HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH    GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH Supervisor : Nguyễn Thanh Bình, M.A Student : Phạm Ngọc Phương Date of birth : 11/07/1991 Course : K16A12 (2009 – 2013) Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students Hanoi - 2013 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students DECLARATION Title: Recommendations to improve speaking skills in English for the 4 th students of English. (Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in English). I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person's work without acknowledgement and that report is originally written by me under the strict guidance of my supervisor. Date submitted: April 26 th ,2013 Student (signature) Phạm Ngọc Phương Supervisor (Signature) Nguyễn Thanh Bình,M.A Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At this stage of research accomplishment, I would like here by to extend my profound gratitude to my supervisor Mrs. Nguyen Thanh Binh M.A from whom I have received enormous kindness and guidance. Also, I am very grateful to all the teachers at the English Faculty of Hanoi Open University for their interesting and useful lectures which have built in me a firm foundation with immense ideas for the fulfillment of this paper. In particular, my special thanks go to my parents who have, as it always goes, encouraged and supported me so much in all respects. Last but not least, I should also express many thanks to my dear friends who have shared with me a lot during my studies and my research work as well. Hanoi, April 26 th ,2013 Phạm Ngọc Phương Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students TABLE OF CONTENTS Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the fourth-year students at Faculty of English (FOE), Hanoi Open University (HOU). DECLARATION 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale 1 2. Aims of the study 1 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Research questions 2 5. Methods of the study 2 6. Design of the study 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1.1 Definitions of speaking 4 1.2 Speaking English as a skill 5 1.3 Importance of speaking 5 1.3.1 The role of speaking inside and outside class 6 1.3.2 The relationship between speaking and other skills 6 1.4 Types of speaking skills 7 1.4.1 Interactive 8 1.4.2 Partially interactive 8 1.4.3 Non-interactive 8 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students 1.5 Process of speaking 8 1.5.1 Breathing stage 9 1.5.2 Phonation stage 9 1.5.3 Resonation stage 9 Total renovation 10 1.5.4 Articulation stage 10 1.6 Factors affect the process of speaking 10 1.6.1 Grammar accuracy 11 1.6.2 Fluency 11 1.6.3 Pronunciation 11 1.6.4 Vocabulary 12 1.7 Summary 12 CHAPTER II: PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY THE FOURTH- YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH IN LEARNING SPEAKING SKILLS 14 2.1 Data collection 14 QUESTION 18 ANSWER 18 A 18 B 18 C 18 D 18 11 18 16 18 15 18 22 18 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students 7 18 12 18 12 18 13 18 32 18 3 18 13 18 15 18 16 18 7 18 22 18 14 18 15 18 23 18 19 18 3 18 15 18 23 18 13 18 6 18 18 18 2.3 The problems and limitations of the fourth-year students in Speaking English 19 2.3.1 The lack of vocabulary 19 2.3.2 The confusion of pronouncing and using grammar 19 2.3.3 The lack of self-confidence 20 2.3.4 The lack of background knowledge and culture 21 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students 2.4 Summary 22 CHAPTER III: SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS 23 3.1 Background knowledge 23 3.2 Developing English style 23 3.2.1 Good eye contact 23 3.2.2 Positive face-saving strategies 25 3.2.3 Good personal appearance 26 3.3 Improving self-confidence 26 3.3.1 Joining the English - speaking clubs 27 3.3.2 Speaking to native people 27 3.3.3. Well preparing for the topic 27 3.4 Group work 28 3.4.1.Working in pairs 28 3.4.2.Working in groups 28 3.5 Warm-up activities in speaking 31 3.5.3 Telling stories 32 3.5.4 Playing games 32 3.5.5 Word games 32 3.7 Individual work 34 3.7.1 Improving grammar 34 3.7.2 Improving pronunciation 34 3.7.3 Vocabulary enlargement 35 3.7.4 Improving speaking through reading 36 3.7.5 Improving speaking through listening 36 3.8 Self-consciousness of improving the speaking skills 37 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students 3.10 Summary of the chapter 39 PART C: CONCLUSION 40 APPENDIX 1 SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 1 Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Language is the tool of communication, while speaking is the most important part of language communication and it is the basic path to understand others. Listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear. To speak successfully to spoken language, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions and not simply to understand the words themselves. Many students of English in Vietnam in general and ones at Faculty of English, HOU in particular do badly in this field, they find it difficult to get good marks in English speaking comprehension, especially in understanding the implied meaning of conversation. When learning English, people have to learn four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Among those, speaking skills are particularly important. They are used the most regularly because speaking skills and human being cannot be separated from each other. People use speaking skills to express their ideas and to communicate. However, speaking skills require a long process of practicing and are affected by many factors. How to enhance English speaking skills promptly and effectively is a hard question for any Vietnamese learners, especially for the students of Faculty of English at Hanoi Open University. Most students still find it difficult to be a good speaker. The problem is: the students are lack of vocabulary, self-confidence and the background knowledge of culture. As a senior students who has some experience in learning English, T choose this study to help learners improve their English speaking ability naturally. 2. Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to improve the speaking skills for the fourth year student at Faculty of English - Hanoi Open University. As a result, the Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 1 [...]... What are the problems of the fourth- year students in speaking English? • What have the fourth- year students done to improve speaking skills in English? 5 Methods of the study At the study involves in finding out problems faced by the fourth- year students of English and to aid them develop speaking skills, the data collection mainly focuses on:  Survey questionnaire  Classroom observations Then the data.. .Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4th year students main aims of this thesis are: -Giving a brief overview of the previous materials relating to speaking skills - Raising some problems encountered by the fourth- year students English when practice speaking - Proposing recommendations for developing the skills 3 Scope of the study Due to time limitation and the length of the paper,... out to progress speaking skills for English majors who are in the fourth- year level and very interested in speaking English At university, it requires practicing of all four English skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing As a result, the fourth- year students feel strange to the productive skills like speaking Therefore, I decided to do my study of developing speaking skills for the fourth- year. .. by the fourth- year students of English in speaking English  Chapter III : Suggestions to improve English speaking skills for the fourth- year students  Part C: Conclusion This final part is to summarize or restate main points of the graduation paper Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 3 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4th year students PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW Speaking. .. SKILLS A productive skills like speaking is sometimes difficult for the fourth- year students Therefore, they have to face a lot of trouble when practice speaking skills which were not paid much attention at Hanoi Open University In this chapter, the methodologies of the research and the problem of the fourth- year students in speaking English are presented in order to find out the suitable methods to. .. opposite 5% of the students choose D, and the rest of the students say they rarely learn its Thus, in question 13, the dominant figure shows that the fourth- year students have ways Phạm Ngọc Phương - K16 A12 18 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4th year students remember vocabulary by other ways, the number of the students choose D is the most, by approximately 36,7% And then, answer... they sometimes self-studying English speaking skills at home They also rarely 26,7% of the students make conversations in English Only 21,7% answer that D On the other hands, the number of the fourth- year students at HOU say that over 45% they rarely make conversation in English, 21,7% think that they only sometimes and the dominant figure shows that the fourth- year students have answer 16,7% for the. .. 10% 2.3 The problems and limitations of the fourth- year students in Speaking English 2.3.1 The lack of vocabulary The lack of vocabulary seems to be a popular problem to fourth- year students They may express ideas vididly in their mother tongue; however, expressing it in English is a big difficulty Therefore, they speak repeatedly words or talk in around about way about one topic This makes the conversation... Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4th year students making mistakes and being laughed by others They sit quietly and only make the sounds when required The cause is that they are lack of confidence to stand up and raise their voice The lack of confidence then becomes the largest barrier to students' progress in speaking They cannot absorb the knowledge as well as develop language skills, ... Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4th year students confidence 3.3.1 Joining the English - speaking clubs In the time when the need for English is bigger and bigger now, more and more English - speaking clubs are open to learners who are interested in English and wish to well perform in the language When students join these clubs, they have opportunity to make new friends, to talk free . A12 Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the 4 th year students TABLE OF CONTENTS Recommendations to improve speaking skills for the fourth- year students at Faculty of English (FOE), Hanoi. learning English, T choose this study to help learners improve their English speaking ability naturally. 2. Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to improve the speaking skills for the fourth. the fourth- year students done to improve speaking skills in English? 5. Methods of the study At the study involves in finding out problems faced by the fourth- year students of English and to