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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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