(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study into students’ reticence in english speaking lessons a case of 10th form students at hoằng hoá 4 high school m a thesis linguistics 60

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG MINH

A STUDY INTO STUDENTS’ RETICENCE IN ENGLISH
SPEAKING LESSONS: A CASE OF 10TH- FORM STUDENTS
AT HOẰNG HOÁ 4 HIGH SCHOOL
( Nghiên cứu về sự dè dặt, ít nói của học sinh lớp 10
trường THPT Hoằng Hố 4 trong các giờ học nói Tiếng Anh)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10

Ha Noi- 2013


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THỊ HỒNG MINH

A STUDY INTO STUDENTS’ RETICENCE IN ENGLISH
SPEAKING LESSONS: A CASE OF 10TH- FORM STUDENTS
AT HOẰNG HOÁ 4 HIGH SCHOOL
( Nghiên cứu về sự dè dặt, ít nói của học sinh lớp 10
trường THPT Hoằng Hố 4 trong các giờ học nói Tiếng Anh)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ

Ha Noi- 2013


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

G.C.S.E:

General Certificate of Secondary Education

CLT:

Communicative Language Teaching

GTM:

The Grammar- Translation Method

No:

Number

U. :

University

HH4:

Hoằng Hoá 4

ESL:

English as a Second Language

EFL:

English as a Foreign Language

iv


LISTS OF CHARTS AND TABLES

LISTS OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Students‟ opinions on the importance of speaking skill.
Chart 2: Students‟ frequency of speaking English in class time.
Chart 3: Students‟ opinions on the speaking topics of “ Tiếng Anh 10” text book.
Chart 4: Teacher- related factors making students reticent in oral activities.
Chart 5: Students‟ desires on communicative teaching activities.
Chart 6: Teaching methods currently used in teaching speaking skill.
Chart 7: Teacher‟s attitude towards unwilling speakers.
Chart 8: Techniques to create good relationship with students.

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English.
Table 2: Students‟ interest in learning speaking skill.
Table 3: Students‟ opinions on the speaking tasks of “ Tiếng Anh 10” textbook.
Table 4: Student- related factors making students reticent in oral activities.
Table 5: Students‟ desires on what teacher should do to encourage them to speak English.
Table 6: Difficulties teachers encountered in teaching speaking skill.
Table 7: Teachers‟ attitude towards mistake makers.
Table 8: Techniques applied by teachers to encourage reluctant students to speak English.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP................................. ...........................................

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ..

ii

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ ..

iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. ...

iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES ............................................................................

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... ..

vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................

1

1. Rationale.............................................................................................................. ..

1

2. Objectives of the study...........................................................................................

1

3. Research questions.................................................................................................

2

4. Methods of the study............................................................................................ ..

2

5. Significance of the study ...................................................................................... ..

2

6. Scope of the study ................................................................................................ ..

3

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

3

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

4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................

4

1.1. Theoretical background of reticence ................................................................. ..

4

1.1.1 Definition of reticence ............................................................................... ..

4

1.1.2 Possible causes of language learning reticence .......................................... ..

5

1.1.3. Effects of reticence in class..........................................................................

7

1.2. Theoretical background of speaking skill in second/ foreign language learning..

8

1.2.1. Definition of speaking .............................................................................. ...

8

1.2.2. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity ........................................ ..

9

1.2.3. Approaches to the teaching of speaking ..................................................... .. 10
1.3. Summary...............................................................................................................

12

CHAPTER 2 : METHODOLOGY...........................................................................

13

2.1 Research setting ................................................................................................. .. 13
2.2 Participants ....................................................................................................... ... 14

vi

2.3. Data collection instruments ............................................................................... .. 14
2.4. Procedures of data collection ............................................................................ .. 16
2.5. Procedures of data analysis ............................................................................... .. 16
2.6. Summary ............................................................................................................

16

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS...........................................................................

17

3.1. Data analysis of the first survey questionnaire and the interview for students...

17

3.2. Data analysis of the second survey questionnaire for teachers............................

27

3.3. Summary. ...........................................................................................................

31

CHAPTER 4: MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS

32

4.1. Major findings and discussions.............................................................................

32

4.2. Recommendations.................................................................................................

34

4.3. Summary...............................................................................................................

39

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

40

1. Conclusions ..........................................................................................................

40

2. Limitations of the study .........................................................................................

40

3. Suggestions for further study .................................................................................

41

REFERENCES .......................................................................................................

42

APPENDICES............................................................................................................
APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS.............................

I

APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS.............................

VII

APPENDIX 3 : INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS...............................

IX

APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT............................................................

XI

vii


PART A : INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale:
It is undeniable that English is an international language and together with its
increasing importance, the need of learning English is becoming more urgent than ever.
In learning English at high schools in Vietnam, speaking skill has become compulsory
since the new English textbook was officially put into use in 2006. However, among the
four skills, speaking seems to be the most difficult one but paid the least attention to at
most high schools. While many Vietnamese students can be good at grammar, reading or
writing skill, they cannot speak English correctly and fluently in real-life communication.
As we can see, for a long time, the language teaching and learning have been based on the

out-of-date methods in which students only passively sit, take notes but rarely contribute
to the lessons. They do not ask their teacher questions, even when they have problems.
Therefore, when approaching new teaching methods such as Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT), students feel passive in classroom. This results in numerous problems
inflicting students in learning the speaking skill, one of which is the reticence in oral
activities.
There have been a variety of studies on this situation and various solutions have
been given, including changing teaching methods, changing syllabus or textbooks,
upgrading teachers‟ qualifications, changing formats of speaking tests and so on.
However, students‟ reticence is still common occurrence in language classrooms in
Vietnam. Based on my seven-year teaching experience at HH4 high school, I know
that the students rarely speak English, even in English speaking classes, though they have
been learning English since they were at the lower secondary school.
It is important to involve students in classroom learning activities and minimize their
reticence because involvement in classroom interaction will help students explore and
learn English much better.
For such reasons I choose “A study into students‟ reticence in English speaking lessons: A
case of 10th-form students at Hoằng Hoá 4 High School” as a theme for my thesis.
2. Objectives of the study:
The study is carried out to meet the following objectives:

1


(1 ) To find out some factors causing 10th- form students at HH4 high school to be reticent
in English speaking activities.
(2 ) To give some suggestions to stimulate students to speak English.
3. Research questions:
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the following research questions were
asked in the study:

(1) What factors make 10th- form students at HH4 high school reticent in English
speaking lessons?
(2) What should be done to minimize the students‟ reticence in speaking English?
4. Methods of the study:
To achieve the objectives of the study, several methods were used, but the
researcher used mainly quantitative and qualitative methods. Each methodology has its
strengths and weaknesses, thus it cannot alone help to find out satisfactory and sufficient
information. That is the reason why the researcher chose to make full use of both
approaches rather than employ one so as to achieve the reliable results.
The data serving the research analysis and discussions were collected by means of:
+A survey questionnaire for students
+ A survey questionnaire for teachers
+ A follow-up interview for students
All the comments, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study were based on
the data analysis of the study.
5. Significance of the study:
Firstly, the information about students‟ reticence in English speaking lessons in
this minor thesis is believed to be useful for the teachers of English in general and the
English teachers at HH4 high school in particular so that they can apply suitable and
effective techniques to teaching oral activities.
Secondly, this research may help raise the students‟ awareness of causes of
silence they have in foreign language lessons, and from that they can make progress in
speaking English.

2


Thirdly, the study may be used as a reference on which other researchers can
conduct other studies in similar areas.
6. Scope of the study:

In the previous studies, reticence in learning English has been mentioned by many
researchers so far and they aimed at several levels of learners. Because of the limited time
and within an M.A. minor thesis, only speaking skill was chosen on the ground that
speaking seems to be the most challenging language skill to English learners in Vietnam
in general.
Moreover, the subjects chosen for this study are 10th- form students at HH4 high
school, Thanh Hoa province where the researcher is teaching. Thus, it cannot be said that
the results of this study are general to other language skills and to all Vietnamese high
school students.
7. Organization of the study:
This minor thesis is divided into three main parts:
Part A- INTRODUCTION- contains rationale, objectives of the study, research
questions, methods, significance, scope and organization of the study.
Part B- DEVELOPMENT- consists of the following chapters:
- Chapter 1- Literature Review- provides the basic theoretical background of reticence
such as definition, causes of reticence, effects of reticence in class; and framework of
speaking skill.
- Chapter 2- Methodology- deals with the picture of how the research was carried out
from the first step of determining research setting, participants, data collection
instruments, procedures of data collection to the last one of procedures of data analysis.
- Chapter 3- Data Analysis – provides the analysis of the first survey questionnaire and
the interview for students and the analysis of the second survey questionnaire for teachers.
- Chapter 4 -Major findings, discussions and recommendations- shows major
findings, discussions and recommendations for the teachers to minimize the students‟
reticence in English speaking lessons.
Part C- CONCLUSION- addresses the key issues in the study, limitations of the study
and suggestions for further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter consists of two sections. Section one concerns the issues of reticence
which include the definition of reticence, possible causes of language learning reticence
and effects of reticence in class as well. Section two deals with the issues of speaking skill
in second/ foreign language learning which cover many matters such as definition of
speaking, characteristics of a successful speaking activity, and approaches to the teaching
of speaking.
1.1.

Theoretical background of reticence:

Reticence on the part of students in second or foreign language classrooms has received
increasing attention in recent decades. By observing, interviewing, and doing surveys,
studies have revealed that learners, especially Asian learners, often seem reticent and
quiet in language classes. Dick and Robinson (1995) reported that Malaysian students
“preferred not to say anything during lecture discussion sessions. If an instructor asked a
general question, the classes became deadly silent” (p. 5). Korean students “speak only
when invited by their instructors” and “the professors also regard those who don‟t ask any
questions as very good students” (p. 268). Japanese students are “nervous about asking
questions in class” because they are unsure if a question was appropriate and they would
choose “to ask questions after class, only with teachers” (Chen, 2003, p. 267).
1.1.1 Definition of reticence:
Reticence is generally viewed as an abstract concept and has been defined by
many researchers. McCroskey (1977) portraits it as “an individual‟s level of fear or
anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person
or persons ”. Reticent people often speak less and for shorter durations; their language
tends to be less comprehensible, less immediate, and less intense (Evans, 1996).
According to Keaten & Kelly (2000), reticence is a communication problem with

cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions and is due to the belief that one is better
of remaining silent than risking appearing foolish . Reticent individuals refer to those who
view themselves as incompetent communicators. In their minds, reticence is typified by a
set of faulty beliefs about communication, for example, good communicators speak

4


spontaneously and one must be born with good communication skills. The adoption of
this set of beliefs creates anxiety and feelings of helplessness.
Bilmes (1994) suggests that reticence can be as basic as a substance “between sounds and
before sound” (p. 73). It may mean a great deal in human interactions (Jaworski &
Sachdev, 1998). Reticence includes “the simple absence of sound” and “the relevant
absence of a particular kind of sound” (Bilmes, 1994, pp.73–74).
Reticence in English classroom belongs to the category of foreign language
anxiety,

which stands for

the feeling

of

uneasiness, worry, nervousness

and

apprehension experienced by non-native speakers when learning or using a second or
foreign language. These feelings may stem from any second language context whether
associated with the productive skills of speaking and writing, or the receptive skills of

reading and listening.
A student‟s reticence in class not only reveals that he/she is unwilling to talk in certain
circumstances; it could also indicate any of the following symptoms:
(1) the student‟s apathy toward the topic at hand or to the learning process itself;
(2) the student who is not comprehending is overwhelmed, or is bored;
(3) the student is isolated from the learning community;
(4) the student has not learned the value or strategies of engagement or he/she does not
appreciate or believe in that value.
It can be seen that different researchers approach reticence‟s definitions in different ways.
However, they all share the same point of view that reticence is quite pervasive in ESL
and EFL classrooms and can negatively affect the learning of the target language.
1.1.2 Possible causes of language learning reticence:
In the past few decades, an increasing number of studies in ESL/EFL have been
conducted to explore the reasons for students‟ reticence in classrooms. The findings have
shown that the reasons are very complex and involve multiple learner variables such as
motivation, condence, anxiety, etc. (MacIntyre, Clement, Doărnyei, and Noels 1998;
Hashimoto 2002; Yashima 2002; Liu 2005).
Educational researchers often attribute Asian students‟ reticence to „Confucianism‟,

5


which has influenced the cultures in many Asian countries for more than two
thousand years (Kennedy, 2002; Scollon & Scollon, 1995). The major principles of
Confucian legacies include “respect for hierarchy and age, group orientation and
preservation of face…Confucian imperative of working to achieve harmony, to which all
other goals are subordinate” (Chen & Pan, 1993, p. 13, quoted in O‟keefe & O‟keefe,
1997). Because of the “differentials in power relationships” (Stables & Wikeley,
1999) between teachers and students, little interactional space is being granted to the
learners. The study conducted by Lee (2006) is also in support of the above findings.

According to Lee‟s observation, there are strict behavioural rules between the teacher
and students in English classrooms. In most cases, students only speak when they
are spoken to. The character of the interaction between the teacher and students is that the
teacher leads students initiatively and students‟ verbal participation is passive. These
cultural values generally have encouraged reticence and helped make students more
apprehensive and less willing to communicate in English.
In Tsui‟s study, there are some contributing factors from the learners themselves for their
reticence. Firstly, their low English proficiency prevents them from speaking up in
classroom. In fact, some students know the answer but they do not know how to express
their thought in English. Secondly, students are unwilling to speak in English for the fear
of making mistakes and being laughed by their classmates. Even when their students have
a well-preparation for the lesson, they are still afraid of losing face if they give the wrong
answer. Another factor is students‟ lack of confidence in their language proficiency and
their shyness. When they feel unconfident in their English knowledge, they prefer
remaining silent to risking making mistakes.
Moreover, teachers‟ intolerance of silence is a widespread phenomenon. It‟s easy to
realize that in class interaction, teachers often asks one question after another without
giving students much time to think about the answer because they are afraid that a longer
wait-time will slow down the pace of the lesson and lead to boredom and interruption in
the classroom. One more important factor in student reticence is the teacher‟s
subconscious choice to allocate speaking turns to brighter students. The fact that brighter
students are more likely to provide the right answer can save time so that more can be

6


covered in a lesson. This leads weak or shy students to feel neglected. The more they feel
ignored, the more they will be reluctant to participate or talk in classroom learning.
As Jackson (2003) claims, reticence is a complex phenomenon in language classrooms,
since it is provoked by a set of linguistic, psychological, cultural, and social factors.

Generally speaking, reticence in class discussions might result from:
(1) low self esteem – students who think of themselves as unworthy or unable to
communicate successfully, so they tend to remain silent out of shame.
(2) fear of being ridiculed when they inappropriately or inaccurately respond.
(3) fear of success – this occurs when a student interacts successfully; they attributes their
success to luck or accident and then is apprehensive for others expecting him/herself to
continue excellent performance, which means to interact with similar or superior success
in the future.
(4) cultural differences – various cultures forbid or strongly discourage individuals from
speaking up in classroom settings; sometimes for the reason of deference towards
teachers; elder students‟ behaviour could also contribute to this phenomenon.
(5) “to avoid conflict – inexperienced, shy, or less competent communicators rely
upon silence to avoid conflict scenarios. Such avoidance should normally be easily
diagnosed by alert teachers; and this strategy needs to be confronted delicately with
alternative strategies offered as substitutes for unwanted silence” (Verderber and
Verderber, 1986)
(6) communication apprehension – a clinical fear of communicating with or in the
presence of others.
The present study, therefore, tries to explore this issue in more depth and to make
contributions to foreign language literature by especially focusing on the causes of
reticence on the part of grade 10 students in English classrooms at HH4 high school.
1.1.3. Effects of reticence in class:
The effects of reticence are particularly evident in ESL/ EFL classes and it, to some
degree, is a strong indicator of academic performance. Reticence negatively affects
everything from the teachers‟ expectations of student performance, actual classroom
performance, and perceptions of others while communicating (Burgoon et al., 1987;

7

Evans, 1996; Miller, 1987).
Reticent learners suffer from mental blocks during spontaneous speaking activities, lack
confidence, are less able to self-edit and identify language errors and are more likely to
employ strategies such as skipping class. Reticent students also forget previously learned
material, volunteer answers less frequently and have a greater tendency to remain passive
in classroom activities than their less reticent counterparts.
The effects of reticence could also extend outside the second language classroom. A high
level of reticence might also correspond with communication apprehension, causing
individuals to be quieter and less willing to communicate in other public occasions. As a
result, people who exhibit this kind of communication reticence are more likely to be
perceived as less trustworthy, less competent, less socially and physically attractive,
tenser, less composed and less dominant.
Therefore, working on reticence problem in and out of class is of great significance
not only in academic development, but also in mental development of the students.
1.2. Theoretical background of speaking skill in foreign language learning:
1.2.1. Definition of speaking:
It is known that language has been divided into four inter-related skills, in which listening
and speaking are called the oral skills because of the manners by which they are formed
(they are related to articulator organs); reading and writing are called the literacy skills as
they connect with manual script. Of all the four skills, Ur (1997: 120) believes, speaking
seems intuitively the most important. Most language learners, she adds, are primarily
interested in learning to speak. Similar view is held by Hedge when he writes that
“Learners may need the skill to establish and maintain relationships, to negotiate, to
influence people. Speaking is the skill by which learners are assessed when the first
impression is formed ” (Hedge: 261).
As mentioned above, “speaking is the productive, oral skill” ( Bailey and Savage 1994: 2).
Speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. Speaking
is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving
and processing information” (Florez, 1999 as cited in Bailey and Savage 1994). It is “often
spontaneous, open-ended and evolving”, but it is not completely unpredictable.

8


According to Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary
utterances in a range of pronunciation. It consists of two main types of conversation
called dialogue and monologue. In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation
while in dialogue, you interact with one or more other speakers for transactional and
international purposes.
A comprehensive discussion of speaking is provided by Bygate (1987) , who shows that
in order to be able to speak a foreign language, it is obviously necessary to have microlinguistic skills, that is, to understand some grammar, vocabulary and the rules governing
how words are put together to form sentences. He defines speaking as “Oral expressions
involves not only the use of the right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but
also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.”
( Bygate, 1987: 5).
In summary, speaking is believed to be one of the most challenging skills and should be
paid attention in both learning and teaching. Bygate‟s definition of speaking seems to
coincided with the author‟s opinion on speaking.
1.2.2. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity:
Speaking has the following characteristics:
Firstly, its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs,
including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical
environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and
evolving.
Secondly, speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific
points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (“linguistic
competence”), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce
language (“sociolinguistic competence”).
Thirdly, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from
written language. A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to

succeed in a given speech act.
Lastly, Bygate (1987) considers speaking as an undervalued skill in many ways.
The reason is that almost all people can speak, and so take speaking skill too much for

9


granted. He also asserts that speaking skill deserves attention every bit as much as literacy
skills. Learners often need to be able to speak with confidence in order to carry out many
of their most basic transactions. Bygate also highly appreciates speaking skill by stating
that speaking is the medium through which much language is learnt.
Ur (1996: 120) explains some characteristics of successful speaking activities
which include learners talk a lot, participant is even, motivation is high, and language is
of an acceptable level. Each characteristic is explained as follows:
1) 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.
2) Participant is even
Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talk active participants. It means
that all students get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed.
3) 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.
4) 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.
To sum up, it is undeniable that speaking is key to communication. By considering
what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs
learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral

competence.
1.2.3. Approaches to the teaching of speaking:
- The Grammar- Translation Method (GTM)
As children, people generally learn how to speak before they learn how to write and read.
However, in the GTM approach, this natural learning method is reversed. Students are
only taught how to read and write the language. GTM approach focuses on sentence
structure, grammar, vocabulary and direct translations of the native language to English.

10


Because lessons using GTM are not interactive and engaging for students, they become
more likely to lose interest in their subject and less motivated to learn. Furthermore, the
method does not require students to participate in any activities or communicate with each
other, so they will not learn how to use the language in a real-life conversation or
situation. There are few opportunities for expressing original thoughts or personal needs
and feeling in English ( Bailey, 2005: 16)
Unfortunately, this method has ever dominated in teaching and learning English in
Vietnam for so long and it seems to be that it still has effect these days.
- The Audio- lingual
The Audio-lingual is a method of foreign language teaching which emphasizes the
teaching of listening and speaking before reading and writing. In Audio- lingual approach,
speaking is taught by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized dialogues
from the textbook. Repetition drills are designed to familiarize students with the sounds
and structural patterns of the language. Lessons are followed by the sequence of
presentation, practice, and production (cited in Bailey, 2005: 17).
However, in this approach, the skill of speaking was rarely emphasized in connection to
its purpose, i.e. the ability to use a language in real-life situations, the ability to
communicate. If it was addressed, then it usually was only in terms of accuracy. That can
be seen in the following quotation: “Oral expression involves not only [….] the use of the

right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words
and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning” (Bygate: 5). The quotation
reflects the conception of speaking at that time. The emphasis on the formal part, i.e. the
correct sounds, the correct choice of words and inflections etc., led to the accuracy
oriented practice. The result was that, although learners knew the patterns and memorized
the rules, they were not able to use their knowledge in practice. They were not capable of
exploiting the rules and patterns in real interaction.
- The Communicative Language Teaching ( CLT)
Communicative Language Teaching, with an emphasis on meaning and communication,
and a goal to develop learners‟ “communicative competence”, evolves as a prominent
language teaching method and gradually replaced the previous GTM and Audio-lingual

11


method. Since the concept of “communicative competence” was first introduced by
Hymes in the mid-1960s, many researchers have helped develop theories and practices of
CLT approach.
Features of CLT could be concluded as: “(1) an emphasis on learning to
communicate through interaction in the target language; (2) the introduction of
authentic texts into the learning situation; (3) the provision of opportunities for
learners to focus, not only on language but also on the Learning Management process; (4)
an enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning; (5) an attempt to link classroom language learning with
language activities outside the classroom.” (David Nunan‟s, 1991)
In CLT context, learners are seen as active participants in the construction of knowledge,
rather than passive recipients of information provided by the teacher or the textbook. In
contrast, language teachers are no longer viewed as the authority of the knowledge,
playing a dominant role. Rather, they share different roles such as communication
facilitator, independent participant, needs analyst, counselor, and group process manager

(Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.167) to create more fascinating experiences for the
learners.
In general, each teaching method still exists both advantages and disadvantages. It
is difficult to say which method is the most appropriate without considering the
background in which it is applied. However, in term of teaching the speaking skill, I think
that CLT might be the most effective way of creating opportunities for reticent students
who are always inactive to seek for their own, for the reason that it puts emphasis on
learning to communicate over memorize. Moreover, CLT can help break the silence in
class and raise the motivation of talking.
1.3.

Summary:

To conclude, this chapter has reviewed a theoretical framework of reticence and the
speaking skill in second language learning including definition of speaking,
characteristics of a successful speaking activity and approaches to the teaching of
speaking. In the following chapter, the methodology used in the study will be dealt with.

12


CHAPTER 2 : METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the setting of the research, participants, methods of the study
as well as the procedures of collecting and analyzing data.
2.1. Research setting:
The study was conducted at Hoằng Hoá 4 high school, a rural school of Thanh
Hoa province. The school was established in 1989 and it has recorded a lot of
achievements in training provincial gifted students for some recent years.
The school has 30 classes with over 70 teachers of different subjects. Currently,
there are approximately 1200 students ranged from grade 10 to grade 12. Each class

consists of 45 to 52 students. Most of the students come from the villages in the district
where English learning and teaching does not get much attention. The only sources from
which students can get knowledge are the textbooks and their teachers.
English is the only foreign language taught and learnt at the school. The total
number of English teachers at HH4 high school is 9. All of them are female aged from 23
to 52. They were trained from training courses in English language teaching at different
universities in Vietnam. Two of them are experienced teachers who have devoted nearly 30
years of their life to teaching students. Others are young teachers who are friendly, active,
knowledgeable and full of inspiration for teaching.
The main English textbooks used in teaching English at this school are
Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, and Tieng Anh 12 ( Basic stream). There are only three
periods of English every week, with 45 minutes for each period. The teaching method
applied by the teachers at this school is various and integrated, but mainly GTM.
The teaching of English in general and the teaching of English speaking in
particular at this school has encountered many difficulties. Firstly, because the national
English tests are designed in written form, the speaking skill is often considered less
important and even neglected. Secondly, the teachers have to teach in large- sized classes
( more than 45 students), so it is difficult for them to organize oral activities as well as to
pay attention to all students during class time. The third is that most of the students are
not familiar with teaching in English. They don‟t understand when new words, new
structures are explained in English and they feel pressured when using English to express

13


themselves. It is set as a habit and when students come to upper grades, they become
more reluctant to speak English. Therefore, it is very necessary for the staff at HH4 high
school to find out effective ways to minimize the difficulties in teaching English and from
then, to improve the quality of English speaking lessons.
2.2. Participants:

The subjects of this study consist of 149 participants placed into two groups:
- The first group contains 140 students of three classes: 10A1, 10A8, 10A10 chosen
randomly from ten 10th- form classes at HH4 high school. It includes 78 male and 62
female students with the age of 16. Although all of them have learned the new syllabus
since they were in Grade 6, their English proficiency is mostly pre-intermediate. Few
students in the study can speak English fluently. Most of them hardly say a thing in
English. When participating in this study, they were in the second term of the school year.
They are the subjects for the first questionnaire. The researcher delivered the first survey
questionnaire to these students in order to investigate why they were reticent in learning
English speaking skill.
To obtain a more comprehensive insider view of reticence in the speaking
class, ten of 140 students were invited for a follow-up interview.
- The second group includes 9 female teachers of English at HH4 high school. Among
them, five teachers graduated from University (U.) of Languages and International
Studies, Vietnam National U. ( two of whom were in- service training course and one of
whom used to be a teacher of Russian but she took an English course as the second
diploma and now works as an English teacher ). Two teachers graduated from the English
department of Hong Duc U., one from Vinh U. and the youngest teacher who graduated
last year was trained at Hue U. Apart from the youngest, other teachers have at least 6
years of teaching English. They are friendly and dedicated in their jobs. They are selected
to be the subjects of the second survey questionnaire. The results from these teachers will
give objective view on students‟ reticence in speaking English.
2.3. Data collection instruments :
The instruments include two survey questionnaires ( one for students and the other for
teachers), and a follow- up interview for students.

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2.3.1. Survey questionnaires:

- The first questionnaire has 10 questions and was delivered to 140 students from class
10A1, 10A8, 10A10 at HH4 high school. The questionnaire was conducted in Vietnamese
because the students might not understand all information in English, which may affect
the result of the study. The students‟ questionnaire is about 3 aspects :
+ Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skill. (questions 1, 2, 3,4 )
+ Factors making students reticent in speaking lessons. ( questions 5, 6, 7, 8 )
+ Students‟ desires to stimulate them to speak English ( questions 9, 10)
- The second questionnaire was delivered to 9 English teachers. It consists of 6 questions
concerning 4 aspects:
+ Their teaching method used in teaching speaking skill ( question 1)
+ Difficulties they usually encounter when teaching the speaking skill ( question 2)
+ Their attitudes towards reluctant speakers and mistake makers ( question 3, 4)
+ Their recent techniques to motivate reluctant speakers ( question 5, 6)
The two questionnaires consist of closed questions in which the respondents were
required to choose a suitable answer from the list given by the researcher.
The researcher did not design all question items but modified most of them from other
researchers because

there

are

many

similar

questionnaires which can suit the

researcher‟s purpose.
2.3.2. Interview:

In this thesis, the aim of the researcher for interview is to get better insights
into the research questions and to discuss for further information about the items raised in
the first questionnaire for students. The interview was carried out in Vietnamese in the
form of an informal conversation between the researcher and 10 students randomly
chosen from the three classes after students had done their survey questionnaire. Each
interview lasted about 15 minutes. The questions in the interview were based on the
questions in the first questionnaire for students, but were extended to get more thorough
understanding of the matter. The data collected from the interview were recorded,
transcribed, and then translated into English for the purposes of the study.
2.4. Procedures of data collection:

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The questionnaire was issued to students first in the middle of the second semester of
the academic year 2012- 2013 and then a following audio-recorded interview was
conducted with students individually. The reason why the researcher conducted the
questionnaire to students prior to the interview is that students unfamiliar with the
researcher may be reluctant to divulge relevant information (Hopkins, 2002). During
the interview with individual students, the researcher used the items on the first
questionnaire that they already answered beforehand as the prompts to elicit further
information from them.
The questionnaire for teachers was conducted after interviewing students to gather
information about the problems teachers have to encounter when teaching the speaking
skill and their pedagogical practices to minimize students‟ reticence.
The participants were asked to complete the questionnaires at home and returned
their responses two days later so that they would have as much time as they needed.
2.5. Procedures of data analysis:
Data analysis is not simply a single description of the collected data and
information. In fact, it is the process by which the researcher interprets the data and

information collected from the survey questionnaires and the interview.
The information collected was first read through for a sense of overall data. Then it was
analyzed both descriptively and interpretatively. The information from the questionnaires
was displayed in the form of tables and charts, while the information from the interview
was showed in quotations.
2.6. Summary:
The second chapter has described in detail the setting of the study, participants,
instruments and procedures of data collection as well as procedures of data analysis used
in this research. In the third chapter, the data analysis will be presented.

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CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter aims at analyzing the data collected. A careful analysis is clearly presented to
investigate the reticence among the students during speaking activities.
3.1. Data analysis of the first survey questionnaire and the interview for students:
3.1.1. Students’ attitude towards speaking skill:
Question 1: How important is speaking skill to you?

little
important
12%

not at all
4%
very important
40%
very important

quite important
little important
not at all

quite
important
44%

Chart 1: Students‟ opinions on the importance of speaking skill

Surprisingly, the statistical results from Chart 1 above revealed that students in general
attached to speaking a considerable importance. The high percentage of the respondents
(44%) considered speaking skill quite important to them. 40% of the respondents
mentioned speaking was a very important skill. 12% did not highly evaluate the
importance of the speaking skill when they said that the speaking skill was little
important. Only 4% of them thought the speaking skill was not important at all.
From this fact, it can be concluded that the majority of the students were aware of the
importance of speaking skill. It was, thus, the teacher‟s role to find the ways to stimulate
the students to participate in the speaking activities effectively.

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Question 2: Why do you learn English speaking skill?
No of

Percentage

students

(%)

115

82

15

11

It is necessary for your future job.

34

24

You want to study abroad

3

2

It is easier than other skills to get high marks

11

8

You learn to speak English for entertainment

17

12

It is an important means of communication

46

33

Others

0

0

Questions

Reasons
English speaking skill is compulsory in the syllabus

2. Why do

You like English, especially English culture and

you learn
English
speaking
skill?
( Tick more

than one
option)

people

Table 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English speaking
As can be seen from table 1, the highest percentage (82%) of the students wanted to learn
English because they thought that English was one of the obligatory subjects for learning
in the school‟s curriculum. When being interviewed by the researcher, one student said :
- “I don‟t have any specific purpose in learning English. It is a compulsory subject, so I
guess I have no other choices”
A frequent students‟ answer (33%) was that they had to learn English because it is an
important means of communication. The future job was also the thing that students
concerned. 24% of them thought that English was necessary for their future job. A small
number of the students ( 8%) affirmed that they were fond of learning speaking skill
because it was easier for them to get higher marks in speaking tests than in the tests of
other skills. The lowest percentage of the respondents (2%) claimed they wanted to study
abroad in the future. Whether they could achieve their wishes or not, it was the reason
why they tried to study English. About 11% of the participants answered that they were
interested in English, especially English culture and people. Besides, 12% revealed they
were interested in learning English as it helped them relax when listening to music,
playing games, reading books, magazines, newspapers…in English. One interviewee said:
- “I have been studying English since I was at secondary school. I am completely keen on
listening and singing English songs. I also want to know more about English culture, so I

18


find English very interesting”.
The above results suggested that students may enjoy learning speaking skill due to a

genuine interest in English, but this intrinsic motivation only made up a small proportion
of students (23%).
It may be concluded that the reasons for which students learn English mostly arise from
external stimuli, i.e. the requirements of their school; the demands of the contemporary
society in general and the needs in their future profession. Therefore, they often feel
unwilling and forced to learn English. This partly leads to their reticence in oral activities.
Question 3: How much do you feel interested in speaking English in class?
Question

Options

No of students

Percentage (%)

3. How much do

Very interested

12

8

you feel interested

Quite interested

20

14

in speaking English

Little interested

72

51

Not interested at all

36

27

in class?

Table 2: Students‟ interest in learning speaking skill.
The statistics from table 2 show a surprising fact that only 22% of all students felt
interested in speaking lessons while 51% felt little interested and 27% of them responded
that they did not feel interested at all.
From these figures, we can come to conclusion that the students with low interest made
up the higher proportion than those with high one interest.
Question 4: How often do you speak English in English class time?
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%

15%
10%
5%
0%

34%
28%

3%

always

29%

6%

usually

sometimes

rarely

never

Chart 2: Students‟ frequency of speaking English in class time
As can be seen from the chart above, only 9% of the respondents usually spoke English or
were willing to speak in any activities, whereas 63% spoke it rarely or never spoke

19