Designing a supplementary english speaking syllabus for the 10th form students at thai nguyen high school

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES.
-------------------------------------

NGUYỄN QUỲNH TRANG

DESINGING A SUPPLEMENTARY ENGLISH SPEAKING SYLLABUS
FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN HIGH SCHOOL

THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH NĨI BỔ TRỢ CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10
TRƯỜNG THPT THÁI NGUYÊN

M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10

HANOI - 2010


VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES.
-------------------------------------

NGUYỄN QUỲNH TRANG

DESINGING A SUPPLEMENTARY ENGLISH SPEAKING SYLLABUS
FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN HIGH SCHOOL

THIẾT KẾ CHƯƠNG TRÌNH NĨI BỔ TRỢ CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10

TRƯỜNG THPT THÁI NGUYÊN

M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: Dr. HOÀNG THỊ XUÂN HOA

HANOI - 2010


iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION

i
ii
iii
iv
1

I. Rationale

1

II. The aim of the study

2

III. Research question

2

IV. Scope of the study

2

V. Methods of the study

2

VI. Design of the study

2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

4

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

4

I.1. Syllabus design

4

I.1.1 Definitions of syllabus:

4

I.1.2. What is an effective syllabus?

5

I.2. Speaking skills and speaking activities

6

I.2.1. The nature of spoken language

6

I.2.2. Speaking skills

7

I.2.3. Speaking activities

9

I. 2.3.1. Successful speaking activities

9

I.2.3.2. Some common speaking activities

10

I.2.3.2.1 Discussion

10

I.2.3.2.2. Interview

10

I.2.3.2.3. Information gaps

11

I.2.3.2.4. Surveys

11

I.2.3.2.5. Role - plays

11

Chapter II. research methodology

12

II.1 Present situation

12

II.1. 1. General background

12

II.1.2. The teachers

13

II.1. 3. The students

14

II.1. 4. The textbook

14


v
II.2. Research Methodology

15

II.2.1. Research Subjects

15

II.2.2. Instruments

16

II. 2.3. Procedures of data collection

17

II. 2.4. Data Analysis

17

II.2. 5. Summary

18

II.3. Data analysis and discussion

18

II.3.1. Survey questionnaire

18

II.3.2. Personal observations and interviews

24

II.3.3. Summary

25

Chapter III. The proposed supplementary speaking syllabus 26
for 10th form students at Thai Nguyen High School

III.1. Introduction

26

III.2. Goals and Objectives

27

III.2.1.Goals of the syllabus

27

III.2.2. Objectives of the syllabus

27

III.3 Selection of content

28

III.3.1. Learning tasks

29

III.3.2. Materials selection

30

III.3.3. Organization of the syllabus

31

III.3.4. Suggested tasks

32

III.3.4.1. Listing:

32

III.3.4.2. Talk about routines

32

III.3.4.3. Gap- filling

34

III.3.4.4. Problem solving task

36

III.3.4.5. Sharing personal experiences

36

PART C: CONCLUSION

37

References

39

Appendix

I


1

PART A: INTRODUCTION
I. Rationale
There is a saying „A man who knows two languages is worth than two men‟ this
shows the importance and developing tendency of learning foreign languages. Nowadays
English becomes more popular than ever before. It is spoken all over the world and appears in
all spheres of human life. It is considered a bridge connecting country with country, culture
with culture. It is language of economy, education, entertainment, sports, etc. Although
English is an international language, learning and teaching English is a complicated process.
In many countries, where English is learned as a second language, those responsible
curriculum and examinations have, in recent years, four skills: speaking skill, listening skill,
reading skill, and writing skill. All of these skills are important, but speaking seems to be
more important.
Like all language skills, speaking is also a crucial factor to second language
acquisition. From informal talks with English teachers and school students, it is found out that
at first, all beginners have a desire to learn English and to speak English as fluently as native
speakers do; however, as time passing by they find themselves facing many difficulties that
prevent them from gaining successful interactions. For 10th form students at Thai Nguyen
high school, these problems have been detected as: (1) Students speaking abilities in

Vietnamese are low and mixed as some of them come from mountainous areas and are ethnic
people, some others do not have good background education. (2) Students are not motivated
enough because some topics and situations are strange and not interesting to them, some tasks
are not suitable with their speaking competence. (3) The time allowance is not enough for
them to practice using the target language and the language they have learnt in authentic
situations, which prevents them from developing speaking skills in the real world. (4) And
some students find it difficult to make their talks lively and persuasive even when they think
their vocabulary and grammar is not the question. Therefore, the analysis of the abovementioned reality indicates that it is necessary to design a supplementary speaking syllabus
for the 10th form students at Thai Nguyen High school to help them develop their
speaking skill.


2
II. The aim of the study
The study is aimed at designing a supplementary English speaking syllabus for the
10th form students at Thai Nguyen High School. In order to achieve that ultimate aim, the
study has to obtain the following objectives:
+ investigating the situations of Thai Nguyen High School, the teachers of English, the
students, the textbooks.
+ analyzing the students‟ needs in terms of speaking skills.
+ identifying the objectives of the supplementary speaking syllabus and then selecting
the content of the syllabus for these students.
It is hoped that the proposed speaking syllabus will be useful and interesting, thus
involving them practicing speaking and then developing their speaking skills.
III. Research question
In order to achieve these goals, the study is carried out to answer the following research
question:
- Can the 10th form students at Thai Nguyen High school develop their speaking skills
through a supplementary English speaking syllabus?
IV. Scope of the study

Due to the duration of time and the length as well as the references available, this
thesis does focus on designing a supplementary speaking syllabus, which is suitable for the
local situation of Thai Nguyen School. It aims at only students in grade 10.
V. Methods of the study
To do this study, a number of references, books, and websites have been selected and
helpful information have been collected. The data of the study was mainly collected by means
of material analysis, and a survey questionnaire. Observations and interviews were also
conducted to collect supplementary information for the study.
VI. Design of the study
This study consists of three parts, excluding the appendixes and the references.
Part A, Introduction, consists of the rationale, the aims and objectives, the scope, the
methods, and the design of the study.
Part B, Development, is the heart of the study which directly deals with speaking
syllabus. This part is divided into three chapters including chapter I: Literature review and
theoretical background; chapter II: Presents methodology of the study including background


3
situation, data analysis, findings and discussion; chapter III: Presents the proposed
supplementary speaking syllabus with speaking topics, tasks and activities
Part C, the last part presents the conclusion of the study and some acknowledgements of
the limitations of the study.


4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
I.1. Syllabus design
I.1.1 Definitions of syllabus:

In the history of foreign-language teaching, a remarkable number of syllabus definitions
have been given by acknowledged researchers, of which some are really worth noticing. A syllabus is
generally taken as an expression of opinion on the nature of language and learning; it acts as a guide
for both teachers and learners by providing some goals to be achieved. Widdowson (1984: 26) defines
syllabus as "... simply a framework within which activities can be carried out: a teaching device to
facilitate learning. " Analogically speaking, if learning process is seen as a journey, the syllabus can be
viewed as a statement of a predicted routes with which teachers and learners not only have an idea of
where they are going, but how they might get to the destination (Hutchinson and Water 1987: 84). They
further simplify its nature: "At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is
to be learnt. It reflects of language and linguistic performance."
Unlike Yalden (1987:87) who defines a syllabus simply as " A summary of the content to
which learners will be exposed", Dubin and Oshtain (2000:27-28) bring about another
meaning: "For what we are calling 'syllabus' might have the title of 'curriculum ', 'plan', 'course
outline, or any number of other names. Whatever it is called, it is a document, which ideally
describes:
• What the learners are expected to know at the end of the course, or the course
objectives in operational terms.
• What is to be taught or learned during the course, in the form of an inventory of items;
• When it is to be taught, and at what rate of progress, relating the inventory of items to the
different levels and stages as well as the time constraints of the course;
• How it is to be taught, suggesting procedures, techniques, and materials;
• How it is to be evaluated, suggesting testing and evaluating mechanisms;
The stand point of Dubin and Oshtain is practically useful and detailed for any attempt to
design a syllabus. Therefore, it is used as a guideline for the researcher during the syllabus designing
process of this study.


5
I.1.2. What is an effective syllabus?
Le (2001:12) believes that there are a number of key concepts that need serious

consideration of the syllabus designers. The issue of affective factors in language learning can
be put in the first place. As in Le's explanation, students tend to learn more easily when they
feel relaxed, and fun is considered an important factor in successful language learning.
Consequently, it is advisable that not only the teacher but also the syllabus designer should
help to make the learning process as relaxing as possible. In order to facilitate this, the
syllabus designer should make the syllabus reflect the students' interests and motivation
through a learners' needs analysis covering various factors, such as age, gender, interests, and
motivation, as well as their short-term and long-term needs (ibid., 12). Secondly, the role for
learners in syllabus design and generating materials or curriculum also needs to be taken into
account since this "changes learners from passive receivers of information into active
designers and users of syllabus content" (Hall, 1995 quoted in Le, 2001: 12). The last
principle for an effective syllabus is concerned with the characteristics of good students, who
are creative and experiment with language and have their own strategies for learning and
practising language. Hence, a syllabus should take this into serious consideration and
encourage the effective development of such students.
According to Grunert (1997: 14-19), an effective course syllabus should be the
integration of the following components. An ideal syllabus is expected to:
• Establish a contact and connection between students and instructors
• Set the tone for the course
• Describe your beliefs about learning, teaching and assessment
• Acquaint students with the structure of the course
• Include handouts or detailed assignment descriptions
• Identify students' responsibilities for success
• Help students determine their readiness for the course
• State how the course fits into the curriculum and overall program
• Provide available learning resources
• Communicate technology requirements for the course
• Contain difficult-to-obtain reading materials
• Describe effective student study habits
• Include materials that support learning outside the classroom

• Serve as a learning contract (Grunert, 1997: 14-19)


6
In addition, it is widely recognized that Bachman's model of communicative
competence provides a potentially useful framework for the design of language syllabus.
Thus, as Phan (2005) states, these competences are suggested "as having to be equally
combined in a teaching syllabus to offer learners a fuller understanding of the language".

I.2. Speaking skills and speaking activities
I.2.1. The nature of spoken language
People use spoken language to express their ideas, opinions and feelings. They also
use it to make sense of and confirm their understandings, to question and test their
assumptions and to explore meaning. In other words, they use spoken language to interact
with others for different purposes and to develop their understanding of different registers,
tones, and the use of expression language. To reach the purpose of communication, it is true
that spoken language is helped by different means of non-verbal communication. The speaker
can vary his voice quality, adopting posture, gesture... to express a great deal.
Another noticeable feature of spoken language is that it typically contains many
incomplete sentences. Byrne (1976: 95) says, "in contrast to written language where sentences
are carefully structured and linked together, speech is characterized by incomplete and
sometimes ungrammatical utterances and frequently false starts and repetitions".
Brown and Yule (1982:68) also discuss spoken language in comparison with written
language that: "written language is characterized by well-formed sentences which are
integrated into highly structured paragraph. Spoken language, in contrast, consists of short,
often fragmentary utterances in a range of a pronunciation. There is often a great deal of
repetitions and overlaps between one speaker and another, and speakers usually use nonspecific references. In addition, the use of fillers such as "oh", "well" makes spoken language
less conceptually dense than other types of language"
With the nature of spoken language, the main goal of teaching and learning speaking
skills is oral fluency. Savignon (1991:77) reminds that "we are trying to get our learners to

develop linguistic fluency not just the accuracy (...). We are equipping our students with took
for generating unrehearsed language performance "out there" when they leave the womb of
our classroom". This can be regarded as the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably,
accurately and without too much hesitation. That means people can use language to express
themselves with unfinished sentences, but finally the other can understand and get the
necessary information. As a result, the speaker focuses more on what he wants to say than


7
how it is said. To reach this goal, the teacher has to put the students in the environment where
they can mainly imitate a model of some kinds, or responding to cues and use language freely.
However, this process should be going on all the time, side by side, the proportion of
controlled speech changes as the course of progresses (Byrne, 1976: 97).
If students have a complete understanding of what the nature of spoken language
is, they are unplanned and thus, they tend to be less dependent on the standard grammatical
conventions of written language. This creates students' self-confidence when they speak in
real situations. Moreover, by understanding what oral communication is as well as the feature
of spoken language, language teacher and learners can know how to achieve success in oral
communicative English teaching and learning.

I.2.2. Speaking skills
Speaking skills are essential in both professional and personal settings, in both public and
private sectors. Speaking helps us communicate with each other more easily and less
misunderstanding. Bum and Joyce (1997: 15) says that speaking is more than just a way of making
conversation. Conversation can be defined as the informal interchange of thoughts and information by
spoken words. Therefore, speaking skill is always considered as the most effective ways of
communication. According to Ur (1996: 120), speaking seems intuitively the most important and
people who know a language are referred to as speakers of that language as if speaking included all
other lands of knowing.
Firstly, speaking skill contributes an important part to improve other students' skills such as

listening, reading and writing as well as makes them better at communication. It is clear that speaking
involves responding to what has been heard. Good speaking also means that the speakers have a
large volume of both theoretical and social knowledge, which will help them more confident and
better at reading and writing. In other words, when speaking skill is in progress, other skills also
become better.
Secondly, good speaking is said to be a good source of motivation for students. It helps
them use the language appropriately and flexibly in every day communication. This is true
because when students get high motivation, they will get progress in their study. Harmer (1998:
8) also says that whatever kind of motivation students have, it is clear that highly motivated
students do better than ones without any motivation at all.
Another reason to say speaking is a huge source of motivation that it can help students
express their ideas naturally and rapidly, in addition, through speaking students may realize how


8
much language they have mastered and how they have used it. From that, they will study harder
to improve their language competence.
Thirdly, thanks to students' speaking, the teacher can get feedback from students quickly
and accurately. Through students' speaking activities in class and outside class, the teacher can
know how much students understand the lesson. Therefore, she/he can know what their weak and
strong points are in language to have suitable solutions and plans.
For all these advantages, speaking skill plays a significant role in teaching language at
high schools in Vietnam. In new textbooks, all skills: speaking, writing, listening, reading are
designed appropriately for only one purpose which is to lead students to real communication
ability.
Speaking skills not only allow the speakers to convey their message in a passionate
thoughtful and convincing manner, but speaking skills also help assure that they will not be
misunderstood by those who are listening. In short, they give people the ability to communicate
effectively, thus reducing misunderstanding. There are three kinds of speaking situations in
which speakers find themselves: interactive, partially interactive and non- interactive.

Interactive speaking situations include face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, in
which people are alternately listening and speaking and in which they have a chance to ask for
clarification, repetition or slower speech from their interlocutor. Some speaking situations are
partially interactive, such as when giving a speech to the audience, where the convention is mat
the audience does not interrupt the speech. The speaker nevertheless can see the audience and
judge from the expressions on their faces and body language whether or not she is being
understood. Some few speaking situations may be totally non-interactive, such as when recording
a speech for a radio broadcast.
Here are some of the micro skills involved in speaking. The speaker has to:
- Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns
- Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second
language
- Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting,
audience, situation and subject matter
- Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence
- Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments
- Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which are called
as fluency. (Nunan, 2003:46)


9
I.2.3. Speaking activities
I.2.3.1. Successful speaking activities
There are several aims for a speaking activity, but usually the main aim is to provide an
opportunity to practice speaking, with more attention to improving fluency than to getting
accurate sentences (discussion; talk). Subsidiary aims may be to practice specific language _
the target language.
It is clear from the examination of language teaching methods that teachers are expected
to help their learners develop speaking skill, in fact, they have put into practice numerous
activities, employing various techniques. But it is also clear that teachers and learners have

different reactions in different activities. Nevertheless, the only purpose is to give learners the
best preparation for real life communication. This purpose would never be reached unless the
activities are successfully performed. So the next focus is on what may make a speaking activity
successful.
First, a speaking activity is considered to be successful if it is the learners who talk a lot.
By "a lot" here means "most of the time allotted to the activity". It must be the type of activity
where there is a maximum of learners' talk and a minimum of teacher' talk, intervention or
pauses. Teachers in this case function as consultants, supervisors or guides who only give help
when learners meet difficulty.
Second, it is an activity where the students participate evenly, or, all get a chance to
speak. In such an activity every one gets involved in the discussion, and therefore, the
contributions are evenly distributed. There is no domination of a minority of talkative participants.
Third, that motivation must be high is rather vague but it may mean that every learner is
eager and has a desire to speak because they are interested in the topic. They either have
something new to say about or want to get information about They want to contribute to achieving a
task objective.
Lastly, the language used in a successful speaking activity must be of an accepted
level, in an activity of such type, participants express themselves in utterances that are
relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of language
accuracy.


10

I.2.3.2. Some common speaking activities
These are useful activities to promote students' speaking. Depending on each lesson, and
the number of students, teacher can use one of these activities to make speaking lessons more
interesting.
I.2.3.2.1 Discussion
Before the discussion, it is essential mat the teacher set the purpose of the discussion activity.

In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so mat students do not spend their time
chatting with each other about irrelevant things. For example, students can become involved in agree/
disagree discussion. In this type of discussion the teacher can form groups of students and provide
controversial sentences like "water power has more potential than wind power". Then each group
works on this topic for a given time period, and present their opinions to the class. It is essential that
the speaking should be equally divided among group members. At the end the class decides on the
winning group who has defended the idea in the best way. This activity helps students think critically
and make decision quickly and students learn how to express and justify themselves in appropriate
ways while disagreeing with others. In discussion, it is always better not to form large groups, because
quiet students may avoid contributing in large groups. In other words, discussion itself takes place
most effectively in small groups, where students feel less nervous about speaking and possibly making
mistakes. Group formation should be rearranged in every discussion activity so that students can
work with various people and exchange ideas with many other people.

I.2.3.2.2. Interview
An interview is a conversation between two or more people (the interviewer and the
interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the
interviewee ( retrieved 28/3/2009). Interviews can be
constructed around a particular grammatical structure, such as the use of past tense or present
progressive verbs. If the conversational exchange is interesting enough, the grammatical focus
will probably not interfere with the interaction, or the conversation will expand naturally into a
semantic or contextual emphasis. The teacher chooses topics for students to interview each other.
After that, the teacher gives directions for the interviews. Students need to know the suggested
topic and approximately how much time they will have. The teacher asks students to work in pair
but often it is good to pair students with some one other than the person sitting next to them (who
they probably already know fairly well). Then, the teacher asks students to carry out interview.


11
Once student A finishes interviewing student B, teacher asks them to exchange their roles or even

change partners. It is necessary to set a time limit. To close teacher asks a few students to report
some of the more interesting things they learned from their partner during the interview. Make
sure that topics must be secret so that students will find information gaps and, thus the interviews
are more communicative. Information gap activities are those in which students exchange
information in order to complete a required lesson plan activity. Most information gap activities
are done in pairs, with each student having a part of the information.
I.2.3.2.3. Information gaps
Harmer (1998:88) describes information gap as one type of speaking activity which
involves the so- called “information gap”- where two speakers have different parts of
information making up a whole. Because they have different information, there is a “gap”
between them. This type of speaking activity is highly motivating, there is a real purpose for
communication taking place (the information gap, completion of the task), and almost any
language can be used. Popular information gap activities are “Describe and Draw”, Story
telling, interview, etc.
I.2.3.2.4. Surveys
According to Harmer (1998:89), one way of provoking conversation and opinion
exchange is to get students to conduct questionnaires and surveys. If the students plan these
questionnaires themselves, the activity becomes even more useful.
To do the survey, students have to go round the class questioning the other students and
noting down what they say. While they are doing this, the teacher listens and prompts where
necessary and he then gets them to tell the class of any interesting experiences they have
uncovered.
I.2.3.2.5. Role - plays
According to Joanna Budden (British Council, Spain), role- playing is described as a
group problem solving method that allows students to explore and analyze human problems in
a “safe” environment- the kind of rehearsal possibilities. In role- play activities, students are
asked to imagine that they are in different situations and act accordingly. We may tell them to
role- play being guests at a party, customers and shopkeepers in a shop, etc.

12

Chapter II. research methodology
II.1 Present situation
II.1. 1. General background
Founded in 1996 by Thai Nguyen University of Education, Thai Nguyen High School
was officially registered as a private school situated in the TUE area in Thai Nguyen city. It
came into beings with the philosophy of both educating school students and training teacher –
students from TUE. In 2007, after 9 years of working independently, the School was defined
as state school but still kept working independently with their own budget from the students‟
fees, and the Board of Managers decided the payment for its staff.
One special feature of the school is that there are much more teachers invited to give
lessons than the official teachers of the School do. This may answer for the foundation of the
School because of the needs of extra jobs for TUE teachers and also of a place for TUE
students to do their teaching practice. Qualified and experienced teachers from TUE are
expected to have positive affects on school students‟ learning results. However, as time
passing, there still leaves some space of dissatisfaction in the class management, and the
students are not prepared to take responsibility for their own learning.
Of course, the situation is now improved with a lot of changes to meet the demand of
the parents and their students. The Management Board has made decisions to employ more
teachers and appoint a head master for each class. They also offer extra lessons for the main
subjects (the subjects in which students will have to take in the national exams and entrance
examinations) at school, including English. The school is well- equipped with modern
facilities.
However, English is not the strength as it is hoped to be. Questionnaire and interview
results reveal the students‟ low motivation, especially intrinsic motivation, and inadequate
practice of communication skills. They pay much more attention to learning language
knowledge than other language skills as many of them frankly say that their purpose of
studying English is to circle options in multiple- test to pass exams. This has suggested us to
find ways to improve the situations. One of the solutions is designing supplementary syllabus

and it is believed to bring good effects in the light of my 9- year teaching experience.


13
II.1.2. The teachers
Teachers play a fundamental role in the process of education in general, and in foreign
language learning in particular. To anyone‟s surprise, there were no English teachers working
full- time in the first three years of this new - born school. Now three young teachers of
English (the researcher is among them) are employed to be in charge of teaching under the
leadership of an English teacher from TUE who has been employed working part - time at
school. These young teachers graduated from English Faculty at TUE, and two are doing the
M.A in the language field. Every year, teachers of English are invited and given chances to
attend summer workshops held by Thai Nguyen Education Office to study how to use the new
7 - year course textbook and to update professional knowledge. Moreover, TUE often hold
conferences and workshops in English field with native speakers from Britain, America,
Holland and certainly English teachers receive their invitation to be special participants to
share practical experiences and reflect the teacher- students‟ practicum at the School. In
addition, teachers of English from Thai Nguyen High School have also attended some
workshops held by the British Council in Hanoi and gained a lot in the field of English
language as well as teaching skills.
Other advantage of the school is a large number of invited teachers from English
Faculty at TUE and some other famous schools in Thai Nguyen city. They are selected
because of their fame for English knowledge and teaching skills.
In addition, the strength of the school is a large group of teacher- students doing their
practicum every year. Unlike other schools, our school is in TUE; so many good university
students with their coming graduation papers are allowed to work near their supervisors to get
help from them. These future teachers of English contribute a lot to the success of our school.
They really leave us a lot of things to learn from.
However, shortcomings are inevitable. First, not any of the teachers of English at Thai
Nguyen High School have had M.A degree in English even the group leader. Second, those

who take part- time jobs do not really devote themselves for the school and school students.
They come and go regularly. Then, delivering lessons at school is not at all the same as giving
lectures at university. Furthermore, creating an English language environment is not the
strength of the English teachers at the school. Apart from the English environment inside
classes, only a few outdoor activities were held with the teacher- students‟ help from TUE
such as Ring the golden bell; Village Camp. The School does not have its own library or any
self- access facilities.


14
II.1. 3. The students
To judge if the lesson is successful or not, we have to test on the students. They are the
real objects who play the most essential role in language learning. In speaking lessons,
students are expected to take active part and making a lot of positive noise. They play their
roles in the situations to talk; listen; make decisions etc. to interact with classmates. At Thai
Nguyen High School, students are also very active but not in their speaking class. They make
a lot of noise, the negative noise that affects other classes and bores their teachers.
Lying in the heart of Thai Nguyen city and TUE, it is believed that the students
entered the School are all from the city with good education background. On the contrary, as
the School is a young one and students have to pay high fee for their study, the students‟
knowledge level to enter is not as high as some other schools such as Luong Ngoc Quyen;
Chu Van An; Gang Thep schools. Many of them come from different districts, mountainous
areas in Thai Nguyen even from other mountainous provinces such as Bac Kan, Cao Bang. .
Therefore, their level of English proficiency is low even though they all have studied English
for at least four years. Another point to take into consideration is the students‟ motivation.
Fewer have a desire to learn English now compared with what they wished to do when they
first made acquaintance with English. It is sometimes easily to see that the goals set for the
course, the goals of the CLT and the students‟ purpose in learning English are contradict.
Needless to say, losing interest in learning English of the students is the consequence the
teachers have to face when they enter the School. To make the matter worse, the classes are

big with about 55 students in one class. This loads their teachers with more work and to get
them all practice speaking in English seems impossible.
With regard to learning strategies, especially speaking ones, the researcher realizes
that the students do not develop their own ways of learning. They enjoy doing accuracy
activities, which usually bring them satisfaction. They do not feel confident enough to express
ideas themselves in fluency activities and are passive in interacting with each other. As a
result, they need a lot of practice to improve their ability in speaking, especially speaking in
front of an audience.

II.1. 4. The textbook
It can not be denied that the textbooks play as an important part in the teaching and
learning process. Cunnings Worth (1995: 7) states the roles of textbook in ELT as:
- A resource for presentation material


15
- A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction
- A reference source
- A syllabus
- A resource for self- directed learning or self- access work
- A support for less experienced teachers
The textbook materials can control the learning and teaching. Teachers and students
always rely on textbooks in many cases and textbooks determine the components and methods
of learning. When the teachers prepare lessons, they have to study the lessons in the textbooks
and decide whether they should use the whole lesson or they should make some alternatives if
they decide some parts are not appropriate for their students.
Harmer (1998:120) suggested 4 options: Omit; replace; add and adapt.
The 7- year course English textbooks are welcomed by the majority of teachers for
their advantages over the old ones. They provide authentic topics and themes with various
tasks and activities that make the learning process more interesting. Then, the textbook is

illustrated with vivid illustration such as pictures; maps; graphs, etc. Each unit is organized in
different skills and language lessons with stage after stage that satisfy teachers as they can
save time planning lessons. Speaking lessons are organized scientifically, from accuracy to
fluency but boredom is haunted here and there. For example, in unit 3- People’s Backgroundthere lacks a real communicative purpose for the students to interact with each other.
Although speaking tasks 1&2 in unit 5 (Technology and You) seems simple, it takes the
teacher and the students time to cover tasks 3&4 as tasks 1&2 contain many new but difficult
words. The students find it hard to speak independently.
Therefore, however good the material is, most experienced teachers do not teach the
book. Instead, they use the best bits for their particular students, add to some tasks and adapt
others or replace textbook material with their own ideas or ideas from other teachers and
books.

II.2. Research Methods
II.2.1. Research Subjects
A hundred students in the 10th form and 5 teachers of English of Thai Nguyen High
School are chosen to carry out the research. The students are the target subjects who need to
be immediately provided with English skills because they bring with them different
background of education. These students have learnt English for over at least 3 years, but they


16
have not much focused on speaking because they do not have good English environment and
must not have any speaking test in exams. Therefore, their ability of English is not very good
and they are not very interested in leaning speaking. The researcher is in charge of not only
teaching them English but also the master of one class, so the relationship between the teacher
and her students is very good. It helps the researcher not only carry out the survey but also
observe speaking lessons to see how appropriate the task for the students is and how the
students do the task easily.

II.2.2. Instruments

According to Oxford (1990:5), there are different data collection instruments that can
be employed to gather data such as questionnaire, tests, checklist, interview and observation.
The instruments are used to collect data in this study were questionnaire and personal
observation and interview.
Firstly, questionnaire is an effective tool for gathering, measuring attitudes because of
its advantages as follows. First, as pointed out by Zolt¸n Dornyei (2003:10), it is a costeffectiveness instrument for collecting data. In other words, it is inexpensive. Second,
questionnaires are self-administered and can be given to large groups of subjects at the same
time. And it can elicit information about participants’ internal meanings and ways of thinking;
therefore, the data are more standard. Third, it is the quickest way of collecting data.
Moreover, close-ended items can provide exact information needed by researcher while openended items can provide detailed information in respondents’ own words. Finally, it helps the
researcher easily analyze the results. However, it has a few limitations. Some participants do
not want to cooperate. Moreover, people filling out questionnaires may not remember some
related information and may lack self-awareness. Although there are such limitations,
questionnaire is still an effective tool for data collection. Therefore, the researcher chose it as
the main instrument to gather the data for the study.
Secondly, observation is also one of the useful methods of data collection. According
to Kumar (1996:105), observation is a purposeful, systematic and selective way of watching
and listening to an interaction or phenomenon as it takes place. As also is denoted by Kumar,
there are two types of observation: participant observation and non-participant observation. In
this study, the researcher chose observation as the suitable method for gathering data because
of its explicit benefits. First, it allows one to directly see what people do without having to rely
on what they say they do. Second, non-participant observation (direct observation) tends to be
more focused than participant observation. The researcher is observing certain sampled


17
situations or people rather than trying to become involved in the entire context. Third, the
observer may see things that escape the awareness of people in the setting. Moreover, it may
provide information on things people would otherwise be unwilling to talk about. Besides its
powerful benefits, it contains a few drawbacks. As uncovered by Kumar (1996:106), sampling

of observed people and settings may be limited, and it can be affected by personal biases and
selective perception of observers. However, observation helped the researcher observe the
movements as well as actions from the subjects that were convenient for the purpose of this
study. Personal talks/ interviews provided more information in details, which made the study
more complete. The researcher had some talks with other teachers of English who were in
charge of teaching 10th form students.

II. 2.3. Procedures of data collection
Firstly, in this study, the researcher designed a questionnaire containing 13 closeended questions and 1 open-ended question with the aim to make a good use of its strengths.
There were three personal questions to attain necessary information about the participants
such as hometown, learning English experience. To answer the research questions, the rest of
questions in the questionnaire aim to investigating students’ attitude toward speaking skills,
speaking activities and supplementary exercises. The questionnaires were delivered to 100
students at Thai Nguyen High School. Results were collected after 20 minutes.
Secondly, observation and interviews were also used as the another source of
collecting data in this study. The researcher used observation and interviews to collect more
in-depth and correct information about the process of speaking before and after applied
supplementary exercise. Observation helped the researcher see how the students enjoyed
doing speaking tasks, how well they did the tasks, what kinds of groupings they liked to work
in, and if they needed other extra speaking activities. Interviews with English teachers offered
the researcher another tool to confirm the need for designing supplementary speaking
syllabus.

II. 2.4. Data Analysis
First, the data collected from questionnaire was synthesized and applied Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 15.0 for calculating figures including frequency
and percentages. These figures were coded into charts which is the underpinning base for
analyzing.

18
Second, observation and interviews were to find out problems with speaking lessons
and speaking tasks, and then they were studied to help select the content of the supplementary
speaking syllabus for the students.
II.2. 5. Summary
The researcher chose the questionnaires and observation as the main methods of
gathering data in this study, and provided the basic elements for selecting this method. A
hundred students were chosen as the participants in the current study depending on some
criteria. Finally, data collected from questionnaire was synthesized and applied Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Version 15.0 for calculating figures including frequency
and percentages.
II.3. Data analysis and discussion
II.3.1. Survey questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed with 14 questions to elicit the necessary information.
The first three questions were to elicit the students‟ background. Questions 4 and 5 were
about students‟ attitude towards learning English. Questions 6,7,8,9 and 10 aimed at finding
the students‟ attitude towards speaking activities. Question 11 asked students about the
familiar topics. The last three questions investigated the students‟ attitude towards extra
activities.
The survey questionnaire was administered to 100 students from the 10 form Thai
Nguyen High School (see Appendix 1). They all have used the same course book “English
10”. Table 1 shows the results of questions 1, 2 and 3.
Option

1

2

3

Countryside

Cities

Towns

10

68

22

2. How long have you learnt

Since I was a grade

Since I was a

-

English?

6 student

grade 10 student

100

0

-

3. Are you studying English in

Yes

No

-

other language institutions?

26

64

-

(%)
Question

1. Where do you come from?

Table 1: students’ background


19
Question 1 was to indicate the students‟ social background, which was said to be
related with their condition for learning English. Table 1 showed that the majority of students
(68%) come from Thai Nguyen city, a good place for educations. 10 % of the students were

from country and 22 % of the students were from towns.
Question 2 was to identify students‟ process of learning English. In answering this
question, all the students said they have learnt English since they were at grade 6.
The answer to question 3 relating students‟ extra studying, about a fourth of the students
attended other language institutions.
Reason for learning English

Number of students

(%)

Study

30

30

Work

30

30

A combination of study and work

32

32

Examination

58

58

Promotion

64

64

Others

-

-

Table 2. Students’ attitude towards learning English.
In table 2, questions 4 showed students‟ attitude towards learning English. It can be
seen that 58% of the students admitted they studied English for examination. A large number
of the students (64%) studied English for their future promotion. There were a same number
of the students who would use English for their study and the number of the students using
English for their future work, accounting for 30 %.

Questions 5 aimed at finding out their attitude
towards speaking English.
As can be seen from the pie-chart 1, 41% of the

not at all
little 8%

13%

very
41%

students felt very interested in speaking English. 21 %
of the students had little or no interest in speaking

rather
38%

English. The rest (38%) felt rather interested.
Pie-chart 1: attitude towards speaking English


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Questions 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were designed to find out students‟ attitude towards
speaking activities.
Question 6 asked students about pair work and group work. Table 3 indicated that
20% of the students liked working individually much while 56% of them liked working in
pair. Over half of the students enjoyed working in small groups. Only a few students (6% and
8%) said that they felt rather like working in pairs and groups. None of them thought they
disliked these kinds of activities.
When answering about working in the whole class, 40 % of the students liked working
in lockstep very much. One third of them liked it much. 6% of them did not enjoy this kind of
activities at all.
Very much

Much

Rather

Little

Not at all

Individual

0

20

36

30

14

With a partner

8

56

28

8

0

In a small group

52

28

14

6

0

With the whole class

40

30

14

10

6

Table 3: students’ attitude towards working in pair and group
Question 7 was to find out students‟ judgment of how they benefited from pair/group
work activities in speaking lesson. As can be seen from table 4, most students found
pair/group work beneficial in speaking lessons. They could exchange opinions, shared ideas,
got help from friends. Only some of them did not find it helpful. 94 % of the students felt
more confident and had more chance to share ideas, while 6% had the opposite idea.

Yes

No

Speak more in English

98

2

Feel more confident

94

6

Have more opportunities for exchanging 94

6

idea
Learn more from each other

98

2

Table 4: students’ attitude towards the benefit of pair and group work
Chart 2 showed the data for question 8 which was intended to find out kinds of
speaking activities students liked to work in pairs/groups. As can be seen from it, students

liked the games the most (72%); then discussion (50%); and conversation (38%). In contrast,
students liked the activity of information-gap the least (10%). There also were the same


21
number (22%) of students who liked the activities of role playing, interviewing, and
brainstorming.

80

Brainstorming

70

Conversation

60
Disscusing

50

Information gap

40

Problem solving

30
20

Interviewing

10

Games
Role playing

0

Chart 2: kinds of activities students likes to work in pair/group.

As described in chart 3, about frequency of students‟
taking part in pair/group work in class, 54% of the students
said they always enjoyed working in pair pairs and groups.
26% of them often took part in pair/group work. Only 10% of

Always
Often
Sometimes
Never

them did not like these activities.
Chart 3: students’ taking part in pair/group work

In terms of evaluating the current speaking tasks, 54% of the students thought that
these tasks were monotonous/ boring, but 46% of them said that these tasks were various.
Also in this question, when being asked about the topic of speaking, over half of students
(56%) said that the topics were interesting. 14 % of the students held the idea that the topics
were unfamiliar and 10 % of them think that the topics were boring.