A study on the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skills at an upper-secondary school

44 840 0
A study on the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skills at an upper-secondary school

Đang tải... (xem toàn văn)

Tài liệu hạn chế xem trước, để xem đầy đủ mời bạn chọn Tải xuống

Thông tin tài liệu

A study on the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skills at an upper-secondary school

1 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale In the context of Vietnam’s economic reform and global participation, English plays an extremely important role in helping its human resources to communicate with the rest of the world Therefore, there has been a great demand for teaching and learning English all over the country for various purposes However, how to teach and learn English in general and English speaking skill in particular effectively is a matter of controversy Speaking skill should be kept in mind to be the most popular and affective way of communication Being an English teacher at Doluong Upper Secondary School (DL1SS) I realize that there are many students who are good at writing and reading find it difficult to speak English For these reasons, in this study , I would like to investigate the recent reality of teaching and learning English speaking skill in DoLuong Upper-Secondary School (DL1SS), a school in the countryside of Nghe An, a province in the Center Vietnam The aim of the study is to identify the reasons for students’ poor oral competence so that appropriate solutions could be proposed to the question under investigation Aims of the study This study is aimed at: -investigating the recent reality of teaching and learning English speaking skill at Doluong Upper-Secondary School (DL1USS) -identifying the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skills as perceived by the teachers and students at DL1USS -proposing some solutions with the hope of helping English teachers improve their teaching speaking skill and students’ learning ability Method of study In order to achieve the aims of the study, questionnaires, class observations and interviews were used to collect data and information from the teachers and students at Doluong Upper-Secondary School (DL1USS) Scope of the study With the above aims, this study is limited to the exploration of opportunities and constraints as perceived by the teachers and students of Doluong1 Upper-Secondary School in Nghe An with regard to the teaching and learning of English speaking skills and some recommendations The study only focuses on 26 of 43 classes, where there are teachers and students who are implementing the two new English syllabuses for grades 10 and 11, published by the Ministry of Education Design of the study The study consists of three parts: Part One: Introduction presents the rationale, the aim, the method, the scope and the design of study Part Two: Development consists of following chapters: Chapter 1: Literature Review aims at the basic theoretical background which consists of: Definition of Speaking skill, Positions of speaking in language teaching programs, Difficulties in and constraints on learning to speak a foreign language, and Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities Chapter 2: Methodology focuses on the recent situation of English teaching and learning at Doluong Upper-Secondary School and the Research methodology The methodology includes the participants and instruments of the study Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of the results of the questionnaires, class observations and the interviews will be conveyed in this chapter Chapter 4: This chapter proposes the findings concluded from the results of the previous chapter and some recommendations for teachers and students at DL1USS in the hope of helping to develop students’ oral skill Part Three: Conclusion summarizing all the issues in the research contains Limitation of the study, Recommendation for further study and Conclusion PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW To begin with the study, in this chapter, the researcher will present some theoretical background so that the study will be based on This chapter includes small parts as follows: Definitions of Speaking skill, The position of Speaking in language teaching programs, What makes speaking a foreign language difficult, and Factors affecting students’ participation in speaking activities 1.1 Definitions of Speaking skill Speaking skill of a second or foreign language is regarded as a very complicated task First of all, speaking is used for variety of purposes and each purpose involves in different skills In a casual conversation, for instance, speakers’ purposes may be to make social contact with others, to establish sympathetic relationships or to spend time chatting harmlessly with someone On the other hand, the purpose may be to find out or to express their opinions or to clarify information On other occasions, speakers wish to give instructions, persuade people or get things done They may want to describe things, to complain about people’s behaviors, to make requests or to entertain people with jokes Each of these different purposes for speaking implies knowledge of the rules that account for how spoken language reflects the context or situation which speech occur in, the participants involve in, and their specific roles or relationships, and the kinds of activities the speakers are involved in According to Brown and Yule’s (1983: 127), speaking skill consists of short, fragmentary utterance, in a range of pronunciation There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another and speakers usually use non-specific references Brown (1994: 45) and Burns & Joyce (1997: 29) define that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information When participating in communicative activities, the speaker should choose the correct vocabulary to describe the things they want to say about, to rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description to produce the expected pattern of specific discourse situations Looking through the English language teaching methodology literature, we can easily see that there have been many different definitions of speaking skill proposed by linguists, but no definition is satisfactory According to Fisk (1990:1) oral communication (speaking skill) is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes but few can define satisfactorily Despite the definitional diversity, in the present study, speaking skill is defined as “the range of exercise types and activities with a communication approach is unlimited, provided that such exercises and activities enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction” (Richard and Rodgers, 1986: 165) In conclusion, speaking skill is one of the key modes of human communication, and one of the macro skills that language students should be helped to develop for their communicative purposes For that reason, teachers should help their students to improve their speaking and overall oral competence 1.2 The position of speaking in language teaching programs It is known that language is an effective means of communication through which we can convey our ideas, our thought, or our desires Language helps us clarify what we mean Without language, human beings have never achieved such developments as they have done these days It is language that makes human beings distinctive from animals Many language learners consider speaking ability the measurement of knowing a language In other words, speaking skill is very important in language teaching and learning If learners not learn how to speak or not to get opportunities to speak, as many think, they may soon lose their interest in learning, and learning the language is the way how to speak the language Bygate, M (1987: 5) stresses that speaking “is also a medium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularly conductive for learning” Nunan (1991: 279) states that success in an oral conversation is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language If a student doesn’t know how to speak and has no chance to speak in the language classroom, he will lose interest in learning In the speaking class, on contrary, if the teacher doesn’t organize right and positive activities, the speaking a language will become less and less boring Sharing the same ideas, Richard, A (1991: 165) cites that it is the speaking skill that helps learners to have communication which is the proper aim of language teaching According to Byrne (1991: 45), while listening and reading are regarded as receptive skills, speaking and writing are productive skill Speaking not only helps students to communicate well and exchange information and culture with others but also promote the integration of speaking, listening, reading and writing in the ways that reflect natural language use Similarly, Brown, G and Yule, G (1992: 256) point out that speaking plays an ever important role in a very transactional intention, that is, to make clear what they want to say From those points, we can come to a conclusion that speaking skill is one of the most necessary skills in language teaching program It suits the development rules of human beings as one can speak before he can read and write That is the reason why speaking skill should be taught in the language room 1.3 What Makes Speaking a foreign Language Difficult? 1.3.1 Characteristics of spoken language Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four skills When attempting to speak, learners must concentrate their thoughts and encode their ideas in vocabulary and syntactic structures of the target language According to Kathleen M Bailey and Lance Savage (1993: 18), depending on the formality and importance of the speech situations as well as their own personal linguistic propensities, the learners may also attend to monitor their output (speaking skill) These two linguists also add that in conversations and other interactive speech events, the speakers must attend to the feedback from their interlocutors and observe the rules of discourse used in the target culture Phonological considerations add to the difficulties to the task, especially for adult learners, as speakers strive to achieve “good” pronunciation The speed of such interaction is also an issue because their may not be adequate time for processing either outgoing speech or incoming messages at the typical rate of native-speaker interactions All of these factors combine to make speaking in a second or foreign language a formidable task for language learners Sharing this idea, Penny Ur (1996: 120) shows the four following prerequisites of a successful speaking activity in the classroom: -Learners talk a lot: during speaking skill activities, learners should have chances to talk a lot to develop their oral skill -Participant is even: all learners are involved in the activities and their distribution for speaking chance is the same -Motivation is high: all the learners are interested in talking and positively participate in speaking activities -Language is of an acceptable level: this means that the language used by teachers and learners to express their ideas and thoughts is understandable to others Thus, from the characteristics of spoken language mentioned above, it can be inferred that teachers have an important duty to find out the appropriate methods to teach their students 1.3.2 Difficulties in learning to speak a foreign language In addition to the linguistic complexity which makes speaking a difficult skill to be acquired, there are pedagogical difficulties These difficulties are understood as the learning environment such as the large size of classes, deficient facilities and difficult syllabuses In large classes, students are usually different in levels of language proficiency, in learning style and even in general attitudes towards the language, which causes a lot of challenges and makes teachers feel troublesome and stressed to make effective classroom management As Ur (1996: 303) says that teachers of large classes also face with the problems of discipline, creating effective learning environment for all, finding suitable materials, and activating all students, especially, silent ones Teaching aids such as pictures, maps, photos, samples of real objects, and so on serve as a tool to maximize students’ opportunities to practice and help to make the learning environment better to carry out speaking activities If facilities are not enough and not interesting, students will be de-motivated and the lessons will not be successful as expected Syllabuses also play an important role in the success of speaking lessons If the contents of the syllabuses are familiar, students will be excited and positively participate in the activities In contrary, if the syllabuses are strange and difficult, students will be demotivated or keep silent Thus, in order to involve students in communicative activities, it is necessary for teachers to realize factors affecting students’ participation in communicative activities as well as to find out solutions to the problems 1.3.3 Constraints on learning to speak a foreign language Constraints on learning to speak a foreign language are thought to be socio-physical constraints It means that these constraints come from inner students It is often thought that the ability to speak a language is the product of language learning Classroom activities play an important role in a language course because speaking activities in classroom can help develop students’ ability to express themselves In fact, not all the speaking lessons take place as successfully as the teachers expected Sometimes, teachers find disappointed by such problems as pointed out by Ur (1996:121): - The students are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom because they feel very shy of being paid attention to what they say, or fearful of losing face, or they are even worry about making mistakes -The students have nothing to say That is, students find it difficult to select suitable words from their store of language clustering to express their ideas and thoughts, and in some cases they lack knowledge of the matters being discussed -Students’ participation is uneven and low This problem often occurs in large classes, especially, in speaking activities Stronger students tend to dominate the groups or class, whereas weaker ones tend to speak very little or keep silent -Students tend to use their mother tongue instead of the foreign language That is, while some students are very self-confident of their ability to speak English, others are anxious about speaking Some may show their anxiety in silence for fear of making mistakes or being laughed at by their friends Others show their anxiety in returning to using their mother tongue when they have to communicate something unfamiliar or complicated In conclusion, teachers should try their best to understand the constraints on students’ learning to speak a foreign language and find out suitable methods to help their students to overcome the constraints as well as to encourage students to participate in speaking activities to help develop their speaking skill 1.4 Factors Affecting Students’ Participation in Speaking Activities 1.4.1 Teacher Variables In the traditional teaching method, a teacher plays the role of the controller or manager of the class The teacher can teach anything they find necessary and students are only the listeners Students have to what their teacher tells them Teacher can ask students questions and their students have to answer Nevertheless, the traditional teaching method has many limitations and has been criticized recently Different from the teacher in the traditional teaching method where the role of the teacher is considered the most important, the teacher in CLT classes has many different roles At times, he is the controller or manager of the classes when establishing situations to promote communication; during the activities, he works as the facilitator and adviser, answering students’ questions; he is the co-communicator when involving in the communicative activities with students; he is the prompter when his students get lost or cannot think of what to say next; he is also the observer to observe what students in oral communicative activities so that he can give their students useful group and individual feedback; furthermore, he is the feedback providers when his students have difficulty in the middle of a speaking activity and helpful and gentle correction may get students out of difficult Wilkins (1974:53) states that the teacher himself is the one important variable in the learning situation The important role of the teacher is also acknowledged by Kay & Christison (1978: 14), who argue that a teacher has to play different roles such as an instructor, a consultant, a supervisor, a communicator, and a controller They should be able to give instructions clearly, encourage the students to actively participate in the learning process and to interact with each other Where necessary, the teacher is supposed to help their students with their difficulties in linguistic matters as well as background knowledge Sharing these opinions with Kay& Christison (1978: 65), Cross (1992: 54) adds that the teacher is the manager of the activity and must plan it, organize it, start it, monitor it, time it and conclude it The teacher is active and, remaining sensitive to the atmosphere and pace of the group and noting persistent errors for remedial teaching Should this task be seen to be going drastically wrong, the teacher will stop it and revert it to some form of practice before starting group work again Obviously, the role of the teachers in CLT classes is very difficult but extremely important So as to become good teachers, they always have to try their best to fulfill their duties Teachers should always give students chances to express their individuality by asking them to share their ideas and opinions with others Harmer (1996:1) suggests some generalization about good teacher qualities: “teacher needs to everything possible to create a good rapport with their learners Partly this happens by providing interesting and motivating classes; partly this comes from such things as treating all the learners the same … and acting upon their hopes and aspirations Most of it depends on paying more attention to the learner than to the teacher” According to Nunan (1991: 279), when teaching speaking skill, teachers should offer the five following features: -Emphasizing on learning to communicate though interaction in the target language -Introducing authentic texts into the learning situations -Providing opportunities for learners to focus, not only on languages but also on the learning process itself -Enhancing the learners own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning -Attempting to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom In conclusion, as it is proved above, the role of the teacher is extremely important for the process of teaching and learning languages 1.4.2 Student Variables One of the most important variables which have a great influence on teaching and learning is students’ variable Without students, there would be no class, no teaching and no learning In class environment, students always have different relationships such as students to their teacher, students to students, and students to materials It is considered that the relationship between students and their teacher is very important Once students have good relationship with their teacher, they will always take part in the class activities, become involved in what is happening in the classroom, or even volunteer to perform activities In turn, if students not have good relationship with their teachers, they always show their resistance to class participation Active students are those 10 who always show their desires to work on problems with their teachers, respond to their teacher’s questions and those who can make their own opportunities for practice in using the language inside or outside the classroom The relationship among students is established by their performing activities in groups Group work activities will be effective and successful if teacher’s teaching method is easy and appropriate, and students’ levels of English proficiency are nearly the same Besides, during the lesson, there are also many other affective factors coming from students These factors such as students’ attitudes, anxiety, competitiveness, and other emotional responses can help or hinder language learning (Krashen, 1985) The relationship between students and materials is regarded as students’ success in performing given activities If the materials are up to their expectation and easy and understandable to students, activities will be successful, but in turn, if the materials are too difficult, there will be unwanted results This problem can only be solved when the teacher adapts and adjusts the materials 1.4.3 Learning Environment and Text books The environment in which students learn can greatly influence their academic performance and well-being at school The learning environment can be seen as physical conditions, such as class size, chairs, desks, tables, lights, boards It stands to reason that the better the learning environment looks, the more it inspires the people inside it In other words, whatever a child’s academic ability, pleasing environment will definitely lead to better attendance, improved concentration and a healthy dose of motivation According to Harmer (1992: 271), physical conditions have great impact on students’ learning as well as their attitudes towards the subject matter While learning environment can be seen as class size and facilities in class, the textbooks and authentic materials (visual aids) can be considered important resources Textbooks are greatly important in language teaching program because they specify goals and objectives Textbooks play a vital role in forming comprehensible input, a hypothesis defined by Krashen Krashen (1981:126) states that “children progress by understanding the language that is a little beyond them” It means that if the contents of the textbook are suitable and up to students’ knowledge, they will much help develop students’ speaking competence Otherwise, if the contents of the textbooks are unsuitable and new to 30 with people Meanwhile, one of the interviewees reluctantly answers that it is rather important because in fact because most tests are taken in written English To respond to Question about which skill they like teaching, of the interviewees answer that they like teaching speaking skill very much because when teaching speaking they can find more confident, have good contact with my students, know more about their students’ level of English to find out a suitable method to teach their students One of the interviewees responds that he likes teaching reading because it is his strength and he adds that he feels that his students seem to be more excited when he is teaching reading skill As for Question about students’ interest in and attitude to speaking lessons, all the interviewed teachers respond that most students are not interested in speaking lessons They turn to speak Vietnamese or make noise The interviewees blame for the reasons that students’ attitudes to speaking lessons are not good; students feel reluctant and afraid of being criticized and losing face; there is nothing to say; class size is too big; and local accent reduces excitement With regard to the speaking lessons in the new syllabuses (Question 5), only one teacher answers that they are neutral but short of illustrations Contrary to this point of view, the four other interviewees respond that the speaking lessons are rather difficult; the contents of the speaking lessons are too long, compared to the allotted short time; some of the topics are out of teachers’ knowledge, which makes teachers hard to teach and students difficult to learn She took an example of unit 15 “Space conquest” of English 11 She said that the topic of the lesson is too difficult; there are too many events and many new words in the lesson *Teacher’s opportunities for and difficulties in speaking lessons In regard to opportunities teachers have when teaching speaking skill (Question 4), all the interviewees reply that the teachers can have a good contact with students, know about their students’ ability to find suitable methods to teach students as well as improve their own oral skill In considering difficulties and the reasons, all the interviewees state that there are so many difficulties as large& multi-level classes, students’ low level of spoken language, students’ low motivation, the big class size, students’ Vietnamese use and noise making, the unsuitable syllabuses; and the interviewees also come to the conclusion that these reasons root in the fact that students come from different areas where the conditions for living and studying are restricted At school, students have to learn many subjects, which are very 31 difficult, so they have no time for practice Then, one of the interviewees, a new teacher, adds that teacher’s lack of teaching experience is the reason Obviously, there are many reasons which have great influence on students’ learning speaking skill *The factors needed and teacher’s ideas to develop students’ speaking skill When asked to describe successful speaking lessons (Question 6), all the interviewees have the same idea They conclude that a successful speaking lesson is a lesson during which teacher prepares the lesson carefully, presents the lesson clearly, uses authentic materials, asks students to work effectively in pairs or groups; the topics are not too difficult and the language is easy to use; and students highly involve in and concentrate on the activities, make only good noise, try their best to express their ideas in English, feel interested in the speaking topics and have more opportunities to practice speaking English As for the factors are needed for the success of speaking lessons (Question 7), all the interviewed teachers agree that the success of speaking lessons depends on the topic of the lesson, students’ right attitude, students’ proficiency level, students’ much practice of speaking, teachers’ suitable method, teacher’s use of good teaching aids and facilities With regard to teacher’s techniques (Question 8), the interviewees have the following ideas: making the contents of speaking lessons less difficult for students to learn: using simple language; organizing communicative activities and collaborative work from students in order for them to help each other; encouraging them to speak English frequently with friends, brothers, sisters and anybody, listen to the radio or watch TV programs in English to develop their vocabulary and pronunciation as well as to give gentle and helpful corrections when students make mistakes 3.3.2 The interview with students 3.3.2.1 Methodology In order to affirm the right information for the study, the researcher carried out interviews for students After the class observations, students in every class were randomly chosen to be interviewed about the reality of their learning English, opportunities for and constraints on developing their oral skill The total number of the interviewed students was 25 The answers of the interviewees were note-taken and tape-recorded The interview for students with open-ended questions (Appendix 4) covers categories as follows: 32 -Students’ attitudes to Speaking skill and Syllabuses (Questions 1, 2, and 9) -Students’ ways of learning speaking skill (Questions 4, 5, and 8) - Students’ opportunities and difficulties & Solutions (Questions 6, and 7) 3.3.2.2 Results The result of the interview for students is presented as follows: *Students’ attitudes to Speaking skill and Syllabuses Regarding the interest in speaking skill (Question 1), 23 of the 25 interviewees say that they like speaking English very much and think that speaking skill is necessary to them because, as they say, English is the most popular language in the world English is the most effective means of communication nowadays, especially, Vietnam is now a member of the WTO, and speaking English well can help them to find a good job in the future However, of them not share the same ideas They consider that they like but not now because they are focusing on writing and reading skills to pass the exams Being asked which skills they are good at or bad at (Question 2), nearly all of them answer that they are good at writing and reading since they like and usually practice these skills; in contrary, they are bad at listening and speaking as their vocabulary is not enough and their pronunciation is not good, which makes them hard to listen and speak Only one interviewee says that he is good at listening and speaking and wants to learn these two skills most When the researcher asks them whether they are satisfied with their recent English speaking skill (Question 3), all of them but one respond that they are not because their speaking skill is very bad They cannot speak English fluently as well as not find words or ideas when speaking Most of them also add that their speaking and listening skills are worse than the two others As for students’ point of view about the speaking lessons in the course books (Question 9), one interviewee responds that it is suitable whereas the 24 others say that many of the activities for speaking lessons in the course books are too difficult for students of medium proficiency level The time for speaking lessons is too short, so students not have enough time to prepare and have little chance to practice speaking Also, there is a shortage of illustrations for speaking lessons, which makes speaking lessons less exciting *Students’ ways of learning speaking skill 33 In response to the way of learning speaking at home (Question 4), nearly all of them say that they reread the lessons to improve their vocabulary and pronunciation and sometimes speak English with their neighbor friends, their brothers and sisters and add that that way of learning does not help them a lot to improve their English speaking skill Only one of them affirms that he usually practices speaking skill with others and his way is very effective In respect to the way of learning speaking in class (Question 5), most interviewees say that they are sometimes asked to practice speaking in pairs or in groups and they try their best to speak English, but this way of learning seems to be ineffective Their English speaking skill does not improve Only one of the interviewees actively participates in activities to communicate with his teacher and classmates and his English improves rapidly Mentioning the activities during speaking lessons (Question 8), all the interviewees respond that they are usually asked to work in pairs or in groups and in many other activities, but they add that those activities are not effective since some stronger students are dominant while other weaker students feel reluctant and tend to make noise or speak Vietnamese *Students’ opportunities, difficulties and solutions Regarding the opportunities in learning English speaking (Question 6), the interviewees answer that they can get help from their teacher and classmates, but it is not much because of what is mentioned above However, those activities help them feel more confident and improve their vocabulary and pronunciation About the difficulties (Question 7), the interviewees state that difficulties come from the following reasons: Their vocabulary isn’t enough, their pronunciation is not good, many grammar structures are difficult to remember, their teacher doesn’t take enough care of all the class, so many turn to be making noise Moreover, they have to learn many subjects at school, so they not have enough time to learn English However, all students affirm that they have to find their own solution to these problems 3.4 Conclusion As mentioned in this chapter, the researcher has collected information for the study from the three sources and discussed the results of the questionnaires, observations and interviews In this small part, the researcher has come to conclusion that all the results of the 34 questionnaires, observations and interviews, in general, are the same The only thing that makes the researchers wondered is the contradictions between what students said and what students did in class In the questionnaires, most students said that they like English speaking skill very much, but during the class observations, students seemed to be lazy and did not involve in and concentrate on the activities The researcher was forced to think that students’ liking to English speaking skill is by feeling and compulsive and that they not learn English in general and English speaking skill in particular as a hobby CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND SOME RECOMMENDATIONS Depending on the data colleted in chapter 3, in this chapter, the researcher will come to the findings of the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skill, and then present some recommendations in the hope of helping the teachers and students at DL1USS to solve the problems 4.1 Findings 4.1.1 Opportunities for developing students’ oral skill The opportunities for developing students’ oral skill can be classified into four following main points: -Opportunities from the administrators -Opportunities from the syllabuses -Opportunities from the teachers -Opportunities from the students 4.1.1.1 Opportunities from the administrators The administrators are well aware of the importance of English teaching, encourage the teachers and students to teach and learn better, and are ready to provide in their ability with what teachers and students need 4.1.1.2 Opportunities from the syllabuses Different from the old syllabuses, the new ones are considered much better The topics in the course books are various and much more authentic The topics refer to many fields of real life; and the contents are updated with the beautifully designed illustrations Undeniably, these play an important role in helping students with interest in learning 4.1.1.3 Opportunities from the teachers 35 All the teachers have a good attitude to speaking skill Most of them agree that speaking skill is the most important in language teaching In fact, nearly all of the teachers at DL1USS are very young and energetic as well as they have a good background of vocabulary and grammatical structures They are always willing to learn to improve their teaching method To this, they spend their spare time attending other teachers’ classes to learn vie experience; or looking for information on the internet It is clear that all these are the opportunities needed from the teacher at DL1USS 4.1.1.4 Opportunities from the students Students have a good awareness of the importance of learning English They agree that they like speaking English and English is very necessary to them at present and in their future When learning English in general as well as speaking skill in particular, most students get encouragement from their family, teachers, and even from their friends Many parents buy their children radios, cassette players, and cassette tapes, CDs or VCDs with the hope to help their children with the best conditions to learn English well During speaking lessons, students have more chances to help each other to practice English as well as to have a good contact with their teachers to shorten the gaps between them 4.1.2 Constraints on developing students’ oral skill Constraints on developing students’ oral skill can be classified into four following main points: - Constraints from the administrators - Constraints from the syllabuses - Constraints from the teachers - Constraints from the students 4.1.2.1 Constraints from the administrators Constraints from administrators consist of the large class size, multi-level classes and lack of conductive facilities This school year, DL1USS has 43 classes In every class, the number of students in a class is from 45 to 55, which is difficult for teachers to teach a foreign language In a large class, the teacher finds it very difficult to manage the class because of being afraid of the fact that students make noise when doing activities, which have negative influence on nearby 36 classes Moreover, teacher feels unable to pay enough attention to each of students More especially, in a large class, many students take advantage of teacher’s lack of management to talk or different unwanted things All these things make teachers lose interest in teaching In fact, however, large class size is problematic not only at DL1USS but also at any school in the countryside Multi-level classes are the second constraint Students at DL1USS come from different areas of the district In general, students from the centre of the town or nearby have better knowledge of the English language than those who come from farther areas However, at school, these two different groups of students are set in the same classes, so that there are big gaps among the students In class activities, better students of English proficiency are always dominant while students of low English proficiency keep silent or get bored It seems impossible for teachers to design communicative lessons for students It would be much better if only students at the same levels were put in the same classes Nevertheless, it would be impossible since students at DL1USS have to learn many other subjects The third constraint from the administrators is a lack of facilities Despite the fact that DL1USS is a central school, the supply of facilities is very poor The school has no language lab The classrooms are not large enough for activities in group work The library has few English books, papers or magazines for students’ further reading The school has only overhead projectors for nearly 100 teachers of 12 different subjects who are in need of them Obviously, it is very difficult for teachers to teach English communicatively in the condition of facilities unavailable 4.1.2.2 Constraints from the syllabuses As mentioned in the results of the questionnaires and interviews, although they are much better than the old syllabuses, the new ones for grades 10 and 11 are considered rather difficult for students of general level of English The contents of the speaking lessons are too long for the short allotted time Some of the topics are out of teachers and students’ comprehension The illustrations are not enough So, there seems to be contradictions between the contents of the new syllabuses and Krashen’s Input Hypothesis ‘i+ 1’, which make teachers and students lose interest in teaching and learning Also, in a speaking class, students have few opportunities to speak English in front of the others In short, with the new syllabuses, teachers as well as students are obliged to try their best to reach their final destinations of teaching and learning 37 4.1.2.3 Constraints from the teachers Constraints from the teachers are lack of experience, low income and deficiency in speaking English In order to organize a successful speaking lesson, many activities suitable for students’ level should be carried out According to the results, most of the teachers have a lack of teaching experience and one of them who is much older is affected by the traditional teaching method Teachers’ low income is problematic With low income, teachers find it difficult to use many authentic materials in a great deal It is infrequency of presenting authentic materials that makes their students lose interest in learning Also, at present time, the most effective material for teachers is a laptop However, with low income, all these seem to be out of the question Another constraint is teachers’ deficiency in speaking English When learning speaking, many students blame that their teachers’ English is much different from the language on the radio or TV It is true because most teachers are affected by dialect accents, which make students hard to listen and speak Teachers’ ineffective management is also a constraint Most students admitted that their teachers usually ask them to work in pairs or groups, but these activities seem to be ineffective Good students are always dominant while bad students are always reluctant to speak In other words, there are many constraints from the part of teachers which need to be dealt with as soon as possible 4.1.2.4 Constraints from the students From the results of the survey, we can come to the conclusion that constraints from students are caused by: low language proficiency, lack of motivation, reluctance of participating in activities, using Vietnamese or doing other things Most of the participants of the study admitted that students have very low English proficiency Although most students started learning English at the early age, their vocabulary, structures and pronunciation are not enough for them to practice speaking skill It is considered to be the greatest constraint With low language proficiency, students feel uninterested in speaking skill, and afraid of losing face or being criticized when they make mistakes All these make them reluctant to participate in activities and tend to speak 38 Vietnamese and doing other things, making it difficult for teachers to develop students’ oral skill 4.2 Some recommendations 4.2.1 Recommendations for the administrators The administrators should have a better thought of importance of English teaching and learning at the time when our Vietnam is a member of the WTO and a nonpermanent member of the United Nations; give mental and physical encouragement to teachers and students by supplying enough teaching materials; and provide chances for English teachers to organize a speaking English club Altogether, the administrators should find ways to increase the teachers’ life if possible 4.2.2 Recommendations for the teachers In order to overcome the constraints on developing students’ oral skill, it is the teacher that plays an important role to solve the problems As for the constraint from the syllabuses, teachers should make them suitable for students’ level Because replacing the present syllabuses with new ones is out of the question although the present syllabuses are considered rather difficult To solve the constraint of the administrators’ lack of conductive facilities, it seems to be effective for teachers to create do-it-yourself aids or encourage students to make such materials and aids as pictures or simple things In respect to the constraint of the large class size, an effective solution for the teachers is to gain students’ cooperation, to prepare teaching aids and to develop teachers’ skills of group work and class management With regard to the constraint of multi-level classes, teachers should organize group work in which both good and weaker students are required to activities together to encourage students’ collaborate work Regarding the constraint of teachers’ lack of teaching experience, it is necessary for teachers to self study, observe classes to learn more from their colleague’s experience as well as to use the internet to search for information to improve their teaching method As to solve the constraint of teachers’ deficiency in speaking English, teachers should use more radios and tape, CD or VCD players as well as regularly practice their 39 pronunciation When teaching English speaking, teachers should use simple language in order for students to understand what teachers say In considering the constraint of students’ low language proficiency, teachers should take better care of weaker students, encourage them to participate in activities so that they can improve their speaking skill, for instance, weaker students should be required to repeat sentences with simple structures and to express their ideas in situations which are not difficult for them To come to solution to the constraint of students’ low motivation and reluctance of participating in activities, it is very important for teachers to vary their techniques and activities so as to involve their students in the lesson and reduce the boredom of the lesson It is a good idea to use teaching aids like pictures, games, songs, funny stories to reduce tension during the lesson Moreover, it is the teacher’s behavior that is a decisive factor to increase students’ motivation The teacher’s helpfulness, enthusiasm, friendliness and sense of humor make students interested in learning Also, the administrators and teachers should organize an English speaking club in the school to increase students’ interest in learning English So as to overcome the constraint of students’ Vietnamese use, teachers should go around the class and encourage students to speak English and to avoid using Vietnamese during the activities 4.2.3 Recommendations for the students To overcome the constraints on developing their own oral skill, students should have a better attitude to the importance of learning English speaking Good speaking skill can help students to learn better other three skills For that reason, students should always be more hard-working and practice speaking English wherever they can and actively participate in activities in and outside the class to improve their oral skill 40 PART THREE: CONCLUSION This part will deal with limitation of the study, the recommendations for further study, as well as a conclusion of the study Limitation of the study In spite of the fact that the study has offered some insightful findings, like many other studies, there are some following limitations Firstly, the limitation of the study is that the study may not really show all the opportunities and the constraints teachers and students are facing in teaching and learning speaking skill Secondly, the questions in the questionnaires and the interviews may not cover all the important information for the study Moreover, the answers of the teachers and students to the questionnaires may not reflect what they thought and did in class or at home Thirdly, the observations were conducted but not frequent The results of the observations are maybe not true because when observed, the teachers may teach differently from the way they usually teach for fear of being negatively evaluated Finally, this research is only applied for DL1USS Thus, the results are not completely popularly true and not cover many teachers and students of many other schools in Nghean Recommendations for further study This research focuses on the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skill at DL1USS, a school in the countryside of Nghean There are some recommendations for further research to be taken as follows: -A study on the strategies for improving students’ oral skill at an Upper-Secondary School in Nghean 41 -A study on the combination of teaching speaking skill and grammar for developing students’ oral skill with fluency and accuracy Conclusion Teaching and learning speaking skill at Upper-Secondary Schools are considered problematic In this study with the title “A study on the opportunities for and constraints on developing students’ oral skill at an Upper-Secondary School”, I have mentioned an understanding of the definition of speaking skill as well as some literature reviews related to speaking skill In addition to this, presented in the study are the results of the questionnaires, class observations and interviews about teachers and students’ attitudes towards the position of speaking skill; the current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill at DL1USS; teachers and students’ preferences and demands in teaching and learning English speaking skill; as well as the opportunities and constraints when teaching and learning English speaking at DL1USS Based on the results of the study, the researcher has given some recommendations with the hope of helping teachers overcome the constraints for developing students’ speaking skill Last but not least, I hope that I would have chance to deepen the research on the matter in the near future and that this study would be useful for English teachers and students at DL1USS 42 REFERENCES Allwright, R L & K Bailey (1991) Focuss on the Language Classroom Cambridge University Press Baikey, K.M and Savage, L (1994) New Ways in Teaching Speaking Teachers of English to Speakers of other languages, Inc Bowen, B M (1982) Look here! Visual Aids in Language Teaching London Macmillan Press Ltd Brown, H.D (1994) Teaching by principles: An Interactive Approach to LanguagePedagogy New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge University Press Burkart, G.S (1998) Spoken Language: What is it and How to teach it Washington, DC: Centre for Applied Linguistics, 1998 Bygate, M (1991) Speaking, Oxford University, Longman Byrne, D (1978) Teaching Oral English London Longman Byrne, D (1998) Focus on the Classroom Hong Kong: Modern English Publication 10 Cross, D (1992) A Practical Handbook of Language Teaching Great Britain: Prentice Hall International 11 Canale, M and Swain, M (1980) Approaches to Communicative Competence Singapore: RELC 12 Canh, Le Van (2004) Understanding Foreign Language Teaching Methodology Vietnam National University, Hanoi Publisher 43 13 Fiske, J (1990; 1994) Introduction to Communication Studies Zdn Edn London Routledge 14 Freeman, D L (1996) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford University Press 15 Gardner, R.C & W E Lambert (1972) Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learing Rowley, Mass: Newburry House 16 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching Longman 17 Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford University Press 18 Krashen, S D (1983) The Natural Approach- Language Acquisition in the Classroom Penganon: Alemany Press 19 Lam, Tran Thai Nhat (2003) The Application of CLT in the remote areas of Cantho Province Alemany Press 20 Little Wood, W (1998) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 21 Mc Kay, S (1982) Literature in the ESL Classroom TESOL Quaterlly 22 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Method A Textbook for teachers Prentice Hall International 23 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 24 Wilkin, D A (1974), Linguistics in Language Teaching London: Adward Arnold- A Division of Holder and Stoughton Ltd 25 Nunan, D (1990) Designing tasks for the Communicative Classroom Sydney Macquarie University Press 26 Pattison, P (1992) Developing Communication Skills Cambridge University Press 27 Richard, J C and Rodgers, T S (1986) Approaches and Method in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 28 Sagvinon, S J (1983) Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 29 Sekiger, H W and Shohamy, E (1990) Second Language Research Method Oxford University Press 30 Widdowson, H G (1978) Teaching English as Communication Oxford University Press 44 ... that they are good at writing and reading since they like and usually practice these skills; in contrary, they are bad at listening and speaking as their vocabulary is not enough and their pronunciation... follows: -A study on the strategies for improving students’ oral skill at an Upper-Secondary School in Nghean 41 -A study on the combination of teaching speaking skill and grammar for developing students’. .. ideas in vocabulary and syntactic structures of the target language According to Kathleen M Bailey and Lance Savage (1993: 18), depending on the formality and importance of the speech situations

Ngày đăng: 07/11/2012, 14:44

Từ khóa liên quan

Tài liệu cùng người dùng

  • Đang cập nhật ...

Tài liệu liên quan