Tài liệu Skkn tiếng anh obstacles encountered by 10th form students when learning speaking skill” .

I. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Reasons for choosing the study Nowadays English is one of the most important languages to master . People are learning it for diferrent purposes but everyone must admit that whatever aims we want to obstain , speaking skill is still the most important one . However, in fact of our education in Viet Nam , many teachers and students haven’t paid enough attention to this skill , they only focus on learning grammar and reading with a view to passing written English exams ( General National exams) . As a result , a great number of students in our country can’t be able to communicate with foreigners after leaving secondary school . At my school, Yen Dinh 2 school , most of sts don’t have enough confidence when speaking , some of them even hardly speak anything during the lesson , which causes bad result in learning speaking skill . That’s why I choose the topic “obstacles encountered by 10th form students when learning speaking skill” . 1.2. Objectives of the study The main purpose of this research is to find out the factors that prevent sts from improving communication aproach and suggest some solutions to this problem 1.3. Scope of the study This study is conducted among the 10th form students at Yen Dinh 2 high school during the school year 2014- 2015 1.4. Methodology of the study Both comparative and contrastive methods are used. First of all, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on listening skills have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for the students’ learning situations. Secondly, a survey questionnaire has been conducted with the students to collect the data. Then, follow-up interviews have been carried out with students to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find the answers to the research questions mentioned above. 1.5. Significance of the study This study may provide insights into the process of learning the speaking skill for the students. It may play a crucial role in enhancing the speaking skill to the students. It motivates the students’ desire for learning English, and makes them more confident and active in speaking activities. It not only gives some 1 suggestions to help students overcome the difficulties but also helps teachers to better their lectures DEVELOPMENT 2.1. Theoretical background of the speaking skill 2.1.1. What is the speaking skill? Plenty of definitions of speaking have been, so far, proposed by the experts of second language (L2) pedagogy, each of which takes account of some major aspects of speech and its production. Chamney and Burk (1998), for instance, defined speaking as "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (p. 13). It is, in effect, the productive process of turning thoughts into meaningful language (Brown, 2007). Meaning construction is, therefore, the main purpose of this interactive phenomenon, which involves first receiving and processing pieces of information and then producing a reactive response to the received information and properly forming that response according to the context in which communication takes place. “Speaking” is also the delivery of language through the mouth . To speak , we creat sounds using many parts of our hobby, including the lungs , vocal tract , vocal chords, tounge, teeth and lips 2.1.2 The importance and purposes of the speaking skill in the language learning process Undoutedly, oral communication is a vital component of the English language curriculum and provides the base for growth in reading, writing, and listening abilities. As learning and applying the skills of oral English are so closely related to each other, the classroom should be a place where the use of spoken language is sensitively supported and where active listening is developed and valued. Talk enables students to make connections between what they know and what they are learning, and listening helps them to acquire knowledge and explore ideas. Talk can be immediate and spontaneous, or planned and deliberate (Byrne 1976). Confidence and enthusiasm are critical factors in oral language development, and because much oral language is immediate, it involves taking risks. Student learning is most effective when there is a relationship of mutual trust, when students’ oral language is accepted and a variety of communication styles are accommodated in the classroom, and when students have frequent opportunities to talk in formal and informal situations (Byrne 1976 & Brown 1992). 2 Language is a tool for communication. We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well. Communication takes place, where there is speech. Without speech we cannot communicate with one another. The importance of 3/10 speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language. Without speech, a language is reduced to a mere script. The use of language is an activity which takes place within the confines of our community. We use language in a variety of situations. People at their work places, i.e. researchers working either in a medical laboratory or in a language laboratory, are supposed to speak correctly and effectively in-order to communicate well with one another. Any gap in commucation results in misunderstandings and problems. Especially, the English language has become an international language. Among nations it serves as a lingua franca. It is spoken, learnt and understood even in those countries where it is not a native’s language. English is playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education, advanced studies, business, technology, banking, computing, tourism etc. All our software development today, the communication facilities available to us through internet, our access to a variety of websites, are all being carried out in English. Most of the research works are conducted and compiled in English. Anything written and recorded in this language is read and listened to, in wider circles. As a result, English is being taught and learned around the world as a second language today. 2.1.3. Phases in the speaking learning process The speaking process includes activities that occur prior to, during, and after the actual speaking event Therefore, speaking lessons are normally offered in three main phases, namely pre-speaking, while-speaking, and post-speaking phases and classroom activities are accordingly divided into three main categories, i.e., pre-speaking, while/during-speaking, and post-speaking activities (Millrood, 2001). Pre speaking activites: Pre-speaking begins before students actually speak. Students' experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have an impact upon what they say and how they say it. Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking. Pre-speaking activities play as a warm-up and prepare the learners for the main speaking activity. It aims to activate language, motivate speakers, and prepare 3 ideas, and helps students bring their background knowledge (schemata) to the specific context of the lesson. Students are asked to encourage ideas about the topic by means of fruitful pre-speaking activities such as brainstorming. In pre-speaking activities, four features need to be determined, i.e., the topic of speaking lesson, the purpose of speaking lesson, the audience to which speakers speak, and the format of speaking, or whether it is a conversation, discussion, monologue, presentation, formal speech and so forth. While- speaking activities While- speaking activities compose the body of speaking lessons. Students are encouraged to engage in some sorts of interactive exchange of information or communication. They may be asked to play a role given to them in as in roleplaying activities, to find a solution to a problem posed for them as in problemsolving activities, or to play in an interesting game that teacher introduces, and all these activities aim to provide them with suitable opportunities to express their feelings, describe things, explain them clearly, ask questions and ask for what they need, discuss things in small or larger groups, and so on. Post- speaking activities : In post-speaking activities a rethinking process is at work. The learners are encouraged to reflect on the activities which were just done and on their own performance, bring language they have acquired into more focus, further focus on the ideas they have just come up with, and produce spoken language integrated with the other skills, that is not merely oral production, but a combination of two or more skills simultaneously. They aim to promote critical thinking in learners which paves the more language development. Some purposes for post-speaking activities are listed below : -To reflect upon performance: Students who have opportunities to reflect upon atheir speaking experiences, in light of pre-determined criteria, grow in their abilities to speak effectively. -To set goals for improvement: When students reflect upon their performance, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement. 2.1. 4. Potential problems in learning the English speaking skill There are a lot of potential problems in learning a language skill. For the speaking skill, Learners Zhang (2009) argued that speaking remains the most difficult skill to master for the majority of English learners, and they are still 4 incompetent in communicating orally in English.According to Ur (1996), there are many factors that cause difficulty in speaking, and they are as follows: 2.1.4.1. Inhibition. Students are worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism, or simply shy. It was noticed during the class observations that students’ participation was very low. This is because of the previously mentioned reasons to inhibition. Students explained that their fear of making mistakes in front of their classmates was the reason for not speaking in the class. They expressed that “They will laugh at us if we make mistakes” 2.1.4.2. Nothing to say. In many cases , a lot of students do not say anything for they have no motive to express themselves 2.1.4.3. Low or uneven participation. Only one participant can talk at a time because of large classes and the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all. 2.1.4.4. pronunciation English words can be difficult to pronounce – and when speaking English, ss have to consider not only the pronunciation of the individual words, but also the connection between the words in the sentence. There’s also the “rhythm” and intonation of the sentence to consider – and sometimes their mouth gets confused! 2.1.4.5.Limited vocabulary Linguistic Difficulties Data collected through observation showed that students struggle to find the appropriate vocabulary item when trying to speak in English, which reflects their insufficient vocabulary repertoire. Data collected from the student interview supported this because one of the students reported : “We want to speak, but we don’t know the word”. The interviewed students also pointed out that they find it difficult to build sentences when they try to express their ideas. One of them said: “We do not know how to say it”. Although teachers spend a long time teaching grammar rules, students still cannot form short sentences when they try to speak in English. 2.1.4.6.Lack of speaking environment One of the obstacles that encounter ss’s speaking English is that there is no or little speaking environment . Beside the time of speaking in class ,ss have no 5 chance of practising English outside . In addition, the environment is not natural enough for ss to communicate , which may prevent them from speaking. 2.2. The setting of the study The study was conducted at YD2 in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province. Our school has 29 classes at the moment . Each class has about 40-50 sts , which seems not to be too crowded to teach language . n addition, there are too many desks without empty space left where teachers and students can move to and from if they conduct different interaction activities. All of students here learn the Basic English level. 2.3. Difficulties encountered by the 10th form students in the speaking skill 2.3.1. The students’ background and their English levels In general, sts in my school come from farmers’ famalies . They don’t have good condition to learn English . Beside the lessons in class , they have no chance of speaking in other places such as in clubs or centres of speaking like sts in cities. Moreover, they do not have clear determination on English learning goals.Some sts themselves and even their parents don’t appriciate learning English , they only focus on the importance of maths, physics and chemistry. Although all of sts in my school have been taught English for fours years at lower secondary school but their level is still very low 2.3.2. Sts’ attitude towards the importance of studying the speaking skill. Most of the 10th grade students at YD2SS highly appreciate the importance of speaking skill. However, they find it difficult to master in English , especially in speaking , so a great number of them tend to concentrate on grammar and reading or writing exercises with the mere purpose is to pass their final written examination only . 2.3.3. Problems related to the speaking materials Some topics in the textbook are not interesting enough to attract ss to the lessons 2.3.4 Problems related to the environment It can’t be denied that speaking environment plays an integral part in improving ss’s ability of communication . SS in my school, however, do not have good atsmosphere to practise this skill . The only time for them to master this skill is in English periods , in which English speaking is not always performed all the time by both teachers and ss due to the fact that if the teacher speaks English all the time, a majority of ss hardly comprehend anything. Beside this time ss seldom 6 speak anything in English . That’s why they make little progress in commmunicative approach 2.4. Suggestions for teachers and sts in teaching and learning the speaking skill 2.4.1. For the students 2.4.1.1. Positive attitude Sts should have a positive attitude and motivation towards learning speaking skills. The students need to have a clear goal in learning English and feel confident as well as comfortable when speaking English. 2.4.1.2. Practice speaking frequently outside class Try to practice speaking outside class. Besides speaking in class,ss should have an English speaking club consisting of 3 or 4 ss . They can share and talk about anything , they can learn together , and can correct each other without feeling embarrassed English will become ss’routine by doing that activity(Hetrakul, 1995) 2.4.1.3. Accumulating vocabulary , doing grammar exercise everyday. The students must learn new words , and master in grammar day by day so that they can have enough structures to communicate confidently 2.4.2. For teachers 2.4.2.1. Activating the students’ Vocabulary The teacher can activate students’ vocabulary by eliciting as many words related to the topic as possible . This is an important input of speech 2.4.2.2. Pronunciation The findings in the study show that incorrect pronunciation hinders at least many students from speaking , so teachers need to help students expose themselves and get familiar with precise pronunciation of native speakers. By doing that the students’ pronunciation capacity is much more improved, which will help students find speaking with native speakers effective and efficient. As mentioned above, many teachers think that students’ accurate pronunciation is of great help for them in listening acquisition. And of course if they listen well , their reponse in communication is better 2.4.2.3. Improving the learning environment of the speaking skill It is necessary to force ss only to speak English in class First of all, teacher must always use English during his lessons . Second, even when teaching other skills ( reading, listening, witing , language focus ) teacher should always ask ss to speak as mush as possible The teacher himself must be able to convince ss to be brave to speak English, does not matter if they make grammar mistakes , encourage them to say whatever they want , teacher should make clear to all ss that making mistakes is a normal thing in speaking a foreign langagage . This way will raise ss’s confidence to speak ,it will be better if teacher doesn’s correct ss’s mistakes but should feedback and give explanation for every error after ss finish their speech 7 2.4.2.4. Teacher should use various ways of teaching speaking to encourage ss to talk in class There are plenty of beneficial classroom activities and practices which can be manipulated according to the needs of learners and the specific purposes. Some of these activities are as follows (Kayi, 2006): Discussion A topic for the discussion is picked as the first stage of the activity. Preferably small groups are then formed either by the teacher or by the learners themselves, but it is recommended that groups should be rearranged in every discussion. This way they have the opportunity to get to know different ideas and different people. Role-play In role-play activities, students are assigned different roles which they may have outside the classroom environment, in real life. These are in some way an imitation of real life situations. Students are expected to use appropriate language according to the context in which role-play takes place. Before the activity starts, the teacher must clearly explain the situation to the learners so they know what specific events are supposed to happen in the activity. Then explain the goal of role-play, that is what the product of the activity will be. After that, each student is cast in his/her role to brainstorming is required in order to form a background knowledge of the probable vocabulary, grammar, and idioms used in the activity. All these things are done taking into consideration the level of learners. Simulation Stimulation is similar to role-play except that it is more detailed and elaborate. Usually real objects and items related to specific context are used in 8 order to make the situation and environment more authentic. For instance, when a student plays the role of a doctor, the teacher can bring a stethoscope to the class. Story-telling In this activity learners are asked to briefly present in front of the class a story they have heard or read before. They can also make their own story. It can also include other interesting passages like riddles or jokes. This activity type can both promote speaking ability of students and attract the whole class attention. Information gap In information gap activities learners are supposed to work together and share pieces of information in order to fill in the gap of information. One of the partners does not have a specific piece of information, that is the gap, and the partner does. The two partners ask and answer questions regarding the gap of information so that the former gets to know the answer. 2.4.2.5. Giving extracurricular activities , redesigning the lesson According to the students, the topics in the textbook are not interesting enough for them but the material can not be changed. Therefore, the teacher should give extracurricular activities or redesign the task so that the students are hook on their lesson. The students will take part in the activities enthusiastically and improve speaking skill gradually. 2.5. Applying suggestions in teaching the speaking skill for 10th form sts I myself have applied these suggestions in teaching the speaking skill. Firstly, I have redesigned some lessons so that they are more interesting and easier for ss to practise .Further more,I have held some extracurricular activities recently in which sts speak English all the time. Below is one of my lessons in which I have applied some ways to improve the speaking skill UNIT 11: NATIONAL PARKS B. SPEAKING I / Objective:  Educational aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Talk about an excursion.  Express their regrets. 9 luggage  Knowledge:  General knowledge: Ss learn how to express their regrets about what food they did or did not do during the excursion. drink  Language: Sentences and expressions related to the topic. s candles blankets  Skill: Expressing information and speaking for details. Warm II/ Teaching aids: handouts, colored chalk, pictures, textbook, blackboard, chalk, computer, screen, etc III/ Methods: Integrated, mainly communicative approach IV/ PROCEDURE Stages/ Teacher’s activities Students’ Timing activities tents - T declares the winner -Lead-in: “All items you’ve written are very necessary when you go on an excursion or camping. Today, we’re going to learn how to talk about an excursion and express the regrets.” First, I am going to help you with some new words - Take part in the game -Listen to T's eliciting and play game In groups -Listen and take notes Pre teach vocabulary + excursion /ɪk ˈskɜːrʒn\angnp9/ (n) a short journey0made for pleasure, especially one0that has been organized for a group of people (chuyến |ham 10 quan) + consequence / ˈkɒnsɪkwəns/ (n) a result of sth that has - Listen and take notes happened (hậu quả, kết quả) + food poisoning /fu:d ˈpɔɪzənɪŋ/ (n) an illness of the stomach caused by eating food that contains harmful bacteria (ngộ độc thức ăn) + fine /faɪn/ (n) a sum of money that must be paid -Take part in the game as punishment for breaking a law or rule (tiền phạt) + carsick /ˈkɑːrsɪk/ (n) feeling ill or sick because you are travelling in a car (say tàu xe) * Checking vocabulary Game : Slap the board Teacher writes the words on the board _listen to the teacher ( jumpled order) -Do the task T calls two ss to go to the board , when T calls out 11 - one word in Vietnamese, ss have to slap the word in English . If they slap the right one, they get one point T declares the winner -Listen to the teacher Activity 1: Matching. Read the requirement and help ss understand some sentences - Ask ss to work in pairs, read the columns carefully and match the things and the consequences. *Suggested answers: 1.f 2.e 3.h 4.g 5.b 6.c 7.a 8.d Activity 2 -Take notes : - Work in groups to do the task 12 Showing regrets. ( look and say technique) -Speak in turns - Give instruction: You are Nga’s classmates and you are not happy with the excursion. Now, you are talking with some -Work in pairs, study the dialogue other friends about what you wish you had or had not done. -Ask ss to read the examples in the textbook and recall what grammatical structure is used in the example Conditional Sentence Type 3 Eg: - If we hadn’t gone by coach, we wouldn’t have got carsick. - If we had gone by bike, we wouldn’t have got carsick. Form: If + S + had + P.P (V3/ V- ed) , S + would have + P.P (V3/ V-ed) Meaning: unreal condition in the past. - Asks ss to work in groups to do the task - Goes around and help 13 them -In this part , in order to make the class more interesting, T asks the class to take part in the game - Divides the class into two groups, T prepares some handouts in which there are the statements in column A . Each time, T tosses a piece of paper in one group, the st who catches the paper has to read the equivalence in column B. If she/he gives the right answer, she/he can get ten points for her/his team - T declares the winner -Listen and take notes -Listen and take notes Activity 3 : Asking and answering ( Roleplay ) - T asks Ss to work in pairs . * sets the situation : One of you is Nga and the other in another school.Ask and answer about an excursion - T gives the dialogue on the handouts and asks Ss to make the same 14 Model:Nga’s friend: Last Saturday, I phoned you but you weren’t at home . Your dad said that you were going on an excursion. Where did you do? Nga.I went to Huong Pagada with my class. A: Really? Was that fun? B Not really? A: Why so? B: Most of the things we did went wrong A: Tell me, How did you do there? 1 B: If we had not gone by coach , we would not have got carsick. 2 Nag’s friend Nga -Ask about the means -Answer of transport -.Ask about the food -Answer - Ask about the -Answer duration of the excursion -Answer -Ask what they did in Huong Pagoda :- Express your regrets 15 about an excursion by using the conditional sentences - Asking and answering about an excursion - Prepare Lesson 3: LISTENING 2.5. Results In the year 2014-2015 , I taught 10C1, 10 C2, In the first term , I didn’t apply these methods .The number of students who are good at this skill is very low . However, in the seecond term , after applying some methods to improve the speaking skill, I asked my sts to do a mini -speaking test. The result is very high. Class Time Exellent sts Quite good sts Average sts Bad sts st 10C1 1 term 12 % `14 % 63 % 11 % nd 110C1 2 term 22 % 50 % 24 % 4% st 10C2 1 term 6% 12 % 73% 9% nd 10C2 2 term 11 % 20 % 64% 5% III. CONCLUSIONS From the experience of teaching English in a rural area ( in Yen Dinh 2 school), I have found that a great variety of students in my school are afraid of learning English especially speaking and listening, which are considered to be the most important inputs to maintain conversations . With a view to helping ss improve their speaking ability , I have conducted this research . Although I have tried best to offer some insightful findings through the study; however, the limitations are unavoidable. , I hope to receive the sincere contribution from my colegues about my research to help me perfect my study and enhance the teaching English skills in my school 16 Xác nhận của thủ trưởng đơn vị Hiệu trưởng Lê Gia Minh Yên Định, ngày 15 tháng 05 năm 2015 Tôi xin cam đoan đây là NCKH của mình viết, không sao chép nội dung của người khác. Người thực hiện Trịnh Thị Thanh REFERENCES 1. Bailey, K.M., & Savage, L. (1994). New ways in teaching speaking. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. 2. Brown, H.D. (1994). Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to language pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents. 3. Burns, A., & Joyce, H. (1997). Focus on speaking. Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research. 4. Carter, R. & McCarthy, M. (1995). Grammar and spoken language. 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Sách “ Một số vấn đề về đổi mới phương pháp dạy học bậc THPT môn tiếng Anh của Bộ GD-ĐT 13. Tài liệu tập huấn đổi mới phương pháp môn tiếng Anh WEBSITES http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk https://www.englishclub.com TABLE OF CONTENTS I/ INTRODUCTION 1. Reason for choosing the study 2. Objectives of the study 3. Scope of the study 4. Methodology of the study 5. Significance of the study II/ DEVELOPMENT 1. Theoretical background of the speaking skill 1.1. What is the speaking skill? 1.2 The importance of speaking 1.3. Phases in the speaking learning process 1.4. Potential problems in learning the EL speaking skill 2. The setting of the study 3.Difficuties encountered by the 10 form sts in the speaking skill 4. Suggestions for teachers and sts in teaching the and learning the speaking skill 5. Apllying suggestions in teaching the speaking skill for 10 form ts 6. Result after applying the research. III/CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 6 6 7 9 14 15 18