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

***********************

TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STRATEGIES FOR
DEVELOPING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL OF NON-MAJOR
ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AT A TEACHER TRAINNING
COLLEGE IN THE NORTHWESTERN AREA OF VIETNAM
(Nghiên cứu những chiến lược để phát triển kỹ năng nói Tiếng Anh của sinh viên
không chuyên người dân tộc thiểu số tại trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm
vùng Tây Bắc Việt Nam)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2017


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

***********************

TRẦN THỊ NGỌC MAI


M i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Huynh
Anh Tuan, who is willing to devote his time to offer me professional guidance and
practical comments on my research. If there is not his valuable suggestions, careful
and detailed critical comments, this study will not be fulfilled. Also, my deepest
gratitude is extended to my parents as well as friends for their support and
encouragement throughout my thesis. Finally, this research could not have been
conducted without the cooperation of the non-major ethnic minority students at
Dien Bien teacher training college during the process of data collection.

ii


ABSTRACT
The present study is conducted in the hope of finding out: (1) the types of
strategies non-major ethnic minority successful and unsuccessful learners at a
teacher training college in the Northwestern area of Vietnam use to develop their
speaking skill (henceforth referred to as speaking strategies) and (2) the relationship
between their speaking learning strategies and their oral language proficiency. In
order to seek answers to the two research questions centering on these two issues, a
descriptive survey method was applied. A questionnaire and some interviews were
utilized to collect the data. The questionnaire which consisted of 28 items was built
from Oxford‘s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) to elicit the ethnic
minority students‘ use of str tegies for developing spe king skill. The interviews
onsisted of 6 questions involving students‘ n me, attitudes, study methods,
perceptions and study hours of interviewees to get more understanding of the

4. Methods of the study ...........................................................................................3
5. Scope of the study ................................................................................................3
6. Significance of the study .....................................................................................4
7. Organization of the study.....................................................................................4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................5
1.1. Language learning strategies ............................................................................5
1.1.1. Definitions of language learning strategies ................................................5
1.1.2.

Classifications of language learning strategies .......................................6

1.1.3. The differences between language learning strategies and language use
strategies .............................................................................................................10
1.2. Speaking skill ..................................................................................................12
1.2.1. Definition of speaking ..............................................................................12
1.2.2. Speaking strategies ...................................................................................13
1.2.3. Components of second language speaking competence ..........................13
1.2.4.

Speaking approaches.............................................................................15

1.3. Relationship between language learning strategy use and language
proficiency .............................................................................................................17
1.4. Language Learning Strategies and English Majors ........................................18
1.5. Previous studies ..............................................................................................20
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1.5.1. Previous studies on language learning strategies .....................................20

students) ..............................................................................................................50
3.2.2. Interview data analysis .............................................................................58

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3.2.3. Questionnaire data analysis (for finding out the relationship between
l ngu ge le rning str tegies nd students‘ or l English profi ien y)………….62
3.3. Summary ............................................................................................................68
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ......................................................69
4.1. Findings ..........................................................................................................69
4.1.1. Kinds of language learning strategies for developing English
speaking skill used by successful and unsuccessful ethnic minority students
............................................................................................................................69
4.1.2. Rel tionship between l ngu ge le rning str tegies nd students‘ or l
English proficiency.............................................................................................74
4.2. Discussion .......................................................................................................75
PART C: CONCLUSION .........................................................................................79
1. Summary ............................................................................................................79
2. Implications .......................................................................................................82
3. Limitations and suggestions for further studies .................................................82
REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................84
APPENDIX 1: ........................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 2: .......................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 3: ............................................................................................................ II
APPENDIX 4: ............................................................................................................ II
APPENDIX 5: ...........................................................................................................III
APPENDIX 6: .......................................................................................................... IV
APPENDIX 7: ......................................................................................................... VII
APPENDIX 8: ............................................................................................................ X

between successful, satisfactorily successful and unsuccessful students ................. 52
Table 7: Memory strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 53
Table 8: Cognitive strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 53
Table 9: Compensation strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 54
Table 10: Metacognitive strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 55
Table 11: Affective strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 56
Table 12: Social strategies used by successful, satisfactorily successful and
unsuccessful students ................................................................................................ 56
Table 13: Overall speaking strategies between successful, satisfactorily successful
and unsucessful students ........................................................................................... 57
Table 14: ANOVA results for the language learning strategies used by learners with
different English proficiency..................................................................................... 58
T ble 15: Students‘ s ores nd their le rning str tegy use t six

tegories of LLSs ...... 64

Table 16: Students‘ s ores nd their memory strategy use ....................................... 64
Table 17: Students‘ s ores nd their ognitive str tegy use ..................................... 65
Table 18: Students‘ s ores nd their ompens tion str tegy use .............................. 65
Table 19: Students‘ s ores nd their metacognitive strategy use ............................. 66
Table 20: Students‘ s ores nd their ffe tive str tegy use ...................................... 67
Table 21: Students‘ s ores nd their so i l strategy use ........................................... 67

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successful than others since they use learning strategies more effectively.

1


Furthermore, learning strategies are considered to be ― n extremely powerful
le rning tool‖ (O‘M lley, Ch mot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, and Russo,
1985:43). This ‗tool‘ is ble to help students over ome the problems they f e in
their language learning journey. Nonetheless, most of ethnic minority students often
ignore appropriate strategies that they are guided by their teachers or rarely apply
those strategies in their learning.
There goes an old proverb which states: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a
day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime‖. When applied to the
language teaching and learning field, this proverb probably means that if students
are provided with strategies, they will manage their own learning. This suggests that
using language learning strategies in learning process need to be encouraged.
There has been a limitation in the number of studies on the second language
learning of ethnic minority students in Vietnam. Study by Tran Thi Phuong Hoa
(2011) focused on ethni minority students‘ beliefs about English language learning
and the study by Le Ngoc Oanh (2009) investigated into differences of reading
strategy use between Kinh and Thai students. Until now, there has been one study
carried out by Do Thi Anh Thu (2017) on learner autonomy of ethnic minority in
Northwest region, Vietnam. However, there have not been any studies which were
conducted to discover and clarify strategies that were used by ethnic minority
students in improving their speaking skills. With high interest in this area, the
author of this paper decided to do a research with the hope of finding out the
speaking strategies used by successful learners, then, apply them to train
unsuccessful learners to assist learners in developing their speaking skill. As Rubin
(1975:42) st tes th t ‗if we knew more bout wh t the "su essful le rners" did,
we might be able to teach these strategies to poorer learners to enhance their

minority

students‘ oral

English

proficiency?
4. Methods of the study
The subjects for this study were the first-year non-major ethnic minority
students at Dien Bien teacher training college. A descriptive survey was conducted
to achieve the objectives of the present research. Data were collected through the
analysis of the questionnaire and student interviews. Then, they were compared,
analyzed and synthesized both qualitatively and quantitatively.
5. Scope of the study
The current study is carried out among the first year non-major ethnic
minority students who are classified as successful and unsuccessful. Concerning the
scope of the study, the following issues should be taken into consideration. First, the
focus of the investigation is on learning strategies which were used by ethnic
minority students to develop their speaking skills. Second, the study explores the

3


relationship between their speaking learning strategies and their oral language
proficiency.
6. Significance of the study
This study should be of potential interest to language learners who desire to
have effective learning strategies for developing their English speaking skill to
become successful learners. Besides, the study clarifies learning strategies which
were applied. In addition, it helps learners see that learning strategies are effective

and language proficiency is described. A detailed review of research on Language
Learning Strategies and English Majors is pointed out. The chapter ends with some
comments on previous studies of LLSs and speaking strategies with regards to the
characteristics of participants, methods of data collection, and results.

1.1. Language learning strategies
This section presents issues of language learning strategies in terms of
definition and classification. Besides, the differences between language learning
strategies and language use strategies are pointed out briefly and clearly.
1.1 .1. Definitions of language learning strategies
Griffiths (2008:83) points out, ―the on ept of l ngu ge le rning str tegy h s
been notoriously diffi ult to define.‖ Over the l st few de des, there are different
definitions on language learning strategies provided by various researchers and
scholars. However, this thesis focuses on definitions by Rubin (1975), O‘M lley
and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990).
As a pioneer in this field, Rubin (1975: 43) proposes that ‘the techniques or
devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge’. (cited in Giffiths, 2004:2).
O‘M lley nd Ch mot (1990:1) des ribe le rning str tegies s ‘special thoughts or
behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new
information’. Slightly different from these two definitions, Oxford (1990:8) sees
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that language learning strategies are ‘specific actions taken by the learner to make
learning easier, faster, more enjoyable , more self-directed, more effective, and
more transferrable to new situations’. These definitions seem to draw the same
characteristic: language learning strategies are what can assist learners in improving
their knowledge to reach their language goal.
According to Giffiths (2004), Rubin provides a very broad definition of
learning strategies. Therefore, Rubin‘s definition is too hard to cover.

which tends to explore the LLSs for improving speaking skill.
O‘M lley nd Ch mot (1990) presented a classification including three
major strategies: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective
strategies. Metacognitive strategies refer to strategies applied to plan for learning
and thinking about the learning process, monitoring production and comprehension
as well as evaluation after the completion of an activity whilst cognitive strategies
involve the direct manipulation of learning techniques such as: repetition,
resourcing,

grouping,

note

taking,

deduction,

substitution,

elaboration,

summarization, translation, transfer and inferencing. Socio/affective strategies
mainly include the learner in communicative interaction with another person. A
distinctive point in this classification is that their study based on theories in
cognitive science. Addition lly, L n (2005:21) st tes ‗their classification was not
only theory-based but also has been fairly accepted by both teachers and researchers
in the field‘. However, their

tegory rem ins limited. This is pointed out by Cohen


used for focusing, organizing and evaluating learning process. Second, affective
strategies help learners develop self-confidence and enable them to control feelings,
motivations, and attitudes related to language learning. Third, social strategies
‗provide increased interaction and more empathetic understanding, two qualities
necessary to reach communicative competence’(Oxford, 1990: 14).
Generally speaking, compared with other categories, Oxford‘s t xonomy is
―perhaps the most comprehensive classification of learning strategies to date‖
(Ellis, 1994: 539). In the same vein, her classification is appreciated to be the most
detailed and systematic strategy taxonomy to date (Radwan, 2011). It would be of
great importance and interest to look insight into 46 out of 62 strategies from her
whole strategy classifi tion for developing spe king. Oxford‘s l ssifi tion of
LLSs is the nuclear model and stream of this study.

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Item

Strategy

Group

Class

1

Placing new words into a context

Memory



Cognitive

Direct

6

Recognizing and using formulas and patterns

Cognitive

Direct

7

Recombining

Cognitive

Direct

8

Practising naturalistically

Cognitive

Direct

9


13

Switching to the mother tongue

Compensation

Direct

14

Getting help

Compensation

Direct

15

Using mime or gesture

Compensation

Direct

16

Avoiding communication partially or totally

Compensation


Compensation

Direct

21

Overviewing and linking with already known
material

Metacognitive

Indirect

22

Paying attention

Metacognitive

Indirect

23

Delaying speech production to focus on listening

Metacognitive

Indirect


Indirect

28

Planning for a language task

Metacognitive

Indirect

29

Seeking practice opportunities

Metacognitive

Indirect

30

Self-monitoring

Metacognitive

Indirect

31

Self-evaluating




35

Making positive statements

Affective

Indirect

36

Taking risks wisely

Affective

Indirect

37

Rewarding yourself

Affective

Indirect

38

Listening to your body


Asking for correction

Social

Indirect

43

Cooperating with peers

Social

Indirect

44

Cooperating with proficient users of the new
language

Social

Indirect

45

Developing cultural understanding

Social

Indirect


distinguished language learning strategies form language use one clearly and
understandably.
Strategies for language learning and language use can be differentiated
according to classification. While language learning strategies are composed of
cognitive strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, affective strategies and social
strategies, language use strategies include retrieval strategies, rehearsal strategies,
cover strategies, and communication strategies. (Cohen, 1996, 2005)
Cognitive strategies involve both the identification, retention, storage or
retrieval of words, phrases, and other elements of the second language. These
strategies help learners understand new language by many different means. Metacognitive strategies deal with pre-assessment and pre-planning, on-line planning
and evaluation, and post-evaluation of language learning activities and language use
events. These strategies are actions that help learners control their learning process
by coordinating the planning, organizing and evaluating of the learning process.
Affective strategies are those strategies that help students regulate their emotions,
motivation, and attitudes. Social strategies include the actions which assist learners
in interacting with other learners and with native speakers.
Retrieval strategies are those strategies that learners use to call up language
material from storage. These strategies require learners to remember the correct verb
in its appropriate tense or retrieve the meaning of a word when it is heard or read.
Rehearsal strategies are strategies for practicing target language structures before
using them. Cover strategies are those strategies that learners use to create the
impression that they have control over material when they do not. Communication
strategies are used to by learners to convey a message that is both meaningful and
informative for the listener or reader when they don‘t h ve all the language they need.
As the discussion mentioned above, the difference between language
learning strategies and language use strategies is quite clear and concrete. This
study is conducted to explore language learning strategies in English speaking in

11

Person lly spe king, I prefer Brown nd Yule‘s idea presented in their book‗Dis ourse n lysis‘ (1983). They s y th t ‗speaking can also serve one of two main
functions: transactional (transfer of information) and interactional (maintenance of
social relationships)‘( ited in S l h, 2015). They put more focus on the function of

12


speaking which is to express social relations and personal attitudes. By using this
productive skill, people can express their ideas, feeling and purpose on any topics.
Because of its great function, speaking seems to be one of the most important skills
in language learning.
1.2.2. Speaking strategies
Spe king str tegies re defined by O‘M lley nd Ch mot (1990) s ‗the tools
for active, self-directed involvement needed for developing second language
ommuni tive

bility‘ ( ited in Susie, 2011). Another definition by Larenas

(2011:87) of speaking strategies is ‗ tions nd/or pro edures th t students pply in
order to omplete n or l ommuni tive t sk su essfully.‘ A ording to Faerch
and Kasper (1983), speaking strategies defined s ―potenti lly ons ious pl ns for
solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular
ommuni tive go l‖ (cited in Brown 2000: 127).
1.2.3. Components of second language speaking competence
There are some good models of second language speaking competence
which are created by great researchers. It would be a serious omission, if Canale
and Swain (1980) and (Hymes, 1971) were not mentioned in this field. Hymes
points out that the interaction of grammatical, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and
probabilistic language components is essential to enhance speaking skills effectively
while Canale and Swain (1980) suggest that communicative competence is

understanding,

repairing

communication

breakdown, giving feedback), as well as managing the flow of speech as it unfolds
(e.g.

initiating

topics,

turn-taking,

signalling

intentions,

opening/closing

conversations).
Communication Strategies involves developing cognitive strategies to
compensate for limitations in language knowledge (e.g. circumlocution,
paraphrasing, gestures, word coinage, approximation, avoidance), metacognitive
strategies (e.g. planning in advance what to say, thinking consciously about how

14



However, the weaknesses of this approach have been mentioned by other
researchers. Medgyes (1990), discovers that communicative approach is seen to be

15