English speaking skills by rural 9th graders versus urban ones in Binh Dinh province = Kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 9 thành thị so với nông thôn ở tỉnh Bình Định

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

HO THI DIEM

ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS BY RURAL 9th

GRADERS VERSUS URBAN ONES IN BINH DINH

PROVINCE

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. NGUYEN QUANG NGOAN

GI O V O T O

g h: h g h d y h c bộ môn i g h

8140111

g i h g d : PGS.TS. NGUYỄN QUANG NGO N

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I confirm that the work presented in this research report has been carried

out by myself. Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, no

other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the

thesis. I confirm that this work is submitted in partial fulfillment for the M.A.

thesis in English at Quy Nhon University and has not been submitted

elsewhere in any other form for the fulfillment of any other degree or

qualification.

Quy Nhon, July 2022

h i

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Without the support, encouragement, and contributions from my Assoc.

Prof. Doctors, Doctors, colleagues, friends and family, the successful

completion of this thesis work would not have been possible. I take this

chance to appreciate them for their expert advice and wise invaluable

comments, and generous time. They have enriched my knowledge and made

my graduate journey a memorable chapter in my life.

First and foremost, I am grateful to my thesis supervisor, Assoc. Prof.

Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoan, for his amazing supervision. His outstanding

knowledge and profession teaching-related expertise inspired me greatly

during my academic life at Quy Nhon University, and he opened new

horizons for me in the field. I appreciate his accommodating guidelines and

suggestions, great patience, and strong management skills in helping me

resolve the obstacles during the time I carried out my thesis. I feel fortunate to

have had him support for my work.

I was also thankful to my colleagues for their fascinating assistance,

support and management during the pilot phase. They not only encouraged

me when I met obstacles during my thesis, but also gave me valuable insights

into my thesis. I am very lucky to know all of them.

Last, but not least, I am grateful to all the support and encouragement I

received from my beloved family throughout my thesis education.

iii

ABSTRACT

This research was conducted with the aim to investigate similarities and

differences in speaking English between rural 9th graders and urban ones in

Binh Dinh Province, how well rural 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province speak

English, compared to urban 9th graders in Binh Dinh Province. In this study,

quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied for comparative analysis.

The population of the study was 69 rural 9

th graders, 61 urban ones and 6

English teachers in charge of teaching those 9th graders of the 6 secondary

schools chosen to investigate in Binh Dinh Province consisting of 3 secondary

schools in an urban area and 3 ones in a rural area. The instruments were Test

and Interview. The data for analysis selected from the first test (Test 1), the

second test (Test 2) and the interviews were analyzed by means of SPSS. The

findings showed that there was significant difference about English speaking

skills among the urban group and the rural group. However, there was

improvement between the first test and the second test among the two groups.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................... i

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

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......................................................................... vii

LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................viii

LIST OF CHARTS ........................................................................................... x

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 1

1.1 Rationale...................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Research aim and objectives....................................................................... 3

1.3 Research questions...................................................................................... 4

1.4 Scope of the study ....................................................................................... 4

1.5 Significance of the study............................................................................. 4

1.6 Structure of the thesis.................................................................................. 5

CHAPTER 2.LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 7

2.1 Oral communication and the Speaking skill in a Foreign Language.......... 7

2.1.1 Definitions of Oral communication and the Speaking skill .............. 7

2.1.2 Oral proficiency ............................................................................... 12

2.1.3 Necessity of Speaking Assessment.................................................. 14

2.1.4 Test specifications............................................................................ 15

2.1.5 Speaking Component Assessment using the Components of

English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) ............................ 15

2.2 Speaking skills of the 9th graders in Vietnam ........................................... 19

2.3 External factors and speaking in English.................................................. 20

2.3.1 Family factor.................................................................................... 21

v

2.3.2 Socio-economic factor..................................................................... 21

2.3.3 Facilities and resources.................................................................... 21

2.3.4 Teacher‟s qualification .................................................................... 22

2.4 Related studies .......................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE................................ 29

3.1 Research design......................................................................................... 29

3.2 Participants................................................................................................ 30

3.3 Instruments................................................................................................ 31

3.3.1 Tests................................................................................................. 32

3.3.2 Interviews......................................................................................... 33

3.4 Procedure................................................................................................... 33

3.4.1 Data collection ................................................................................. 33

3.4.2 Data analysis.................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.............................................. 36

4.1 Students‟ English speaking test results..................................................... 36

4.1.1 Participants‟ English speaking test results within the two groups .. 37

4.1.2 Participants‟ English speaking test results between the two

groups........................................................................................................ 39

4.2 Students‟ conversation skills and project presentation skills.................... 40

4.2.1 Students‟ conversation skills from Test 1 and Test 2...................... 40

4.2.2 The students‟ belief in their conversation skills from the

interviews.................................................................................................. 41

4.2.3 Students‟ project presentation skills from the interviews................ 45

4.3 Students‟ abilities of giving personal opinions and exchanging ideas

and information between the two groups........................................................ 47

4.4 Students‟ English pronunciation ............................................................... 48

4.4.1 Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban group.... 49

4.4.2 Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the rural group ..... 53

vi

4.4.3 Students‟ opinions about English pronunciation............................. 57

4.4.4 Teachers‟ opinions about English pronunciation ............................ 64

4.5 External factors influence the students‟ English speaking skills.............. 66

4.5.1 Results from the students................................................................. 66

4.5.2 Results from the teachers................................................................. 68

4.6 Summary ................................................................................................... 69

CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION........................................................................ 72

5.1. Summary of the study .............................................................................. 72

5.2. Summary of key findings of the study..................................................... 72

5.3. Implications.............................................................................................. 73

5.4 Limitations and suggestions for further study .......................................... 74

REFERENCES................................................................................................ 76

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MOET: Ministry of Education and Training

EFL: English as a foreign language

L2: Second language

L1: First language

ELDA: English Language Development

Assessment

SES: Socio-ecomomic Status

Q1: Question 1

Q2: Question 2

Q3: Question 3

Q4: Question 4

ST 1: Student 1

ST 2: Student 2

ST 3: Student 3

ST 4: Student 4

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Speaking scoring rubric of the tests............................................... 17

Table 4.1: Reliability Statistics for Test 1....................................................... 36

Table 4.2: Reliability Statistics for Test 2....................................................... 37

Table 4.3: Mean difference of students‟ speaking test results in the rural

group ............................................................................................. 38

Table 4.4: Mean difference of students‟ speaking test results in the urban

group ............................................................................................. 38

Table 4.5: Students‟ English speaking test results between the two groups .. 39

Table 4.6: Students‟ conversation skills in speaking in English between

the two groups............................................................................... 41

Table 4.7: Students‟ abilities of giving personal opinions and exchanging

ideas and information between the two groups ............................ 48

Table 4.8: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking in English between the two

groups............................................................................................ 49

Table 4.9: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the urban group in Test 1............................................. 50

Table 4.10: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 1 .............................................................................. 50

Table 4.11: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the urban group in Test 2............................................. 52

Table 4.12: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 2 .............................................................................. 52

Table 4.13: Reliability Statistics of students‟ pronunciation in speaking

English in the rural group in Test 1 .............................................. 54

Table 4.14: Students‟ pronunciation in speaking English in the urban

group in Test 1 .............................................................................. 54