6 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Teachers’ experience Table 2: Teachers’ facts and opinions concerning large classes Table 3: Difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes Table 4: Difficulty in managing class and monitoring students’ work Table 5: Solutions to manage class and monitor students’ work Table 6: Difficulty in promoting interaction in classes Table 7: Solutions to promote interaction in classes Table 8: Difficulties posed by students Table 9: Solutions to deal with difficulties posed by students Table 10: Difficulty in giving students maximum opportunities to show the product Table 11: Solutions to help teachers give students maximum opportunities to show the product Table 12: Difficulty in selecting activities Table 13: Solutions to select activities Table 14: Difficulty in teaching preparation Table 15: Solutions to teaching preparation TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………….….iii LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………………… iv PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Review of related studies Rationale Objectives of the study Research questions .4 Significance of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study .4 Design of the study .4 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .6 1.1 Teaching English in large classes 1.1.1 What is a large class? .6 1.1.2 Challenges of working with large classes .7 1.1.3 Attitude towards teaching English in large classes .7 1.2 Teaching speaking skill 1.2.1 Concept of speaking .8 1.2.2 The importance of teaching speaking skill in the classroom .9 1.2.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity .9 CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL RESEARCH…………………………………………………11 2.1 The English teaching and learning context ………………………………………… 11 2.2 Methods of the study ……………………………………………………………………12 2.2.1 Subjects of the study…………………………………………………………… 12 2.2.2 Instruments of the study………………………………………………………… 12 2.2.3 Data collection procedure……………………………………………………… 13 2.3 Data analysis and discussion ………………………………………………………… 14 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND RECOMMANDATIONS ………………………………25 3.1 Findings………………………………………………………………………………… 25 3.1.1 Teachers’ difficulty in teaching preparation…………………………………… 25 3.1.2 Teachers’ difficulty in managing class and monitoring students’ work………….26 3.2 Some recommendations…………………………………………………………………27 3.2.1 Creating a Small-Class Atmosphere in a Large-Class Setting……………………….27 3.2.1.1 Learn students' names………………………………………………………… 27 3.2.1.2 Give clear instructions………………………………………………………….27 3.2.1.3 Use a microphone………………………………………………………………29 3.2.1.4 Move around the classroom or lecture hall…………………………………… 30 3.2.2 Encouraging Class Participation…………………………………………………… 29 3.2.2.1 Divide the class into pairs/groups………………………………………………30 3.2.2.2 Give participation points……………………………………………………… 31 3.2.2.3 Have students contribute material for class…………………………………….31 3.2.3 Evaluating……………………………………………………………………………31 3.2.3.1 Require some groups’ product of the activity to grade ……………………… 31 3.2.3.2 Occasionally require an individual product based on group work …………….31 3.2.3.3 Use peer evaluations at the end of an activity………………………………… 31 3.2.4 Reflecting on your teaching………………………………………………………….32 3.2.5 Selecting activities………………………………………………………………… 32 PART 3: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………36 REFERECES…………………………………………………………………………………38 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Questionnaire I Appendix 2: Classroom observation……………………………………………………… VI PART 1: INTRODUCTION Review of related studies There is vast literature on issues related to the teaching and learning in large classes The following division of issues on large classes may help the readers have an overview on this topic a Advantages and disadvantages in large classes The advantages of large classes include decreased instructor costs, efficient use of faculty time and talent, availability of resources, and standardization of the learning experience (McLeod, 1998) However, there are significant disadvantages to large classes, including strained impersonal relations between students and the teacher, limited range of teaching methods and discomfort among teachers teaching large classes (McLeod 1998) b Class size and student performance There have been conflicting results among extant researches on the relationship between class size and student performance The results of some studies show no significant relationship between class size and student performance (Hancock, 1996; Kennedy & Siegfried, 1997), while other studies favor small class environments (Gibbs, Lucas, & Simonite, 1996; Borden & Burton, 1999; Arias & Walker, 2004) Results vary based on the criteria used to gauge student performance, as well as the class size measure itself When traditional achievement tests are used, small classes provide no advantage over large classes (Kennedy & Siegfried, 1997) However, if additional performance criteria are used (e.g., long-term retention, problem-solving skills), it appears that small classes hold an advantage (Gibbs et al., 1996; Arias & Walker, 2004) c Effectiveness of teaching methods The traditional passive view of learning involves situations where material is delivered to students using a lecture-based format In contrast, a more modern view of learning is constructivism, where students are expected to be active in the learning process by participating in discussion and/or collaborative activities (Fosnot, 1989) Overall, the results of recent studies concerning the effectiveness of teaching methods favor constructivist, active 10 learning methods The findings of a study by de Caprariis, Barman, & Magee (2001) suggest that lecture leads to the ability to recall facts, but discussion produces higher level comprehension Further, research on group-oriented discussion methods has shown that team learning and student-led discussions not only produce favorable student performance outcomes, but also foster greater participation, self confidence and leadership ability (Perkins & Saris, 2001; Yoder & Hochevar, 2005) Hunt, Haidet, Coverdale, and Richards (2003) examined student performance in team based methods In contrast to these findings, a study by Barnes & Blevins (2003) suggests that active, discussion-based methods are inferior to the traditional lecture-based method A comparison of lecture combined with discussion versus active, cooperative learning methods by Morgan, Whorton, & Gunsalus (2000) demonstrated that the use of the lecture combined with discussion resulted in superior retention of material among students d Students’ preferences for teaching methods In terms of students’ preferences for teaching methods, a study by Qualters (2001) suggests that students not favor active learning methods because of the in-class time taken by the activities, fear of not covering all of the material in the course, and anxiety about changing from traditional classroom expectations to the active structure In contrast, research by Casado (2000) examined perceptions across six teaching methods: lecture/discussion, lab work, inclass exercises, guest speakers, applied projects, and oral presentations Students most preferred the lecture/discussion method Lab work, oral presentation, and applied projects were also favorably regarded Hunt et al (2003) also noted favorable student attitudes towards active learning methods In Vietnam, Trần Thị Ngọc Bắc (2005) conducted an experiment with the use of group work and questioning techniques for increasing students’ participation in communicative activities in large classes at Thái Nguyên College of Education She came to the conclusion that these techniques strongly increase the students’ talking time and particiaption and reduce teacher’s talking time in language activities 11 Đặng Quỳnh Trâm (2006) carried out a survey research to find solutions to improve cooperative learning in non-English major multilevel classes at Thái Nguyên University of Education In a research by Trịnh Lan Hương (2008), she suggested some communicative activities for large multilevel classes at Electric Power University to help students acquire grammatical knowledge in a communicative way In 2009, Nguyễn Đức Hưng carried out a study on increasing students’ participation in commnunicative activities in large classes by using group work and questioning techniques at Marie Curie High School, Hải Phòng He proved that the two techniques: group work and questioning will help students increase their participation in communicative activities in large classes In short, although there have been a variety of books and researches on teaching and learning in large classes, but there is inadequate research touching upon the issues of teaching speaking skill to large English classes Moreover, speaking skill is fundamental to people’s communication This fact leads me to this study Rationale Most teachers agree that teaching a small group of students is easier, more enjoyable, and less time consuming than teaching a large group Unfortunately, due to budgets, space, or lack of teachers, many ESL schools only offer large classes In some schools, large classes may consist of up to 50 or more students and Thành Đô University is not an exception What Gorlach (1995) said is true in the case of Thành Đô University Class size ranges from forty to fifty students, which makes it difficult for teachers to arrange activities enabling students to practice speaking Over-sized English classes make speaking lessons stiff and unmoving Speaking skill should be kept in mind to be the most popular and effective way of communication But how to teach speaking skill effectively when there are so many students in a class is a matter of great concern 12 The study is designed to find out the problems of large size English speaking teaching classes and to suggest the use of some solutions to minimize the difficulties of this reality Objectives of the study The objectives of the study comprise the followings: a To identify the practical problems of large size English speaking teaching classes at Thành Đô University b To discover suitable solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of teaching English speaking skill in large classes at Thành Đô University Research questions To reach the objectives of the study, the two research questions are addressed: a What are the teachers’ most common problems of large English speaking classes at Thành Đô University? b What are the solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of teaching English speaking skill in large classes at Thành Đô University? Significance of the study It is hope that the study will help to better my own teaching and give the colleagues at Thành Đô University and those whose are concerned with large classes in terms of teaching speaking skill as well as some suggestions to improve this situation at Thành Đô University and also at colleges and universities nationwide Scope of the study This study limits itself to the investigation of teachers of English at Thành Đô University, Hanoi to find out their difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large non-English-major classes through questionnaire and classroom observation The classes observed are first year non-English-major college students Methods of the study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to carry out the study That is, the data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected by means of: a Questionnaire b Classroom observation 13 Design of the study The study consists of three chapters, excluding the Introduction (which contains Literature review, Rationale, Objectives of the study, Research questions, Significance of the study, Scope of the study, Methods of the study and Design of the study) and the Conclusion (which review the main content and findings of the study and end with some suggestions for further researches) Chapter 1, Theoretical background, presents the basic theoretical background on two issues: Teaching English in large classes in general and teaching speaking skill in large classes in particular Chapter 2, Practical research, consists of three parts: The first part, The English teaching and learning context, provides the background information about the university, the teachers, the students, the materials as well as facilities for English teaching and learning The second part, Methods of the studies, shows how the research was carried out Subjects, instruments of the study, procedure of data collection, and methods of data analysis are found in this part The third part, Data analysis & discussion, presents the results of the questionnaires and classroom observations Chapter 3, Findings and recommendations, proposes the findings concluded from the results of the third part of chapter and some recommendations for teachers at Thành Đô University in the hope of helping them to minimize the difficulties and maximize the benefits in large classes which are not only common in Thành Đô University but also in Vietnam’s universities and colleges 14 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Teaching English in large classes 1.1.1 What is a large class? Firstly, the question to be addressed as we start our study of this module is “what is a large class?” This question was put to some senior academics attending a UNESCO Regional Workshop on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Kenya The views of a large class were expressed as follows: “Large classes have more than 100 students enrolled.” “A large class is one with more students than available facilities can support.” “There is no fixed number The large class depends on the discipline- smaller number for engineering, science, and medicine and large number for the arts, humanities, and social science.” “There is nothing like a large class The large class is only the mind of the orthodox teacher.” (UNESCO Regional Workshop) There is no agreed definition of a large class in the literature Some teachers simply define “large” as “to many students to learn names by the end of the semester” Thus, the concept of a large class varies from teacher to teacher One person’s large class is what some others consider as regular, normal, or even small For example, a social science lecturer may not think 50 students make for a class However, a foreign language teacher who works alone with a class of 50 and who individualizes their teaching finds class to be overcrowded Therefore, large class can be understood as one that feels large That means, if a teacher feel that the class size stops her/him from working in her/his preferred way, it is large for her/him 15 Ur (1996: 302) also stated that “large class” varies from place to place, and “the exact number does not really matter: what matter in how you, the teacher see the class size in your own specific situation In our context, we decide to choose Nolasco & Arthur’s definition of large classes in Large classes (1988) in which they indicate that an average large class may be from 40 students 1.1.2 Challenges of working with large classes In large classes, students come from different backgrounds, areas and they are different in learning styles, preferences levels of English proficiency, and general attitudes towards English Therefore, these classes are usually multilevel and cause various challenges for effective teaching and learning English The most difficulty concerning classroom management in which teachers find it troublesome and stressed is to control the whole class effectively and give students different learning styles individually In such large classes, students are easy to get bored, frustrated as stronger student may feel held back while the weaker ones may feel pressured Moreover, according to Ur (1996: 303), teachers of large classes also face with the problems of discipline, correcting written assignments, creating effective learning for all, finding suitable materials, and activating all students, especially silent ones In large classes, teachers neither make sure if their students are learning effectively because the tasks given are either too difficult or too easy for many of them nor they can find topics and activities that keep all students interested because students are crowded and they are also different More seriously, teachers find it too difficult to activate students They not take part in class activity, or they are silent, only few students appear to respond to teachers’ questions 1.1.3 Attitude towards teaching English in large classes "The issues raised by teaching in large classes are rarely addressed Those teachers - and they are numerous - who have to cope with classes that contain 50 or more learners are therefore often ill-prepared to deal with the situation in which they find themselves in schools." (Hayes, 1999) Most English teachers tend to view teaching English in large classes rather negatively 44 a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skill m Find the difference For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given two different pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture of girls playing tennis Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences in the pictures In general, communicative output activities give students the opportunities to experiment, to see how far they can communicate in situations where they themselves are the people who choose the language and to practice using they know fluently These activities also create a supportive atmosphere that allows students to make mistakes without fear of embarrassment These activities also motivate students and make they fell more confident to speak PART 3: CONCLUSION The achievement of the objectives of the study The objecticve of the thesis is to find out the teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes at Thành Đô Univesity, and what solutions can be used to help the teachers minimize the problems in large classes To achieve these objectives, the researcher employed survey questionnaire with the participation of 20 teachers of English at Thành Đô Univesity and five classroom observations The researcher has reached the answers to the two research questions 45 As for the first question, “What are the teachers’ most common problems in large English speaking classes?” the researcher has found that the teachers have difficulties in teaching preparation; and managing class and monitor students’ work To answer the second question “What are the solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of teaching English speaking skill in large classes at Thành Đô University?”, basing on the findings, the thesis in concluded with several suggestions for the teachers to overcome their difficulties Teachers should create a small class atmosphere in a large class setting, encourage class participation, have good ways of evaluation, reflect their teaching with colleagues and select speaking activities The effectiveness of the methods and instruments used The instruments used have proved to be effective in collecting the necessary data for the study The classroom observations were used to get the qualitative data, supporting the results from the questionnaires Obviously, what has been discussed in the study might be beneficial to both teachers of English at Thành Đô Univesity and those at are others colleges and universities in Vietnam With references to the results of this study, it is quite essential for the executive administrators to understand teachers' attitudes and their beliefs as well as the nature of language learning and teaching Also, teachers themselves may need to be trained in how to teach and manage in large classes As for teachers, they should know that good teachers of large classes reflect on their teaching They don’t reflect on the problems of having many students in a classroom It’s a given fact, and nothing can usually be done about it Instead, good teachers think about their teaching-all of it, their own classroom behaviors, the plans they have, the activities they use, the backgrounds and experiences of their students, what and if their students are learning, why and why not And good teachers more than think about their teaching; they use whatever means possible to improve upon it Hopefully through this document, you have learned some valuable tips and suggestions about how to improve teaching and learning in your large class Which ideas you want to try first? Limitations of the study 46 Although the researcher has made efforts toward carrying out this study, limitations are inevitable Firstly, the study has been done with a rather small number of participants, and shortage of time, so the generalizability of the results is limited The study would be much more reliable if it were conducted in longer time Secondly, the reliability of data would much increase if the data generated for observation method had been backed up by videotaping and the questionnaire had been given to the teachers right at the completion of every lesson Suggestions for further studies As no single research design is flawless, all-inclusive and complete, this study cannot cover everything in the field of large English speaking classes It is suggested that the above limitations are the challenging questions for any further study, which will find out more effective methods to overcome these shortcomings Besides, many untouched issues can be interesting topics for further researches such as:  An action research on the effectiveness of the suggested techniques and activities mentioned in this research  A research on techniques and activities for students which help them to improve their speaking skill  A research on the ways of introducing students to current ways of learning speaking REFERENCES IN ENGLISH Arias, J., & Walker, D (2004) Additional evidence on the relationship between class size and student performance Journal of Economic ducation, 4(3), 311-329 Barnes, D., & Blevins, D (2003) An anecdotal comparison of three teaching methods used in the presentation of microeconomics Educational Research Quarterly, 27(4), 41-60 47 Borden, V., & Burton, K (1999, June) The impact of class size on student performance in introductory courses Paper presented at the 39th Annual Conference of the Association for Institutional Research, Seattle, WA Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the spoken language Cambridge University Press Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagory New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Casado, M (2000) Teaching methods in higher education: A student perspective Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 12, 65-70 De Caprariis, P., Barman, C., & Magee, P (2001) Monitoring the benefits of active learning exercises in introductory survey courses in science: An attempt to improve the education of prospective public school teachers The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(2), 1-11 Felder, R (1997) Beating the numbers game: Effective teaching in large classes ASEE Annual Conference, Milwaukee, WI, June [verified 12 Jan 2001] Fosnot, C (1989) Enquiring teachers, enquiring learners New York: Teachers College Press 10 Gibbs, G., Lucas, L., & Simonite, V (1996) Class size and student performance: 1984-94 Studies in Higher Education, 21(3), 261-273 11 Gorlach, M (1995) More Englishes: New studies in varieties of English 1988-1994 Amsterdam: John Bemjamins 12 Hancock, T (1996) Effects of class size on college student achievement College Student Journal, 30(2), 479-481 13 Hayes, D (1997) Helping teachers to cope with large classes ELT Journal, 51(2), Oxford University Press 14 Hunt, D., Haidet, P., Coverdale, J., & Richards, B (2003) The effect of using team learning in an evidence-based medicine course for medical students Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 15(2), 131-139 48 15 Kennedy, C and Kennedy, J (1996) Teacher attitudes and change implementation system, 24(3) Elsevier Science Ltd 16 Kennedy, P., & Siegfried, J (1997) Class size and achievement in introductory economics: Evidence from the TUCE III data Economics of Education Review, 16(4), 385-394 17 Kickbush, K (2000) Class Sizes [verified 12 Jan 2001] http://www.weac.org/sage/research/CLASSIZE.HTM 18 McLeod, N (1998) What teachers cannot in large classes (Research Rep No 7) Leeds, UK: Leeds University 19 Morgan, R., Whorton, J., & Gunsalus, C (2000) A comparison of short term and long term retention: Lecture combined with discussion versus cooperative learning Journal of Instructional Psychology, 27(1), 53-58 20 Nalasco, R and Athur, L (1993) Large classes London: Macmillan 21 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology, London: Prentice Halls 22 Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: CUP 23 Perkins, D., & Saris, N (2001) A jigsaw classroom technique for undergraduate statistics courses Teaching of Psychology, 28(2), 111-113 24 Qualters, D (2001) Do students want to be active? The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(1), 51-60 25 Richards, J.C., & Lockhart, C (1994) Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classroom Cambridge University Press 26 Seliger, H.W., & Shohamy, E (1995) Second Language Research Methods (3rd) Oxford: OUP 27 Terwel, J (1999) Constructivism and its implications for curriculum theory and practice Journal of curriculum studies, Vol 31, No UNESCO (nd) Regional Workshop on Education, Moi University, Kenya 28 Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching: Practice and theory, Cambridge: CUP 49 29 U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2005) The condition of education 2005 (NCES 2005-094) Washington, DC: U.S Government Printing Office 30 Yoder, J & Hochevar, C (2005) Encouraging active learning can improve students’ performance on examinations Teaching of Psychology, 32(2), 91-95 IN VIETNAMESE 31 Trần Thị Ngọc Bắc (2005) Using group work and questioning technique to increase students’ participation in communicative activities in large classes at Thái Nguyên College of Education Unpublished M.A Dissertation College of Foreign LanguageVietnam Nation University 32 Nguyễn Đức Hưng (2009) A study on increasing students’ participation in communicative activities in large classes by using group work and questioning teachnique at Marie Curie High School, Hải Phòng Unpublished M.A Dissertation College of Foreign Language-Vietnam Nation University 33 Trịnh Lan Hương (2008) Using communicative activites to support grammar teaching for large multilevel classes at Electric Power University Unpublished M.A Dissertation College of Foreign Language-Vietnam Nation University 34 Đặng Quỳnh Trâm (2006) An investigation into cooperative learning in non-English major multilevel classes at Thái Nguyên University of Education Unpublished M.A Dissertation College of Foreign Language-Vietnam Nation University APPENDICIES Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE 50 This questionnaire is conducted with a view to finding out the difficulties of teaching speaking skill to large English classes at Thành Đô University Your completion of this questionnaire is highly appreciated The data collected are used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Research topic: Teaching speaking skill to large English classes at Thành Đô University: Difficulties and solutions Thank you for your cooperation! Please give tick (√) or provide appropriate answer(s) for the following questions Part 1: Personal detail Gender: Male Female Teaching experience: Up to year 1-5 years 11-15 years More than 15 years Education: Bachelor’s Degree Master’s Degree Doctoral Degree Part 2: Facts and opinions on large classes What’s your usual class size? What’s the largest number of students you have had in a class? At what number you consider large class? Part 3: Difficulties in and solutions to teaching speaking skill to large English classes 51 What difficulties you have when teaching speaking skill to large classes? (You circle the number then for each number you can tick more than one option) 5.1 Promoting interaction Between teacher and students Between students and students 5.2 Selecting activities which are Suitable with students’ level Diverse in speaking lessons Attractive to students 5.3 Teaching preparation Setting up goals for the lesson Preparing handouts and other materials Selecting techniques for giving instructions 5.4 Managing class and monitoring students' work Organizing the activities Giving students equal opportunities to participate in the activities Providing appropriate pace of lessons Managing discipline Being able to give support and advice to individual students at the same time Selecting ways of evaluation and feedback giving 5.5 Giving students maximum opportunities to show the product of Group discussion Pair practice Individual speaking 5.6 Difficulties posed by students Students’ limitation of vocabulary and expressions Students’ limitation of background knowledge Students’ low motivation in speaking lessons Students’ unequal participation 52 What solutions you use to minimize the problem? 6.1 Promoting interaction a Teaching student necessary oral communication skills Questioning Responding Explaining Clarifying Showing agreement and disagreement with reasons Asking for repetition Giving examples b Things the teacher should do: Learning students' names Moving around the classroom or lecture hall Arranging seats to maximize the teacher’s opportunities to interact with students 6.2 Selecting activities Making activities useful and similar to real life Eliciting student feedback on the activities Designing and adapting various activities to fit students’ needs and ability Exchanging activities with colleagues 6.3 Teaching preparation Having students contribute material for class Using short sentences to give clear instructions Deciding when gestures are used Deciding when the instructions are given in Vietnamese or English Deciding how to give explanations, examples or demonstrations to make instructions clearer Deciding how to check students’ understanding of the instructions before starting the activity 6.4 Managing class and monitoring students' work a Organizing activities 53 Putting students in pairs or groups Selecting group leaders/monitors Grading activities to suit with different levels of students b Managing discipline Setting up and following the rules in the class consistently c Giving feedback: Using oral feedback Taking note the errors then give that note to students Giving positive feedback, verbally (praise) and non-verbally (make eye-contact, smile, nod) d Evaluating Carefully observing the groups and their members Giving participation points Requiring some type of group product for activities Occasionally requiring an individual product based on group work Using peer evaluations at the end of an activity Giving further instructions and support when necessary Encouraging peer teaching and students’ self-efforts 6.5 Giving students maximum opportunities to practice speaking in: Save time by setting up some rules for students (start and stop work right after the teacher’s command; be quick when moving to another activity; be self discipline; and listen the teacher’s instruction careful) Putting students in suitable groups (where they have chance to speak and get help or encouragement from partners) 6.6 Difficulties posed by students Providing necessary vocabulary and expressions before asking students to the task Asking students to prepare the basic information of the topic before going to class Observing carefully to remind students of speaking English Giving participation points 54 Occasionally requiring an individual product based on group work Raising students’ awareness of the benefits to form the habit of using L2 This is the end of the questionnaire APPENDICIES Appendix CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET Name of the observed teacher: ………………………………………………………………… Number of students: …………………………………………………………………………… 55 Lesson: ………………………………………………………………………………………… Observer’s name: ……………………………………………………………………………… Date of observation: …………………………………………………………………………… No Difficulties in teaching speaking skill in large English classes I Promoting interaction Between teacher and students Between students and students II Selecting activities which are Suitable with students’ level Diverse in speaking lessons Attractive to students III Teaching preparation Preparing handouts and other materials Selecting instructional techniques of teaching IV Managing class and monitoring students' work Organizing the activities Giving students equal opportunities to participate in the activities 10 Providing appropriate pace of lessons 11 Managing discipline 12 Being able to give support and advice to individual students at the same time 13 Selecting ways of evaluation and feedback giving V Giving students maximum opportunities to show the product of 14 Group discussion 15 Pair practice 16 Individual speaking VI Difficulties posed by students (√) 56 17 Students’ limitation of vocabulary and expressions 18 Students’ limitation of background knowledge 19 Students’ low motivation in speaking lessons 20 Students’ unequal participation No Solutions to teach speaking skill in large English classes I Promoting interaction a Teaching student necessary oral communication skills Questioning Responding Explaining Clarifying Showing agreement and disagreement with reasons Asking for repetition Giving examples b Things the teacher should do: Learning students' names Moving around the classroom or lecture hall 10 Arranging seats to maximize the teacher’s opportunities to interact with students II Selecting activities 11 Making activities useful and similar to real life 12 Eliciting student feedback on the activities 13 Designing and adapting various activities to fit students’ needs and ability 14 Exchanging activities with colleagues 15 Making activities useful and similar to real life III Teaching preparation 16 Having students contribute material for class (√) 57 17 Using short sentences to give clear instructions 18 Deciding when gestures are used 19 Deciding when the instructions are given in Vietnamese or English 20 Deciding how to give explanations, examples or demonstrations to make instructions clearer 21 Deciding how to check students’ understanding of the instructions before starting the activity IV Managing class and monitoring students' work a Organizing activities 22 Putting students in pairs or groups 23 Selecting group leaders/monitors b Managing discipline 24 Setting up and following the rules in the class consistently c Giving feedback 25 Giving oral feedback 26 Taking notes the errors and then give those notes to students 27 Giving positive feedback, verbally (praise) and non-verbally (make eyecontact, smile, nod) d Selecting ways of evaluation 28 Carefully observing the groups and their members 29 Giving participation points 30 Requiring some type of group product for activities 31 Occasionally requiring an individual product based on group work 32 Using peer evaluations at the end of an activity 33 Giving further instructions and support when necessary 34 Encouraging peer teaching and students’ self-efforts V Giving students maximum opportunities to show the product 35 Save time by setting up some rules for students (start and stop work right after + 58 the teacher’s command; be quick when moving to another activity; be self discipline; and listen the teacher’s instruction careful) 36 Putting students in suitable groups (where they have chance to speak and get help or encouragement from partners) VI Difficulties posed by students 37 Providing necessary vocabulary and expressions before asking students to the task 38 Asking students to prepare the basic information of the topic before going to class 39 Observing carefully to remind students of speaking English 40 Giving participation points 41 Occasionally requiring an individual product based on group work 42 Raising students’ awareness of the benefits to form the habit of using L2 Way of organizing the activities Observer’s comments ... problems of large English speaking classes at Thành Đô University? b What are the solutions to minimize the difficulties and enhance the effectiveness of teaching English speaking skill in large classes. .. size? What’s the largest number of students you have had in a class? At what number you consider large class? Part 3: Difficulties in and solutions to teaching speaking skill to large English classes. .. quantitative and qualitative methods which helped to provide qualified background data for finding out teachers’ difficulties in teaching speaking skill to large English classes Quantitative data