Những thủ thuật phát triển kỹ năng giao tiếp tiếng Anh của sinh viên chương trình tiên tiến tại trường Đại học Kỹ thuật Công nghiệp Thái Nguyên

Dương Đức Minh Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 84(08): 123 - 128

Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 123 http://www.lrc-tnu.edu.vn

AN EXPLORATION OF STRATEGIES FOR ORAL SKILLS IMPROVEMENT

BY ADVANCED PROGRAM STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

OF TECHNOLOGY

Duong Duc Minh*

Thai Nguyen University of Technology - TNU

ABSTRACT

Research in language learning strategy has addressed the necessity of improving oral skills in

second language acquisition. This study attempts to explore strategies reported to be employed by

30 EFL advanced program students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) to improve

their oral skills. Semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used as the

instruments for the data collection. The data was then analyzed qualitatively for the purpose of the

study. The findings of the study showed that two main categories to improve speaking skills have

been reported included 1) fluency-focused strategies and 2) accuracy-focused strategies. Two main

categories to improve listening skill comprised 1) direct strategies and 2) indirect strategies.

Key words: oral skills improvement, language learning strategy, science-oriented students.

INTRODUCTION*

Nowadays, English has become an

international language, and it is widely used

in various areas, especially in education as

well as science and technology areas. As the

result, students have to be aware of the

necessary to employ strategies to success in

their study academically and socially.

According to Feyten (1991), of the total time

people spend on communication, 45% is on

listening, 30% on speaking, 16% on reading,

and 9% on writing [5]. Oral skills, both

speaking and listening, are at the very

foundation of literacy, and they play an

important role in the study of students, so it is

clear that oral skills have an important impact

on student's personal and professional life.

The advanced program (AP) has been put into

practice at TNUT from the academic year

2009 – 2010. In the advanced programs, all

the courses are taught in English except some

compulsory courses, e.g. Marxist – Leninism,

Physical Education, and National Defense

Education are taught in Vietnamese. At least

60% of courses are instructed by professors

from the University of New York at Buffalo

and invited professors from renowned

universities worldwide to participate in

teaching [17]. As a result, AP students are not

only required to specialize their knowledge

but also to improve their English (especially

*

Listening, and Speaking skills) in order to

achieve greater efficiency in the learning

process at Thai Nguyen University of

Technology.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Language learning strategies (LLS) are the

behaviors or steps which an individual uses to

enhance his/her learning. The term

“strategies” which applies to language

improvement, has been developed since the

first studies by Rubin (1975) [14], Oxford

(1990) [10] and Kyong and Oxford (2008)

[6]. Examples are note taking, practicing,

finding a conversation partner, analyzing

words, using background knowledge, and

controlling anxiety. There have hundreds of

such strategies been identified. Successful

language learners use language learning

strategies that are most effective for them and

they put them together smoothly to fit the

needs of a given language task while less

successful learners are “a desperate grab-bag

of ill-matched techniques”.

In some recent years, a lot of attention has

been paid to the importance of developing

strategies in language learning. Many

research works has been conducted to

examined and explored the use of learning

strategies in the teaching and learning of

vocabulary (Brown and Perry, 1991) [2],

listening comprehension (Rossano, 1994)

[13], reading (Rusciolelli, 1995) [15], and in

the understanding of the learning process