ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nga, being a candidate for the degree
of Master accept requirements of the College related to the retention and use of
Master’s graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper
deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and
research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for
the care, loan or reproduction of the paper.
August, 2013
Signature
Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nga

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge with all my greatest attitude the support,
guidance and invaluable critical feedback which I have received from my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Ngô Dinh Phuong.
My special thanks also go to all lectures and the staff of the Department of
Post Graduate Studies at Vinh University, Nghe An for their useful materials,
instructions and enthusiasm which are of great values to the thesis.
I am appreciative of all my colleagues and my students at NTT High School
where I have gathered information for my study. Without their help, this study
could not have been successful.
Last but not least, my sincere thanks are due to my dear family and my friends
who always stand for me with their consideration and encouragements.

ii




2.3.1. Aims of communicative activities....................................................................
2.3.2. Kinds of classroom communicative activities in speaking lessons :...............
2.3.2.1. Communication activities for meaning and fluency.....................................
The way teacher and students use strip stories . For a simple example :....................................23

2.3.2.2. Free communication activities for meaning and fluency.............................
2.3.3. Roles of teachers and learners in applying communicative activities.............
2.3.3.1. Roles of teachers............................................................................................
2.3.3.2. Roles of students............................................................................................
2.3.4. Setting...............................................................................................................
2.3.5. Roles of communicative activities in language teaching and learning...........
We have good reasons for using pairwork in an English class :....................................................32
If 15 students speak in turn in a 30 minute class, that equals 2 minutes of speaking each- and
for shy students it might work out as just one minute of speaking or less. If students work in
pairs for the whole class, they could theoretically speak for as much as 15 minutes each, and
certainly no one could speak as little as 1 minute.......................................................................32

2.3.6. Requirements of communicative activities......................................................
CHAPTER 3...............................................................................................................
METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................
3.1. Aims.....................................................................................................................
3.2. Hypotheses...........................................................................................................
3.2.1. Materials...........................................................................................................
3.2.2. Teachers’ method.............................................................................................
3.2.3. Students’ motivation.........................................................................................
3.3 Methods................................................................................................................
3.3.1. Participants.......................................................................................................
3.3.1.1. Survey questionnaires....................................................................................
3.3.1.2 Interview for students.....................................................................................

Chart 4.4: The frequency of using Information gap , given by teachers...................
Chart 4.5: Interest in acting from Information gap, given by students.....................
4.1.1.2. Role play :......................................................................................................
Chart 4.6: The frequency of using role play, given by students................................
Chart 4.7 : The frequency of using role play , given by teachers..............................
Chart 4.8: The interest of using role play,given by students.....................................

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4.1.1.3. Discussion......................................................................................................
Chart 4.9: The frequency of using discussion in class,given by students.................
Chart 4.10: The frequency of using discussion in class, given by teachers..............
Chart 4.11 : Interest of the students in discussion.....................................................
4.1.2. Teachers’ difficulties in using communicative activities................................
Chart 4.12 : Teachers’ difficulties in using some communicative activities............
4.2. Findings and discussions.....................................................................................
4.3. Implications for teaching each kind of communicative activities......................
4.3.1. Information gaps...............................................................................................
4.3.2. Role play...........................................................................................................
4.3.3. Discussion.........................................................................................................
4.3.4. Quizzes..............................................................................................................
4.3.5. Simulation.........................................................................................................
CHAPTER 5...............................................................................................................
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................
5.1. Summary of the study..........................................................................................
5.2. Limitations of the study.......................................................................................
5.3. Suggestions for further study..............................................................................
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................



Chapter 1
introduction
1.1.

Rationale

English language has rapidly become an international language in our world.
It has been taught almost everywhere in Vietnam, especially in schools, colleges,
universities. It is seen as a means of access to scientific and technological
development, as the language for international communication. English is offered
as a compulsory subject in the curriculum as well as the

high school

examinations.
To meet the demand of learners of English, teachers of English in Vietnam
have been trying to find out the most suitable and effective method of teaching
English.They have always tried to catch up with the world’s latest frameworks of
English Language Teaching. As in other countries, teachers of English in Vietnam
are now using Communicative Approach to teach English to learners of all levels.
They hope to provide learners with a means of communication, namely English
which is vital for them to be successful in their job and to fulfill their social
demands in the time of globalization.
However, how to speak English well is a problem for many learners of
English, especially for the students at secondary or high schools. Although most of
the students have been learning English since they were 12 years old , they are
deficient in English speaking.
The textbook “Tieng Anh 12” has been published since 2008. It is one of the
three textbooks for upper secondary school students. There are 16 units in it. Each

1.3.1. What is the real situation of teaching and learning speaking skill of the
12th graders at NTT High School, Hung Nguyen District, Nghe An Province ?
1.3.2. How are communicative activities applied in speaking lessons for the
12th graders at NTT High School ?
1.3.3. What are suggested class communicative activities to improve for the
12th graders’ speaking skill in NTT High School ?
1.4. Scope of the study
The study focuses on communicative activities in the 12th graders’ English
speaking classes at NTT High School, Hung Nguyen District, Nghe An Province.

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1.5. The organization of the study
The study contains four chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the rationale, objectives , research questions,
scope and organization of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter introduces a historical overview of the literature. The first is
about CLT method . The next is about speaking skill. The final is about the review
of communicative activities.
Chapter 3: Methodology
To realize the aims of the study, quantitative and qualitative methods have
been used. The data collected for the study came from two sources: the 12 th graders
respondents and the teacher-respondents at NTT High School, Nghe An province.
Two questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers, and
an interview of teachers are going to be used to collect information and evidence for
the study. All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusions provided
in the study are based on the data analysis.

result, many language teaching methods and approaches have come into being such
as:
• Grammar-translation method.
• The Direct method.
• The Audio-lingual method.
• The Audio-visual method.
• Communicative Language Teaching method.
Mackey (1965) remarks that most of the methods which have ever been
developed still continue to exist in one form or another as each method has its
advantages and disadvantages. For example, grammar-translation method is easy to
implement and cheap to administer, which makes it still be used in many classroom
situations.

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In this thesis, the author just focused on Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) as it is considered one of the most effective approaches to teach learners to
communicate in a language they learnt. Accordingly, CLT has become popular and
has covered a lot of classroom practices.
CLT marks the beginning of a major innovation within language teaching. Its
principles are widely accepted nowadays. Some researchers have done work on
CLT developed their own ideas of CLT.
According to Richards and Rodgers (1986) CLT means little more than an
integration of grammatical and functional teaching. Littlewood (1981:1) has the
same view with Richards & Rodgers, he affirms that CLT “pays systematic
attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”
In general, most researchers on CLT show that Communicative Language
Teaching is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages. This
method emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a

than in traditional approaches. In other words, students are communicators; they
actively interact with each other in the classroom activities. They are free to decide
what and how they will say and correction of errors may be omitted. Furthermore,
students are made to feel secure and unthreatened. Therefore, students are eager to
take part in the lessons. Accordingly, the teacher is a facilitator of the learner’s
learning, a manager of classroom activities and a co-communicator to engage in the
activities with students.
These characteristics will be the principles for teachers to choose appropriate
techniques as well as activities in classroom to improve the student’s
communicative competence.
2.1.3. Conclusion
My thesis is about a study on communicative activities in the 12 th graders’
English speaking classes. CLT is the most suitable method to be applied because of
its characteristics.Moreover, CLT is considered the current dominant
methodology and one of the most effective approaches to teach learners to
speak in second language. All the mentioned reasons explain why I have
decided to choose CLT not any other method to teach speaking.

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2.2. Speaking skill
2.2.1. Definitions of speaking
The nature of speaking has been discussed by many scholars. Speaking plays a
vital role in the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), since it is the
step to identify who knows or does not know a language. According to Pattison
(1992), when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the
language. Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1983) shows that spoken language consists of
short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation. There is often a great deal
of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another, and speakers usually use


There are two sub- routines in Information routines.They are

expository and evaluation. The former is description, narration, comparison and
instruction. The latter is explanation, prediction, justification, preference and
decision.
Interaction routines based not so much on sequences of kinds of terms
occurring in typical kinds of interactions. Therefore, these can be characterized in
broad terms including the kinds of turns typically occurring in given situations and
the order.

Telephone conversation, interview conversations casual encounters,

conversations at parties, lessons, radio or television interviews, all tend to be
organized in characteristic ways.
In short, the learners in learning speaking skills can be much more confident
with clear understanding and governing these skills. Moreover, the oral skill
depends much on knowledge of language they can learn such as grammar,
pronunciation and vocabulary.
Furthermore, learners depend on common conventional expression of
communicating specific meanings, particularly on the language environment.
Practice in classroom might not be similar to oral communication outside
classroom. In a foreign language classroom, practice is rather simple and far from
real life.
It is clear that speaking is a key to communication, teachers can help learners
improve their speaking and overall oral competency by considering what good

13



teaching speaking skills. It is necessary for learners to speak with confidence to
carry out many of the most basic transactions.

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2.2.4. Stages of a speaking lesson in communicative language teaching
According to Byrne (1991:23- 24), there are three phases to develop learners’
oral ability: The presentation phase, The practice phase and The production phase.
2.2.4.1. The presentation phase
We focus on teachers and students in this first phase. Teachers work as
information providers as they know English, select teaching materials and the ways
to present the materials. Students usually observe and listen to the teachers. Oral
materials are written mainly in

dialogues and prose. These two forms need

presenting in different ways. Teachers play a centre role in learning and teaching
process.
There are ten different steps according to Byrne, D. (1991 : 23-24) :
1. Establish setting by using pictures. At this step, English is used as much as
possible.
2. Draw out learners’ experience related to situation.
3. Explain some key words.
4. Set the listening task by asking key information of the dialogue
5. Ask learners to listen without looking at the dialogue.
6. Allow learners to have a look at their book when necessary.
7. Ask learners to listen and repeat.
8. Ask learners to pick up difficulties and explain them.
9. Ask them to practice ( role- play)

Ask the learners to read the passage in silence and find the answers.

6.

Ask learners to read again aloud and ask for the answer.

7.

Explain difficulties they still have.

8.

Do silent reading again because learners need to go on with step nine.

9.

Get the learners to talk about what they have to learn based on the

previous answers.
To increase the learners’ motivation, these steps should also be used suitably.
2.2.4.2. The practice phase
In this phase, learners do most of talking when they are provided maximum
amount of practice in the form of controlled and guided activities to improve
vocabulary, grammar knowledge and fluency of speaking. They answer the
teacher’s guided questions and discuss with their partners to find new ideas related
to the topic.
2.2.4.3. The production phase
In this phase, learners have chances to speak English freely. They use English
by themselves in a real situation creatively. They can develop their own ideas and
their friends’. They can work in pairs or groups naturally. They themselves take part

meaningful contexts:
The use of authentic language in meaningful contexts can help learners
acquire language necessary for future use and also help motivate learners.
-Provide appropriate feedback and correction:
Learners are totally dependent on teachers for useful linguistic feedback.
It is important that teachers take advantage of their knowledge of English to
produce the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate at the moment.
-Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening:
Skills in producing language often began through comprehension.
Because many interactive techniques that involve speaking also include
listening, they should be integrated and they can reinforce each other.
-Allow learners to initiate language parts of oral communication
competence :
This is the ability to initiate conversation, to nominate topics, to ask
questions, to control conversations and to change the subject.

17


- Encourage the development of speaking strategies:
To practise their personal strategies for accomplishing oral
communicative purposes is an important chance for students. Therefore,
teachers should make the classroom the place for learners .
2.2.5.2. The application of principles for speaking techniques at NTT high
school
NTT high school is located in Hung Trung Commune, Hung Nguyen District
Nghe An Province which is a rural region. The school has much more difficulties
than others.
Method of teaching has creatively changed during recent years. We have
applied above principles during speaking classes. Communicative activities have

The learners’ ultimate objective is to take part in communication with others.
Their motivation to learn is to be sustained if they can see how their classroom
learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it with increasing
success.
•

Communicative activities allow natural learning
Language takes place inside the learners and, as teachers know

their

frustration, many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control. It is likely, in
fact, that many aspects of language can take place only through natural processes,
which operate when a person is involved in using the language for
communication. If this is so, communicative activity (inside or outside the
classroom) is an important part of the total learning process.
•

Communicative activities can create a context which supports

learning Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal
relationship to develop among learners and between learners and teacher. These
relationships can help to ‘humanize’ the classroom, and to create an environment
that supports the individual in his effort to learn. Oral communicative activities
apply the same purposes, as communicative activities are operated mainly through
oral communication.
2.3.2. Kinds of classroom communicative activities in speaking lessons :
Many researchers discuss classroom activities and a lot of activities are
designed based on the theory and characteristics of CLT.



Shape

-

Size

-

(Usual) direction

20


-

Positions

-

Pattern

+ Discussion games with materials, pieces or slips of paper with
provided information, stories, advertisements, and so on .
+ Ranking Exercises :
-

Each student works on his own and writes down his ranking.

These lists are then compared and discussed in pairs, in small groups or

Because of limited time, teachers can give students a cartoon or set
of pictures which shows a story or sequence of events, have the student
tell the story then.
+ Mime Stories :
When one thinks of mime, typically one thinks of a performer dressed in
black and white who acts without words. Sometimes words can help to guide the
movement that occurs on stage. Story Mime is a form of mime that takes
advantage of words as a map for the performer and the audience. This often
overlooked form of mime is a wonderful resource for performing and learning
mime!
Story Mime integrates words and mime together to tell a story. Many stories
can use mime and movement to effectively create and enhance the images of the
tale.
You could share this tale of suspense entirely with storytelling or actually
entirely with mime. You can also combine mime and storytelling. There are many
possibilities of how to combine mime and storytelling, even for this short excerpt.
Remember that mime can capture emotions at very deep and meaningful levels. It
is with our actions that we often convey our deepest feelings. Storytelling can
convey the images surrounding the story and mime can further develop these
powerful images visually within the audience's mind.
+ Information Gaps :

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An information gap activity is an activity where learners are missing
the information they need to complete a task and need to talk to each other to
find it.
+ Picture Description :
Teacher provides an interesting picture for the class or each