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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-----------------------------------NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG LAN

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS
AND STUDENTS AT THE HANOI COLLEGE OF INDUSTRIAL
ECONOMICS TOWARDS SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN THE
TEXTBOOK NEW HEADWAY PRE-INTERMEDIATE AND SOME
SUGGESTIONS

Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên và sinh viên trường
Cao đẳng Kinh tế Công nghiệp Hà nội đối với hoạt
động nói trong giáo trình New Headway PreIntermediate và một số gợi ý.
M.A. Minor program thesis

Field: English teaching methodology
Code: 601410

HANOI - 2010
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


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-----------------------------------NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG LAN

v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………… ……………………..

ix

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS …………………………………… ………………

x

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationales …………………………………… …………………………………

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2. Aims of the study …………………………………… ………………………….

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3. Scope of the study …………………………………… …………………………

2

4. Significance of the study …………………………………… …………………..

2

5. Methodology of the study …………………………………… …………………

2


1.2.3. The development approach of speaking skills ………………………………

7

1.2.4. Problems with speaking skills …………………………………… …………

9

1.2.5. The techniques in teaching speaking skills …………………………………

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1.2.5.1. Pair-work …………………………………… ……………………

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1.2.5.2. Group work …………………………………… …………………

10

1.2.6. The activities in teaching speaking skills ……………………………………

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1.2.6.1. Information gap activities …………………………………… ……

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1.2.6.2. Jigsaw activities …………………………………… ………………

1.4. Motivation …………………………………… .……………………………………

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1.4.1. Definitions of motivation …………………………………… ………………

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1.4.2. The importance of motivation in foreign language learning ………………

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Chapter II: The study
2.1. Current situation of teaching and learning English at the HCIE …………………

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2.1.1. Description of the English course at the HCIE ………………………………

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2.1.2. Description of the 1st year students at the HCIE ……………………………

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2.1.3. Description of the teachers at the HCIE ……………………………………

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2.2. Design and methodology …………………………………………………………


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2.3.1.1.1. The attitude of students at the HCIE towards speaking skills in

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ELT
2.3.1.1.2. The attitude of students at the HCIE towards the speaking skills in
the textbook NW Pre ……………………………………………

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2.3.1.1.3. Students‟ difficulties in speaking lessons …………………………

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2.3.1.1.4. Students‟ preferences and demands for the speaking lessons ……..

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2.3.1.2. Questionnaire for the teachers ………………………………………….

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2.3.1.2.1. The attitude of teachers at the HCIE towards speaking skills in

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ELT

3.1.1.1. The students „attitude towards speaking skills ……………………..

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3.1.1.2. Prior passive learning experiences …………………………………

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3.1.1.3. Low level of proficiency …………………………………………

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3.1.2. About speaking skills in the textbook NH Pre ……………………………

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3.2. Suggestions for teaching speaking skills …………………………………………

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3.2.1. Suggestions for students …………………………………………………….

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3.2.2. Suggestions for the teachers …………………………………………………

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3.2.3. Adaptation for the speaking skills of the textbook ………………………….



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Appendix 5: Classroom observation form …………………………………… ………

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Appendix 6: Contents of speaking activities in NH Pre ………………………………

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REFERENCES

XI


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT

refers to Communicative Language Teaching

HCIE

refers to the Hanoi College of Industrial Economics

L2



Table 1: Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skills in ELT …………………………. 20
Table 2: Students‟ attitudes towards speaking skills in the textbook NH Pre

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…………
Figure 1: Students’ attitudes towards speaking topics

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…………………………………
Figure 2: Students’ attitudes towards speaking activities …………………………….. 21
Figure 3: Students’ enthusiasm towards speaking activities in speaking lessons

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……..
Figure 4: Students’ attitudes towards speaking time allowance ………………………

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Table 3: Students‟ difficulties in speaking lessons …………………………………..

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Table 4: Teachers‟ attitudes towards speaking skills in ELT …………………………

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and have come to decide on using the Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT)
at all levels. As a result, speaking skills have gained their important roles in the curriculum
of most English courses nowadays. At the Hanoi College of Industrial Economics (HCIE),
where I have been working for 10 years, speaking skills have been taught based on the
textbook Headway Pre–Intermediate since 2006. From my personal observation and
professional experience as a teacher of English, I have realized that teaching and learning
speaking skills have still faced some difficulties and the students‟ ability to speak English
has not improved much. For several years, I have been haunted by the questions what
difficulties the teachers and students have and how to improve the students‟ English
speaking ability effectively. Analyzing the attitudes of the teachers and students towards
speaking skills in the textbook NH Pre will help me find the situation of teaching and
learning speaking skills, in general and teaching and learning speaking skills in the textbook
NH Pre in particular. From the result of the investigation, the writer of this thesis can
suggest some solutions to improve the situation.

2. Aims of the study
With the above- presented rationales, the specific aims of the study, accordingly, are:


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- to find out the attitudes of teachers and students at the HCIE towards speaking skills in
ELT.
- to investigate the attitudes of teachers and students at the HCIE towards the speaking
skills in the textbook NH Pre.
- to find out students‟ preferences and demands.
- to recommend some solutions based on the findings of the study.

3. Scope of the study
As it has been stated above, the study is designed to explore teachers and students‟ attitudes

reliable.
All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study are based on
the data analysis.

6. Design of the study
The study consists of three main parts, a list of reference and appendices.
Part I, INTRODUCTION, deals with the reason for the research and the aims, scope,
significance, methodology and design of the study.
Part II, DEVELOPMENT, includes three important chapters:
Chapter 1 is intended to give some theoretical background related to speaking skills,
textbook and the problems in teaching and learning speaking skills.
In chapter 2, the methodology underlying the research is presented. This chapter presents the
background information of the subjects of the study, the instruments used to collect the data.
Chapter 2 provides an analysis on the current situation of teaching and learning speaking at
first year classes at the HCIE; the attitudes of teachers and students at the HCIE towards the
speaking skills in ELT; the attitudes of teachers and students at the HCIE towards the
speaking skills in the textbook NH Pre and the students‟ preferences and demands.
Chapter 3 focuses on some findings and recommendations about learning and teaching
speaking skills based on the textbook NH Pre.
Part III is the CONCLUSION of the study, providing summary of the issues, the major
findings in the research, limitations and suggestions for further.


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PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter I: Literature review

1.1. Communicative Language Teaching

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content. That means the focus of the lesson is fluency, not accuracy. Communicative lessons
are characterized by activities where learners communicate and where tasks are completed
by means of interaction with other learners. Therefore, learners‟ completing a task is
foreground and communicating with each other back grounded.
Another characteristic of CLT is “its learner- centred and experienced-based tasks view of
second language teaching” (Richard and Roger, 1986:69). According to CLT theory,
individual learners possess unique interests, styles, needs, and goals that should be reflected
in the design of instructional methods (Savignon, 1991). Teachers are to develop materials
based on the demonstrated needs of a particular class. Students must be made to feel secure,
unthreatened, and non- defensive in a CLT classroom, so teachers using CLT should avoid
adopting a teacher-centred, authoritarian posture (Taylor, 1983).
Li (1998:967) summaries the characteristics of CLT in 6 categories as follows:


A focus on communicative functions



A focus on meaningful tasks rather on language



Efforts to make tasks and language relevant to a target group of learners through an
analysis of genuine, realistic situations.



The use of authentic, from life materials

as literacy skills in both first and second language because our learners often need to speak
with confidence in order to carry out a lot of their most basic transactions (Bygate, 1991).
Further more, speaking is known with two main types of conversation called dialogue and
monologue.
Brown and Yule (1983) point out the ability to give uninterrupted oral presentation
(monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or more other speakers for
transactional and international purposes.
A comprehensive discussion of the nature of speaking is provided by Bygate (1987), who
shows that in order to be able to speak a foreign language, it is obviously necessary to have
micro-linguistic skills, that is, to understand some grammar, vocabulary and the rules
governing how words are put together to form sentences. However, these motor-perceptive
skills, as Bygate calls them, are not sufficient since while producing sentences. We often
have to adapt them to the circumstances. He then presents the second set of speaking skills:
the interaction skills which involve using knowledge and basic motor-perceptive skills in
deciding what to say and how to say it, while maintaining the intended relation with others.

1.2.2. Importance of speaking skills in ELT
It is believed that to know the language means to know how to speak. As a result, different
linguists and methodologists have recognized the essential role of speaking skills in ELT for
various reasons.
In the first place, it is the speaking skills which help the learners have communication which,
as for Richard. A (1991), is the proper aim of language teaching. Once the learner
communicates well, he can get information from others about anything he would like to
know. Moreover, as Larson.C.U (1996) believes, effective communication can bring people
a more productive, satisfied and meaningful life. In other words, being able to communicate
successfully in a foreign language helps people to take it easy and be confident to express


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2. Draw out learners‟ experience related to situation.
3. Explain some key words.
4. Set listening task by asking key information of the dialogue
5. Ask learners to listen without looking at the dialogue


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6. Allow learners to have a look at their book when necessary for them
7. Ask learners to listen and repeat
8. Ask learners to pick up difficulties (good chances for them to speak) and explain
difficulties
9. Ask them to practice (role-play)
10. Ask them to dramatize the dialogue
It can be said that these ten steps are perfect and logically arranged. However there is no
need to use all these steps for presenting a dialogue, it depends on the learners‟ English
competence. Thus, some of the steps can be left out to save time and make the learners more
motivated.
In order to present a prose, Byrne (1991:26) suggests that teachers should use the following
steps:
1. Introduce the topic by asking to look at the picture or asking them about related
things
2. Introduce the text. New words and structures are given
3. Provide relevant practice
4. Set the reading task: make questions
5. Ask the learners to read the passage in silence and find the answer
6. Ask learners to read again aloud and ask for the answer
7. Explain difficulties they still have
8. Do silent reading again because the learners need to go on step 9
9. Get the learners to talk about what they have to learn based on the previous answer

time, even participation among students, student strong motivation to speak and
comprehensibility of students‟ language. She also points out the following common
problems that tend to occur in a speaking class:
1. The students are inhibited about trying to say things in the classroom
2. Students can not think of anything to say
3. Some students dominate while others speak very little or not at all
4. Students tend to use their mother tongue instead of the foreign language
(Ur,1996:121)
Thus, for a successful speaking lesson, the teacher, among other things, should be aware of
these problems so as to have appropriate and effective solutions to improve the students‟
speaking ability

1.2.5. The techniques in teaching speaking skills
According to CLT, pair and group work activities are considered to be the most common
practices in a language classroom, in which students are allowed to interact with each other
and then will be able to communicate in the target language.

1.2.5.1. Pair-work
The definitions of pair work have been developed over the years with the contributions of
linguistics and are brought together by Adrian Doff (1988: 137) as follows: Pair work is a


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process in which “the teacher divides the whole class into pairs. Every student works with
his or her partner in pairs, and all the pairs work at the same time (it is sometimes called
“simultaneous pair work”). This is not the same as “public” or “open” pair work, with
pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class.”
The definition of pair work in this case is an activity that gives students a chance to talk to
each other practice language together, study a text, research language or take part in

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learners to attain the communicative objects of the curriculum, engage learners in
communication and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing,
negotiation of the meaning and interaction.
Klippel (1984), Doff (1988) and Harmer (1998) plan out a lot of communicative activities
and games which can help learners achieve some degrees of communicative efficiency
competence.

1.2.6.1. Information gap activities
Sometimes, IGA can be employed to change the atmosphere in pair and group work. This is
one of the easiest and most interesting forms of communicative activity in the speaking
class. In order to get the most proficiency, the teacher can divide the class into pair or
groups. In each pair or each group, one acts as the asker, the other the answerer, let them
discuss for a few minutes and they change the role. IGA may take three forms: (1) One
student has some information and the other has to find it by asking questions; (2) One
student has some information and tells it to the other student; (3) Both students have
different information and they tell each other.

Information gap activities serve many

purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information. Also, each partner plays an
important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide the
information the others need. These activities are effective because everybody has the
opportunity to talk extensively in the target language.

1.2.6.2. Jigsaw activities
Jigsaw activities are more elaborate information gap activities that can be done with several
partners. In a jigsaw activity, each partner has one or a few pieces of the "puzzle," and the
partners must cooperate to fit all the pieces into a whole picture. The puzzle piece may take

feel more confident and comfortable when talking about something with their friends in
groups. Harmer emphasizes that some discussions may happen in the middle of the lesson
and they are not prepared for by the teacher but if encouraged they can provide some of the
most enjoyable and productive speaking in the speaking class. Harmer suggests that the best
way of encouraging discussion is to provide activities which force students to reach a
decision which is often the result of choosing between specific alternatives. However, during
a discussion chaos may be an inevitable result and at the time the role of the teacher as a
controller becomes very important
Discussion activities help learners practise what they have learned, find ways to achieve
objectives such as solving a problem, ranking objects, procedures and so on. Through
discussion, learners can also develop conversational skills such as how to take turn, to
change the topic of the conversation, to interrupt someone politely and so on. Discussions in
small groups also have some of the advantages as it does in role play activities such as
putting shy learners to ease to feel like speaking, giving more opportunities for learners to
speak, making learners more aware of their responsibility to group success.
In summary, the activities presented in this section do not cover all the activities that
teachers apply in the classroom. However, communicative games, role plays and discussions
can be exploited to over other speaking activities such as interviewing, problem-solving


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tasks and so on and factors such as learners‟ interest, maturity and experience of learning and
life should be paid enough attention to.

1.3. Textbooks
1.3.1. Definitions of textbooks
Tomlinson (1998) defines a textbook as a book “which provides the core materials for a
course” and which covers many issues in a single volume by taking into consideration all the
points that students are required to learn during a course period. Generally, such kind of a

of their students. Later on (1995) he argues that they are an effective resource for selfdirected learning, an effective resource for presentation material, a source of ideas and
activities, and a reference source for students, a syllabus where they reflect predetermined
learning objectives, and support less experienced teachers who have yet to gain confidence.
Moreover, Hutchinson and Torres (1994) have pointed out that textbooks may play a pivotal
role in innovation. They suggest that textbooks can support teachers through potentially
disturbing and threatening change processes, demonstrate new and/or untried methodologies,
introduce change gradually, and create scaffolding upon which teachers can build a more
creative methodology of their own.
Finally, according to Haycroft (1998), most important reward of using textbooks is that they
are psychologically vital for students since their accomplishment can be measured concretely
when we use them.

1.3.3. Previous studies related to the series of textbooks New Headway
Ranalli (2002) evaluated New Headway Upper-Intermediate, one of the course-books used
at the Foreign Language Institute of Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. According to
Ranalli, the book concentrates on traditional approaches such as a clear focus on grammar
with in-depth analysis and clarification through many exercises and reading material, yet it
employs the “Communicative approaches” since students are required to work out rules
individually and reflect upon their personal opinions. He also states in his study “the
speaking practice is so well integrated and the book can boast many opportunities for
personalization”. However, activities such as those above “do not actually teach how to
organize conversation in English” (Cunningsworth, 1995: 70). The language input is useful
and relevant although the language variety is not ideal. He also questioned if there is enough
speaking practice of a useful type. He argued that while the discussions which predominate
in Headway are useful for developing fluency, an approach which incorporates speaking
sub-skills or strategies is warranted in the case of Korean learners.
However, the weak point of the book can be overcome trough adaptation and
supplementation.
Raghdah Al-Madany investigates Saudi students‟ view of the English textbooks Headway
Series based on need analysis, in order to identify the students‟ needs and help them learn

and new experience, and so on”.
Gardner (1985:10) defined that “motivation in the present context refers to the combination
of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes
towards learning the language”. In other words, motivation can be defined in terms of two
factors: learners‟ communicative need and their attitudes towards the second language
community (Light brown & Nina Spada, 1999:56). It means that if learners need to speak the
second language in a wide range of social situations or to fulfill professional ambitions, they


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will perceive the communicative value of the second language and will therefore be
motivated to acquire proficiency in it.

1.4.2. The importance of motivation in foreign language learning
Motivation plays a very important role in teaching and learning as “positive attitudes and
motivation are related too success in second language learning” (Gardner, 1985). And
motivation is considered as “a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners
to communicate” (Gardner, 1985:10).
Oxford & Shearin (1994) appreciate the role of motivation because “it determines the extent
of active, personal involvement in L2 learning”
Carroll (1962) further suggested the following critical factors in second language learning:
aptitude, opportunity or method and motivation among which motivation predicted the
amount of time a learner would spend on the task of language learning. She pointed out: “the
more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a
second language”
In short, motivation plays a vital part in developing language skills. It can be considered as
both the cause and the result of language learning achievement. That is, learners who
experience success in learning may become more or in some contexts, less motivated to
learn. (Ellis, 1997:75)

most of them do not feel confident in communicating in English.
When studying English at the HCIE, most of the students want to enhance listening and
speaking skills on one hand and develop their English for Economics on the other hand with
the hope that they can use English as a useful tool in their career.


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2.1.3. Description of the teachers at the HCIE
If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most
important factor in the teaching process. At the HCIE, there are 10 teachers of English
language aged from 25 to 43 but only none of them have ever been to English speaking
countries. 7 out of 10 full-time teachers of English at the HCIE were trained at Hanoi
Foreign language Teacher training College, one of the teachers – the former teacher of
Russian– finished an in-service course of English, one teacher graduated from Hanoi Foreign
Language College and one teacher graduated from Hanoi Open University. Half of the
teachers have been teaching English for over 5 years and have acquired certain pedagogical
competence. However, the method of teaching, which is applied by most of the teachers at
this college, is a very traditional one- the Grammar Translation method. Other methods are
rarely used.

2.2. Design and methodology
2.2.1. Subjects of the study
The study was conducted in the HCIE. Data was collected from 100 first year students and
10 teachers of English at the HCIE. There will be a sample accompanied within the research.

2.2.2. Instruments of data collection
The main instruments, which I have used in this study to collect data, are questionnaires,
interviews and class observation.