VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
POST – GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT
***
NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC HOA
MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS USING PROJECT WORK TO TEACH ENGLISH SPEAKING
SKILL FOR FIRST YEAR TOURISM – MAJORED STUDENTS
AT SAO DO COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY
SỬ DỤNG DẠY HỌC THEO DỰ ÁN ĐỂ DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH
CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH DU LỊCH
TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP SAO ĐỎ

Major: Methodology
Code: 601410

Supervisor: Từ Thị Minh Thúy, M.A.

SỬ DỤNG DẠY HỌC THEO DỰ ÁN ĐỂ DẠY KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH
CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH DU LỊCH
TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP SAO ĐỎ Major: Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Từ Thị Minh Thúy, M.A.

HẢI PHÒNG – NĂM 2010

v
TABLE OF CONTENT
Part I: introduction ………………………………………

1.1 Rationale of the study ………… …………………………………………
1
1.2 Aims of the study……………………………………………………………

9
1.2.3 Characteristics of project work
9
1.2.4. Aims of project work …………………………………………………
10
1.2.5 Principles of project work
10
1.2.6 How is project work conducted? ……………………
11
1.2.6.1 Planning ……………………………………………………………

1.2.6.2 Performing

1.2.6.3 Feedback

1.2.7 Evaluation of project work ……………………………………………
11
Chapter 2: data collection and analysis……….………

2.1 Description of the setting

2.1.1 Description of the school …………………………
13
vi
2.1.2 Description of the programme
14
2.1.3 Description of the course …………………………….
14
2.2 Methodology and data collection ……………………………….


35
4.2.3 Role-play …………………………………………………………………
36
PART III CONCLUSION
37
REFERENCES

Appendices iv
List of the tables

Table 1: Students’ attitude towards language skills.
20
Table 2: The students’ difficulties in learning English speaking
20
Table 3: Students’ result in the pre-test oral examination
21
Table 4: Statistic from teacher evaluation in the pre-test examination
22
Table 5: Students’ result in the post-test examination
22
Table 6: Statistic from teacher evaluation in the post-test examination

abroad or simply to get information from the Internet, to read foreign newspapers and
magazines or to assess knowledge in the world. For this reason, English has been taught
everywhere in Viet Nam: in schools, universities etc and it has been a compulsory subject.
Like other languages, the final purpose of studying English is the ability to
communicate with foreigners or native speakers. However, in Viet Nam as well as other
countries where people speak English as a foreign language, how to speak English well has
been still a big problem. According to Bygate,Martin. (1987), speaking, speaking is a
productive skill in the oral mode. It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems
at first and involves more than just pronouncing words. People can be very good at
grammar, vocabulary but they are very shy when speaking language, especially to
foreigners.
As a teacher of English, I realize that one of the biggest problems of our students
when learning English is speaking skill. From observation, I can see during the period of
speaking, students usually perform activities conducted by teachers. Teacher usually plays
the role of controller and the class is usually teacher-centered. Students always follow the
teacher’s instructions. Students cannot promote their imagination, their creation, and do not
have chance to show their ability of organization. Sometimes, speaking lessons are boring
and the class atmosphere is quiet, which must have been interesting and pleasant. I think
that not only me but other teachers find it embarrassing when teaching speaking skill.
To solve this problem and with an attempt to improve students’ speaking skill, I use
project work in teaching English especially teaching speaking skill.
Project work, factually, is the requirements of teacher to students to prepare the
lesson prior to the class. Project work functions as a bridge between using English in class
and using English in real life situations outside of class (Fried-Booth, 1997). It does this by

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placing learners in situations that require authentic use of language in order to
communicate (e.g., being part of a team or interviewing others). When learners work in
pairs or in teams, they find they need skills to plan, organize, negotiate, make their points,
and arrive at a consensus about issues such as what tasks to perform, who will be

applied to all students at Sao Do College of industry. It is only carried out with students
who are in the first year of tourism major at this college in order to find out a suitable way
to teach speaking skill effectively and students can gain improvement.
1.5. Design of the study.
A part from acknowledgement, table of contents and appendices, this study is
divided into three part
Part I: “Introduction” presents the rationale, aims, research questions, scope of
study and its design.
Part II: Development
Chapter 1: Literature Review mentions some concepts relating to the content of the
study: characteristics of communicative competence, communicative language teaching,
speaking skill and areas of project work and the role of project work in language
competence and speaking skill.
Chapter 2: Data collection and analysis consists of two parts. The first part gives
description of research setting in which an overview of school, teachers and students,
programme and course is shown. The second part of this chapter is methodology and data
collection gives brief introduction of participants, materials and methods.
Chapter 3 Results. This chapter composes two parts: Presentation of the data is the
first part; analysis, interpretation of the data and discussion is the second part.
Chapter 4 Pedagogical implications. This chapter shows suggestions of techniques
and activities for teacher in teaching speaking skill.
Part III : Conclusion. This part summarizes the main ideas of the study and give
future direction.


the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably accurately and without undue
hesitation. To meet this objective, learners will have to be brought from the stage where
they merely imitate a model or respond to cues to the point where they can use the
language to express their own ideas and feelings (processes that must to a large extent be in
simultaneous operation).

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1.1. 3 The role of speaking skill in teaching and learning language.
In teaching theory, language has four macro skills: Listening, speaking, reading and
writing. These four skills are in interactive and supportive relation. Of all the four skills,
speaking is in the central position, as it is fundamental to human communication. A society
is really existing when people communicate. Speaking skills simply do not refer to the way
in which we communicate with another person. It encompasses many other things - the
way in which we respond to the person we are speaking, body gestures including the facial
ones, pitch and tone of our voice and a lot of other things. And the importance of speaking
skills is not just limited to the management world, since effective speaking skills are now
required in each and every aspect of our life. According to Nambiar (1985), speaking when
compared with writing, is the essential form of language and writing is ranked second after
it and derived from it.
In language teaching and learning, speaking plays an important part. The ability to
communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the
learner in school and later in their life. Bygate (1987) also claims that our learners need to
have ability to speak confidently in basic transactions. Especially, speaking is regarded as
the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language. It is indicated that people
who know a language are referred to as “speaker” of that language as if speaking included
all other kinds of knowing. Consequently, a lot of foreign languages learners are primarily
interested in learning to speak.
Therefore; recognizing the importance of speaking skill in language teaching and
learning, teacher should pay attention to teaching speaking skill. Teacher should provide
environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities and

Language processing: effective speakers need to be able to process language in
their own heads and put it into coherent order so that it comes out in forms that are not
only comprehensible but also convey the meaning that are intended. One of the main
reasons for including speaking activities in language lessons is to help students develop
habits of rapid language processing in English.
Interacting with others: most speaking involves interaction with one or more
participants. This means that effective speaking involves a good deal of listening and
understanding of how the other participants are feeling and a knowledge of how
linguistically to take turns or allow others to do so.
Real item information processing: the ability to process the information others tell
us the moment we get it. The longer it takes, the less efficient we are.
Sociolinguistic knowledge: knowledge of language alone does not adequately
prepare learners for effective and appropriate use of the target language. Learners must

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have competence which involves knowing what is expected socially and culturally by users
of the target language. Understanding the sociolinguistic side of language helps learners
know what comments are appropriate, know how to ask questions during interaction, and
know how to respond nonverbally according to the purpose of the talk.
All relating factors to English speaking skill above provide students with basic
knowledge used in studying speaking; Teachers base on them to determine which
knowledge to teach and which method to apply to improve students’ speaking competence
which start with a successful speaking lesson in class.
1.1. 5 Characteristics of a successful speaking lesson.
In a speaking period, it requires everyone to involve, to communicate in order to
exchange information. The core feature of speaking class is the dynamic environment
where students do more rather than listen and get information. A speaking lesson is
effective when the atmosphere is opened, comfortable. Learners must feel safe and
accepted. They need to understand both the risks and rewards of seeking new knowledge
and understanding. The classroom must provide involvement, interaction, and

1.2 Theoretical background of Project work
In the trend of teaching and learning English to communicative language teaching
approach, all teachers try to provide students with opportunities to explore the language
use oral communication. Teachers use techniques, activities to enhance students to speak
and communicate with others people using target language. Teachers are also enthusiastic
to apply new method to teaching and one of these effective method is project work.
1. 2.1 Definition of project work
According to Diana Fried – Booth (1986) and Diana Fried – Booth (1997), project
work is a method which involves students in an authentic learning experience with
language used for genuine communication purpose. It is student – centered and it results is
a tangible end – product Project work focuses on completing a task.
Project work normally involves many resources - time, people and materials - and
learners practice a range of skills and language systems.
The term “project” is used to describe a framework for teacher-student cooperation
that is based on the individual and social needs of the persons involved, as well as the
requirements of the society in which they live. The main aim was to bridge the gap
between “learning for school” and “learning for life”. Education should provide relevant
knowledge and applicable skills for the students, and enable them to participate as
responsible members of a modern democratic society.
1. 2.2 History of project work

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Root of project work can be seen in the concept of the “work school” that was
developed by Pavel Petrovic Blonskij and Anton Semenoic Markarendo during the
twenties. Their main criticism focused on the curriculum and the methodology that were
applied in schools at that time. To them schools did not seem to meet the needs of young
people or the demands of the society. They stressed the necessity of cooperative action at
school in order to improve the responsibility for social relationships and to provide training
of social skills to students.
In the 1960s the above-mentioned approaches were rediscovered. Mainly schools in

1. 2. 4 Aims of project work
Project Work is a learning experience which aims to provide students with the
opportunity to synthesize knowledge from various areas of learning, and critically and
creatively apply it to real life situations. This process, which enhances students’ knowledge
and enables them to acquire skills like collaboration, communication and independent
learning, prepares them for lifelong learning and the challenges ahead and the main aim
was to bridge the gap between “learning for school” and “learning for life”. Another
important aim of project work is the development of management skills. This means in
particular that students learn to plan the project in a cooperative way. Negotiations take
place in student groups to find out which one of the different proposals mentioned by the
group members seems to lead to the most satisfying results and emphasis is put on the
persuasive power of ideas and arguments. Besides planning the management of project
needs, the distribution of tasks and responsibilities among the group members must also
take place. Finally, information has to be collected, tested and summarized, which again
supports the improvement of management skills.
1. 2. 5 Principles of project work
When using project work to teach language skill, it is compulsory for teacher to follow the
principles of building on previous work that means there is closely connection between the
current task and old knowledge. Moreover, project work must ensure the integration of
speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills; During the period of carrying out project,
there must have incorporation collaborative teamwork, problem solving, negotiating and
other interpersonal skills. Though one of the most outstanding characteristics of project
work is that it emphasizes on cooperation, it doesn’t mean that no one is responsible for the
work. On the contrary, project work requires learners to engage in independent work and
be sure for completion. One difficult but useful principle of project is it challenges learners
to use English in new and different contexts outside the class; only by this way, students
can master their speaking competence quickly. Project work also engages learners in

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acquiring new information that is important to them which leads to clear outcomes.


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Assessment can also be done through small-group discussion with guided
questions such as what did your classmates do very well in the project? Was there anything
that needed improvement? What? Why? The ability to identify or label the learning that is
taking place builds life-long learning skills. Questionnaires, checklists, or essays can help
learners do this by inviting them to reflect critically on the skills and knowledge they are
gaining.


English or discussing before crowded to them is a very difficult problem. Many of students
always ask me how to improve speaking skill or communicative competence or how to
communicate with foreigners confidently-a compulsory requirement to a professional tour
guide. To solve that problem, I mainly used activities, techniques that promote students’
speaking skill. Using Project work in teaching speaking skill, to my teaching experience, is
really useful and efficient.
As mentioned above, teachers of English at our college try their best to teach
speaking skill effectively as they know that the final goal of learning English is to

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communicate. However, it is difficult because students lack of vocabulary and background
knowledge. Besides, methods of teaching are not suitable and types of activity are not
interesting; so they do not attract students. In a speaking lesson, students usually do
exercises or tasks in the books or syllabus. It is the teacher who devises activities and
controls students. For that reason, students are sometimes passive; they cannot promote
their creation. Some formal types of exercise for speaking skill are: work in pair, ask and
answer to get information or work in-group, describe a famous place that you like. Most of
these tasks are done in class, students are rarely required to prepare at home prior to the
lesson. Students’ presentation is usually simple with not much useful and interesting
information; their performance is not skillful. Teachers really have not found suitable way
to teach and students, in fact, have no motivation and passion to study speaking skill. In
case of having motivation, students usually feel bored because they get a little
improvement.
2.1.2 Description of the programme.
The syllabus used for teaching in our college is in-house materials. All the lessons
are about tourism theme such as beauty spots, historical places, festivals with the purpose
to provide students with necessary information, which is useful to them in their career
later. There are 16 lessons and each lesson composes five parts: reading, speaking,
listening, writing and language focus. Like the other three parts, speaking period goes
through three steps: pre-speaking in which teacher raises easy questions for students to

on developing 4 skills: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Thus, they are supposed to
have an intermediate level of proficiency in English, they have sound knowledge of
Grammar, and to some extent are able to speak in English. Most of them want to learn
English firstly for a future job, and secondly for better understanding of the foreign tourists
When doing this study, students were encouraged to express their ideas and
opinions directly which made the result of the study have high accuracy and helped to
assess the method correctly.
2.2.2 Materials
Richard and Rodger cited in Nunan (1991) view materials as detail specification of
content and guidance to teacher. Teaching materials composes two types :institutionally
prepared materials (published text book) and in-house materials. In-house materials as
Richard (2001) is his or her own prepared materials. Materials that has been used in
teaching in our class and in this study are some kinds of project. There are some kinds of
projects that have been used in teaching language in our class. The first kind is media and
the outcome of which are newspapers or magazines of students themselves. The second
type may be about culture. Students do a project about holidays, festivals, pagodas,

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temples…and the outcome may be a complete power point including images and
presentation of a tourist destination; or the outcome may be a guide book for tourists. To
help students get familiar with the work of planning a trip, project of planning trips is
shown. Students have to investigate tourists destinations and explore information so that at
the end of the project, students can organize a complete tour. Hotel project is also useful
for student. Students are responsible for making a hotel staff portrait gallery which reveal a
full description of each hotel staff’s work. For a clearer view, the study mentions in detail
two projects
Planning a trip ( Appendix 4)
The objectives of this project are to aware students of work and duty of planning a
trip and helps students have the ability to organize a trip for tourists. The reason for
choosing this project is that Planning and organizing a trip is an important work of a tour

information in the easiest way to understand.
Equipments need for this project are broadsheet, pencils and charts. The project
successes or not depends much on the preparation of students. It is the students duty to
collect information and pictures relating staff in hotel by interviewing them about their
work. Although students are the author of the final products, the teacher has to organize
students. Students make group of four or five, point out a leader who controls the whole
group and then use various ways to conduct the project. The final product is shown in
paper or on PowerPoint. During the presentation, each student of the group takes the
responsibility to present name, work, and position of some staffs. When giving
information, students pointing at the pictures to illustrate. Finally, the leader of the group
combines these parts by giving tree-diagram for these staff and make conclusion for the
presentation. After the presentation, other students in the class give questions about things
they care and they do not know or are not sure. At this time, the leader points any member
of the group to reply the questions. The teacher can also participate in this process to make
the presentation clearer.
2.2.3 Methods
With an attempt to make the study valuable and reliable, I use both research methods:
qualitative and quantitative. These methods includes:
Questionnaires
Pre – tests and post – tests
Classroom observation
The questionnaires for the students.
The reason for choosing questionnaires is that it gives exact data and its results are
objective.

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The questionnaire was adapted from the questionnaire designed by Rajit Kumar
(1996) in Research Methodology. It was conducted in Vietnamese.
The questionnaire was designed with 2 main parts.
Part 1 was to get students’ information about their gender, age, place of birth, the

Faculty. Each class performance lasted two periods (total 90 minutes). Teachers have taken
notes on the activities of the students
2.2.4 Procedures
Before applying project work to teaching speaking skill, the teacher used traditional
method to teach English speaking skill to students and at the end of the first term, the
teacher conducted an oral examination using questions and situations designed by staff in
the faculty and the teacher gave students scores basing on ten aspects listed in appendix 2.
The oral examination of first term was considered the pre-test.
The teacher, then started to apply project work to teach speaking skill. The
intervention occurred in two months.
During the first 7 weeks, the classroom performance was observed by the teacher.
The detailed notes were kept and interpreted, and then the conclusions were drawn out.
In addition, during the time after the class, the teacher usually had talks with
students to investigate their opinion about the new method.
The last week, the teacher distributed questionnaires to the students. Students had
15 minutes to complete; then the teacher collected questionnaires and analyzed them.
After two months, the teacher conducted another oral examination and this was
considered the post-test. The scores of students in the post-test will be computerized and
compared with those of the pre-test. After interpreting the data, discussion and conclusion
will be given


Number of
students
Percentage
a. Pronunciation
45
75%
b. Grammar knowledge
42
70%
c. Short of time for speaking
21
35%
d. Boring activities
33
55%
e. Boring topics
29
48.3%
f. Poor lexical resources
49
81.7%
g. Lack of English speaking environment
50
83.3%
h. Poor sociolinguistic knowledge
45
75%
i. Teacher discourages students
12
20%