How to maximize part-time students ’ involvement in English speaking lessons at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre

Part one: Introduction
1. Rationale of the study
It can not be denied that English is very important nowadays. It is considered to be a
very significant and necessary tool used in many fields such as science, technology,
diplomacy and so on. It is seen as a means to bridge the gap and promote mutual
understanding and cooperation among countries in the world.
In Vietnam, at present, the role of English has been more and more increasingly
crucial because of the fact that Vietnam has succeeded in becoming an official member of
WTO since 2006.
Being aware of the great significance of English, more and more people desire to
master it in hope of making English an useful means to serve their own purposes.
For the above mentioned reasons, English has been taught not only in Universities,
Colleges but also at Foreign Languages Centres.
As a teacher of English at Hai Phong Foreign Languages Centre - Hai Phong
University where a great number of learners come to learn and hope to have a good command
of English. As for them, the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are very
important but speaking skill is given the top priority among the four. “Speaking in a second or
foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills.” (Bailey,
Kathleen M. & Savage, Lance, 1994:vii). Bygate, Martin also shares the same opinion as of
Bailey M. & Savage Lance when he states “Speaking is, however, a skill with deservers
attention every bit as much as literary skill, in both first and second languages.” (1987:vii).
For the reason that speaking is the direct communication helping learners achieve their goals
of learning and working. With students, they can pass oral examinations at Universities or
FLC easily, and those who work with foreign partners wish to use English effectively to
negotiate and gain contracts as well as attract investment from foreign companies.
However, it is not as easy as that because to help students do what they need requires
teachers a great effort. Unlike schools or universities, learners at HP FLC are all of ages and
walks of life. They themselves are aware of importance of the four skills, especially speaking
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skill, however, not every time they can do as they expect. In fact, there is a large number of
students who may be good at reading, writing but find it difficult to speak in English. I often

encourage my students to talk in English in class but they keep silent during the lessons. Some
explain that they want to talk but they don’t know what to say. Some are in poor participation
in speaking activities in the classroom. Perhaps, there is a variety of reasons for their poor
participation, including large classes, lack of ideas and so on. In the opinion of Bygate,
Martin, one of the basic problems in foreign language teaching is to prepare learners to be
able to use the language. How this preparation is done, and how successful it is depends very
much on how we as teachers understand our aims. (1987:3).
Being the importance of teaching speaking to students, the researcher wishes to do a
research on “How to maximize part-time students’ involvement in English speaking lessons?”
to help teachers and students better in their teaching and study.
2. Aims of the study
Also, in the opinion of Bygate, Martin (1987) development in language teaching must
depend partly on our ability to understand the effects of our methodology.
However, it is not possible to understand all the consequences of everything that we as
a teacher do in the classroom.
Therefore, the study was an attempt to:
- Investigate the current English speaking teaching and learning at HP FLC.
- Identify learners’ difficulties in English oral activities in speaking lessons.
- Find out appropriate solutions to making the speaking lesson more interesting
to the learners so that they can get involved better in classroom speaking
activities.
- Make some suggestions for the teachers at HP FLC in hope of assisting them
with improvement of their teaching speaking skills.
3. Scope of the study
With the purpose of helping learners at Intermediate level at HP FLC to critically and
effectively take part in speaking lessons, the researcher intends to give a brief overview of
current English speaking teaching and learning situations at HP FLC, identify learners’
problems in oral activities and find out appropriate solutions to the problems.
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4. Methods of the study

The quantitative method is used in the study. The data collected for the study is from
the Intermediate-level learners and the teachers at HP FLC– HPU.
The former is from 80 non - major Intermediate learners at HP FLC – HPU. (See the
Appendix 1)
The latter is from 15 teachers teaching intermediate learners at the same centre (See
Appendix 2)
Survey questionnaires are used to collect data and evidence for the study.
In order to make the study more reliable, the researcher also carried out an observation
by attending some English speaking lessons at HP FLC.
5. Research Question
What should teachers do to maximize learners’ involvement in English speaking
lessons?
6. Significance of the study
The study hopes to contribute a small part to help teachers improve their teaching
speaking skills so that they can give a great assistance to learners with better involvement in
English speaking lessons.
7. Design of the study
This minor thesis consists of three parts:
Part one, Introduction, presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study, scope
of the study, methods of the study, research question, significance of the study and design of
the study.
Part two, Development, includes five following chapters.
Chapter 1, Literature Review, introduces Nature of language skills, Nature of speaking
skills and Teaching speaking skills.
Chapter 2, An overview of Teaching and Learning at HP FLC- HPU, provides
information, including teachers’ background, students’ background and resources and
materials.
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Chapter 3, Methodology, presents subject of the study, Instrument, Procedure and
Method.

Chapter 4, Data Analysis and Interpretation, focuses on analysis about, learners’
activities toward speaking skills, factors that make them reluctant to speak, current teaching
methods applied to teaching speaking. Also at the same time, the chapter provides an analysis
on difficulties faced by teachers of teaching speaking lessons and their activities toward
reluctant students in speaking lessons.
Chapter 5, Finding and Recommendation discover factors affecting both learners and
teachers during speaking lessons. Basing on these factors, the researcher would like to make
some suggestions to help teachers maximize their learners’ involvement in speaking lessons.
Part three, Conclusion, summarizes the key issues of the study, and short comings
exposed during the process of completing the study.
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Part two: Development
Chapter 1: Literature Review
1. Nature of Language Skills
It is known that language skills involve four macro inter-related skills (listening,
speaking, reading and writing).
As for Nunan, David (1999) being able to claim knowledge of a second language
means being able to speak and write in that language. Listening and reading are therefore
secondary skills and sometimes viewed as passive skills. If listening is the Cinderella skill in
second language learning, then speaking is the bearing elder sister. The ability to function in
another language is generally characterized in terms of being able to speak that language.
Whereas, in terms of skills, producing a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing is
probably the most difficult thing there is to do in language. It is something most native
speakers never master. For second language learners the challenges are enormous.
As for Bygate M. (1991), listening and reading are considered to be receptive skills,
whereas speaking and writing are productive ones. Of the four skills, speaking plays the most
important role, since it can identify who is competent or incompetent in using a language.
Also confirmed by Bygate M. “speaking in many ways an undervalued skill. Perhaps
this is because we can almost all speak, and so we take it too much for granted and consider it
to be the most important skill of the four” (1987: vii).

Fiske (1990) makes the important point that “Communication is one of those human
activities that everyone recognizes but few can define satisfactorily” (quoted from Thompson,
Meil, 2003:9). Communication, however, can be seen such a well-integrated part of our day-
to-day existence that we tend to take it for granted, rarely pausing to consider what it involves
or just how important it is to us.
He defines that communication is “social interaction through message”.
Communication takes place in a social context and that context will often have a very
significant being on the success and the very nature of that communication. And it is
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important to recognize that communication involves transmitting not only from one person to
another, but also in communicating a relationship.
In the opinion of Widdowson H.G (quoted from Brumfit C.J & Johnson K:118),
“Communication only take place when we make use of sentences to perform a variety of
different acts of an essentially social nature.
Bygate, Martine (1991:9) supposes that “Oral communication is effective only when
the learners are supplied with oral skills”. The nature of oral communication is comprehended
as a two way process between the speaker and the listener.
However, Bygate Martine (1987:22) states that in spoken interaction, speaker and
listener do not merely have to be good processors of the difficult circumstances of spoken
communication. It is also useful if they are good communicators, that is, good at saying what
they want to say in a way which the listener find understandable.
2. Nature of Speaking Skills and Teaching Speaking Skills
2.1 Nature of Speaking Skills
In recent trends in ESL/ EFL curriculum design and pedagogy have stressed the
importance of teaching communicative strategies and the functional use of language of the
four skills, speaking and writing are the productive skills in the oral mode.
As mentioned- above, speaking is regarded as the most important skill of the four.
However, it is necessary to get to know the nature of speaking skills.
2. 1.1 Definition of Speaking Skills
Bygate, Martin (1987) believes that speaking is the skill by which they are most

frequently judged and thought. Learners often need to be able to speak with confidence.
Speaking skill is regarded as the vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional
advancement and business. It is also a medium through which much language is learnt”.
However, as for W. F. Mackey, oral skill “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.” (quoted from Bygate, M., 1987: 5)
In Brown and Yule’s point of view (1983) spoken language consists of short,
fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciation. There is often a great deal of repetition
and overlap between one speaker and another and speaker usually use non-specific references.
They also point out that spoken language is made to feel less conceptual dense than other
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types such as prose by using the loosely organized syntax, and non-specific words and phrases
and fillers such as “well, “oh”.
Speaking is, however, a skill, which deserves attention as much as literary skills. Our
listeners often need to speak with confidence so as to carry out many of their most basic
transaction. Moreover, speaking is known with two main types of conversation namely
dialogue and monologue.
2.1.2 Characteristics of Speaking Skills
Bygate, M (1987) states that “in most speaking the person to whom we are speaking is
in front of us and able to use right if we make mistakes”. Unlike readers or writers, speaker
may need patience and imagination, too. While talking, speakers need to take notice of the
other and allows listeners chance to speak it.
Brown (1983) and her colleagues point out that a listener helps speakers improve their
performance as a speaker because being a listener gives learners models to utilize when acting
as speaker. Besides, being a hearer first helps appreciate the difficulties inherent in the task. It
is clear that giving speakers experience in hearer’s role is more helpful than simple practice in
tasks in which a speaker is having real difficulties in appreciating what a particular task
required.
Richards, Platt and Weber (1985) states that Communicative Competence includes:
a) Knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language.

b) Knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g. knowing how to begin and end conversations,
knowing what topics can be talked about in different types of speech event, knowing
which address, forms should be used with different person one speaks to and in different
situations.
c) Knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts such as requests,
apologies, thanks and invitations.
d) Knowing how to use language appropriately (quoted from Nunan, David, 1999:
226)
According to Nunan, David (1999) what are needs to know and be able to do in order
to speak in another language is to know how to articulate sounds in a comprehensible
manner, one needs an adequate vocabulary, and to have mastery of syntax.
The socio linguist Dell Hymes (1974) prosed the notion of communicative competence
as an alternative to Chomsky’s linguistic competence. Communicative competence
includes linguistic competence, but also a range of other socio linguistic and
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conversational skill that enable the speaker to know how to say what to whom, when.
Sandra Savignon, in the early 1970, defined Communicative Competence as “ability to
function in a truly communicative setting”.
2. 2 Teaching Speaking Skills
Much of the very considerable momentum of present day language teaching may be
seen as a response to a problem which teachers have been aware of for a long time. It is the
problem of the student who may be structurally competent, but who can not communicate
appropriately. (Johnson K., 1979:192).
Newmark (quoted from Brumfit C. J. and Johnson K., 1979: 161) gives an example of
a person who wants to smoke but can not know how to speak to borrow a stranger’ lighter or
match. As for him, the person may know the structure taught by the teacher, yet can not know
the way to get his cigarette lit by the stranger when he has no matches is to walk to him and
say one of the utterances “Do you have a light?” or “Got a match?” or “Do you have a fire?”
or “Do you have illumination?” or “Are you a match’s owner?”
2.2.1. Aims of Teaching Speaking Skills

As for Widdowson H.G (quoted from Brumfit C.J & Johnson K:117), “ the problem is
that students, and especially students in developing countries, who have received several years
of formal English teaching, frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use the
language, and to understand its use in normal communication, whether in the spoken or the
written mode” (1979:117)
Therefore, objective of teaching speaking skill is communicative efficiency or in other
words is to teach learners the way to communicate “appropriately” and efficiently. It can be
seen from the example give by Newmark of a man who is good at structures but fails in
utterance competence.
So, to help learners develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teacher can use
balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output and
communicative output.
• Language input comes in the form of teacher talk, listening activities, reading
passages, and the language heard and read outside of class. It gives learners the
material, they need to begin producing language themselves.
• Language input may be content oriented or form oriented.
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• Structured output focuses on correct form. In structured output, learners may
have options for responses, but all of the options require them to use the
specific form or structure that the teacher has just introduced.
• Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing specific
language items recently introduces, sometimes in combination with previously
learned items.
• In communicative output, the learners’ main purpose is to complete a task,
such as obtaining information, developing a travel plan To complete the task,…
they may be use the language that the teacher has just presented, but they also
may draw on any other vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies
that they know. In communicative output activities, the criterion of success is
whether the learner gets the message across. Accuracy is not a consideration
unless the lack of it interferes with the message.

• In a balance activities approach, the teacher uses a variety of activities from
these different categories of input and output. Learners at all proficiency levels,
including beginners, benefit from this variety, it is more motivating, and it is
also more likely to result in effective language learning.
2.2.2 Prior Studies Related to Difficulties of Teaching Speaking Skills
2.2.2.1 The Reluctant Speakers
Nunan, David (1999) carried out a survey with colleagues, reluctance to speak on the
part of students was seen as their biggest challenge.
In his opinion, the possible mismatches can occur between teachers and learners from
different cultural background. An example is given by him as follows:
If learners come in to your classroom believing that learning a language involves
listening to the teacher or the tape, and doing written exercises, then they will be reluctant to
become actively involved in speaking.
Therefore, it will be necessary to engage in a certain amount of learner training to
encourage them to participate in speaking.
Burns and Joyce (1997) also agree with the point and identify three sets of factors that
may cause reluctance on the part of students to take part in classroom task involving speaking.
They suggest that this reluctance may be due to cultural factors, linguistic factor, and or
psychological affective factors. Cultural factors derive from learner’s prior learning
experiences and the expectations created by these experiences.
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2.2.2.2 Reasons for Learners Reluctance in Speaking ’
Also in the view of Nunan, David (1999), one of the main reasons explaining the
reluctance of speakers is partly due to their learning experience. Many of them were educated
in large classes in school situated in noisy neighborhoods where opportunities to speak are
severely limited. Others were taught in school where speaking was simply not encouraged.
According to Buns and Joyce, the linguistic facts that inhibit the use of the spoken
language include difficulties in transferring from the learners’ first language to the sounds,
rhythms, and stress patterns of English, a lack of understanding of common grammatical
patterns in English (e.g. English tenses) and how these may be different from their own

language, lack of familiarity with cultural or social knowledge required to process meaning.
Psychological and affective factors include culture shock, previous negative social or political
experiences, lack of motivation, anxiety or shyness in class, especially if their previous
learning experiences were negative.
2.2.2.3 Motivation
Gardner (1985) (quoted from Nunan David, 1999: 232-233) states that Motivation is a
key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate. Motivation
refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the good of learning the language
plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language. That is, motivation to learn a second
language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual work or strives to learn the
language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity. Many
attitudes of the individual such as compulsiveness, desire to please a teacher or parents, or a
high need to achieve might produce effort, as would social pressure, such as a demanding
teacher, impending examinations, or the promise of a new bicycle.
As Nina Spada (1999:56) motivated learners are those who participate actively in class
express interest in the subject and study hard. If teachers can make classroom the places
where learners enjoy coming and where the atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening,
they can make a positive contribution to learners’ motivation to learn.
Garder and Lambert (1985) introduces two major types of motivation: Instrumental
motivation and Integrative motivation, Resultative motivation and Intrinsic motivation.
• Instrumental motivation: When learners need English as an instrument to reach a
particular goal such as passing oral test, getting a good job with high salary and so
on. In this case, motivation is the reflection of an external need.
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• Integrative motivation: When learners internally want to integrate themselves into
the culture of the target language (English)
• Resultative motivation: is known as the cause of achievement. It also can be the
result of learning. The fact show that learners who experience success in learning
may become more motivated to learn.
• Intrinsic motivation: plays a significant role in most learners’ success or failure…

For them, what happens in the classroom will be of great importance in
determining their attitudes to language and in supplying motivation. Intrinsically
autonomy and self-actualization whereas extrinsically motivated learners anticipate
a reward from outside and beyond the self such as money, prize…
Therefore, it seems to be the problems that learners with different reasons will be
differently motivated to learn the language.
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Chapter two: An overview of English Teaching and
Learning at Hai phong Foreign Languages Centre
Hai Phong University
1. Teachers and Their Background
It can be said that HP FLC – HP U has been the largest and most famous centre in
Hai Phong city because of good training quality and experienced and enthusiastic teachers. At
present, about 36 teachers are teaching at the centre, including both full-time teachers and part
-time teachers of which 18 are fulltime teachers and the others are part-time ones. These
teachers have graduated from different universities in Vietnam. Some have been trained at
Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages. Some have been trained at Hai
Phong People Founded University and Hai Phong University and some are former teachers of
Russian who have been trained from in-service training courses. Although they come from
different backgrounds, they have many things in common: enthusiasm of teaching, eagerness
of learning experiences from experienced teachers and taking part in intensive and higher
training courses. Up to now, 8 teachers have successfully gained Master degree, and other 7
are preparing for their Master Thesis and will get Master degree at the end of 2007 which ups
the number of Master degrees to 12 .With the regular over 90 classes, the centre employs over
50 visiting teachers from other universities, colleges and high school teachers.
2. Learners and Their Background
Like other Foreign Languages Centres, learners at HP FLC- HPU are of all ages and
walks of life, including university or college learners, working- learners, school- learners and
school children, which can be said to be one of difficult tasks and various challenges for
teachers at HP- FLC. They have reasons and purposes of learning English and their language

knowledge and language competence are different. The learners at the centre are aged from
ten to forty or over, excluding children. The centre has also English classes for children. A
large number of learners have ever learnt English rather long before while some of them have
had at least 4 years of English at secondary school, another 5 years of English at High
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Secondary school. Some only have had 3 years of English at High Secondary school, and
others have learnt English for special purpose at their Universities without being taught
speaking skill or in other words, communication skill. Some of them have never learnt English
before.
3. Resources and Materials
English levels at the centre consists of 3 levels: Elementary, Pre-intermediate and
Intermediate. Unlike other Foreign Languages Centres in Hai Phong City, each course
normally takes 5 months, each course at HP FLC usually takes 10 months. The main course
books are three books of Streamline English (by Bernard Hartley and Peter Viney, 1982) used
since late 1970s. In 1980s, “Headway”, “Fact and Figure” and “Cause and Effect” have been
added to promote reading skills and oral skills, “Let’s listen” and “Listen carefully” for
listening. Since 2005, another course book “Life Line” of 3 levels: elementary, pre-
intermediate and intermediate has been used as supplementary materials together with above-
mentioned course books to improve 4 skills for learners.
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Chapter 3: Methodology
1. Subjects
The subjects taking part in the study include 80 intermediate learners at HP FLC, and
15 teachers teaching the level at the same place. Most of these learners finished level A and
level B at the centre and from other different centres. Unlike universities, the size of the class
is not deal for practice of speaking skill. Each class ranges from 35 to 50 learners. Therefore,
organizing activities during a speaking lesson is not easy at all.
2. Instrument
The instrument used in the study is two Questionnaires (see attached in Appendices).
The first Questionnaire is for learners and the other is for teachers at HP FLC.

The first Questionnaire consists of 14 questions, the aim of which is to find out
learners’ opinions toward English speaking lessons, their difficulties of speaking and teaching
methods used by their teachers. The results colleted from the Questionnaire will be the base
for discovering important findings, from which the researcher will be able to help to promote
learners’ speaking skill.
The second Questionnaire is composed of 10 questions, the purpose of which is to find
out teachers’ current teaching method, their difficulties in teaching speaking to learners,
which the researcher will base on the current context or situation to make some suggestions to
help teachers improve their teaching method in order to maximize learners to get involved in
speaking lessons.
In addition, observation, at the same time, will be also carried out by the researcher at
HP FLC to make the study more reliable.
3. Procedures
The questionnaires were prepared to hand out to 15 teachers and 80 learners at HP
FLC- HPU to collect important information for the study. The two questionnaires include both
multiple- choice and open-ended questions. The questionnaires take 15 minutes to fill in
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before being collected. After that the responses to each question were calculated and
converted into percentage for analysis and discussion.
4. Method
The major method used in this study is the Quantitative one to fulfill the aims of the
study. The data analysis comes from the 2 following sources.
The C level part – timer student and the teacher respondents at HP FLC.
All considerations, comments, assumptions, suggestions and conclusions provided in
the study based on the analysis of the statistic data collected from Questionnaire Survey and
Observation.
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Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Interpretation
The main source of data is derived from the answers of the two questionnaires.
Questionnaire 1 (for learners) and Questionnaire 2 (for teachers) are included in Appendix 1

and Appendix 2.
1. Data analysis from Learners Questionnaire‘
The questionnaire for the learners consisting of 14 questions was designed and
delivered to 80 learners to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collection.
1.1 Learners assessment of topics based on course book Streamline English-‘ “
Destinations (Questi” on 1).
18%
56%
10.4%
15.6%
interesting: 10.4%
all right: 18%
boring: 56%
not interesting at all: 15.6%
Figure 1: Learners assessment of topics based on course book‘
Streamline English-Destinations“ ”
As shown in Figure 1, only 10.4% of the surveyed students state that topics based on
course book “Streamline English-Destinations” are interesting, and 18% of respondents
consider topics to be all right whereas most of the surveyed (56%) say that the topics are
boring and 15.6% of the total suppose that the topics are not interesting at all.
From the results shown in Figure 1, topics based on the course book can be said not to
be interesting enough to attract students’ attention in speaking lessons. Therefore, the
necessity for the teachers is to provide learners with interesting topics or appropriate speaking
activities and so on to motivate them to get involved in speaking lessons.
1.2 Learners reluctance degree in speaking lessons (Question 2)’
16
0
10
20
30

40
50
60
often: 51.7% sometimes: 18.4% rarely: 15.3% not at all: 14.6%
Percentage
Figure 2: Learners reluctance degree in speaking lessons’
Figure 2 shows that the number of surveyed learners often feel reluctant to get
involved in English speaking lessons accounts for 51.7% while 18.4% of the participants are
sometimes reluctant to speak. Only 15.3% of the surveyed are rarely reluctant to get involved
in speaking lessons, and 14.6% of the total do not feel reluctant to involve in speaking lessons
at all.
It can be concluded that most of the learners feel reluctant to speak in speaking lessons
due to many reasons, and one of those is that topics are not interesting to learners.
1.3 Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons (Question 3)
46.4%
14.6%
17.5%
21.5%
A: 17.5%
B: 14.6%
C: 46.4%
D: 21.5%
Figure 3: Factors making learners reluctant to speak in speaking lessons
As clearly stated from Figure 3, up to 46.4% of the respondents suppose that
uninteresting lessons are one of many factors deterring their involvement in speaking lessons,
whereas 21.5% of the participants say that boring teaching method make them reluctant to
speak. Besides, subjective factors have a certain influence on their interest in speaking lessons
such as feeling shy only accounts for 17.5 and not being accustomed to speaking in front of
other people makes up 14.6%.
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1.4 Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons (Question 4)
0
10
20
30
40
A: 38% B: 15% C: 36% D: 11%
Percentage
Figure 4: Factors affecting learners in speaking lessons
The result in Figure 4 shows that teachers’ English speaking affects a great deal to
learners’ involvement in speaking lessons. The number of surveyed learners supposing that
teachers use too much English in English speaking lessons accounts for 38%, while 36% of
the learners state that teachers speak too fast. A very small number of the participants think
that teachers speak too much Vietnamese in English speaking lessons (15%), and 11% of the
total say that teachers speak too slowly.
1.5 Learners difficulties in speaking lessons (Question 5)’
41%
18%
26%
15%
A: 41%
B: 18%
C: 26%
D: 15%
Figure 5: Learners difficulties in speaking lessons‘
As shown in Figure 5, 18% of the participants think that finding ideas for the given
topic is one of difficulties deterring their involvement in speaking lessons, while up to 41% of
the total suppose that finding words is the main reason preventing them from performing their
speaking tasks. Poor pronunciation also contributing a not small percentage accounts for 26%.
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