Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm THPT: Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at Nguyen Huu Canh high school

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Speaking skills are very important and necessary for students. The ability to communicate in English clearly and fluently contributes to the success of students in school and success later in their future life. Therefore, it is essential that teachers pay more attention to teaching speaking.

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SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Trường THPT Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh Mã số: ................................ SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUU CANH HIGH SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý giáo dục  - Phương pháp giáo dục  - Phương pháp dạy học Tiếng Anh ☒ - Lĩnh vực khác  Có đính kèm:  Mô hình  Đĩa CD (DVD)  Phim ảnh  Hiện vật khác SỞ GIÁONăm DỤChọc: ĐÀO 2019 TẠO ĐỒNG NAI - 2020
2 SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Trường THPT Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUU CANH HIGH SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý giáo dục  - Phương pháp giáo dục  - Phương pháp dạy học Tiếng Anh ☒ - Lĩnh vực khác  Năm học: 2019 - 2020
3 TABLE OF CONTENT Number Content Page 1. Introduction 5 2. Literature review 5 Definition of speaking The importance of speaking skill 3. Methodology 7 Research context Participants Research instruments 4. Some problems grade 10 students have before making the 8 research 5. Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at 9 Nguyen Huu Canh high school 6. Implementation 13 7 Some illustrations of the ways to help students improve their 15 speaking skills 8. Findings and discussion 17 9. Evaluation of the the research 19 10. Conclusion 20 References 21 Appendices 23
4 THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN 1. Tên sáng kiến: Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at Nguyen Huu Canh high school 2. Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: phương pháp giảng dạy bộ môn 3. Tác giả: - Họ và tên: Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai Nam (nữ): Nữ - Trình độ chuyên môn: thạc sĩ giảng dạy - Chức vụ, đơn vị công tác: giáo viên trường THPT Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh - Điện thoại: 0918806338 Email: xuanmai@nhc.edu.vn Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo ra sáng kiến (%): 100%
5 SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUU CANH HIGH SCHOOL 1. Introduction In the world of integration, English fluency plays an integral part of communication as well as any other aspects of life. Speaking English well may help one feel more confident. Confidence is the key to every success. Therefore, teaching and learning English should be combined effectively so that students can get active roles in learning process. The more confident they get, the better they can communicate. The goal of teaching speaking is to improve students’ communication skills in order that they can express themselves and learn how to use the language. Nowadays, many teachers agree that students should learn to speak English by interacting with others. Therefore, English teachers should be creative in developing their teaching process to create good atmosphere where students have real-life communication. By using this method, teachers help students have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language. Moreover, teachers should apply appropriate methods and techniques of teaching speaking to make the English lessons more exciting for students to develop their speaking skills. 2. Literature review Definition of Speaking Speaking is considered to be one of the four skills that give speakers the ability to communicate effectively. Speaking skills allow the speaker to express his ideas in a passionate and convincing manner. In addition, speaking skills help to make sure that one will not be misunderstood by those that are listening. In the opinion of Everson (2009), speaking is the crucial skill of language in the sense that it enables individuals to communicate through the use of verbal codes or words that are understood by both sender and the
6 recipient. Cohen (1996) stated that speech contains its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language. Learning to speak English through interaction with each other is not an easy task because it is Shumin’s (2002) contention that students require much more than knowing grammatical and semantic rules. Through interaction, especially in speaking activities, students get chances to develop their own communication and express what they gain rather than learning the structures of a language. Furthermore, in Nunan’s (2011) view, speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. Also, according to Kaikala (2012) speaking is both a factor of language learning and teaching achievement and an important skill in human interaction. In short, there are many of different concepts of speaking, i.e. speaking as an action, a process and a skill. As English is universally used as a means of communication, English speaking skills should be developed along with the other skills in order that these integrated skills will enhance communication competence. The importance of speaking skill It is universally accepted that language is a tool for communication. When we communicate with others, we want to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well. Although the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are all well connected, Zaremba (2006) claims that speaking seems to be the most important skill required for communication of all the four macro English skills. Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney & Burk, 1998, p. 13). According to Brown (1994); Burns & Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning are relying on the context where it happens, including the participants themselves, their combined experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. In the opinion of
7 Cohen (1996) speaking contains its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language. Also, Kaikala (2012) noted that speaking is both a factor of language learning and teaching achievement and an important skill in human interaction. On the whole, proficiency in speaking skills provides learners with many benefits such as becoming a successful, effective communicator. We are living in a global community in which languages and cultures mix together. Therefore, it is very useful for those that are good at speaking skills to express themselves. 3. Methodology: Research context Nguyen Huu Canh high school is the place where I conducted and collected all the data of the research. This school is located in Bien Hoa city. Most of the students come from working - class families; therefore, they rarely have chances to study English at Foreign Language Centres or extra classes. They only study English at school. Participants The subjects involved in the research include 40 grade 10 students aged from 15 to 16 from Nguyen Huu Canh high school. The class chosen for my investigation is 10A1. They are my students, so it was convenient for me to ask them to complete the questionnaires in class. Research instruments At the beginning of the school year, in every speaking lesson the classroom atmosphere tended to be deadly dull. Most of my students were so afraid of taking turns speaking English that they did not look at me. I tried my best; however they seemed not to cooperate with me. I wondered how I made my students get involved in my English speaking lessons. In this school year students were asked to do three speaking tests. The first test was after Unit 1 to test students on speaking skills. The second test was in the final first term test (there were 4 parts and speaking skills
8 accounted for 20% of the total) to check whether my students made progress. The third speaking test was in the middle of the second term in order to come to the conclusion on how much my students made progress. After students did the first speaking test I realized their speaking skills were not good enough. Therefore, my students were asked to complete the first questionnaire. The aims of this questionnaire were to understand the problems students had in learning speaking skills. After that, I conducted this research to find some ways to help my students improve their speaking skills. Another questionnaire was given to students after I finished my research to find out more about the results of my application for improving students’ speaking skills and how successful I was. The time between two questionnaires was six months. Furthermore, when I was teaching, I often made observations about students’ attitudes in class. From that I could adjust my ways of teaching to help them develop their necessary skills more. 4. Some problems grade 10 students have before making the research By observing students while teaching and analyzing the first questionnaire, I realize that my students have some of the following problems: - The factors make them reluctant to speak English in class: + Fear of mistakes and derision + Low proficiency in English + Not being accustomed to speaking in class + Teacher’s uneven allocation of turns + Teacher’s intolerance of silence - The factors that prevent their speaking English process: + Being unable to find words and structures + Being unable to find ideas
9 5. Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at Nguyen Huu Canh high school From these problems above and the results of question 5 in the first questionnaire I always did my best to find some ways so that I can help my students improve their speaking skills. No one can deny the fact that most of the foreign language learners try to learn English because it serves the purpose of international communication. Obviously, perfect communication is not possible for anyone without using a language. As speaking skills play a dominant role in communication, there are some key principles that are important for developing speaking skills. Providing good input Input is something that students receive from teachers. Input is what students hear, see and perceive when teachers teach. Teachers should provide good input to prepare students with their storage of language information. Teachers can create an environment where there are many sources of input. These sources may include materials from tapes, videos, English TV programs, other English speakers and teachers can also be the rich sources of input. In addition, good input requires elements of quality. Among good input, comprehensible input is very necessary. It is teachers’ input that students can understand with great ease owing to its high quality as well as relevance. Comprehensible input helps students acquire language naturally rather than learn it consciously (Krashen, 1985), so teachers should be sensitive and skillful in selecting input materials for students and input materials should be suitable for students’ developmental process. Creating interactive process After providing good input, teachers should provide interactive process for students to communicate and control their production. In interactive process students are motivated as teachers create an atmosphere of attention and participation; therefore, lessons that help students enrich their vocabulary
10 and use their knowledge in situations resembling real life become more interesting. The teachers’ role is not limited as a controller, instead we should communicate with them. In teacher-student communication, the two-way interaction such as teacher-student and student-student is set up in which students regulate their speech to achieve the end, e.g communication itself. Apart from being communicator, teachers should also select supportive and motivating styles in order that learners can develop different language and communication skills as well as the ability to search for information. Tolerance of silence There are different kinds of levels of students in class; therefore, in speaking class, there is, usually silence. For silence, there are two interpretations. One is the long silence; the other is the short silence. The long silence often refers to the beginners or slow, weak students. It takes long time for them to output their speech. According to Baurain (2011) silence means a multifaceted, often determined border between thoughts and speech or between thoughts and words. Silence might reflect that thoughts cannot be spoken, or truths seem to be inexpressible. Sometimes, students are eager to speak but they do not know how to speak it. However, some teachers cannot tolerate this silence. The speedy expectation of teachers may kill students’ enthusiasm and confidence. The short silence usually occurs between or within activities in the classroom. Some teachers do not like this silence and try to fill in the time by talking too much. This talking may affect negatively both input and interaction. Teachers should be tolerant of silence. Reda (2012) suggested that teachers should encourage students to engage more in speaking class by considering what they like and what they need in order to prepare interesting material. In most situations, teachers are expected to create comfortable atmosphere.
11 Learning by doing Learning by doing encourages students to experience the language, which is a process of acquisition leading to high level of proficiency. High level of proficiency requires much practice. Much practice can boost students’ confidence in their own English language abilities. Teachers should encourage students to speak, to practise, and to use English to communicate in class and also out of class as much as possible. The more they practise, the more progress they make. Obviously, learning by doing can also increase motivation of students as well as desire to learn. More importantly, students can develop their practical language skills which can be applied in their daily lives. From controlled to automatic There are two ways to improve students’ oral production. One is to practise speaking based on structure. This way focuses on mastery of grammatical structures rather than on mastery of vocabulary. It can make students have a sense of control over the language and they can communicate; however, it is more suitable for low- level students. The other kind of activity that promotes speaking is topic or function based. This way helps students have more opportunities to express their thoughts, ideas, or even arguments. Whether teachers adopt structure focused or function or topic focused activities depends on students’ level. There are two kinds of speaking activities. One is factual information exchange; the other is personal idea exchange. By factual information exchange, students can exchange information based on facts, do not have to express their own opinion. They just need to share information or complete the missing information. Such activity is called information-gap exchange. This activity can keep students talking as they have information to say. The other activity expressing their own ideas can be productive or non-productive. If students are interested in the topic or have a lot of things to say, they can
12 fill the classroom with their talking voices, but the topic is not what they feel interested in or what they do not have a lot to say, silence will occur. Therefore, teachers should design activities having a sense of control for students and also prepare them for further speaking development in order that they can move from controlled activities to automatic production in speaking. Dealing with students’ errors In speaking class, most of the students surely make mistakes in their speaking practice. How teachers deal with students’ mistakes and errors is very important to individual learner. If teachers correct theirs too much or too frequently, we may kill students’ enthusiasm or willingness to continue speaking or even destroy the flow of the class. If we do not correct at all, some of the mistakes can become unchanging. Therefore, we should know the nature of what kinds of mistakes of students so that we can deal with their mistakes or errors scientifically. Deep understanding or error analysis can help teachers operate and manage speaking periods better. From the start of every activity, teachers should be clear of the aims and make sure that students can be aware of what teachers expect from them. The first port of call when correcting should be students themselves. Students can usually correct themselves as they realize they have made a mistake. Teachers should give students a chance and time so that they can correct themselves. Just by raising eyebrows or repeating the mistake, teachers can help students know what we mean and go back to correct error themselves. Students can also correct one another. Peer correction creates a positive class atmosphere because students realize teachers are not the only source of error correction and they can also learn a lot from one another. In addition, teachers can get students to work in groups and have them correct each others. Although it is possible, there are some problems with this way and teachers
13 need to make sure of class as well as monitor them closely while it is happening. These principles can be applied in teaching speaking flexibly. The most important thing is that teachers can help students practise speaking as much as possible. 6. Implementation I have been teaching English for 21 years. My school is in Bien Hoa city. Most of students come from working - class families, so they rarely have conditions to study English at Foreign Language Centres or extra classes. They only study English at school. Among four skills, my students are often afraid of speaking skills. To make my speaking periods successful I have tried many ways. As I want to help my students follow my lesson easily, I give them input which refers to what information they must have in the lesson so that they may reach the objective and how they get this information. My instructions should be brief, easy to understand and clear so that all students know what they have to do. These help attract students’ commitment to the lesson and avoid confusion. After all my students understand what to do, I reduce my speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. I observe my students while they are practising. At that time I circulate around classroom to ensure that my students are on right track and see whether they need my help while they are working in pairs or groups. By this way I want my students have more time to practise speaking and I can find ways to help slow or weak students. One of the problems that often prevent speaking English process of students is shortage of vocabulary. Most of the students do not spend time learning vocabulary, so their vocabulary is very limited. When speaking they often get stuck or cannot finish the sentences they want to speak. One simple way is that before teaching speaking I often give students vocabulary that are relating to the topic. Another way is that in pre-speaking stage I use “mind
14 map” to give students the topic so that they can work in groups to find out as many words relating to topic as possible. By this way I want to help my students enrich their vocabulary and they can memorize new words more easily. Some of my students feel very shy to speak because they do not acquire the target language. They do not even interact with other students or keep silent when they are asked to speak English all the time. Therefore I try to create a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom where students are not afraid of speaking and enjoy communicating with me. I try to let them feel relaxed and comfortable in English periods. There is a close relationship between my students and me as we are enthusiastic about learning and respectful of one another. Both strong and weak students are most motivated to learn when they feel comfortable and relaxed. According to Nunan (2011) teachers should pay attention to many problems in classroom. I provide maximum opportunities for students to speak English by providing a rich environment containing collaborative work, materials and tasks that are suitable for my students’ levels. I try to involve each student in every speaking activity by varying speaking activities. Some activities that can be done to promote speaking are: discussions, role play, simulations, interviews, story completion, brainstorming, pair work, group work, etc. Most of students are often worried about making mistakes. This makes them feel unconfident when speaking English, especially some weak students. The teachers should not correct very often the students’ mistakes while they are speaking (Kayi, 2006). When my students are speaking I don’t interrupt them to correct their mistakes, I take notes in my paper. After my students finish speaking I correct mistakes for all class without mentioning whose mistakes. By this way every student doesn’t worry about their mistakes, they can improve themselves from other mistakes.
15 Besides, while teaching I often ask eliciting questions such as “What do you mean?” “How did you reach that conclusion?” to prompt students to speak more. Also, I often provide helpful feedback like “your presentation was really great. It was a good job”. By this way, I can encourage my students to speak more. 7. Some illustrations of the ways to help students improve their speaking skills In this part, two illustrations are given to make everything more clearly. In Unit 3: People’s background - Lesson B: Speaking 1. Activity 1: “Word square” Find 9 words about Marie Curie H B R I L L I A N T U A H N B W L M H V M M A T U R E B S R A C R E C D K I E C N H D L Y W A T D U E E D L R A D I U M E M S I G B T O W P O I Z G V W C U O F R S M E U S R S T R S T T N O B E L V A W B A T O M I C B C Expected answers: humane, brilliant, chemist, mature, intelligent, nobel, atomic, ambitious, radium, In this activity, I would like to give students some words relating to Marie Curie that they have already learnt in lesson A: Reading. By this way I want to prepare some information about Marie Curie for students. The better
16 input I provide for students, the better they can talk about Marie Curie’s background in activity 2. In Unit 10: Conservation - Lesson B: Speaking 1. Activity 1: Look at the pictures and tell the differences between a traditional zoo and a new kind of zoo. A traditional zoo A new kind of zoo In this activity, I would like my students to understand little by little how a traditional zoo and new kind of zoo are different by describing two pictures. If my students get stuck I can help them by asking some questions such as: + In traditional zoo where is the tiger kept? + In new kind of zoo is the tiger kept in a cage? ......... Expected answers: - In traditional zoo, animals are kept in cages. They can have better food, their health is looked after but they have no freedom, .......... - In the zoo of the new kind, animals can live in their natural environment. They aren’t kept in cages but they can die of hunger or disease, .......
17 By providing my students with good input, I can help my students prepare more carefully so that in Activity 2 they can discuss the questions about the features of the zoo of the new kind. At the end of the lesson in Activity 3 students can share their ideas about which kind of zoo they choose for animals and explain why they choose it. In every lesson, I always encourage my students to make progress. I often give them my compliments such as: “you’re really working hard today”, “you are very good at that”, “not bad”, “I knew you could do it”, “keep working on it. You’re improving”, “that’s not half bad”, “you outdid yourself today”, etc. By doing so I can help my students feel relaxed in speaking periods and they are not afraid of making mistakes. 8. Findings and discussions The analysis was analyzed to get information about the problems students have in learning speaking skills and then I can find the ways to help them improve speaking skills. As can be seen in Appendix C - Questionnaire results (page 26) the number of students that speak English in English class time is rather small. The reason for that is most of the students feel reluctant to speak English in class. Moreover, in this questionnaire results it can be found that there are many factors making students reluctant to speaking English such as not being accustomed to speaking English in class (90 %), fearing of mistakes and derision (80 %), their low proficiency in English (72,5 %), and teacher’s uneven allocation of turns (67,5 %). In addition, being unable to find words and structures (92,5 %) and being unable to find ideas (87,5 %) often prevent students’ speaking English process. Even more importantly, thanks to this questionnaire I could find what my students want me to do in speaking period to help them speaking English more. Most surprisingly, all of them want me to give simple and clear instructions (100 %). Furthermore, they’d like me to give them various materials (95 %), create interactive process (92,5 %), pick
18 topics and activities that they find interesting and useful (90 %). Another things that students want me to do are varying speaking activities, organizing friendly competitions, taking advantages of power point presentation, creating opportunities for discussions and debates, arranging the classroom so that students can sit in rows facing each and showing tolerance for silence (85 %, 77,5 %, 72,5%, 70 %, 67,5%, and 60 % respectively) After getting the above results I can find out some factors that limit my students’ speaking skills. I try to find ways to help my students improve their speaking skills. These efforts of both teachers and students can be evaluated after six months. As can be seen in Appendix D - Questionnaire results (page 28) most of the students realize how important speaking skills are. Moreover, all of them (100 %) feel confident when they are good at speaking skills. Being good at speaking skills can help them many things such as being friendly to others (97,5 %), listening with attention (85 %), speaking less and effective (80 %), respecting opinions of others (75 %), and improving the presence of mind and memory enhancement (72,5 %). That my students become aware of the need for improving their speaking skills outside classroom is significantly better. All of them (100 %) try free online learning activities. 90 percent of them enjoy songs and films. Besides, they carry out many things in order of show an improvement in speaking skills such as meeting English speakers (85 %), reading English books aloud (80 %), and playing games (67,5 %). All these results show that students are motivated to learn speaking skills than ever before. And now have a look at Appendix E - Test results (page 29) it can be clearly seen that a number of students getting below average marks dropped dramatically from 22,5 % in the first test to 7,5 % in the second test and this number continued going down to 2,5 % in the third test. This showed all students made good progress. Moreover, the percentage of above average marks increased significantly. The first test reached the number of 77,5 % (60
19 % + 17,5 %) meanwhile this number of second one was 92,5 % (55 % + 37,5 %) and the third test got the highest percentage (97,5 %). From the two Questionnaire results and the test results I eventually came to the conclusion that my efforts were appreciated as all of my students make progress more and more. 9. Evaluation of the research The novelty of the research The aims of my research are to help my grade 10 students improve their speaking skills. I try to create more interactive process in my speaking periods so that my students have more chances to speaking English. This means that I decrease teacher-talking time and increase student-talking time. Every student becomes more active and more confident in every speaking lesson. They are not under any pressure; therefore, they like learning speaking skills more and more. The effectiveness of applications My research has many effective applications. The analyses of two questionnaires and test results show that I am successful in helping my students improve their speaking skills. More importantly, my students are motivated to improve their speaking skills outside classroom. The applicability of the research My research is easy to apply in every high school. Teachers should take time to prepare lessons carefully. Teachers should design materials based on textbook that are suitable for a variety of levels in their class. Good materials are one of good inputs that encourage students get involved in lessons. I am very willing to share my ideas with any teacher that teaches grade 10 students and have the same consideration. Moreover, good sources such as tapes, videos, internet have become an indispensable part of every my teaching period. Good preparations and good sources make students learn speaking skills more easily.
20 10. Conclusion Speaking skills are very important and necessary for students. The ability to communicate in English clearly and fluently contributes to the success of students in school and success later in their future life. Therefore, it is essential that teachers pay more attention to teaching speaking. After I have finished conducting this research I realize that making an English speaking lesson effective is not easy. Teachers should take time to find the ways that are suitable for their students. This motivates students to learn more enthusiastically. The more teachers try, the more effectively students learn. I commit not to copy or infringe copyright. Bien Hoa city, June 15th 2020 HỘI ĐỒNG CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG Composer KIẾN TẠI CƠ QUAN, ĐƠN VỊ NƠI TÁC GIẢ CÔNG TÁC (Xác nhận: công nhận hoặc không công nhận sáng kiến) Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai (Ký tên, đóng dấu)