TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. PART I: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................
1
1.1 Rationale...............................................................................................................
2
1.2. Aim and objectives...............................................................................................
2
1.3. Scope of the study................................................................................................
2
1.4. Methodology.........................................................................................................
3
1.5. Significance..........................................................................................................
3
2. PART II: THE CONTENT3
2.1. Theory background............................................................................................
4
2.1.1. Speaking skills...................................................................................................
2.1.1.1. The definition of speaking skills....................................................................
4
2.1.1.2. The speaking competences.............................................................................
5
2.1.1.3. Elements of speaking ability..........................................................................
5
2.1.2. Blended-learning approach................................................................................
5
2.1.2.1. The definition of Blended-learning.............................................................
5
2.1.2.2. The benefits of applying Blended-learning approach.....................................
5
in teaching speaking
2.1.2.3. Forms of Blended Learning in teaching speaking..........................................

1. PART I. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale .
In Vietnam, English has been taught as an important foreign language for a
long time but due to grammar-translation method of teaching, Vietnamese
students seem to be better at grammar than communicative competence.
Therefore, according to a large project to investigate the English teaching reform
in northern parts of Vietnam, only 5% of students are able to communicate in
English after graduation (Hoang et all, 2005). This fact gives rises to the need
for nationwide innovation in the teaching methodology in the light of
communicative approach.
Blended learning is one of the recent ways which combines a face-to-face
classroom component with an appropriate use of technology. The term
technologycovers a wide range of recent aspects, such as the internet, CD–Roms
and interactivewhite broad. It also includes the use of computers as a means of
communication,such as chat and email, and a number of environments which
enable teachers toenrich their courses. Blended learning is very useful for
students in learning English because thatenables them to practice language
inside and outside the class room, which enhancestheir ability in the language
skills, particularly speaking skills, (Pete and Barney2009, p40).
Interactive materials on web and CD–Roms offer opportunities to
developlanguage skills, such as reading, writing, speaking and pronunciation.All
the aforementioned conditions drive the author to carry out the research “Using
Blended-learning approach to enhance 9th grade students’ speaking skills at Thi
Tran secondary school”. Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to
improving speaking skills for grade 9th students at Thi Tran secondary school.
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1. 2. Aim and objectives
The aim of this study is to explore the exploitation of using Blendedlearning approach to enhance students’ speaking skill. In order to achieve the

2.1.1. Speaking skills
2.1.1.1. The definition of speaking skills
The teacher has found several definitions of speaking as follows:
Channey(1998, p.13) stated that " speaking is the process of building and
sharing meaningthrough the use of verbal and non- verbal symbols in a variety
of contexts" In the other words, speaking is a skill which need the speaker to
interact with others deeply to be perceived and understood, then constructing the
meaning, pronouncing, and being fluent and accurate in using grammar and
vocabulary..
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From the above display, the teacher notice the ability to speak aforeign
language involves several components that speaker need to acquire in order
tocommunicate effectively. She also added communicative competence must
includenot only the linguistic form of a language but also knowledge of when, how
and towhom it is appropriate to use this form. However, in Vietnam, as the examoriented ways of teaching in secondary schools and no speaking part is included in
high school entrance examination, English learning generally emphasizes more on
the reading and writing skills than listening and speaking skills.
2.1.1.2. The speaking competences
To carry out a successful speaking task, the following competences should be
acquired:
Initiating a conversation: Knowing how and when to open a conversation
is akey speaking competence that learners must be taught. A study by Mc Cathy
and O'keeffe (2004, p. 5) has shown that much classroom conversation involves
the teacher taking the role of an initiator.
Turn-taking: This is the interaction management skill that learners would
do well to acquire what.Bygate (1998: p.65) and Flucher (2003, p. 24) illustrate
that turntaking and adjacent–pair practice will provide learners within
dispensable knowledge of when it is appropriate to listen and talk, for how long,

states that fluency is the ability to use a language spontaneously and confidently
and without undue pauses a hesitation. Fluency is an aspect that influences very
much the students’ ability in speaking English. The teachers have to guide the
students to develop to master it to be fluent in speaking. In this case, the students
can speak spontaneously by using a right language or the students do not use too
many unnatural pauses but succeed in conveying the general meaning and fair
range of expression.
Comprehensibility: Comprehensibility is the process of understanding of
the utterances sent by the speaker done by listener. Clark states that
comprehensibility has two common senses. In its narrow sense, it denotes the
building of meaning from sounds. Comprehensibility in broader sense denotes
the interpretation the meaning and utilizes the speech act conveyed. 2In other
words, if there are two people want to make communication to each other, they
have to be speaking because they have different information. The activity of
speaking or communication should be understood by the speaker and listener.
For example, a question, listener extracts the importation then tries to search the
answer for it.
2.1.2. Blended-learning approach
2.1.2.1. The definition of Blended-learning
Blended learning has been defined as a mixture of traditional learning and
onlinelearning (Williams, 2002; Osguthrope& Graham, 2003). It is also defined
as the integrationof e-learning tools such as virtual learning environment with
face-to-face learning (Welker&Berardino, 2006). Thus, we could say that the
term 'blended learning' refersto everytime teachers mix different media (e.g.
print,audio, and video) with classroom interaction.
In the current study the blended learning refers to a combination of online
andface-to-face methods in response to the learners’ needs and for the
achievement ofinstructional objectives. This means that multiple approaches,
methods and resources toteaching or to educational processes are combined and
utilized by the teacher who nowexpects the students to learn not only from the

timing that is perfect just for them. It can promote deeper learning, reduce stress,
and increase student satisfaction.
Last but not least, Teachers can become more engaged with their students.
Blended learning presents an increased opportunity for students to connect with
their professors and teachers. They can connect via email, through progress
reports on the program, or on message boards. This learning style promotes a
number of effective means for teachers and students to become more engaged
with one another. In the end, both parties can benefit from this shift in the
relationship. Teachers can stay in touch with student progress, while students
can ask more questions and gain deeper knowledge.
2.1.2.3. Forms of Blended learning in teaching speaking

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Rotation Model: In this model, students rotate between learning paths or
“modalities”-one of which online learning-either on a fixed schedule or at the
teacher’s discretion. There are several popular sub-classes of the rotation model.
Station Rotation: In this model, students rotate between various stations
within theclassroom, and at least one of these stations includes an online
learning component
Lab Rotation: Students rotate between the classroom environment and the
learning lab, all whilestaying on the school campus.
Flipped Classroom: In the flipped classroom, students rotate on a fixed
schedulebetween classroom instruction during the school day and online outside
of schoolhours.
Individual Rotation: In this rotation model, students customize how they
rotatebetween modalities. Either theteacher-of-record or an algorithm can set
individual student rotation schedules, butonce set, these schedules usually stay
fixed.

vocabulary for ESP areas thatare well served on the Web. Learners can access
functional language for situationssuch as making telephone calls or giving
presentations.
Language Games: Games are another electronic alternative to books and
paper based exercises.They are principally aimed at younger learners although
there are also games whichcan be used by adults. They focus on topics such as
vocabulary, spelling and grammar.
Speaking and pronunciationinteractive materials on the Web and on
CD-ROM:offer opportunities todevelop language skills like speaking and
pronunciation. Fluency practice is usually organized by the teacher, and is an
area which Learners can read and record alternate lines in a dialogue,and then
play back the complete dialogue. CD-ROMs can also be helpful in the areaof
pronunciation. On some disks, the learner can click on a version of the
phonemicchart and listen to the individual phonemes. Some disks display the
intonation patternthe learner uses in visual format.
2.1.2.5. Source of materials in applying blended learning
Downloadable Materials: In the case of downloadable materials, once you
have saved the files on your computer, your link to the internet can be
disconnected. Material intended to be printed, such as worksheet, or materials
which can be stored and distributed by email, such as (MP3) files, are normally
delivered by this method.
Online Materials: In contrast to downloadable materials, these rely on the
learners having access to a computer connected to the Internet. Online exercises,
test, games and listening activities often require little programs that integrate
with your browser.
Material on Disk: Finally, some materials are available in disk format.
ACD-ROM is essentially a stronger device. It can store digital data in formats
such as text, pictures, photographs, animations, video clips and audio clips. CDROMs offer language learners the exciting possibilities of a multimedia
environment, allowing them to move between the various media at will. There
are also DVDs, the main difference being that these offer a lot more storage

they found speaking is the most challenging skill.
2.2.3.The problems of teaching and learning speaking
skills at the school
In secondary schools in Vietnam, the textbooks are designed for all students
of different grades. Among them, this study stresses that using the same
textbooks for all students in different regions is problematic. Especially in the
research school, a remote and mountainous one, English proficiency of most
students cannot be as high as those from cities or towns using the same
textbooks.
In the other hand, the failure of students in speaking may also be
originated from the fact that the teaching and learning process of speaking is not
conducted effectively and the inappropriate teaching method is applied by the
teacher. In other words, the students may find the strategies which the teachers
use not interesting and effective enough to develop their speakingskill.
2.3. Application
In planning, the teacher prepared syllabus, lesson plan, source of online
learning, blended learning strategy based on the English 9 curriculum of the
Vietnamese ministry of education and training. To reach the stated goal, the
action plan is executed during the second semester. The project comprises two
phases (12 weeks, second semester 2017-2018).
The former, In-class activity which consists of selected awareness-raising
activities and essential speaking-strategies training activities, is to raise students’
awareness of the problem as well as equip them with necessary skills to make
use of online materials and acquire more confidence in speaking skill and then
designed in-class activities for target language of each unit.
The latter toughens such awareness and strategies in learners by
involving them in the speaking practice. This stage is of great importance since
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Phase 2
In this step students make use of online materials to practice after school
Out-class activity: students take at least thirty minutes a day to revise the
knowledge they have learnt in the classroom with the implementing online tool
on two websites : sachmem.com and tienganh123.com. In the next lesson at
school, they spend about ten minutes for pair work activity, the next five minutes
is reserved for some pair presentations in front of the class. In the consecutive
three meetings, they use ten minutes for pair work activity and the next five
minutes for individual report in front of the class. One or two students make
presentations in front of the class, reporting the news that they have just
received. In doing so, students will feel more secured, and gradually become
accustomed to public presentations. Holding the rehearsal, they will be more
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willing to speak up. The final product is a record of all assignments and notes
attained during the project. Besides, the assessment is also based on students’
active participation in class, especially while doing the activities.
By this students do great efforts in using all the materials and the speaking
techniques to communicate with their partners in the target language. The
gradual individual presentation merging helps them to gain fearlessness in
speaking. Hereby, they can implant not only self-directed leaning attitudes but
also take appropriate psychology in the learning process. Concurrently, their
speaking skill is upgraded. However, depend on different activities, teacher
should give appropriate tasks for students in face to face lesson as well as online
lesson. The following are examples that I have used:
Example :UNIT 7- GETTING STARTED (page 7-8) SGK English 9
Phase 1: In-class activity
- After asking students about their favourite dishes. Elicit answers from
students and quickly write them on the board. Teacher introduce the new words


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Figure 4: Revise Vocabulary at home
- Next, students have to spend at least 15 minutes for listening this part
three times a week and try to model the sentences in the dialogue. They can
replay as many times as possible and repeat the target dialogue. The color
will turn yellow when the speech is pronounced.By this, students have a
chance to develop not only speaking but other skills are involved. Listening
skills allow the person to understand what other person speaks. Speaking skills
helps to convey the same what he listened in the right manner. Reading skills is
essential to interpret what is in the text. Writing skills is used to express their
own thoughts. After two weeks, the students gradually feel interest in learning
and try to listen, record, write and practice at home

Figure 5: Practice The Text Online
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- Finally, students record the target text and send to the teacher through
email or other social means like: Hangout; Skype…Feedback will be
delivered by the teacher individually or in front of the class so that the
students can learn from each other.
- During this study, students were actively receiving feedback from their
classmates and teacher, as well as providing feedback to their partners during the
face-to-face sessions after the virtual lessons were implemented; this definitely
was effective for them. Hence, students mention that blended learning allowed
them to make errors and to make them up.
The examples above evidence how blended learning was used to helped

mistakes, being shy and unconfident to practice, by seeing their average score in
every period of time they had been through.
2.4.1.Data from the questionnaire
After finding a significant increase in learning for the experimental group,
students received a questionnaire to determine the reasons for their enhanced
learning. In the questionnaire, the subjects were asked about their perception of
e-learning’s effect on their language skills.

1

QUESTIONS
MEANS
The blended learning helps the students understand the
4.50
subject better.

SD
0.51

2

The lessons in blended learning program are
interesting.

4.40

0.56

3



0.51

7

Blended learning develops students speaking skills.

3.80

0.41

Table 1: Questionnaire
As can be seen from Table 1, the students in the experimental group had
favorable attitudes towards enhancing their language skills through blended
learning. Most students thought that this program should be a supplement to in15


class teaching. In addition, there was a favorable response relating to
motivational aspect delivered through the use of technology. It motivated the
students to study by themselves. It also helped them better understand the lesson
because the supplementary lessons covered similar content. Moreover, students
felt that this program could both facilitate and enhance their learning experience.
2.4.2. The data from the interviews
The students’ responses for interest and experience in blended learning are
as follows.
First, the participants responded positively for interest in using blended
learning in English speaking classes. 87.1% of the participants showed interest
(very interested, 25.8% and fairly interested, 61.3%), 12.9% were not
particularly interested, none responded to be not interested. The results show
that students’ interest in blended learning in English classes is very high.


Moreover, Blended-learning also allows teachers to have a more studentcentered form of learning. Teachers can use Blended-learning to develop EFL
students’ language skills and activate their independent learning. The findings
revealed that Blended-learning is an essential approach that should be used to
supplement the EFL face-to-face classroom lessons. It is seen to enhance the
students’ language proficiency and promote independent learning.
3. PART III: CONCLUSION
3.1. Summary
This study aims at investigating the exploitation of Blended-learning
approach on enhancing students’ speaking skill. The study was conducted over
thirty 9th grade students and two teachers of English at Thi Tran secondary
school.
From the findings, it appears that students have positive perceptions
toward the benefits of the applying blended-learning approach in speaking
lessons. Their progress in speaking ability was evaluated by the comparison
between before and after English speaking tests. With the meaningful
improvements in outcomes above, it can be concluded that using Blendedlearning approach in speaking lessons benefit students in many ways such as
concentrating on speaking process, remembering information, review and recall
the information easily, which led to two times higher scores in the speaking test
after four months.
Based on the findings, some suggestions for applying online materials
with traditional face to face class in teaching and learning speaking will be given
for a better speaking lesson with the use of Blended-learning approach.
3.2. Pedagogical suggestions
Blended learning is a valuable concept that can be used to more
successfully achieve teaching goals. It allows students to develop and practice
English language skills outside the classroom at anytime and anyplace they
choose, as long as they have access to an Internet connection. In addition, it
permits them to repeat lessons without judgment or pressure. The proven
enhancement of student learning documented in this study validates this type of

addition, due to lack of time and limitation of knowledge, the author has not
considered all aspects of the issue, and mistakes of the study are unavoidable.
The author would like to receive comments from the other teachers and those
who concern this issue for further studies with sincere gratitude.
4. Suggestion for further studies
This study is only investigating the application of note-taking Blended
learning in teaching and learning speaking skill. Further studies should be
devoted to evaluate the application of Blended learning strategies on teaching
and learning other skills like reading, speaking or writing.
REFERENCES
1. Dawley, L. (2007) The tools for successful online teaching, London:
Information Science Publishing.
2. Dornyei, Z. (2001) Teaching and researching motivation, Harlow: Longman.
3. Aug 2014] H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to
language pedagogy. Third edition. White Plains, NewYork: Pearson
Education.
4. Graham, C. R. (2006) Blended learning systems: definition, current trends,
and future directions, C. J. Bonk and
5. C. R. Graham, The handbook of blended learning: Global perspectives, San
Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer Publishing.
6. Key, M. R. (1981) The relationship of verbal and nonverbal communication.
XÁC NHẬN
CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ

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