SKKN the application of communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10th graders at trieu son no2 upper secondary school

THANH HOA SERVICE OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TRIEU SON No2 UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVES
“THE APPLICATION

OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR 10TH GRADERS AT
TRIEU SON No2 UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

Researcher: Lê Đình Thắng
Post: Vice headmaster
Field: English

THANH HÓA NĂM 2021


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1
1. Rationale of the study................................................................................1
2. Aims of the study.......................................................................................1
3. Scope of the study.....................................................................................1
4. Research methods......................................................................................2
4.1. Description of the subjects.................................................................2
4.2. Data collection instruments................................................................2
4.2.1. Questionnaire...............................................................................2
4.2.2. Classroom observation................................................................2
4.2.3. Procedures...................................................................................2

4.2.4. Methods of data analysis.............................................................3
II. CONTENTS.................................................................................................4
1. Theoretical basis of the initiatives.............................................................4
1.1. Teaching speaking..............................................................................4
1.1.1. The speaking needs and goals of language students...................4
1.1.2. Approaches to teaching speaking................................................5
1.2. Communicative activities...................................................................6
1.2.1. What are communicative activities?............................................6
1.2.2. Purposes of communicative activities.........................................8
1.2.3. Types of oral communicative activities.......................................8
1.2.3.1. Communication games.........................................................9
1.2.3.2. Songs....................................................................................9
1.2.3.3. Discussion..........................................................................10
1.2.3.4. Problem solving..................................................................10
1.2.3.5. Simulation and role-play....................................................10
2. The real situation of teaching speaking skills at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school..........................................................................................11
2.1. An overview of Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school..................11
2.2. The teachers of English in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.11
2.3. The students in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school..................12
2.4. The syllabus of teaching and learning English.................................12
2.5. The teaching and learning English speaking skills...........................12
3. The used measures to solve the problems...............................................13
3.1. Some kinds of effective communicative activities...........................13
3.1.1. Using song.................................................................................13
3.1.2. Communicative games..............................................................13
3.1.3. Role play....................................................................................14
3.1.4. Class discussion.........................................................................14
3.1.5. Problem-solving activity...........................................................15
4.1. Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire.........................................15
4.1.1. Teachers’ attitudes towards communicative activities...............15

4.2. Results of students’ survey questionnaire.........................................17
4.2.1. Students’ attitudes towards communicative activities...............17


III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................................19
1. Conclusions.............................................................................................19
2. Recommendations...................................................................................20
REFERENCES………………………………………………………................
APPENDICES.....................................................................................................


I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
The introduction of the new textbook “English 10” into teaching at
Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school in 2006 has marked real renovation in
language teaching and learning from the traditional approach-grammar
translation method, which only concentrates on the ability of using grammar
rules precisely, to communicative approach, which focuses on communication
ability. Nonetheless, the teachers of English at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school find it difficult to teach speaking successfully because of the
class size, the students’ language level, and additionally, students are not
acquainted with CLT. Moreover, the majority of the teachers were trained
under the strong influence of the Grammar-Translation method, which
impedes them from teaching speaking successfully even the new textbook
follows the communicative approach.
As a teacher of English at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school, I
often receive similar questions from many students. For example, “I can
understand grammar and sentence structures well, but I feel embarrassed to
talk in English” or “What should I do to speak English well?” In my reality of
teaching, there are a lot of students who have perfect knowledge of grammar
that works wonderfully for reading and writing but cannot express themselves

to the teachers. On the other hand, I often hear a lot of complaints from the
colleagues: “Students seem so quiet and lazy during speaking lessons. It is
very difficult to make them participate in speaking activities”. Therefore, the
idea of doing something useful for my colleagues and students has urged me
to conduct the research.
Another reason why the study was carried out lies in my love for
teaching speaking. By doing the study, I can know more about the challenges
in teaching and learning speaking skills so that I can find relevant techniques
along with activities to improve my teaching speaking at Trieu Son No2
upper-secondary school.
The above reasons have inspired me to conduct a study on “The
application of communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10 th
graders at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school” with the hope to make
a little contribution to the quality of teaching and learning speaking skills for
Grade 10th at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.
2. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are to address the following issues:
• The difficulties that teachers and students face in the process of
teaching and learning speaking skills;
• The application of some useful communicative activities to
improve English speaking ability for 10th graders.
3. Scope of the study
This study is concerned with the application of communicative
activities to develop speaking skills to the students in grade 10 th at Trieu Son
No2 upper-secondary school. The researcher is not planning on studying a
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larger population of the whole students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary
school, just on the students in grade 10th in order to find out what

communicative activities are applied and the obstacles experienced by these
students and teachers of English then offer some recommendations with the
hope that teaching and learning speaking skills will be improved.
4. Research methods
4.1. Description of the subjects
The participants in this study are 6 English teachers of Trieu Son No2
upper-secondary school and eighty tenth-graders of the school.
Participants in the questionnaire survey for teachers are 6 English
teachers, ranged from 26 to 44 years in age and have a long time of teaching
experience, which varied from 3 to 23 years.
The participants in the questionnaire survey for students are eighty of
two English classes 10A1, 10A2 in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.
They are all at the age of fifteen. They have learned English for four years at
different secondary schools in Trieu Son. Most of them are good at English,
because they had to take a difficult examination to be admitted into the
school. In that examination, there is only English written test. The problem
here is that all of them are good at reading and writing English but not all of
them are good at listening and speaking since there is not any oral test for
them.
4.2. Data collection instruments
4.2.1. Questionnaire
A questionnaire is considered the most appropriate research instrument
for gathering information concerning the attitudes of the respondents. Three
reasons for this have been found out. First, a questionnaire is confidential and
the respondents can remain anonymous. Second, a questionnaire is easy to
administer enabling the researcher to survey a large number of respondents.
Third, the respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them.
Two sets of questionnaires were employed in this study: one for teachers
including 7 questions and one for students which consists of 8 questions. The
questions are both close-ended and open-ended.

4.2.2. Classroom observation
The researcher’s classroom observation was taken during her teaching
to help the researcher survey the real situation for triangulation purposes so
that reliability and validity of the data collected for this study could be
achieved.
4.2.3. Procedures
At the beginning of the second semester of the academic year 2020-2021,
two sets of questionnaires were sent to those teachers and students at Trieu
Son No2 upper-secondary school who agreed to take part in the research.
After one week, these questionnaires were collected. Information from
these questionnaires were then summarized and presented in the form of
statistic information (tables) for analysis to make implications and
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recommendations on the application of communicative activities to develop
speaking skills for 10th graders.
Besides, the method of observation was carried out during the second
semester. Ten speaking lessons were observed. All implemented
communicative activities were noted down to see how effective they were
4.2.4. Methods of data analysis
In the data analysis stage, the researcher categorized the collected data
from the two questionnaires into two groups, one for the teachers and the
other for the students. Two themes were established from the two set of
questions:
- Questions for teachers
* Teachers’ attitudes towards communicative activities
* Teachers’ difficulties in using communicative activities to teach speaking
skill.
- Questions for students

* Learners’ attitude towards communicative activities.
* Learners’ difficulties in taking part in communicative activities.
The data was selected statistically in the form of percentages.

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II. CONTENTS
1. Theoretical basis of the initiatives
1.1. Teaching speaking
1.1.1. The speaking needs and goals of language students
One of the aims of most of the language programs used by teachers
today is to develop spoken language skills, and most programs aim to
integrate both spoken and written language. However, the emphasis given to
speaking in a language program varies according to the needs and goals of the
students and the focus of the course.
According to Burns (1997), decisions about teaching speaking will
inevitably depend on the learners’ goal and their needs in developing speaking
skills. The most important starting point when deciding how to teach speaking
is to gather background data about students such as age, language background
and previous language learning, their goals, needs and the contexts in which
they will need to use English. It also involves assessing their current level of
spoken language competency or proficiency. Sheils (1993) has suggested that
the development of communicative ability has to be related to the needs of
learners. They have both immediate and potential communicative needs. They
need to know how to express their own meanings in the here-and-now of the
classroom as they share knowledge, experiences, interests, opinions and
feelings. Learners also need to be prepared to use the language for real
communication outside the classroom.
Burns (1997) has also shown that in deciding what spoken language to

include in a program, it is valuable to investigate the students’ purposes and
goals for improving their speaking skills. This can be done through interviews,
individual and class discussions and through class surveys.
Harmer (1996) has shown that students may have “short-term goals”
and “long-term goals” in learning a language. Long-term goals might have
something to do with a wish to get a better job at some future date, or a desire
to be able to communicate with members of a target language community.
Short-term goals might include such things as wanting to pass an end-ofsemester test or wanting to finish a unit in a book. Some students may simply
consider that learning a language involves learning to speak and may believe
that it is up to the teacher to decide what they should learn.
In considering students’ speaking needs, we should also consider the
role of spoken language in the classroom. Spoken language is central to the
management of the classroom and we should be aware of the levels and types
of language we, as teachers, use to manage the classroom. If we ask students
participate in classroom activities, we need to make sure that we use spoken
instructions which they can understand. We also need to familiarize students
with types of texts which we use to manage the classroom and the texts which
develop classroom social interactions.
When making realistic judgments about how quickly students will
develop spoken language, it is important to consider the opportunities they
have to practice spoken language outside the classroom, and their willingness
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to take advantage of these opportunities. Knowing how often students are
likely to engage in spoken interactions outside the classroom will influence
decisions about what spoken language texts to introduce into the program. It
will also influence the types of out-of-class tasks set to encourage the students
to interact outside the classroom.
1.1.2. Approaches to teaching speaking

In this section we will consider some theoretical approaches which
have informed language teaching in· the twentieth century and which have
had various implications for the teaching of speaking.
The first approach we would like to mention here is the grammartranslation approach. The grammar-translation approach emerged in response
to a growing interest in the learning of foreign, generally European, languages
in the nineteenth century. The focus of this approach in language learning is
on the knowledge of grammar and on applying this knowledge in the process
of translating from one language to another. One of the central features of the
approach was the presentation of the new language through individual
sentences which exemplified grammatical points. A typical lesson would
include the presentation of a new grammatical point, a list of new vocabulary
items to be learned and practice sentences for students to translate.
The grammar-translation approach placed considerable emphasis on
accuracy and stressed the production of complete sentences. As the approach
was based on written grammatical sources, the teaching of speaking was, in
effect, neglected and teaching itself took place through the medium of the
learner’s first language. This approach also encouraged a word-by-word
construction of sentences, which ignored meaning and often produced
unnatural sound in sentences. One of the main goals of this approach was to
develop skills that would allow learner to read the works of great literature or
to experience the intellectual discipline of studying and analyzing
grammatical structure.
Richards and Rodgers (1986) has shown that in the first half of the
twentieth century, the theories of American structural linguists such as
Bloomfield (1993) and Fries (1945) gradually replaced the more traditional
approaches of classical humanism and the structural approach became
influential in language teaching. And it was considered one of the most
common approaches to teaching speaking and listening. This approach was
based on the view that language is acquired by stimuli and imitation. It was an
approach which gave a much greater emphasis to speaking than the previous

grammar-translation approach. This approach to teaching focuses on audiolingual method of imitation, repetition and response. Burns (1997) has also
shown that, on the one hand, this approach to teaching speaking and listening
forms habits of speaking with good intonation and correct grammar. Learners
were trained in correct speech-patterns and expected to practice them. There
was a strong emphasis on repetition and on building up of linguistic items
through drills and exercises which focused on grammatical structures and
patterns. On the other hand, this approach places little interest in the context
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for speaking. Learners’ activities involved intense practice in aural-oral skills
and focused on activities such as drills and substitution exercises taken from a
graded syllabus. There was little interest in the contexts for speaking, which
were used merely as a situational vehicle for the more important practice of
grammatical structure. Learners may find it difficult to perform in a context
different from what they have been taught. However, in the EFL context
where students lack opportunity to be exposed to the natural speaking
environment for self correction, imitation of sounds, intonation and
vocabulary plays a great importance in the early developmental stage of
language acquisition.
Another approach to teaching speaking and listening is communicative
approach. This approach based on the view that language must be seen in a
social context rather than as grammatical structures. According to Burns et al.
(1997), this approach emphasizes the idea about linguistic competence by
taking up the issue of the speakers’ performance or language use.
Communicative competence includes not only linguistic knowledge, but also
knowledge of the cultural and communicative systems available to the
speakers, and their relationship with the setting, participant, purpose, channel
of communication and topic. Communicative approach of teaching focuses on
teaching how to use language for communicative purposes.

The main features of the communicative approach are the followings:
♣ First, language is viewed within social context rather than as a
system of grammatical patterns;
♣ Second, the teaching content is developed on the basis of student
needs; a concern with all the four macro skills of language, rather than
primarily with reading and writing.
♣ Third, there is tolerance of learner errors as an inevitable aspect of
language acquisition.
♣ Finally, this approach to teaching encourages students to learn
independently and emphasizes the role of the teacher as a facilitator of
the learning process.
Since the 1970s, communicative approach has had a major influence on
teaching and learning in many parts of the world. One of the major benefits of
communicative language teaching (CLT) is that it has brought about a more
comprehensive view of teaching and learning. Methodologies based on
communicative approach to teaching speaking tend to focus on spoken
language use rather than the form of the language. This has meant that in the
classroom the teacher has been encouraged to focus on activities which will
get students speaking and attention has been paid to providing them with the
means to interact. As a result, there was often little guidance given to teachers
on how to integrate a focus on the form of spoken language.
1.2. Communicative activities
1.2.1. What are communicative activities?
According to Harmer (1991), whatever activity the students are
involved in, if it is to be genuinely communicative and if it is really
6


promoting language use, the students should have a desire to communicate. If
they do not want to be involved in communication then that communication

will probably not be effective. The students should have some kind of
communicative purpose, in other words they should be using language in
some way to achieve an objective. Then their attention should be centered on
the content of what is being said or written and not the language form that is
being used. So, communicative activities are the ones which involve learning
through using language for a communicative purpose.
In communicative activities, the students will have to deal with a
variety of language (either receptively or productively) rather than just one
grammatical construction. While the students are engaged in the
communicative activity the teacher should not intervene, which means he/she
should not correct mistakes. This would undermine the communicative
purpose of the activity. The teacher may of course be involved in the activity
as a participant, and will also be watching and listening very carefully in order
to be able to conduct feedback.
Thus for non-communicative activities there will be no desire to
communicate on the part of the students and they will have no communicative
purpose. In other words, where the students are involved in a drill or in
repetition, they will be motivated not by a desire to reach a communicative
objective, but by the need to reach the objective of accuracy.
Harmer (1991) has summarized those points in a figure called “The
communicative continuum”:
NON-COMMUNICATIVE
ACTIVITIES
* no communicative desire
* no communicative purpose
* form not content
* one language item
* teacher intervention
* materials control

COMMUNICATIVE
ACTIVITIES
* a desire to communicate
* a communicative purpose
* content not form
* variety of language
* no teacher intervention
* no materials control

Of course not all classroom activities are either “communicative” or
“non-communicative”. There are techniques that fall somewhere between the
two extremes.
Harmer has also divided work on the productive skills into three major
stages: introducing new language, practice and communicative activities. The
introduction of new language is frequently an activity that falls at the “noncommunicative” end of the continuum. Often here the teacher will work with
controlled techniques, asking students to repeat and perform in drills. At the
same time the teacher will insist on accuracy, correcting when the students
make mistake. Practice activities are those which fall somewhere between the
two extremes the continuum. While students perform them they may have a
communicative purpose, and while they may be working in pairs, there may
7


also be a lack language variety, and the materials may determine what the
students do or say. Practice activities, then, often have some features of both
non-communicative and communicative activities. Communicative activities
are those which exhibit the characteristics at the “communicative” end of the
continuum. Students are somehow involved in activities that give them both
the desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in a varied use
of language.

1.2.2. Purposes of communicative activities
According to Littlewood (1990), communicative activities have been
designed to provide an opportunity for learners to produce language that they
have recently learnt. The followings are some contributions that
communicative activities can make to language learning:
They provide “whole-task practice”: While non-communicative
activities provide training in the part-skills, communicative activities provide
practice in the total skills, sometimes called “whole-task practice”. Learning
to swim, for example, usually involves not only separate practice of
individual movements (part-skills), but also actual attempts to swim short
distances (whole- task practice). In foreign language learning, our means for
providing learners with whole- task practice in the classroom is through
various kinds of communicative activity structured in order to suit the
learners’ level of ability.
They improve the motivation: The learners’ ultimate objective is to take
part in communication with others. Their motivation to learn is more likely to
be sustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to this
objective and help them to achieve it with increasing success.
They allow natural learning: Many aspects of language learning can
take place only through natural processes, which operate when a person is
involved in using the language for communication. If this is so,
communicative activity (inside or outside the classroom) is an important part
of the total learning process.
They can create a context which supports learning: Communicative
activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationship to develop
among learners and between learners and teachers. These relationships can
help to “humanize” the classroom and to create an environment that supports
the individual in his efforts to learn.
1.2.3. Types of oral communicative activities
Different linguists have had different ideas on the distinction of

communicative activities. Littlewood (1990) distinguishes them into two main
categories, which he calls “functional communication activities” and “social
interaction activities”. Harmer (1991) looks at the communicative activities
with oral and written focuses. So he distinguishes them into “oral
communicative activities” and “written communicative activities”. Harmer's
idea seems clearer to the researcher of this thesis when studying the types of
communicative activities.
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In this section we will look at those types of activities with a largely
oral focus (although we should not forget the points about skill integration).
Those activities are all designed to provoke spoken communication between
students and/or between the teacher and the students.
1.2.3.1. Communication games
Harmer (1991) has suggested that in communication games activities
students are put into a situation in which they have to use all or any of the
language they possess to complete a game-like task. This type of
communicative activities produces the simplest patterns of interaction. The
situation is always that one student (or group) possesses information which
another student (or group) must discover.
Communication games activities include finding the differences (or
similarities); describe and arrange; story reconstruction and/or poem
reconstruction (Bygate, 1987). In each case of this type of activities it is the
overcoming of the information gap rather than the production of correct
language that signals the success of the performance. In this respect, the focus
of the activity is on “meanings to be communicated” rather than “linguistic
form to be learnt” (Harmer, 1991). The activities of this type provide the
teacher with a convenient bridge between pre-communicative and
communicative language use, students are engaged in communicating

meaning for a purpose, but they are not yet made to dispense entirely with the
“structure crutches” provided by the teacher.
1.2.3.2. Songs
There are many good rationales for using songs in English classroom.
They are “authentic material”. They enhance student’s sense of achievement
in that, for example, they can sing a song later by themselves. Music creates a
relaxing atmosphere because the whole class sings together. Songs allows
maximum participation by every student in both listening and speaking.
Additionally, music makes a nice change from standard textbook and it is
good for developing students’ instincts about intonation and rhythm. Eken
(1996: 46) states that songs can be used:
• to present a topic, a language point, lexis, etc;
• to practice a language point, lexis, etc;
• to encourage extensive and intensive listening;
• to stimulate discussion of attitudes and feelings;
• to encourage creativity and use of imagination;
• to provide a relaxed classroom atmosphere and
• to bring variety and fun to learning.
In order to choose a suitable song, the teacher should keep in mind that
(1) Songs must be a reasonable length, range, and rhythm. (2) Song should
have repetitive lyrics or chorus which is easy to learn. This allows slower
students to follow. (3) The emotional and conceptual content of a song should
be appropriate to the age and maturity of your students. (4) Songs must be
pedagogically appropriate to the lesson. (Quan: 2004).
9


As demonstrated, songs are valuable in language teaching and learning. The
teacher is obliged to successfully integrate songs into a language lesson.
1.2.3.3. Discussion

In this type of activity students “have to pool the information in the
discussion” (Littlewood, 1990: 27). The discussion may be about a proper
problem, addiction, for example or about a given controversial proposition
such as “People who buy fur coats should pay a 100% tax”. Students have to
prepare arguments either in favor of the proposition or against the proposition.
Sheils (1993) has indicated the value of discussion activities as follows:
“Discussion activities involve learners in personal and fluent use of the
target language. They require them to reflect, to evaluate data or arguments,
to listen carefully to others, to have an open mind and to develop the skills
and expressions necessary for a real discussion. The exchange of opinion or
feelings should assist learners in getting to know themselves and their
classmates better”.
Harmer (1991) has said that many teachers can be heard complaining
that their students have nothing to say or that they have no opinions and are
not prepared to discuss anything. Part of the problem here is the way in which
some teachers approach discussion as an activity. If students are asked to
express themselves fluently on a difficult topic in front of their peers in a
foreign language (often with no warning), they may find themselves reluctant
to do so. So before asking students to discuss as a whole class, teacher should
put them in groups to try out the topic. This will allow them to give opinion in
a less threatening environment than in front of the whole class. It will also
give the teacher a chance to see if the topic is interesting for the students.
Discussion activities are an important part of many lessons. The main
thing to remember is that “proper organization can ensure their success. Lack
of it can provoke their failure” (Harmer, 1991: 125).
1.2.3.4. Problem solving
Problem solving activities encourage students to talk together to find a
solution to (a set of) problems or tasks. According to Littlewood (1990), this
type of activity dispenses completely with the need to share information.
Students now have access to all the relevant facts. The stimulus for

communication comes from the need to discuss and evaluate these facts, in
pairs or groups, in order to solve a problem or reach a decision.
Problem solving activities need not be based only on everyday
situations that arise inside or outside the classroom. The teacher may also
present more unusual situations, in order to stimulate the students’ ingenuity.
In these activities students must not only analyze information, but also argue,
justify and persuade, in order to reach a common decision. They therefore
provide a context for a still wider range of communicative functions. They
also make it still more necessary for students to develop skills in managing
the interaction at the interpersonal level. This fact often produces a high
degree of personal involvement among the participants.
1.2.3.5. Simulation and role-play
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According to Harmer (1991), the idea of a simulation is to create the
pretence of a real-life situation in the classroom: students “simulate” the realworld. Thus we might ask them to pretend that they are at an airport, or we
might organize them to get together to plan an imaginary reunion. What we
are trying to do artificially of course is to give students practice in real-world
English. Students are asked to adopt a specific role in this situation. In some
cases, they may simply have to act as themselves. In others, they may have to
adopt a· simulated identity.
There is some controversy about the usefulness of simulations,
particularly where students are asked to play roles, but many teachers feel that
they have certain advantages because students do not have to take
responsibility for their own actions and words. In other words, it is the
character who speaks, not themselves. It has certainly been noticed that some
shy students are more talkative when playing roles.
Littlewood (1992: 49) says: “... simulation and role-play are wellestablished as techniques for organizing controlled, pre-communicative
language practice, which prepares students later to take part in fully

spontaneous interaction”.
Bygate (1987) states that role-play may be allocated in several ways:
Role-play controlled through cued dialogues.
Role-play controlled through cued situations and goal.
Role-play controlled through cues and information.
Role-play in the form of debate or discussion.
This type of activity could be used for students at different levels of
proficiency in term of complexity of activities. Ladousse (1987: 7) has shown:
“Role-play is one of communicative techniques which develops fluency in
language students, which promotes interaction in the classroom, and which
increases motivation”.
2. The real situation of teaching speaking skills at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school.
2.1. An overview of Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.
Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is located in the West of Thanh
Hoa. Founded in 1968, Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is one of the
oldest as well as the biggest schools in the area. At present, there are 22
classes with over 900 students placed into three different grades: grade 10, 11
and 12. The teaching staff composes of more than 60 teachers of 12
compulsory subjects, of whom two-thirds are young, creative and well trained
whereas the others are experienced and enthusiastic. In recent years Trieu Son
No2 upper-secondary school is one of the schools which has high percentages
of high school graduate and gifted students.
2.2. The teachers of English in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school
There are six teachers of English currently working at Trieu Son No2
upper-secondary school, five of them have participated in this research for
discussion. Their ages range from late twenties to forty-five years old, three of
them are female. The years of teaching English are also different, minimum
11

level of three years and maximum over twenty years. Most of them have
University Bachelor’s Degree, one Master Degree, and the others have taken
the in-service training courses. Without doubt, all the teachers at Trieu Son
No2 upper-secondary school are experienced and enthusiastic in teaching.
They are willing to help their students overcome their difficulties in learning
English generally and in speaking particularly.
2.3. The students in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school
The majority of students in the study at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary
school are aged from 15 to 18. Most of them come from rural areas and they
have learnt English since lower secondary schools. Among them, there are a
large number of students who are really interested in learning English and
want to develop their ability in using English. In contrast, the other part of
students is low in motivation. They tend to regard English as less important
than other subjects and they study English only in order to pass the
examinations.
2.4. The syllabus of teaching and learning English
At Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school, English is one of the
compulsory subjects in the curriculum. The syllabus and the textbooks for
English including “Tiếng Anh 10”, “Tiếng Anh 11”, “Tiếng Anh 12” are
prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training.
The English curriculum for grade 10th students is divided into two
semesters with a total of 105 periods, 3 periods per week. Each period is 45
minutes long.
The textbook which is currently used for teaching and learning English
for grade 10th at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is “Tieng Anh 10”
which was designed following communicative approach. The textbook
consists of 16 units with 5 parts in each unit arranging as follows: reading,
speaking, listening, writing and language focus in which a variety of exercises
and tasks was compiled for practice. Also, there exists a consolidate unit after
every 3 units. The objective of these units is to examine how well the students

have achieved in the previous units.
2.5. The teaching and learning English speaking skills
It has been accepted that students’ communicative ability is the proper
aim for language teaching. This makes teaching and learning speaking skills
seem to be an important part in any English course. Like many other high
schools in Vietnam, teaching and learning speaking skills at Trieu Son No2
upper-secondary school are affected by some constraints such as large class
sizes, students’ unfamiliarity with CLT, students’ low English proficiency,
students’ low participation in class time. Normally, in a class at Trieu Son No2
upper-secondary school, a number of students who have a good knowledge of
English are eager and active during the class while a majority of those with
low English proficiency are very passive. Besides, lack of training in teaching
methods, especially CLT makes it difficult for the teachers to access to new
approach, which makes the teaching and learning speaking skills more
challenging.
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3. The used measures to solve the problems.
Despite the difficulties mentioned above, the exploitation of various
communicative activities would make the speaking lessons more interesting.
Some kinds of communicative activities, which will be presented according to
some criteria established in the teaching implications, have proved their
effectiveness.
3.1. Some kinds of effective communicative activities
3.1.1. Using song
Songs can be applied at the beginning of the lesson as a warm up
activity. It not only takes effect when teachers want students to practice
listening but also enhances students’ oral skills by asking them to retell the
content of the song after listening. It can be carried out in speaking and

listening lesson.
Procedures: Teacher prepares handouts on which there is a song lyric
with some gaps. Students listen to the song and fill in the missing words.
After all the missing words are filled and checked by the teacher, students will
be asked to work in groups of 4 or 5 and retell the content of the song. Then
the teacher randomly chooses students from different groups to present their
opinion; the others can support their friends.
Example
Unit 12: MUSIC
Material: the song “Thank you for the music” by ABBA
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Or
Unit 13: FILMS AND CINEMA
Material: the song “My heart will go on”
Time: 15 – 20 minutes
3.1.2. Communicative games
Communicative games not only provide learners with opportunities to
talk but also encourage their participation and can highly motivate them in
talking. Furthermore, by playing these games, students will use their limited
English more naturally because their concentration will be on solving the
problems posed by the games and not on the language they use to solve the
problems.
There are many games for practicing speaking; however, the researcher
only focuses on the game: "Spot the difference" which is considered to be the
most suitable and effective one for 10th graders to enhance their speaking
skills.
Spot the difference
Time: 12 - 15 minutes
Procedure: The teacher prepares pairs of pictures. The pictures in a pair
should be similar but should have some differences. The number of

differences depends on the level of the students. They work in pairs. Teacher
gives each pupil a picture. Student A and B ask each other questions until they
13


find the differences. They must not see each other’s pictures. Finally they
show each other their picture and compare them.
Questions that students might ask are:
- Is it a girl?
- Is she wearing glasses?
- Has she got long hair?
- Is she wearing a T-shirt?
This kind of game can be applied at the beginning of any lesson in the
course book as a warm up activity for the students to be motivated and
relaxed. Thanks to a relaxed feeling, they can produce the best English.
3.1.3. Role play
Free role play: No prescribed structures and very few suggestions. If it is
necessary, the vocabulary to be used is presented. The teacher simply gives
students and the characters; alternatively, students come up with their own
situations. After an appropriate time, they deliver their presentation.
Semi-controlled role play: Structures or vocabulary may be suggested by
the teacher, but much of the content is determined by the participants. A list of
utterances or only a list of words which could be used in the situation are
given to students who are allowed time to prepare the role play before
presenting it to the class.
Controlled role play: This involves the use of grammatical structures and
vocabulary which are controlled by a script. The script offers the participants
to change the tense of the verb.
Example
Unit 7: THE MASS MEDIA

Time: 20-25 minutes
Procedures: Teacher follows the steps:
(1) Divide the class into two sides: A will be TV viewers, B will
be Reporters.
(2) Ask side B to make an interview to find out what programs the
viewers like best.
(4) Tell side A choose as many programs as possible with
explanations
(5) Ask some of the Ss about their favorite programs. T tries to
find out who is the best interviewer and who is the best
interviewee.
3.1.4. Class discussion
- Free discussion: A free discussion is an open exchange of ideas on a topic
suggested by the students or based on a reading passage.
- Semi controlled discussion: The teacher provides the topic and an outline
or list of points to be discussed, while the students produce their own
language.
- Controlled discussion: The teacher provides the topic, some of the
language, and an outline or list of points to be discussed.
Example
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Unit 6: AN EXCURSION
Time: 15 - 20 minutes
Procedure: Teacher follows the steps:
(1) Raise the topic “Going to Huong Pagoda or Water Park this
weekend?”
(2) Have students choose their own option.
(3) Form the two big groups based on the students’ choice.

(4) Let students in two groups debate by asking questions and
supporting the ideas.
(5) Comment on students’ performance and make necessary corrections.
3.1.5. Problem-solving activity
A problem may be solved by students working in groups or by each
student working alone. In the latter case, after each student has his solution,
the students may be divided into several small groups of 4 or 5. The task of
each group is to arrive at a consensus regarding the solution to the problem,
selecting a spokesperson, and formulating a rationale for the group’s decision.
A further possible step is to have all of the groups arrive at a consensus. Here
is an example for a problem-solving activity:
Unit 5: TECHNOLOGY AND YOU
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure: Teacher asks their students to work in groups of 4 or 5 then
introduce the topic: “Imagine that you have a close friend who plays
games online a lot. Decide what to do to help him or her get rid of it”.
4. The effectiveness of experiential initiatives on educational activities, on
themselves, their colleagues and the school
4.1. Results of teachers’ survey questionnaire
The findings from the teacher questionnaire are categorized into 2 subsections as Teachers’ attitudes towards communicative activities and Teachers’
difficulties in using communicative activities. All will be summarized in
Tables 1, 2, 3.
4.1.1. Teachers’ attitudes towards communicative activities
Table 1
1. Have you ever been trained in CLT?
Options
Result (%)
a. Yes, in English teaching -training courses.
20%
b. Yes, in English teaching workshops.

40%
c. Others.
20%
d. No, I have never been trained in CLT.
20%
As indicated in Table 1, only 60 % of the teachers said that they were
trained in CLT in training courses and in English teaching work shops. 20%
admitted that they had never received formal CLT training and the same
number improved the knowledge of CLT by self-studying. From these figures,
it could be concluded that opportunities for the teachers to be trained in CLT
were insufficient. This could be one of the factors which influenced their
15


understanding of CLT and its application to teaching speaking skills.
Table 2
2. When do you usually use communicative activities?
Options
Result (%)
a.
at the beginning of the lesson
25%
b.
during the lesson
65%
c.
at the end of the lesson
15%
d.
out of the class time

0%
The aim of question 2 is to show the teachers’ time of using
communicative activities. Results are displayed in Table 2.
Most of the teachers (65%) shared the idea of using the activities while
teaching language items, during the lesson. Only 25% of them organized the
class with communicative activities at the beginning of the lesson as a means
for warming up the students and 10% of teachers applied them at the end of
the lesson. This result bears an encouraging signal in which all the
respondents were familiar with communicative activities and they used to
employ this sort of activity in their lessons.
Table 3
3. What kinds of communicative activities do you usually use in your
English teaching process?
Options
Result (%)
a. Discussion
75%
b. Songs
10%
c. Problem solving
15%
d. Role play
81%
e. Communicative games
80%
f. Others:
0%
………………………………………………
Table 3 clearly indicates that the teachers make the best use of different
types of speaking activities in their English lessons. Those activities such as

discussion, using songs, role play, communicative games, etc. prove to be
useful to help develop communicative competence for their students. Among
these activities, discussion, role play and communicative games rank the first
in the list which accounts for approximately 80% of the teachers who
preferred to use them in English teaching process. Meanwhile, a tiny
proportion (10%) reported their exploitation of using songs as communicative
activity in their lesson because they lack material which was suitable for the
topic of the lesson in the course book. In short, this result is a good sign that
the teachers are trying their best to adopt new CLT methods and techniques in
teaching speaking to their students to enhance their oral skills.

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4.2. Results of students’ survey questionnaire
4.2.1. Students’ attitudes towards communicative activities
In the survey, when answering the first question: “How often do you
speak English in class?”, 68 out of 80 said “Sometimes”. Only 12% of the
students answer that they usually speak English in class. More surprisingly,
the writer found that the number of students who rarely speak English in class
is not small (20%). This also shows a big question for the teachers of English
and the reasons why they do not participate much in the activities.
Question 2 is to find out the reasons for speaking of students in classroom.
Table 4 is shown to demonstrate the result.
Table 4
2. You speak English when
Options
Result (%)
a. You talk with your friends.
30%

b. Your teacher asks you.
50%
c. You are interested in the topic and activities.
20%
Table 6 shows that about 30 out of 80 students raised their voice when
talking with friends in class and half of the students said that they only spoke
when they were asked to do so by their teachers. At the same time, only 20
students spoke English when they were interested in the topic and speaking
activities.
The students’ attitude toward communicative activities is shown through
answers to questions 3.
Table 5
3. What kinds of communicative activities do you like to participate in
your class? (more than one option is possible)
Options
Result (%)
a. Discussion
36%
b. Songs
64%
c. Problem solving
2%
d. Role play
27%
e. Communicative games
60%
f. Others:
0%
……………………………………………………
Question 3 helps teachers know more about the kinds of communicative

activities that students were fond of participating in. The collected data shows
that communicative games and using songs are those that students liked to
take part in most. They highly recommend using songs in speaking activities
to cheer up the stressful atmosphere; also songs can draw their attention to the
main speaking activities. Most of the student participated believed that
discussion is the feasible activity to take part in. They also approved the use
of role play but disapproved the application of problem solving because
17


problem solving was thought to be merely suitable for gifted students of
English in class not for all students. Therefore, ordinary students were not
competent enough to take part in such a challenging activity.
The above-mentioned ideas are some general findings on the kinds of
communicative activities that most students prefer. Together with students’
interest in specific kinds of communicative activities, these will be taken into
consideration in order to propose suitable suggestions for the use of
communicative activities for 10th graders.

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III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Conclusions
It has been seen that the responsibility to develop students’ speaking
skills in teaching and learning a foreign language lies mainly with teachers.
However, success in speaking should be the result of both teachers and
students. Communicative ability, especially oral communicative ability is very
complex. But if it is taught and practiced effectively, it can help students
develop a sense of progress necessary to keep their motivation levels high.

When teaching and learning speaking skills, both teachers and students
first of all have to understand clearly the nature of spoken language and its
characteristics, this understanding is very important for language teachers to
have an appropriate approach to teaching reproductive skills. The EFL
teachers should also take into account some important factors in order to
assist EFL students’ speaking skills.
To make a speaking lesson successful, teachers should understand well
the speaking needs and goals of students, as decisions about teaching
speaking will inevitably depend on the learners’ goals and their needs in
developing speaking skills; they should be aware of some main approaches to
teaching speaking, and especially should observe the principles for teaching
speaking.
In the era of communicative language teaching, every teacher should
keep in mind the word “interaction” as “the key to teaching language for
communication” (Rivers, 1987: 17) or “the heart of communication, it is what
communication is all about” (Brown, 1990: 159). According to Brown,
theories of communicative competence emphasize the importance of
interaction as human being use language in various contexts to “negotiate”
meaning, or simply stated, to get one idea out of your head and into the head
of another person and vice versa. He has also indicated that from the very
beginning of language study, classroom should be interactive, and this is well
done with the help of communicative activities.
The most important thing to be remembered is that communicative
activities always give students both the desire to communicate and a purpose
which involves them in a varied use of language. Such activities are vital in a
language classroom since here the students can “do their best to use the
language as individuals, arriving at a degree of language autonomy” (Harmer,
1991: 51).
This study has shown the role of communicative activities in
developing students’ speaking skill and the ways that teachers can help

students to be more and more able to speak well in their speaking lessons. As
language teachers, we should help our students to see that “language learning
is not a skill where we can simply bone up on rules and words in isolation”,
and that “language is for communicating with people (whether through oral or
written modes) and the more they engage in such face to face communication,
the more their overall communicative competence will improve” (Brown,
1990: 177). Therefore, to understand well the teachers’ role in language
19


teaching in general and in teaching speaking in particular is very essential and
crucial.
2. Recommendations
From the researcher’s own experience and the precious advice of the
experienced teachers of English at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school,
some recommandations are offered on the using of communicative activities.
* While the students are communicating as best as they can, the teacher
moves around the room, listening, and determines what the students know and
do not know. In this way, teaching is designed to meet actual needs of the
students. Furthermore, a close attention to students may help teachers restrict
the use of mother tongue in doing the activities.
* The teacher should not correct grammar during a communicative
activity. As a matter of fact, communication deals with the conveying of
information; hence, interrupting students to correct or call attention to errors
will disturb the flow and inhibit the speaker. In addition, assessment should
focus on whether information has been successfully conveyed or not.
* It is not suggested that teacher’s correction for accuracy is eliminated.
It may well happen when a student succeeds in getting a message across.
However, teacher’s correction should be given at some other stages and not
during the communicative activity.

* Last but not least, communicative activities should be done in pairs or
groups, which help to increase cooperativeness among students. In order to
avoid the situation in which the good-at-speaking students tended to dominate
the speaking activities in and the weak students often depended too much on
those who learned better their groups work, it is advisable for teachers to
randomly call representatives to come in front or even create more chances
for these passive learners to express their ideas in English.
XÁC NHẬN CỦA
THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

Thanh Hóa, ngày 18 tháng 5 năm 2021
CAM KẾT KHƠNG COPY.

Lê Đình Thắng

20


REFERENCES
Brown, H.D. (1990). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
language
Pedagogy. Prentice Hall Regents. San Francisco State University.
Burns, A. (1997). Focus on Speaking. Sydney, Macquarie University.
Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford University Press.
Harmer, J. (1983). The Practice of English Language Teaching.
London: Longman.
Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong,
Nguyen Quoc Tuan (2006). Tieng Anh 10. Hanoi: Educational
Publishing House.
Ladousse, P (1987). Role play. Resource Book for Teachers. Oxford

University Press.
Littlewood, W (1990). Communicative language Teaching. An Introduction.
Cambridge University Press.
Littlewood, W (1992). Teaching Oral Communication. A Methodological
Framework. Blackwell.
Nunan, D (1989). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom.
Cambridge University Press.
Quan, Nguyen Hai. (2004). Learning to Use Songs to Teach Grammar.
Teacher’s Edition, 14, 57.
Richard, J.C & Rodgers, T.S. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching, Cambridge: CUP.
Rivers, W.M. (1983). Communicating Naturally in Second Language
Teaching, Cambridge: CUP.
Sheils, J. (1993). Communication in the Modern Language Classroom.
Council of Europe Press.


APPENDIX 1
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS
This survey questionnaire is designed for my study “The application of
communicative activities to develop speaking skills for 10 th graders in Trieu
Son No2 upper-secondary school”. Your assistance in filling the following
items is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you will not be
identified in any discussion of the data. Thank you
Please write down some information about yourself
Your age: …………………………………
Sex: ……………………………………….
Years of learning English: …………………
Please tick (√) where appropriate or write in brief where necessary
(You can choose more than one answer to some questions)

1. How often do you speak English in class?
a. Very often
b. Sometimes
c. Rarely
2. You speak English when
a. You talk with your friends.
b. Your teacher asks you.
c. You are interested in the topic and activities.
3. What kinds of communicative activities do you like to participate in your
class? (more than one option is possible)
a. Discussion
b. Songs
c. Problem solving
d. Role play
e. Communicative games
f. Others:
………………………………………………………………………….
4. How do you like the activities?
a. Very much
b. Not much
c. Not at all
5. What forms of the activity do you like to take part in?
a. The whole class work
b. Groups work
c. Pairs work
d. Individual work
6. What is the effectiveness of practicing the activities for you?
a. You can speak more fluently
b. You feel more confident
c. You have chance to practice English

d. You are more interested in learning English
e. Your English is much improved