ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would love to express my deep indebtedness to a number of people whose
invaluable support and encouragement were of great help in the completion of this
study.
First and foremost, I would like to advance my special gratitude and respect to
my minor thesis advisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Xuan Diep for his invaluable
suggestions, continuous support, great encouragement, motivating attitude as well
as critical comments from the beginning of my study. I could never have achieved
this without his support.
I am also thankful to all my teachers at the English department, University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
My special thanks to 40 second-year students at Vietnam University of
Commerce for their invaluable support and cooperation to start and complete my
thesis.
Lastly, my special words of thanks are extent to my family for their endless help,
patience and support.
i
ABSTRACT
The current study entitled “Applying Problem-Solving Activities in Teaching
Speaking Skills for the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University
of Commerce” was carried out to find out the effectiveness of problem-solving
activities in improving students’ speaking competence as well as investigate the
students’ motivation towards the use of problem-solving activities in speaking
lessons at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC), and then give some
pedagogical implications for teachers. An action research was implemented with 40
students of English Department at VUC during four weeks. Data were collected by
observations, oral tests, questionnaires, and student’s journals. To answer two
research questions (1) To what extent does the application of problem-solving
activities improve students’ speaking skills? and (2) What are the effects of
problem-solving activities on students’ motivation?, four speaking lessons were
conducted in the form of problem-solving activities. The main findings highlighted

3.1. Preliminary Invesgaon 27
3.2. Evaluaon 30
3.3. Summary 37
PART C: CONCLUSIONS 39
4.1. Recapitulaon of Main Ideas 39
4.2. Limitaons of the Study 40
4.3. Suggesons for Further Studies 40
REFERENCES 42
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………I
iv
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the Study
Among four skills, speaking plays the most essential part in communication. In
fact, Vietnamese students realize the necessity as well as importance of enhancing
language skills in order to meet future job’s needs and communicate in social
conversations. However, it is hard for most of them to use English in the real
situations. In the real context of Vietnam University of Commerce, lecture-oriented
method is still applied at present although there have been a large number of
changes about teaching materials and supplementary activities. Students do not feel
elated and enthusiastic when participating in speaking lessons. Their lack of
confidence as well as uninteresting speaking activities leads to demotivate them to
join in. In addition, other problems such as lack of vocabulary, involvement or
enjoyment have great impacts on their participation in speaking lessons.
To solve these problems, more effective speaking activities need to be exploited
so as to enhance learners’ communicative competence and help them get more
involved in speaking lessons, so current teachers need to actively engage students in
speaking activities that are enjoyable and are based on a more communicative
approach. One of them is problem-solving activities, which received many supports
from scholars and teachers. Using problem-solving activities is regarded as an
effective way to practise communication skills in which students work with each

2. What are the effects of problem-solving activities on students’ motivation?
2
1.5. Scope of the Study
The study was conducted on 40 Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam
University of Commerce in the first semester of 2014-2015 via the application of
problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills.
1.6. Significance of the Study
The foremost significance of this study is that it will contribute to a more
effective use of problem-solving activities in order to enhance speaking skills for
the Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce.
The findings of the study will provide an insightful understanding of the current
situation of exploiting problem-solving activities in teaching speaking skills to the
Second-year English-Major Students at Vietnam University of Commerce. In other
words, the study also helps revisit the features and principles of problem solving in
education. Moreover, English teachers may find the recommended problem-solving
activities a useful reference to make their speaking lessons more communicative,
meaningful and practical.
1.7. Methodology
An action research was applied in this minor thesis to improve students’
speaking skills and teaching speaking in the researcher’s own class. In order to
collect sufficient and relevant data for the study, four instruments were employed:
- Pre-test and post-test to assess student’s speaking ability.
- Observation sheet to find out students’ motivation during the intervention.
- Survey questionnaires to investigate students’ achievement and motivation before
and after the intervention.
- Student’s journals to investigate students’ improvement towards this application.
1.8. Design of the Study
3
The study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
The Introduction presents the rationale, aim, objectives, scope, significance and

speaking is “an activity involving two (or more) people in which the participants are
both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their
contributions at high speed”. Through the interaction, each participant will try to
achieve his communicative goals and fulfill his ability of interpreting what is said to
him. Expressing message or sharing information through verbal and non-verbal
symbols is actually effective ways in real-life situations which will help people
understand each other without words. Theodore Huebner stated that “language is
essentially speech, and speech is basically communication by sounds”. According to
him, speaking is a skill used by someone in daily life communication whether at
school or outside. The skill is acquired by much repetition; it primarily a
5
neuromuscular and not an intellectual process. It consists of competence in
sending and receiving messages.
To sum up, it is obvious that speaking is one of the most important skills for
learners. The ability to speak fluently, appropriately and understandably every time,
everywhere and in every situation is the goal as well as the desire of language
learners. It is not easy for them to master immediately because speaking skills
require learners to practice regularly and patiently. From these reasons, Bygate
(1987, p. 2) considered speaking skills as “a skill which deserves attention every bit
as much as literary skills in both first and second language”.
1.1.1.2. The Roles of Speaking Skills in Language Teaching
Speaking creates motivation in language learning. According to Crook and
Schmidt (1991), motivation is defined as the learner’s orientation with regard to the
goal of learning a second language. Learning a language is to know to learn how to
use it, as Nunan (1991) stated “success is measured in terms of the ability to carry
out a conversation in the (target) language”. Mastering a language is that learners
can use it flexibly in every situation. If students cannot speak or they do not have a
chance to speak, they will get bored and lose their interest in learning a language.
Therefore, the right activities need using in a right way, which makes speaking in
class be cheerful and raises learners’ motivation as well as creates a dynamic

on the dialogue in the script. Thus, the teacher as a director and the students
perform the dialogue. Communication games are the second one which can make
students relaxed in learning a language. This technique is particularly suitable for
the children in mastering the language. It is designed to provoke communication
between students in order for them to solve a puzzle, draw a picture, put the things
in a right order, and find differences between pictures. Lastly, it is Role Play that is
a stimulated activity in which students pretend that they are in a different situation,
7
either as themselves or playing the role of someone is quite different. We could ask
them to be a guest at some parties and go there as different characters. They could,
as themselves, pretend to be at an airport trying to check luggage, or either as
themselves or another character take part in a television program. The students in all
these cases are using language in order to participate in the activity rather than other
way round. Some students find it very comfortable to use language in a simulated
environment, and playing the role of someone else which allows them to
experiment freely to be another people.
1.1.2. Problem-Solving Activities
1.1.2.1. Definitions of Problem Solving
Problem solving is a popular way to stimulate students’ interest and motivation.
Students work in pairs or groups to share their opinions and feelings about a
specific problem. They work together to discuss, analyze and evaluate the problem,
then reach proper solutions.
A problem is a situation which is experienced by an agent as different from the
situation which the agent ideally would like to be in. A problem is solved by a
sequence of actions that reduce the difference between the initial situation and the
goal (F.Heylighen, 1998).
According to Ormond (2006: 111), “problem solving is using existing
knowledge and skills to address an unanswered question or a troubling
situation”.
Mayer and Wittrock (2006, p. 287) defined problem solving as “a cognitive

Problem solving is one of many communicative interactive techniques for
language teaching that received many attentions from researchers and educators.
Littlewood (1990) proposed that “problem-solving activity is a type of
communicative activities that have been designed to provide opportunities for
9
learners to produce a language that they have recently learnt”. The application of
problem-solving activities encourages students to think carefully and talk together
to seek solutions to tasks or problems. Moreover, these activities increase students
‘participation and motivation towards speaking skills. In other words, they also
create a fascinating and eventful learning environment to help learners understand
more about the importance and necessity of speaking skills.
1.1.2.2. Kinds of Problem-Solving Activities
A number of kinds of problem-solving activities have been used for teaching
language in EFL classrooms. These activities are organized in different ways in
which their main aim is to enhance speaking skills.
Byrne (1986, p. 94) proposed different some problem solving activities which
are as follows:
Linking activities:
Finding connections: Students have to establish connections between two
items (presented to them verbally or in the form of pictures). Two such
items might be horse and book. Some possible connections are:
(1) The horse is famous because it has won lots of races, so its owner has
decided to write a book about it.
(2) The horse belongs to a man who likes reading and riding. When he
goes for a ride on his horse, he often takes a book with him to read.
Finding differences and similarities: Students may be asked to find
differences and similarities as two separate activities or as part of the same
activity. For example, Students can be asked to find differences (either a set
number or as many as possible) between two pictures. Or students can be
asked to list both similarities and differences (for office and classroom).

make the classroom cheerful and dynamic, and applying problem-solving activities
in teaching speaking brings about some benefits for both teachers and students.
First of all, problem-solving activities increase students’ motivation towards
learning speaking. Concerning the motivation of classroom activities, Littlewood
(1981, p.17) suggested that “Language learners’ ultimate objective is to take part in
communication with others. Also, most learners’ prior conception of language is as
a means of communication rather than as a structural system”. Thus, the motivation
of most language learners is to gain a capacity to speak in that language.
Problem-solving activities in speaking lessons will produce a high level of
motivation and participation. In addition, problem-solving activities are considered
a stimulus to elicit speech. Furthermore, problem-solving activities are often
designed in the form of games, which is said to stir and maintain students’ interest
and motivation. Challenge – an essential element of every game will create a
competition among learners and impulse their eagerness in the learning process.
Secondly, problem-solving activities encourage students’ equal participation. Ur
(1996:128) explained that “participants tend to become personally involved; they
begin to relate to the problem as an emotional issue as well as an intellectual and
moral one”. A problem-solving activity requires a good cooperation and full
participation from students who share work and contribute to the common task.
This might establish a kind of atmosphere that encourages learners to help one
another or ask for the help from their peers. In other words, no student is too
dominant or the others keep silent during the activity. Better students have a chance
to help their weaker partners while the weaker ones can put aside their inhibitions
and learn something from better friends. This is also a way for students to learn
from others. Moreover, the encouragement to participate in the activity from the
teacher also makes a better different impression of closeness on students.
Thirdly, problem-solving activities offer students language practice
opportunities. In fact, learners in many EFL classrooms do not have enough time to
practise the new language. Therefore, they find it difficult to gain communicative
12

1.2. Review of Related Works
There are a number of studies on the use of problem-solving activities in
language teaching. Many researchers pointed out that applying problem-solving
activities in language classroom is very useful in creating an attractive learning
environment for learners.
Thanyalak Oradee (2012) did a study of comparing English speaking skills using
three communicative activities: Discussion, Problem solving, and Role playing of
Grade 11 students before and after learning. She pointed out the effects of using
these communicative activities in the language classroom in Thai context. In this
study, a one group pre-test and post-test design was also employed for 49 students
at a secondary school in Udon Thani, Thailand to assess their English ability. The
design of the research was mixed method design. The quantitative data came from
the speaking test and the students’ attitude towards teaching English speaking. The
qualitative data were drawn from a Learning Log, a semi-structured interview and a
Teacher’s Journal. The findings were as follows: 1. The students’ English speaking
abilities after using the three communicative activities were significantly higher
than before their use. (Pretest = 60.80; Posttest = 85.63). 2. The students’ attitude
towards teaching English speaking skills using the three communicative activities
were rated as good (Χ=4.50). The results revealed a positive role of using these
communicative activities in developing English speaking skills.
Another study that investigated the effect of applying problem solving in
teaching foreign languages to students of pedagogical departments was of Natela
Doghonadze and Gulnara Gorgiladze (2008). An experimental study was conduct.
The aim of the study is to review some existing research and to offer some
practical recommendations for methods of teacher training in foreign
14
languages based on problem solving. The researchers gave some typical activities
which helped to increase students ‘motivation in learning foreign language.
The another one is that a study into teaching speaking skills using problem-
solving method at class tenth of Sma Bina Muda Cicalengka by Asep Rahmat

language, especially in speaking skills. The study is expected to create a cheerful
and eventful atmosphere for learners as well as to become a useful tool for teachers
to improve their performance of English classes at Vietnam University of
Commerce.
1.4. Summary
This chapter has discussed theoretical background with the concepts of the key
terms related to speaking skills. Then, an overview of problem-solving activities in
developing speaking skills has been provided.
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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS
2.1. The Setting
The study was carried out at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC) which has
a reputation in training students in the field of business and commerce. With the
aim “Training good entrepreneurs for the country”, VUC focuses on equipping
students with knowledge related to their own majors as well as improving learners’
English skills in order to satisfy the needs of businesses after graduation. English
Department at VUC was established seven years ago with more than 400 students in
which its mission is not only to teach English to students of different departments in
this university but also to train qualified graduates with both English proficiency
and economic background. Students in English non-major classes are required to
complete four courses of English as a part of their general education requirements.
The students of English-major classes follow a curriculum which four receptive and
productive skills (Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing) are focused. In
addition, they also learn other subjects related to English theoretical linguistics.
The current teaching material for the Second-year English-Major Students is The
Business Intermediate designed by John Allison with Paul Emmerson (Mc Millan
Publisher, 2007). It is one of the latest business books which provide students with
authentic materials of spoken language, communicative activities in which pair
work and group work are used to help them practise using the language in the
classroom. There are 8 units in this book which contains in such specific parts as

Nunan (1992) proposed seven steps, namely Initiation, Preliminary
investigation, Hypothesis, Intervention, Evaluation, Dissemination, and Follow-up.
The general steps of an action research cycle suggested by Nunan were used for this
study.
2.4. Data Collection Instruments
2.4.1. Speaking Pre-test and Post-test
In this thesis, in order to explore the effects of the application of problem-
solving activities in teaching speaking skills, the researcher used materials from the
textbook The Business Intermediate to design pre-test and post-test. The purpose of
two major tests was to check the participants’ achievement after the intervention. It
is the reason why the role of pre-test and post-test is important to this study because
it will determine whether the use of problem-solving activities is effective to
19
improve students’ speaking skills at VUC. In the pre-test and post-test, students
were asked to work in pair role playing a situation within 8 minutes. The results of
both tests were the key sources of data to assess the impact of applying problem-
solving activities on the students’ speaking ability.
Criteria for speaking test assessment were adapted from Harris (1969, p.18)
including five subscales as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and
comprehension. The marking scales range from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) due to the
proficiency of participants when performing the tests (see Appendix 4).
2.4.2. Questionnaires
Two questionnaires were employed to investigate the participants’ attitudes and
thoughts before and after applying problem-solving activities in speaking lessons.
According to Brown (2001), “Questionnaires are any written instruments that
present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to
react, either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing
answers.”
One questionnaire was administered after the participants completed the pre-
test, and the other one was given after they finished the post-test.

review mentioned in chapter 2, the researcher designed some problem-solving
activities for the lesson in group which were adapted from Byrne. The procedures of
conducting problem-solving activities proposed by Tuckman (1965) cited in Wright
(1987) for the study was illustrated which are as follows:
Stage 1 Forming: In the group, there is some anxiety. There is a great deal of
dependence on the leader (the teacher) and a great deal of behavior directed towards
finding out the nature of the situation and also what behavior is acceptable.
At the same time, group members attempt to find out what the task is, what the
rules are for carrying out the task and the methods that are appropriate.
21