Strategies to encourage students to participate in english speaking activities at haiphong secondary vocational school of technical professional training

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

--------

LÊ XUÂN HƯƠNG TRANG

STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO
PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT
HAIPHONG SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL OF
TECHNICAL – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Những chiến lược tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh trong các giờ học
kỹ năng nói tại Trường Trung cấp Kỹ thuật - Nghiệp vụ Hải Phòng

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 60.14.01.11

HANOI, 2015


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

--------

LÊ XUÂN HƯƠNG TRANG

STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO
PARTICIPATE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT
HAIPHONG SECONDARY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL OF
TECHNICAL – PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Những chiến lược tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh trong các giờ học
kỹ năng nói tại Trường Trung cấp Kỹ thuật - Nghiệp vụ Hải Phòng

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 60.14.10.11
Supervisor: Dr. Dương Thị Nụ

HANOI, 2015


DECLARATION
I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
“Strategies to encourage students to participate in English speaking activities at
HaiPhong secondary vocational school of technical – Professional training" is
the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts, and that this thesis
has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution.

Hanoi, 2015

Lê Xuân Hương Trang

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Duong
Thi Nu, who has supported me thoughout my thesis with her patience, motivation,
enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. Without her support and active participation
in every step of the process, this thesis may never have been completed.
I would like to thank the teachers of the Faculty of post – graduated studies
for their interesting lectures who provided me with the strong inspired statation for
this study.
This

study would not have been possible without the corporation and

support extended by teachers and students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational
School for Technical – Professional Training. Their patience and willingness to
respond to my survey questionnaires are very much appreciated.
I would also like to thank my colleagues who listened and discussed ideas
about this thesis with me on many occasions. Their informal support and
encouragement has been indispensable.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family and friends for their
encouragement and support during the course of my writing. Without their support
and assistance, it is impossible for me to finish this research.

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ABSTRACT
This research has been done in an attempt to encourage students to take part in
oral presentations and improve their speaking skill at HaiPhong Secondary
Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training. Specifically, the
researcher puts focus on students’ attitude towards speaking skill, their degree of

participation in classroom speaking activities, reasons that make them hesitant to
participate in oral activities, current methods applied to teach speaking as well as
teachers’ view of CLT, their attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake
makers, their difficulties in teaching speaking and techniques and activities applied
in teaching speaking. The research was carried out among nine teachers and 100
students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional
Training. The data were collected by means of survey questionnaires, classroom
observation. It was firstly unveiled from the results that the level of students’
participation in speaking lessons is rather low. Secondly, students’ talking time in
speaking lessons is limited. Thirdly, regarding to factors affecting students’
participation in oral activities, there were five main ones namely uninteresting
speaking topics, poor background knowledge, lack of confidence, lack of
motivation and passive learning style. Fourthly, teachers’ difficulties in teaching
speaking was also highlighted. Lastly, the current methods were shown that most of
the students feel uncomfortable learning with the teachers’ teaching activities
which lead to the inability, or the unwillingness of the students to express
themselves through oral activities. Basing on these findings, some implications are
recommended for both the teachers and the students.

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
1. List of Figures
Figure 1: The importance of speaking
Figure 2: Interest degree in speaking
Figure 3: Opinion of speaking topics
Figure 4: Degree of participation in oral activities
Figure 5 A, B: Current methods in speaking teaching
Figure 6: Students’ exectation from their teachers

Figure 7: Students’ expectation for speaking activities
Figure 8: Applied teaching methods
Figure 9: Teacher’s attitude towards oral activities
Figure 10: Difficulties in speaking teaching
Table 11: Activities to motivate students to participate more in oral activities
2. List of Tables
Table 1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill
Table 2: Factors that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities
Table 3: Teachers’ opinion of CLT
Table 4 A, B: Teachers’ reactions towards unwilling speakers and mistake
makers
Table 5: Techniques to make students more interested in speaking lessons
Table 6: Time on-task, off-task for students in speaking activities

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................i
ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... v
PART A: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 2
1. Rationale ......................................................................................................... 2
2. Aims of the study ............................................................................................ 3
3. Research questions .......................................................................................... 3
4. Scope of the study ........................................................................................... 3
5. Methods of the study ....................................................................................... 4
6. Design of the study .......................................................................................... 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 5

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 5
1. Nature of speaking skill and principles in teaching speaking ........................... 5
1.1. Nature of speaking skill ............................................................................ 5
1.2. Principles of teaching speaking ................................................................ 7
1.3. Teacher’s roles in teaching speaking ........................................................ 7
2. Students’ participation in oral activities ........................................................... 8
2.1. Concept of students’ participation ............................................................ 8
2.2. Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities. ....................... 9
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY .............................................................. 12
1. Subjects of the study...................................................................................... 12
2. Data collecting instrument ............................................................................. 12
3. Data collection procedure .............................................................................. 13
4. Data analysis procedure ................................................................................ 14
CHAPTER THREE: STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA ................... 15
1. Results of questionnaires for students ........................................................... 15
1.1. Students’ attitude towards speaking skill ................................................ 15

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1.2. Students’ degrees of participation in classroom speaking activities ............. 17
1.3. Reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities ........ 17
1.4. Current methods applied to teach speaking ............................................. 20
1.5. Students’ expectation from their teachers ............................................... 21
2. Results of questionnaire for teachers ............................................................. 23
2.1. Teachers’ view of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) ................ 23
2.2. Teacher’s attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake maker ......... 25
2.3. Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking ............................................. 26
2.4. Techniques and activities applied in teaching English speaking ............. 27
3. Results of classroom observations ................................................................. 28

CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................... 30
1. Findings ........................................................................................................ 30
1.1. Levels of students’ participation in speaking lessons .............................. 30
1.2. Students’ talking time in speaking lessons .............................................. 30
1.3. Learner’s factors affecting participation in oral activities ...................... 31
1.4. Teacher’s difficulties in teaching speaking ............................................. 33
1.5. Current teaching methods ...................................................................... 34
2. Recommendations from the study.................................................................. 35
2.1. Recommendations for the learners ......................................................... 35
2.2. Recommendation for the teachers ........................................................... 36
PART C: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 40
1. Recapitulation ................................................................................................ 40
2. Conclusions ................................................................................................... 40
3. Limitations and suggestions for further study .................................................. 42
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 43
APPENDIXES ....................................................................................................... I

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
This part, which includes rationale for the study, aims, research questions,
scopes, methods and design of the study, would hopefully provide readers an overview
of the whole research.
1. Rationale
Speaking skill, the most important aspect of learning a second language, is still
a challenge for most students at vocational schools in general, HaiPhong Secondary
Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training in particular. Many students
do not have a clear purpose of learning English in their mind and they are passively
motivated to learn English basing on the textbooks and teachers’ method of delivery.

As a result, most of students consider English as a compulsory subjects at schools and
find themselves unable to use English for day-to-day communication.
Many research has been done on English language teaching and learning at
secondary vocational schools toward a greater emphasis on communication and student
centeredness. While efforts have been made to encourage the participation of students
in writing, reading, listening, far less attention is paid to teach necessary techniques to
develop good speaking skill. Besides, numerous difficulties in teaching and leaning
speaking such as error correction, overcoming nervousness, etc… helping students to
develop their ability in communication has not been emphasized much yet.
In terms of my experiences of teaching English at HaiPhong Secondary
Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training, I found that most of my
students are unwilling to participate in oral activities. Reasons or this are various
including teaching methods focus on grammar, teachers’opinion of English learning,
student’s lack of idea or language devices, etc. To bridge the gap, this research aims at
exploring some real situations about English speaking teaching and learning at
HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional Training, and
search for some reasons that affect the students’ participation in oral activities as well

2


as to suggest some appropriate teaching strategies to stimulate learner’s involvement in
oral activities.
2. Aims of the study
This study is designed to bring a fresh atmosphere into English classes for the
students at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical – Professional
Training. In general, it has three purposes. Firstly, it is to investigate the impacts of oral
activities on the students’ performance in English speaking lessons. Secondly, it aims
at finding students’ attitudes towards the participation in oral presentations in the
classroom. Finally, it is to provide both teachers and students with some suggestions to

encourage students’ participation in speaking activities.
3. Research questions

In order to reach the aims of the study, the research questions are as followed:
 1. What are teachers and students’ attitudes towards speaking skill?
 2. What are the factors affecting students’ participation in speaking
activities?
 3. What should teachers do to increase students’ participation in speaking
activities?
4. Scope of the study
The research is conducted with view to current situation of teaching and
learning speaking at HaiPhong Secondary Vocational School for Technical –
Professional Training and find out the reasons why the students are not ready to speak
and suggest some strategies to attract their attention.
There are two groups of subjects in the study. The first group contains 100
students who have learned English for 4 years at lower secondary schools. The second
group includes 9 teachers of English to help find out what teaching methods and
techniques were currently exploited in their teaching.

3


5. Methods of the study
With the aims mentioned above, this survey research will use both quantitative
and qualitative methods including survey questionnaire and classroom observation.
The data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected from a
large number of teacher and student participants. Classroom observation about the
average amount of the students’ ‘time-on-task’ and “time-off-task” was used as the
indispensable method to make the study more reliable and more valid .
As for data analysis, the quantitative data from survey questionnaires would be

calculated and from classroom observation would be transcribed and summarized.
Then, all the data would be presented in charts, tables and for better visualization.
6. Design of the study
This assignment is divided into three main parts, including:
  Part A, INTRODUCTION, presents the research problem, the purpose, scope,
design of the study.
  Part B, DEVELOPMENT, consists of three following chapters:
  Chapter one, Literature Review, presents concepts relevant to the research topic
including nature of speaking skill and principles of teaching speaking and definition of
students’ participation, and factors affecting students’ participation
  Chapter two, Methodology, describes the subjects of the study, data collecting
instrument, data collection procedure and data analysis procedure
  Chapter three, “Statistics and Analysis of data” analyses the collected data to
answer the three research questions.
  Chapter four, “Findings and Recommendations” presents the findings with
conclusions and comments after the experiment was finished, and suggestions to
stimulate the students’ participation in speaking activities
  Part C, CONCLUSION, presents recapitulation, conclusions, limitations and
suggestions for further study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is expected to provide background knowledge for better
understanding of the next part of the research.
1. Nature of speaking skill and principles in teaching speaking
1.1. Nature of speaking skill
1.1.1. Definition of speaking

Every language has two kinds of skills. The first one is the receptive skill
which involves two aspects: understanding and reading; and the second one is the
productive skill, which involves writing and speaking.
Clark (cited in Nunan, 1991: 23) indicates that speaking is the result of
teaching learning process. Students’ skill in conversation is core aspect in speaking
teaching, it becomes vitally aspect in language teaching learning success if language
function as a system for expression of meaning. When students speak in a confident
and comfortable way, they can interact better in real daily situations. Because of
this, the purpose of this project was to encourage the development of effectiveness
in spoken English. For the author, developing effectiveness implies using language
in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere –an atmosphere of trust and support.
Along with this, Ladouse (cited in Nunan, 1991: 23) stated that speaking is
the ability to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or
situation in precise words or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas
fluently. Taking into account Ladouse's concept, the success in speaking is
measured through the ability to carry out a conversation in the language. It also
means that speaking becomes meaningful to students when they have to pay
attention to what they are saying. Therefore, students can express their ideas better
with good vocabularies and acceptable pronunciation.

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In this research, speaking skill can be stated as the skill to use the language
accurately to express meanings in order to transfer or to get knowledge and
information from other people in the certain situation. In other words, the term
“speaking” will be used to refer to a skill related to language teaching and learning.
1.1.2. Characteristics of speaking
In language teaching and learning, speaking is considered a skill to practise
and master. In this light, Bygate (1987) investigates the distinction between

knowledge and skill in speaking lesson, which he considered as crucial in the
teaching of speaking. According to him, studying knowledge of grammar,
vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, etc. is not enough to make a good speaking
learner. It means that the skill to use this knowledge to communicate successfully is
also important. Regarding to this aspect, Harmer (2001) also denotes that speaking
has many different aspects including two major categories – accuracy, involving
the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation practised through
controlled and guided activities; and, fluency, considered to ‘the ability to keep
going when speaking spontaneously’.
However, the learning of speaking English has been also relegated to
linguistic knowledge such as knowledge of vocabulary and grammar rules besides
attention paid to practising language skill. So, it is very important that useful
principles of teaching speaking give students a non-threatening experience in
participation in oral activities.
To sum up, it is undeniable that the aim of language teaching is learner
ability to communicate in the target language. 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
competency.

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1.2. Principles of teaching speaking
Chaney in Kanyi (2006) adds that Speaking is the process of building and
sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of
contexts. It means speaking is interaction between speakers with a listener.
O’Malley (1996:59) speaking means negotiating intended meanings and adjusting
one’s speech to produce the desired effect on the listener.
In addition, Harris (1974: 81) states that speaking is a complex skill requiring

the simultaneous use of a number of different abilities which often develop at
different rates. He adds that there are five components of speaking ability. They
are: pronunciation, including the segmental features vowels and consonants and the
stress and intonation patterns; grammar; vocabulary; fluency, the ease and speed of
the flow of speech; comprehension; requires a subject to respond to speech as well
as to initiate it.
From the above definition, the researcher can conclude that speaking is
particular skill that has many functions in daily life. By speaking we can share our
ideas, feeling, and intentions that we are able to interact with ones others. At least,
there are five components that should be considered in speaking such
as: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.
1.3. Teacher’s roles in teaching speaking
In a traditional point of view, a teacher is a person who educates students and
controls the process of learning. Nowadays the understanding of this role has
changed.

Broadly speaking, the function of teachers is “showing or helping

someone to learn how to do something, giving instruction, guiding in the study of
something; providing with knowledge, causing to understand”. (Brown (2001:7))
There is an interaction process between teacher and students in the case of
knowledge transferring. And the purpose of language teaching is to help students
enhance their speaking skills through improvement of their grammar, enrichment of
their vocabulary, and management of interactions in terms of who says what, to

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whom, when, and about what (Richards, Platt, and Weber (as cited in Nunan, 1999,
p. 226)).

In my project, I played several roles such as encourager, helper, monitor (or
checker), controller and facilitator to promote students to learn the language,
especially speaking and I also accepted that it was very useful for me to
comprehend the significant theories of both language teaching and language
learning
2. Students’ participation in oral activities
2.1. Concept of students’ participation
Participation is defined as the act of taking part in an activity or event
(Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, 6th edition). According to Wikipedia (the
free encyclopedia) students are engaged in speaking learning when they are
involved in their tasks, persist despite challenges and obstacles, and take speaking
production. Based on the above definition, we can define students’ participation as
taking part of what is going on during a speaking session through interacting with
the teacher and classmates. Concerning the interaction between students and their
teachers, students are considered to maintain a good interaction with their teachers.
This connection has been shown in five categories: preparation, contribution to
discussion, group skills, communication skills, and attendance (Dancer &
Kamvounias, 2005).
Participation takes place not only inside the classroom but also outside the
classroom. ‘‘In-class student participation,’’ consists of asking questions, raising
one’s hand, and making comments. However, the interaction between students
themselves is different from the first kind of interaction. It has been recognized in
group working and can be measured by student’s sense of responsibility and
cooperation.

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2.2. Factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities.
2.2.1. Students’ learning styles

The term “learning style” has many definitions. Leaver, Ehrman and
Shekhtman (2005, p. 66) defined learning styles as convenient shortcuts for talking
about patterns of what an individual is likely to prefer as a learner. Each student
should have an opportunity to select his/her own ways of language learning at
his/her own pace. Also Keefe (1979) defines learning styles as the “composite of
characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively
stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the
learning environment. Therefore, teachers need to focus more and more on
individual needs in order to plan and manage the personal study environment and
programs.
As a teacher and a researcher, I have to be aware of this view. As a result, in
this project a variety of activities, techniques and materials were provided to give
students more opportunities to select by themselves
2.2.2. Students’ motivation
Brown (2002, p. 17) said, “Motivation is one of the most important factors
in your success in English.” Clydesdale (2006, p. 129) showed that when students
were interested in the task, they were intrinsically motivated and their creative
thinking was increased.

In addition, students’ motivation also contributes to

speaking teaching. “Motivation is the backbone of any classroom. When the
students are motivated, the teacher can perform his/her job the best.” (Lite (2002).
Motivation can make student’s interest grows and therefore to meet their own goals
as well as their teacher’s goals.
To promote students’ confidence in speaking English in this project, I
encouraged students to reflect immediately by using the question “What are the
factors that promoted my confidence in speaking English?” If students have broad
repertoires of learning strategies in language speaking, they can develop their

9


speaking rapidly. The more students have learning strategy repertoires, the more
students’ confidence in speaking English is increased.
2.2.3. Teacher’s teaching techniques and methods
For each teacher, the good choice of teaching methods as well as techniques
is very important to increase students’ participation in every lesson. When deciding
what teaching method to use, a teacher needs to consider students' background
knowledge, environment, learning goals, learning time and material resources. We
also know that different teachers exploit different methods and techniques in their
teaching. As a result, different degrees of student’s participation are created by
different teachers. Teacher-centered methods such as the Grammar-translation
method or the Direct method always cause teachers to choose the techniques which
mostly limit students’ participation and put them in the passive settings. On the
contrary, learner-centered methods like CLT bring the teacher various techniques
that motivate students in participating in the lesson since they are the main
characters of all activities. The examples of these techniques can be named as pairwork, group-work, role play, or games.
In my project, learner-centred instruction is very useful for language
learning, especially speaking, however, a teacher has to have insight to understand
it. It does not mean that students should be taught every time in a learner-centred
way and high technology used. It depends on how students spend resources in the
institutes and how much they apply themselves to reach their goals. Also the teacher
must be aware of reflecting on how students can learn most.
2. 2.4. Teacher personal qualities
Some people may think that it is quite hard to specify the qualities of good
English teachers. If we look around, we can see that the teachers loved by the
students are of rather different personalities. Some are very charismatic, lively, and
easy-going. Others are quiet, slightly introvert and not very sociable. Parker Palmer

(1999) also observes that good teaching isn’t about technique either. He has asked

10


students around his country to describe their good teachers to him. Some of the
students describe people who lecture all the time, some of them describe people
who do little other than facilitate group process, and others describe everything in
between. However, he does notice that despite the different teaching methods
employed by different good teachers, these teachers do share some characteristics.
Palmer summarizes that good teachers are “people who have some sort of
connective capacity, who connect themselves to their students, their students to each
other, and everyone to the subject being studied”. The interpretation of this is that
good teachers let the students know that they care for the students. They help the
students communicate with each other among themselves so that they find
themselves in a nice learning environment. They also motivate the students to learn
the subject they’re teaching.
In my project, Palmer’s list of qualities of good teachers shows that the
relationship between teachers and students has a great value in making his class an
interesting place where students can enjoy learning. In other words, the teacher’s
personal qualities may have a remarkable effect on his/her students’ participation.

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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY
To conduct the research, two methods were applied: qualitative method and
quantitative method. All comments, suggestions and conclusions in the study are based
on the analysis of the statistic data collected from Questionnaires Survey and
Observation.

1. Subjects of the study
This paper was carried out among 100 students namely X06, X07, K07 and 9
teachers of English placed into two groups. The first group was selected to complete
the survey questionnaire with a hope of obtaining comprehensive data and accurate
reflection of their participation in speaking activities. They have been learning English
for at least nearly three years (some learned English at secondary schools, but some did
not). The other group has nine teachers aged from 25 to 37. They have been teaching
English at school for at least 5 years.
After carrying out the survey questionnaire, group K07, X06 was chosen for
carrying out the classroom observation for direct reflection of the students’
participation in oral activities. Accordingly, the researcher could have more in-depth
findings about the research’ issue.
2. Data collecting instrument
Based on the essence of the research questions, the researcher employed both
quantitative and qualitative method including survey questionnaires and classroom
observation to examine the results.
  Survey questionnaire
Among the different methods of collecting data for research purposes, the
survey questionnaire is preferred by researcher due to its strengths and benefits. This
instrument is said to “provide data economically and in a form that lends itself
perfectly to the purposes of the study” (Vanjendra & Mallick, 1991, p.13). Despite the
fact that this instrument is widely used, it has several minor limitations. Questions may
be misunderstood by respondents and responses to closed-ended questions provide

12


limited depth. As a results, a large number of valueless data can exist. So, the
researcher plans to to avoid using ambiguous and difficult words to make sure that the
respondents could understand clearly what they had to do. Especially, the questionnaire

for students was written in both English and Vietnamese to avoid students’ confusion
or misunderstanding and thus the inaccuracy of the results.
  Classroom observation
This research used two survey questionnaires as the primary tool, followed by
classroom observation for deeper investigations. According to Bridget, Robert, Jason,
Megan (A Practitioner’s Guide to Conducting Classroom), by using classroom
observation, the researcher can strengthen the information collected from the
questionnaires.
In this observation, the researcher paid attention to students’ talking as well as the
degree of students’ participation times in speaking lessons.
3. Data collection procedure
Step 1: Pre-test the questionnaire
Pre-testing is the administration of the data collection instrument with a small
set of respondents from the population for the full scale survey. If problems occur in
the pre-test, it is likely that similar problems will arise in full-scale administration. The
purpose of pre-testing is to identify problems with the data collection instrument and
find possible solutions. This step allows the researcher to determine whether the
respondents have any difficulty in understanding the questionnaire and whether there
are ambiguous or biased questions and measure how much time it takes to complete
each questionnaire. The results of the pre-test helps to ensure that all the required
information will be obtained.
Step 2: Delivering the survey questionnaires
100 copies of questionnaires for students in classes X06, X07, K07 and 09 for
teachers were delivered at break time to make sure that all the participants received the
questionnaires. The researcher also prepares for questions raised by participants during
the process. Time for the questionnaires completion was about 15 minutes.

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Step 3: Carrying out classroom observation work
Classroom observation should take place within a few days (so that the checklist
is reviewed whether it worked effectively enough). Afterwards, some necessary
changes in classroom observation checklist were made basing on the drawbacks of its
design.
4. Data analysis procedure
In analyzing the data of questionnaires in the research, the method of descriptive
statistics is used. After the data was collected, the results and findings were shown by
means of descriptive statistics with the display of frequency tables. In detail,
quantitative results of questionnaire for students will be analyzed in percentage and
grouped into four categories, namely, students’ attitude towards speaking skill, students
degree of participation in classroom speaking activities, reasons that make students
hesitant to participate in oral activities and current methods applied to teach speaking.
Quantitative results of questionnaire for teachers were also categorized into four
groups: teachers’ view of CLT, teachers’ attitude towards unwilling speakers and
mistake makers, teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking and techniques and
activities applied in teaching speaking. After that, they were presented preliminary in
tables, charts for better visualization. Qualitative data which obtained from class
observation was summarized to assist the findings of research.

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CHAPTER THREE: STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
1. Results of questionnaires for students
The first survey questionnaire consists of 12 questions which are related to the
five main issues presented in the following tables and charts.
Students’ attitude towards speaking skill
Question

Response
A. English speaking is compulsory at your school

51

B. You just want to pass the oral exam.

25

C. Speaking is necessary for your future job.

16

D. You are interested in the speaking skill.

8

E. other(s): Please specify

0

1. Why do you learn
speaking skills?

%

Table 1: Students’ attitude towards speaking skill
As Table 1 illustrates, more than half (51%) of students stated that they take part
in speaking activities because it is compulsory at their school. Among the reasons
chosen by the learners, it is recognized that students are obliged to learn it to pass their

examinations (25%). Only 16% of the students claim that speaking is necessary for the
future job while 8 % suppose they are interested in the speaking skill.
Figure 1: Importance of speaking

14%

11%

13%

A. Very important
B. Rather important

62%

C. Little important
D. Not important at all

Question 2
Taking into account students' opinions about the importance with regard to the
speaking skill, the results are shown in the 2nd question. Only 11 % and 13% of the

15


students claim that speaking skill is very important and rather important to them, while
62% suppose speaking skill is little important and it is not important at all for 14%.
Figure 2: Interest degree in speaking
33%

4%

C. Little interested
D. Not interested at all

12%
8%

A. Very interested
B. Rather interested

55%

Question 3
Regarding the students’ interest degree in speaking, it is revealed that about
12% of students confessed that they are very interested and rather interested in
speaking lessons. While 55 % of them feel little interested and 33% of them respond
that they do not feel interested at all.
Figure 3: Opinion of speaking topics

15%

8%
35%

42%

gur

A. Interesting

B. Boring
C. Difficult
D. Easy

Question 4
The possible reasons for these above issues can be seen in results of the 4th
question. This issue has indicated that a lot of students are not interested in speaking
lessons due to mainly: difficulty (35%), boredom (43%) and easiness (15%) in the
lesson topics. The minority (7%) says it is interesting.

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In general, it can be concluded that the majority of the students agree that English
speaking skill is not really significant. And the number of students who feel uninterested
in speaking in class is the same. This result may raise a question: how students get
involved in speaking activities in a classroom.
1.2. Students’ degrees of participation in classroom speaking activities
Figure 4: Degree of participation in oral activities

7%

11%
13%

18%

A. usually                 
B.  often          
C. sometimes              

51%

D. rarely     
E. never

Question 5
As can be seen from the chart above, more than half (51%) students confessed
that they sometimes participate in oral activities. The number of students who often
speak is about 13%. Only 11% of them usually participate in oral activities. The
students who rarely and never speak English in any activities accounts for 18% and
7%, respectively.
In conclusion, the levels of students’ participation in oral activities are various.
The interesting fact is that most of students have little involvement in speaking lessons.
So, the teachers should know what factors affect student’s participation.
1.3. Reasons that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities

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Question

Response

Number of
students

6. What are A. feeling shy
the

factors

21

B. not being accustomed to speaking in front of other people

24

that cause the
difficulties in C. boring teaching method
speaking
English?

D. uninteresting lessons

26

E. learning goal is not to communicate

5

F. lack of students’ talking time

13

7. How do you A. practice with great interest.
practice

11

35

B. remain silent all the time.

18

C. chat with other group members about other topics.

12

D. speak Vietnamese.

35

F. other(s): (Please specify)

0

speaking
activities ?

8. Which of A. I do not find correct words and sentence structure.
the

following

affect

28

B. I do not know anything about the speaking topics.

34

C. I do not have enough time to prepare.

4

D. I do not have good pronunciation.

20

E. Teachers talk too much in class.

5

F. I have low proficiency in English.

9

you

participation?

Table 2: Factors that make students hesitant to participate in oral activities
According to the results presented in Table 2, we could see that there were three
important causes which interfered with or disturbed the students' oral participation.
These are uninteresting lessons, shyness and not being accustomed to speaking in front
of other people. 26% of students feel reluctant to speak English because the speaking

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