DẠY kỹ NĂNG nói CHO SINH VIÊN CAO học KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH ở đại học QUỐC GIA hà nội

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES..................................................................................iv

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................1

1.Rationale of the study...................................................................................................1

2.Scope of the study.........................................................................................................1

3.Aim and objectives of the study...................................................................................2

4.Research questions of the study....................................................................................2

5.Methods of the study....................................................................................................2

6.Organization of the study..............................................................................................2

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT.........................................................................................4

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.......................................................4

I.1 The nature of language skills......................................................................................4

I.1.1 The nature of language skills...................................................................................4

I.1.2 The nature of speaking skill....................................................................................4

I.1.2.1 What is speaking?................................................................................................4

I.1.2.2 What are components of speaking?.....................................................................5

I.1.2.3 What skills and knowledge does a good speaker need?......................................7

I.2 Teaching adults...........................................................................................................8

I.3 How speaking skill has been taught to adult ESOL learners.....................................9

CHAPTER II: THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH

SPEAKING SKILL AT VNUH....................................................................................13

II.1 Overview of the subjects of the study.....................................................................13

II.2 Data analysis...........................................................................................................14

II.2.1 Discussion of the survey questionnaires..............................................................14

II.2.2 Presentation of statistical results..........................................................................15

II.2.2.1 Teaching and learning speaking skill at SGS as seen from students’

perspective....................................................................................................................15

II.2.2.2 Teaching and learning speaking skill at SGS as seen from teachers’

perspective....................................................................................................................17

III.1 Findings.................................................................................................................19

III.1.1 From students’ perspective.................................................................................19

III.1.2 From teachers’ perspective.................................................................................21

III.2 Recommendations..................................................................................................21

III.3 Suggested activities for motivating students and improving their speaking ability

27

PART THREE: CONCLUSION.......................................................................................43

1. Summary of the study................................................................................................43

2. Suggestions for further study.....................................................................................43

REFERENCES A

APPENDIX C

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to those who have contributed to this thesis and proud to acknowledge their

help.

I would like first and foremost to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my

supervisor, Ms. Phan Thi Van Quyen, for her inspiring and invaluable guidance, advice,

encouragement and everything that I learnt from her throughout my work. Without her this

thesis would not have been possible.

My sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and the staff of the Department of Post Graduate

Studies at College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University for their useful

lectures, assistance and enthusiasm during my course.

Special acknowledgement is also given to my colleges and former MA students of law,

technology, economics, education and business administration at Vietnam National

University Hanoi, who have been very supportive in filling the survey questionnaires.

Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my husband and my family for their

understanding, patience and support during the entire period of my study.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương

ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AOL Age Of Learning

C Consonant

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages

MA Master of Arts

SGS School of Graduate Studies

TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

VNUH Vietnam National University, Hanoi

V Vowel

iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Units of spoken language.

Table 1: Speaking activities and topics/drills in the course book ‘English for Graduate

Students’.

Table 2: What make students interested in speaking in English class.

Table3: What make students unwilling to speak in English class.

Table 4: Students’ assessment of classroom speaking activities given by teachers.

Table 5: Teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking for MA students at SGS.

Table 6: What teachers do to motivate students to speak in class.

Table 7: Suggested ideas for discussion.

Table 8: Activities suitable for each unit in the course book ‘English for Graduate

Students’.

iv

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale of the study

Today, English is the language of globalization, international communication, commerce,

the media and pop culture, and thus, affects motivations for learning English. English is no

longer seen as the property of the English-speaking world but as an international

commodity sometimes referred to as World English or An International Language.

In Vietnam, foreign languages, with English as the most studied, have become a

compulsory subject at schools and colleges. Many students begin their learning English

when they are ten years old. City children even have their first lessons of English as early

as they attend primary school. As for MA students of laws, economy, technology,

education and business administration at VNUH, the minimum time of dealing with

English before their MA course is 420 class contacts (approximately 315 hours). They are

supposed to be of pre-intermediate level of English before having another 150 class

contacts as a compulsory part of their MA course at VNUH. However, it is surprising to

learn that many of these students are incapable of using their English to talk, even in class.

What is more, the same situation exists in many other colleges and universities in Vietnam.

There have been numerous studies on this situation and various solutions,

recommendations and suggestions have been given, including changing teaching methods,

changing syllabus or textbooks, upgrading teachers’ qualifications, changing formats of

speaking tests and so on. At SGS – VNUH, which is in charge of teaching English for MA

students at VNUH, no such a research has been done before. The author, as a full-time

teacher at SGS, is more than aware of the situation and she herself has encountered a

number of difficulties in helping her students improve their speaking skill. This actually

drives her to this research, namely “Teaching speaking skill for non-major MA students at

VNUH”.

2. Scope of the study

To improve speaking skill for non-major MA students of English at VNUH, various

methods can be made used of. However, within the framework of a minor thesis, the author

only intends to give an overview of the current situation of teaching and learning speaking

skill at SGS – VNUH and to suggest activities to help teachers improve their students’

speaking skill and achieve the objectives of each unit of the course book as well. The

suggested activities will serve as a reference for teachers to teach effectively speaking

topics in the course book English for Graduate Students only.

1