VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************
ĐỖ THỊ MINH NGUYỆT STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE TEACHING
OF SPEAKING BY NATIVE-ENGLISH-SPEAKING
TEACHERS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT THAI BINH
TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE

(Nghiên cứu điều tra về thái độ của sinh viên đối với việc dạy nói của
giáo viên người bản ngữ tại Trường Cao Đẳng Sư Phạm Thái Bình)

M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Hanoi – 2011

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************


LISTS OF TABLES

Pages

Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards the role of speaking skill in their
English learning. 25
Table 2: Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ advantages as
native speakers. 26
Table 3: Students’ attitudes towards disadvantages of native teachers as
native speakers. 28
Table 4: Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching techniques. 29
Table 5: Three different graders’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching
speaking (according to three categories in detail). 32-33
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration …………………………………………………………………………… .i
Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………… .ii
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………. .iii

1.4. Previous Studies ……………………………………………………… 16-18
1.5. Conclusive Remarks ………………………………………………… 18
Chapter 2: Research Methodology ……………………………………………… 19-24
2.1. Research Context ……………………………………………………….19
2.2. Research Questions …………………………………………………….19-20
2.3. Research Approach …………………………………………………… 20
2.4. Research Participants ………………………………………………… .20-21
2.5. Research Instruments ………………………………………………… 21-23
2.6. Data Collection Procedure …………………………………………… 23-24
2.7. Data Analysis Procedure ……………………………………………….24
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion …………………………………… 25-36
3.1. The answer to the first research question: Students’ attitudes
towards native teachers’ teaching speaking……………………………… 25-31
3.1.1. Results ……………………………………………………………… 25-30
3.1.1.1. Students’ attitudes towards the role of speaking skill in
their English learning …………………………………………… 25-26
3.1.1.2. Students’ attitudes towards advantages of native teachers as
native speakers ……………………………………………………….26-28
3.1.1.3. Students’ attitudes towards disadvantages of native teachers as native
speakers ………………………………………………………………28-29
3.1.1.4. Students’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching
techniques …………………………………………………………….29-30
3.1.2. Discussion …………………………………………………………………… 30-31
3.2. The answer to the second research question: The differences of
three different graders’ attitudes towards native teachers’ teaching
speaking in some extent …………………………………………………… 31-36
3.2.1. The results………………………………………………………… 31-35

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3.2.2. Discussion …………………………………………………………… 35-36

There have been also studies on learners‘ perceptions or attitudes towards the teaching of
both native and non-native teachers, even on that of a certain area of language such as
speaking, listening or grammar in China, Korea, and Japan (Liu, 1999; Liu & Zhang, 2007;
Xiaoru, 2008). The findings indicate a preference for native teachers, but this depends on the
qualities of native teachers and the language areas they take over.
In Vietnam, since students learn English as a foreign language and a number of them
are exposed to native English speaking teachers (hereafter referred as NESTs) there have
been hardly any studies on their teaching. Language learners, their parents, and even people
directly involved in language education expect that the best teacher of a language is a native
teacher. However, whether this expectation is true or not and to what extent it is believable is
left for future studies.
In the context of the study, Thai Binh Teacher Training College, where the researcher
is working as a non-native teacher of English, there were native teachers who came to teach
speaking skill through educational cooperation projects. However, they are short-term ones
and the teachers worked with all English majors of the college in oral classes for a school
year only and then left them for non-native teachers. The author of the study as a successor
wonders what the students actually think of native teachers‘ teaching speaking and whether
different graders have different opinions. That is also the reason for the study. The study is
expected to investigate the students‘ attitudes towards native-English teachers‘ teaching
speaking and give some valuable suggestions for the employment of native-English teachers
at the context of the study in particular and in Vietnam in general and the improvement of the
teaching of speaking in particular and other areas of English language teaching in general by
non-native teachers.

2. Aims of the Study and Research Questions
The aims of the study are: first, to investigate what the attitudes of English majors at
Thai Binh Teacher Training College towards the teaching of speaking by English native

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teachers are, and to what extent different graders have different attitudes; then, to give some

advantages and disadvantages of native teachers; and previous studies.

3
Chapter 2: Research Methodology is concerned with the context of the study,
research questions, research approach, research participants, research instruments, data
collection procedure and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion describes the results of the study which were
collected from questionnaires and interviews, and the discussion based on the results to
answer the research questions.
Part C: Conclusion gives the summary of major findings of the study, some
pedagogical implications for English teaching and learning in Vietnam, and suggestions for
further studies based on the limitations of the study.

evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the
individual‘s beliefs or opinions about the referent‖.
I myself find the following concept of attitude clear and convincing: ―An attitude is a
hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something.
Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is
often referred to as the attitude object‖ (Wikipedia – online dictionary).
Similarly, Hallorah (1967) states that attitude represents an individual like or dislike
towards an item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral views of an ―attitude object‖, i.e. a
person, situation or event. People can also be ―ambivalent‖, meaning that they
simultaneously possess a positive and a negative bias towards the attitudes in question.
Obviously, attitude is also a state but represents a person‘s degree of like or dislike. It is also
response but exactly positive or negative.

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Attitudes are said to have cognitive, affective and conative components. The
cognitive component refers to the individual‘s belief structure, the affective to emotional
reactions, and the conative to the tendency to behave toward the attitude object (Gardner,
1985). This idea is shared by Wikipedia. It states that attitudes are judgments and they
develop on the ABC model: Affect, Behavior and Cognition. It further explains that ―the
affective response is an emotional response that expresses an individual‘s degree of
preference for an entity. The behavioral intention is a verbal indication or typical behavioral
tendency of an individual. The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity that
constitutes an individual's beliefs about the object‖. More interestingly, this source reveals
that most attitudes result from either direct experience or observational learning from the
environment.
In short, attitude is a mental state that expresses an individual‘s degree of like or
dislike, positive or negative opinions about an object, a person, a thing or an event.
Additionally, it has three components: affective, cognitive, conative or behavioral.

1.1.2. Classifications of Attitude

Similarly, İsmet ŞAHİN (2005) reviewed a number of studies and pointed out that
student attitudes towards learning a foreign language and student performance are strongly
related. Then he came to a conclusion that attitudes are one of the elements that determine
success in foreign language acquisition and native speaker teachers influence student
attitudes, which needs further studying.
Personally, this is a significant conclusion which fosters educators, especially teachers
to pay more attention to strengthen students‘ positive attitudes in their language learning.
However, attitudes are a complex aspect of psychology and they are impacted by different
elements or factors. Additionally, they are not permanent. Students may have negative
attitudes towards their language learning or even language teaching. Sharing this idea,
Shimizu (1995, as cited in Maggie Lieb, 2009) points out the influence of learners‘ attitudes
towards teachers on their language learning by stating that ―negative attitudes towards
teachers could adversely affect student motivation, not only in the classroom, but also in
terms of a student‘s desire to continue learning the language‖. This is really worth much
consideration because our goal is to inspire students‘ long-lasting second language
acquisition. Therefore, more researches need to be conducted to find out how to build up
students‘ positive attitudes and avoid their negative ones towards teachers.
More interestingly, Ellis (1994) shows mutual relationship between learner attitudes
and their achievements in second language acquisition. He clarifies that learner attitudes
influence L2 competence of each learner and are themselves impacted by this achievement.
Thanks to success learners achieve, their positive attitudes will be promoted and because of
lack of success, their negative ones could be made stronger.
I am of the same opinion that learners‘ attitudes and their success in second language
acquisition are mutually and bilaterally related. Therefore, building positive attitudes is the

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key to achieving language proficiency and studies on learner attitudes are significant and
worth further concern and effort by educators and ELT practitioners.
In this research, students‘ attitudes towards teachers, namely native-English speaking
teachers are studied and its results are expected to suggest some implications for non-native


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receive and process the information the speaker want to convey, by which the concept of
speaking in this study is understood.

1.2.2. The Position of Speaking in English Language Teaching and Learning
Speaking is one of two productive skills and it seems to be the skill that language
learners desire to master most since their major aim is using language to communicate with
others. Thus, it is clear that speaking is the key component to English language teaching and
learning.
Pattison (1992) proves the position of speaking in learning a language that: "when
people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the
language". Similarly, Bygate (1987, p. 7) expresses his opinion on the role of speaking that it
is the vehicle of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of
business.
The mastery of speaking skills in English is a priority for many foreign language
learners. The learners often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the
effectiveness of their English course on the basis of how they have improved in their spoken
language proficiency. Nunan (1991, p. 39) clarifies this: "mastering the art of speaking is the
single most important aspect of learning a second language or foreign language, and success
is measured in term of ability to carry out a conversation in the language."
Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning. The goal of
teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency. The ability to communicate in a second
language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success
later in every phase of life.

1.2.3. Accuracy and Fluency in Speaking
Accuracy and fluency are two of the main criteria assessed in oral performance. Both
of them are goals for the majority of learners in speaking English. By fluency it means that
they are capable of verbally expressing their ideas non-stop and without worrying about their

deserves attention by educators, course designers and teachers.

1.2.4. Problems with Speaking
Besides the awareness of characteristics of successful speaking activities, it is
essential to point out speaking problems and find the solutions to them.
Penny Ur (1996, p. 121) mentions four main problems with speaking activities as
follows:
First, learners are often inhibited about expressing their ideas in a foreign language
because of their fear of making mistakes, losing face and attracting attention.
Second, learners have nothing to say even they are not inhibited.

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Third, there is low or uneven participation among learners because some dominate the
others.
Last, learners use their mother tongue as it is easier and natural or they are not
motivated and disciplined enough to keep using the target language.
Sharing the idea on the first problem of speaking with Penny Ur, David Nunan
(1999), in a recent survey he conducted with his colleagues, comes to a conclusion that the
biggest problem in speaking classes was the students‘ reluctance or hesitation to speak. More
importantly, he finds out the reasons for the above problem in Amy Tsui‘s study (1996). The
study pointed out five major factors accounting for the reluctance of students to speak in
class. They are students‘ perceived low proficiency in English and their lack of confidence
and willingness, students‘ fear of mistakes and derision, teachers‘ intolerance of silence,
teachers‘ uneven allocation of turns and incomprehensible input from the teacher.
Similarly, in the book ― Practical English Language Teaching: Speaking‖, Bailey
(2005) indicates that:
A great deal of research has shown that students are often hesitant and anxious about
speaking the target language in class. In fact, researchers have studied language
classroom anxiety. The term refers to the situationally triggered anxiousness that
learners experience when they try to interact in the target language during lessons.

In the light of CLT, there have been favorable changes in teaching speaking. Bailey
(2005, pp. 18-19) explains clearly that in some language teaching methods, beginning
learners undergo a period of listening to English before they begin to speak it. The focus is on
input-based activities. For example, learners initially respond physically to spoken commands
from the teacher rather than speaking themselves. In contrast, in CLT, the focus is more
interaction-based activities such as role-plays and information gap tasks in which pair-work
and group-work are typically employed.
For many years, language teaching was seen as helping learners develop linguistic
competence – that is, helping students master the sounds, words and grammar patterns of
English. However, from the appearance of CLT, the notion of linguistic competence came to
be viewed as a component of the broader idea of communicative competence. According to
Canale and Swain (1980), the second language learners cannot be expected to achieve a
satisfactory level of communicative competence if no knowledge of probability of occurrence
of grammatical forms and communicative function is developed. Their view of
communicative competence consists of four areas of knowledge and skills: grammatical
competence (ability to use correct grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation), sociolinguistic
competence (ability to use appropriate language in different contexts and settings), discourse
competence (ability to combine language elements to show cohesion in form and coherence
in thought), strategic competence (ability to verbal and non-verbal communication
strategies).
Savignon (1991, p. 264, as cited in Kathleen M. Bailey, 2005, p. 3) defines
communicative competence as ―the ability of language learners to interact with other

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speakers, to make meaning, as distinct from their ability to perform on discrete-point tests of
grammatical knowledge‖. Bailey (2005, p. 3) also shows four important elements of
communicative competence: linguistic competence (grammatical or structure competence),
sociolinguistic competence (or pragmatic competence), discourse competence, and strategic
competence.
In brief, the application of CLT in language teaching and learning, especially in

teachers are:
 Allow only speech in the target language, which greatly increases the amount of
English spoken
 Have a clear guideline, which reduces the temptation of learners to hide in their
native language
 Discourage learners from using their native language without the teacher‘s
permission
In summary, there are principles that teachers of oral skills should follow. The
principles vary to learners of different levels. However, some common ones are giving
learners practice with both fluency and accuracy, providing opportunity for learners to talk by
using pair-work and group-work, planning communicative tasks that involve interaction and
negotiation of meaning, designing classroom activities that involve both guidance and
practice to improve learners‘ communicative competence, and keeping learners using the
target language. These principles are used as the criteria in this study.

1.2.7. Classroom Speaking Activities
Classroom speaking activities can be categorized into two main types: communicative
drills and communicative activities (To et al, 2011, pp. 47-48).
 Communicative drills: in which teachers control the learners‘ speech primarily by
ensuring that they produce short utterances and which are carried out through the
following activities:
Practical situations: students can practice requesting and providing
information.
Guessing games: students can do the guessing activities in pairs or groups.
Information gathering activities: involve conducting surveys, interviews and
searches in which students are required to use their language to collect
information.
Jigsaw activities: require students‘ cooperation and interaction.
 Communicative activities: aim at communicative end in which students have a desire
to communicate, a purpose to communicate, and use a variety of language structures.

relevant and comprehensible to the others. He also adds that interruptions during student‘s
talking need to be limited for a good oral activity. It is necessary to clarify whose
interruptions (teacher‘s or students‘) should be limited. To my thinking, interruptions by
teacher should be avoided but those by partners may be good because they create an exciting
and enthusiastic atmosphere during the classroom discussions. They also help increase
student talking time and exchanging ideas among the participants.
The above-mentioned characteristics of a successful speaking activity are reasonable
and it is noted that acceptable level of language should be understood as a combination of

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both linguistic knowledge and intercultural pragmatic competence. Oral communication will
fail if the speaker and the hearers do not share the background knowledge.

1.3. Advantages and Disadvantages of Native English-Speaking Teachers
Native-English speaking teachers (NESTs), like non-native English speaking teachers
(NNESTs), have both advantages and disadvantages. The followings are some major ones.
The most common strength of NESTs which is shared by many scholars (Li & Meng,
2005; Liu, 1999; Medgyes, 1994; İsmet ŞAHİN, 2005, etc) is their oral competence. Even
Medgyes (as cited in Iván García Merino, 1997) affirms that: ―The more proficient, the more
efficient‖. In their study, Li & Meng (2005, as cited in Mingxu Liu & Limei Zhang 2007)
add other two strong points possessed by NESTs. They are their various and more attractive
teaching methods and creation of a comfortable and enjoyable learning atmosphere which
stimulates students to be involved in class activities.
Similarly, Mingxu Liu & Limei Zhang (2007) points out in their study that NESTs
can create a student-friendly classroom environment. Another advantage also presented in
their research is that NESTs develop students‘ ability to think independently, which seems to
be a weakness of NNESTs.
More interestingly, Dr İsmet ŞAHİN (2005) points out that native-English teachers‘
advantages over their non native-English counterparts are ―their being more tolerant of
learners‘ errors with respect to grammatical errors than nonnative English teachers, their

English speaking teachers. Most of their findings show that students have positive attitudes
towards the teaching of English language by NESTs. However, there exist some problems
learners encounter when they are taught by NESTs and students at different grades and levels
of English proficiency have various preferences to NESTs.
Most of the students surveyed in the study by Mingxu Liu and Limei Zhang believe
the foreign teachers‘ class is friendlier and they have less stress in class compared with
Chinese teachers‘ classes. The findings of this study also indicates that the students at the top
level enjoy foreign teachers‘ classes more than the low level students who enjoy Chinese
teachers‘ class more. It is because the latter felt nervous in foreign teachers‘ classes because
of their inability to express themselves properly.
Similarly, Song-Ae Han studies Korean students‘ attitudes towards NESTs and points
out that ―The learners with low English proficiency express their worries about learning in
NESTs‘ classes because they think that NESTs are not as concerned about their difficulties
in learning English as KTEs (Korean teachers of English, my own explanation) are‖. The
research adds that NESTs have less deep relationships with their students than KTEs and that
NESTs‘ lack of knowledge of Korean language and culture can be disadvantageous for the
low level learners.
In contrast, the study by Chen Xiaoru (2008) reveals that the longer the students
spend with their teachers, the less they prefer NESTs. Namely, the majority of the freshmen
like to have NESTs in their classes due to their casual manner and variety of activities in