUDENTS
This evaluation form is designed for my study “Improving English
speaking skills through extracurricular activities – a pilot case with 10th
graders at Triệu Sơn High School No2”. Your assistance in filling the

following items is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not
be identified in any discussion of the data. Thank you.
Please write down some information about yourself
Your age: …………………………………
Sex: ……………………………………….
Years of learning English: …………………
Please tick (√) where appropriate or write in brief where necessary
(You can choose more than one answer to some questions)
1. Do you like extracurricular activities? Have you ever participated in any
extra curricular activities at school?
a. yes
b. no
2. Which of our extracurricular activities you have participated in interests
you most?
a. English speaking clubs
b. English singing contests
c. English rhetorics
d. Retelling stories
c. Drama
3. Do you find the activities you mentioned above useful for your language
learning?
a. yes
b. no
4. Do you think the extracurricular activities that you experienced had any
impact on your language learning?
a. yes
- what kind of impact ........................................................................................?
b. no
5. Which among these do you feel you have made evident progress while
participating in those activities:

a. confidence b.communicative competence
c. speaking fluency
d. team work skills
e.others (please specify)!
6. Who in your opinion would be in the best position to take the leading role
in organizing extracurricular activities (check what applies in your case):
a. Teacher
b. Students
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c. Others (specify)
7. Is there anything you would like to change or suggest in regards of
extracurriculars at school that you experienced?
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
8. Can you suggest any new language extracurricular activities?
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you very much for your co-operation!

II