iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality of study project report i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations and tables vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION Error! Bookmark not defined.
1. The rationale of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. Aims of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
3. Research questions of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
4. Scope of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
5. Methodology Error! Bookmark not defined.
6. Design of the study Error! Bookmark not defined.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1. Overview of teaching speaking skills to foreign learners of EnglishError! Bookmark not
defined.
1.1.1. Nature of speaking skill Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.1.2. Teaching speaking skill- methodological objectives . Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2. Conversations Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.1. Concepts of conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.3. Units of conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.2.4. Native speakers' conversation Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3. Teaching conversational skills Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.1. Approaches to teaching conversation skills Error! Bookmark not defined.
1.3.2. Principles of teaching conversational skill Error! Bookmark not defined.
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1. The research context Error! Bookmark not defined.
v

APPENDICES Error! Bookmark not defined.
vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

PDU: Phuong Dong University
HNU: Ha Noi National University
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1: Rivers and Temperley’s framework (1978:4)
Figure 2: Littlewood’s framework (1981:86)
Figure 3: Nolasco and Arthur ‘framework (2000)
Figure 4: William Littlewood’s framework
Table 1: Teachers’ genders
Table 2: Students’ genders
Table 3: Teachers’ years of teaching
Table 4: Students’ years of learning English
Table 5: Students’ English proficiency
Table 6: Students’ learning motivation
Table 7: Students’ attitudes toward speaking skill- Teachers’ ideas
Table 8: Students’ attitudes toward speaking skill- Students’ ideas
Table 9: Teachers and students’ concepts of conversations
Table 10: Factors of a good conversation
Table 11: Content of conversations in the textbook
Table 12: Students’ difficulties
Table 13: Teachers’ difficulties
Table 14: Conversational activities in classes
vii

Table 15: Students’ attitude toward conversation activities

at Phuong Dong University and found out that students are worried about speaking in front
of the class and find it very difficult to talk with others in English. The actual performance
- 2 -
of English speaking tests showed that students were more confident in speaking
individually if they had information for the teachers‟ questions. However, when they were
asked to interact with other student in conversations, they spent a lot of time preparing for
these and finally still felt worried and did an unnatural and unstructured conversation.
Some of them even failed to speak from the very beginning of the conversation. The result
of the interviews and tests suggested me a topic for my minor thesis in the Master course in
English Teaching Methodology; that is “A study on the reality of teaching conversational
skills to non-English major students at Phuong Dong University (PDU): difficulties and
some suggested teaching techniques.” The paper attempts to clarify the difficulties of
teaching conversational skills and suggest some activities that are practical in teaching
these skills in English speaking lessons. Some suggestions in teaching and learning
methods are also put forward, which are relevant to CLT application.
2. Aims of the study
The research investigates the reality of teaching conversational skills to non-
English major at Phuong Dong University. The main goal of the research is to identify the
difficulties of teacher and students when they deal with conversational skills to recommend
techniques and activities in classes to help teachers reduce difficulties.
3. Research questions of the study
The study aims at answering the following questions
1. What are the difficulties of teachers at Phuong Dong University conversational skills to
non-English major students?
2. What are the difficulties of non-English major students at Phuong Dong University
when learning conversational skills?
3. What techniques and activities are effective to teach non-English major students at
Phuong Dong University conversational skills?
4. Scope of the study
In this study, the investigator intended to focus on the difficulties of teachers and

difficulties in teaching and learning conversational skills and the finding of the
study and suggests some useful techniques for teaching conversational skills to
non- English major students.
Part C- CONCLUSION: summarizes some main contents of the study, points out
the limitations and suggest directions for further study.
- 4 -
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Overview of teaching speaking skills to foreign learners of English
1.1.1. Nature of speaking skill
Oral skill or speaking skill among four macro skills (including listening, speaking,
reading, and writing) is considered one of the most important in learning languages.
According to Bygate (1987), speaking help learners “carries out many of their basic
transactions. It is the skill by which they are most frequently judged, and through which
they make and lose friends. It is the par excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of
professional advancement and of business. It is also a medium through which much
language is learnt, and for many is particularly conductive for learning.” For some
language learners, learning to speak a language is learning the language and their
improvement in the language competence is the progress in speaking competence. That
results from the fact that listening and speaking skills is used much more than reading and
writing skills in daily life. Speaking and listening skills are used in daily communications
and learning these skills is learning to communicate.
To define speaking, different authors have different concepts about it. These
definitions are stated to clarify the requirements for the speakers and the functions of
speaking in social communication. In the first place, speaking is defined as “an interactive
process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing
information” (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). In communication, speakers have to
know how to use their vocabulary and grammatical structures to produce information and
analyzing information they get from other speakers. In this process, the speakers are not
required to have the “linguistic competence” to use vocabulary or grammar or

“pseudo-communicative” skill-getting activities, which would lead “naturally into
spontaneous communication” (1978:5).

- 6 -

Figure 1: Rivers and Temperley’s framework (1978:4)

Little Wood (1981) provides another framework for defining exercises in figure 2. Figure 2: Littlewood’s framework (1981:86)
- 7 -
Littlewood makes a distinction between pre-communicative and communicative
activities. Pre-communicative activities “isolate specific elements of knowledge or skill
which compose communicative ability, and provide learners with opportunities to practice
them.” (1981:85). The aim of this phase is for the learners using acceptable language with
reasonable fluency, without concerning “communicate meanings effectively.”
Communicative tasks, on the other hand, ask learners to “integrate his pre-communicative
knowledge and skills into “the full activity of communicating meanings”, providing what
Littlewood calls “whole-task practice”.
Training learners part-skills or let them practice total skill, or whole task practice,
help them develop speaking skill. However, the activities selected should be suitable with
the learners‟ level of ability.
1.2. Conversations

different kinds of conversational interaction can be distinguished-those in which the
primary focus is on the exchange of information (the transactional function of
conversation), and those in which the primary purpose is to establish and maintain social
relations (the interactional function of conversation)” (Brown and Yule, 1983). In
transactional uses of conversation the primary focus is on the message, whereas
interactional uses of conversation focus primarily on the social needs of the participants.
As stated by Nolasco and Arthur (2000:5), conversation targets at exchanging
information, creating and maintaining social relationships such as friendship, negotiating
status and social roles, as well as making decision on and doing joint actions. The social
function is considered the primary purpose of conversations.
Bailey (2005) also mentions the function of conversation is “interactive” when she
notices the participation of two or more people in a conversation.
In linguistics, Brown and Yule (1983) look at conversation through two main
functions of transaction and interaction while other authors pay more attention to its
“interactional” function. However, it is agreed that doing all these tasks of a conversation
is difficult to native speakers, let alone foreigners.
1.2.3. Units of conversation
- 9 -
There are different ways to call the components of a conversation. M.Dobson
(1974) named questions, answers and exclamations “the elements of conversation”.
Pridham (2001) raises question „What does conversation consist of?” He believes that the
knowledge of conversation should go far beyond “words” or “sounds”. He adds situation is
another factor that we should consider when we want to build a conversation. Yet, no
authors above analyse carefully the structure of conversation and guide learners how to
construct a conversation appropriately as Nolasco and Arthur (2000). They stress on
exchange as the basic unit of conversation. They describe the structure of conversation in
the following figure:
Example:
A: Jane
B: Yes

Turn 3
[Solicit: request]
Could I borrow your
bike, please? Turn 4
[Give: comply]
„Sure, it‟s in the
garage.‟ Turn 5
[Acknowledge: thank]
„Thanks very much‟

Exchange 1
Exchange 2
Exchange 3
- 11 -
A: I‟ll have two, please.
B: That‟s thirty six pence!
The two speakers want to finish their business as quickly as possible. Instead, they may do
this in order to get some discount or develop their social relationship that is always
potential in real life. Normally, students often make unfinished conversations by giving
some exchanges and make it to an end as soon as they can because they think that way is
safe to them and enough for speaking tasks. The difficulty makes teachers headache when
they try to find the way to initiate and sustain class conversations.
1.2.4. Native speakers' conversation
To learn how to make conversations successfully in English, it is best to find out the way

indirect approach should be employed to teach non-English major students for the
following reasons:
o The time for conversation lesson is limited,
o Students are required to fulfill the tasks in books
o Students are at low level of English
The question is “How do teachers design meaningful tasks to guide students to make a
good conversation without learning its rules, conventions and strategies?”
To find out the answer to the above question, teachers should be aware of some principles
of teaching conversations to get a base for preparing appropriate tasks to teach students.
1.3.2. Principles of teaching conversational skill
Teaching conversational skills should be teaching “how”, not teaching „what‟. That means
teachers should teach students the way to make a normal conversation and the way to
overcome obstacles in conversing. Tasks and strategies they use to teach should prepare
students for the following principles of conversation.( by Richard (1990: 79-80), cited from
Brown(2001, p.277))
- How to use conversation for both transactional and interactional purposes
- How to produce both short and long turns in conversation
- Strategies for managing turn-taking in conversation, including taking a turn,
holding a turn, and relinquishing a turn.
- Strategies for opening and closing conversations
- How to initiate and respond to talk on a broad range of topics, and how to develop
and maintain talk on these topics.
- How to use both a casual style of speaking and a neutral or more formal style
- How to use conversation in different social settings and for different kinds of social
encounters, such as on the telephone and in informal and formal social gatherings
- 13 -
- Strategies for preparing trouble spots in conversation, including conversation
breakdown and comprehension problems
- How to maintain fluency in conversation through avoiding excessive pausing,
breakdowns, and errors of grammar or pronunciation

Creativity Improvisation

Creativity Step 1: Controlled activities
Performing memorised dialogues
Contextualised drills
Cued dialogues
Discourse Chains
Role play
Improvisation

- 14 -

* Summary
The introduction part reviews commonly know theoretical issues in teaching speaking and
conversation. The last goal of any speaking course is to develop students‟ communicative
competence through meaningful activities in and outside classes. Conversation skills are
basic ones that students need to achieve for that goal, thus teachers should be aware of the
nature and the principles of teaching these skills and the activities used for teaching
conversation classes. The choice of the activities which are appropriate to students at
different levels depends on teachers and their understanding about students‟ motivation.
Nevertheless, the basic principles from controlled to free activities should be employed as
students are normally young and vulnerable to so difficult or unfamiliar tasks. They need
to be taught step by step and have chance to improve their conversation skills through
interacting with teacher and friends in class. These principles will be used in my real
teaching conversation lessons to non-English major students at Phuong Dong University as
a pilot practice for my own teaching. The interviews with students and other teachers after
the lessons will help me change my teaching method appropriate for my students.

the average mark after summing up the marks of four skill tests. In these tests, the
requirements are set as follows:
- 16 -
- General knowledge of English grammar and a number of words in use.
+ Do exercise on grammar or vocabulary tests
+ Answer questions related to grammar and vocabulary knowledge through doing
reading, listening, speaking, or writing tasks.
- The capacity of communicating in English in common situations in spoken and written
forms.
+ Answer questions after reading or listening to a passage
+ Speak and write a passage based on a given topic or situation
2.1.2. Description of the students at Phuong Dong University
As stated above, non-English major students at the faculty of foreign languages learn
English as second foreign languages from the third semester (at the beginning of the
second year) to the fifth semester (at the beginning of the third year). They start at different
levels of English since some of them learn Chinese and Japanese as the main foreign
languages before they enter the university. Students who have a certain competence of
English forget a part of what they learned after one year learning other languages.
Students, however, are interested in learning English as they are aware of the
opportunity of getting good jobs if they are competent at English. Moreover, most of them
are getting used to learning strategies and teaching methods of foreign languages, thus
teachers do not have to spend too much time training them how to learn English in classes.
2.1.3. Description of the teachers at Phuong Dong University
To ensure teaching about 800 students learning English as major and non-major
subjects, the faculty of foreign languages employs and hires about 20 teachers. Most of
them graduated from some institutions of training teachers of English such as: The College
of foreign studies, Viet Nam National University, and Ha Noi University. The qualification
status of the teaching contingent is that 10% have doctoral degree, 70% have MA degree
and the rest have bachelor degree. Most of the teachers are enthusiastic and active in
teaching. The frequent meetings or discussions on how to improve the teaching and

English. The students are required to master four skills of English that is, listening,
speaking, reading, and writing at the elementary level and are learning lessons at pre-
intermediate level. These students have one semester learning English in the first half of
their third school year. Their views on the research questions and their suggestions for the
- 18 -
next semester are useful for the researchers to analyse the problems and give appropriate
solutions to it.
In addition, three teachers and five students are asked to take part in interviews. These
teachers and students are at different ages and have different experience in teaching and
learning English. They come from different groups of participants and are willing to be
interviewees and ready to give honest answers to the interview questions.
2.3.2. Research Instruments
The data for the study comes from both a quantitative method called survey
questionnaires, and two qualitative methods namely interview and group observation.
a. Instrument 1: Survey questionnaire
The employment of questionnaires is appropriate to the thesis questions as “they are often
used to gather information about attitudes, behaviours, activities, and responses to
events…It is a method of gathering large number of responses…” (Wisker, 2001:147). The
survey questionnaires, as stated above, are completed by both teachers and students. In the
first step, teachers and students were asked to write their answers on the delivered list of 10
questions and return these to the researchers after three days to make sure that they have
time to think about the questions and answers. Especially, two teachers asked to receive the
questions through emails because they were teaching in another province. They also sent
their reply three days after the questions were sent. The contents of the questions are
detailed as follows.
First, the questionnaire for the teachers includes 10 questions. The questions are designed
in the form of both open and close- ended ones. The closed-ended questions help the
participants save time in finding the answer to these while the open-ended questions help
the researcher get closer to the participants‟ ideas and have varied answers to the problem
raised. However, for the time limitation of the teachers, there is only one open-ended

analyse and from that help the researcher draw conclusions.
b. Instrument 2: Interviews
Compared to the survey questionnaires, the semi-constructed interviews play more or less
important role in data collection step. This brings more direct answers to the issues stated
and other information and can be used “to supplement information provided in a
questionnaire” (Wisker, 2001:164). On the other hand, it is quite time-consuming and the
number of participants is much more limited. Therefore, choosing the interviewees is also
- 20 -
a hard work for the researcher. Three teachers and five students are chosen to satisfy some
criteria including different ages, genders, experience in teaching and learning English,
willing interviewees, and suitable schedules with the interviewer. To save time for the
interviews, the questions are delivered to them two days before the face-to-face interviews
to give the participants time to think about the answers and note down the main points.
The group of five yes/no and wh-questions targets at the problems of teaching and learning
conversational skills. The content of the questions for the teachers and students are similar
with the aim to get different perspectives of teachers and learners for the problems.
Question 1 asks teachers and students for students‟ English capacity. They are asked to
choose the skills students are good at among grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Question 2 intends to figure students‟ attitudes toward speaking
English and the reasons why they like or dislike it. Question 3 aims at getting students and
teachers ideas about the reality of teaching conversations in classes. Question 4 asks for
students‟ feedback about the lessons designed in students‟ textbook and their comments on
the content of the lessons. Finally, question 5 is designed to get students‟ comments on
their teachers‟ usage of activities to teach these lessons. The fifth question for teachers
focuses on the usage of articulation question which is considered related to conversation
teaching.
Instrument 3: Observation
The observation is a supplementary source to the first two study instruments. It enables the
researcher “to capture what people actually do rather than what they say they do.” (Wisker,
2001:178). The researcher directly observes what other teachers and their students teach