SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ
TRƯỜNG THPT 4 THỌ XUÂN

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

APPLYING SOME USEFUL SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
TO ENHANCE THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS’ ACTIVENESS
AT 4 THO XUAN HIGH SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Sen
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT 4 Thọ Xuân
SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Môn Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS
-1


1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research……………………………………….
1.2. Aims of the research……………………………………………………..
1.3. Object of the research……………………………………………………
1.4. Methods of the research………………………………………………….
2. CONTENT……………………………………………………………………..
2.1. Theoretical background………………………………………………….
2.2. The reality of the problem…………………………………………...…...
2.3. Measure implementation…………………………………………………
2.3.1. Brainstorming …………………………………………………………
2.3.2. Information Gap Activities……………………………………………..



1.1. Reasons for choosing the research
English nowadays has become more and more popular and has been widely
used in Viet Nam. It is one of the major subjects in many schools and an
indispensable means of communication at present. It is also a "useful tool" and a
"master- key" to discover the world of science, technology, education, culture,
business and diplomacy. With such a trend of development, learning English is,
therefore, important than ever before. It is of such great importance that many
students are more and more interested in learning English. All learning is active in a
certain sense, but some kinds of learning are more active than others. Here, active
learning is defined in one sense to mean that the learner uses opportunities to
decide about aspects of the learning process. The stimulation of learning activities
and regulation processes, or teaching students how to learn, is likely to lead to the
best performance in the long run.
Speaking skill is a very important skill when learning English. Today’s world
requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students’
communicative skills, because, only in that way, learners can express themselves
and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in teacher
communicative circumstances. Many language learners regard speaking ability as
the measure of knowing a language. These learners define fluency as the ability to
converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write or comprehend oral
language.
The real situation of English language teaching in Vietnam shows that speaking
is the skill students usually neglect and are not good at even though they have very
good grammatical knowledge. Students’ learning methods depend much on
teachers; students still are quite passive in their learning process. In order to
improve the students’ speaking ability, teachers can use many kinds of
communicative activities.
Being aware of this urgent problem, I have a great desire to study the current

2.1. Theoretical background
Speaking, as Bygate (1997) definites, involves not only the use of the right
sound in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and
inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.
O’Malley and Pierce (1996) states that speaking seems to be an important skill
that a learner should acquire. It is very important in order to enable students to
communicate effectively through oral language because the disability of the
students to speak may lead them to be unable to express their ideas even in a simple
form of conversation.
Common speaking activities
A variety of activities can be used to develop speaking skills. Below are some
common ones:
* Role play
* Information gap activity
* Problem – solving
* Other picture card activities
Motivation
Motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to describe the
willingness of a person to expand to reach a particular goal. For language learners,
mastery of a language may be a goal. In linguistic, sociolinguistic and second
language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been
postulated.
Oxford and Shearin (1996) points out: “Motivation is important because it
directly influences how often use L2 learning strategies, how much students
interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being
learnt (the target language), how well they do on curriculum-related tests, how high
their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain
L2 skills after language study is over…”.
Language games
Language games mean games related to language. Hadfield (1987) classifies

The following principles are important to keep in mind when teaching speaking:
* The techniques should cover the range of learner’s needs from accuracy to
fluency.
* Speaking activities should be motivating to learners.
* Correction of learner errors should occur during speaking activities which are
accuracy-oriented not fluency oriented.
* Speaking activities should be integrated with other language skills.
* Students should be encouraged to not only answer questions but also to initiate
conversation and to take risks.
* Students should be provided with speaking strategies such as negotiating
meaning, asking for clarification, turn-taking etc.
* The teacher should design speaking activities which simulate real-life situations
so that students can learn how to speak naturally.
How to teach speaking
- Definitely, by “interacting”.
- Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best of this
arm.
- Communicative language teaching should be based on real-life situations that
require communication. By using this method in English speaking language
classes, learners will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the
target language.
- The teachers help students learn to speak so that the students can use speaking to
learn.

-6


2.2. The reality of the problem
General reality
English as a foreign language in Vietnam is taught in high schools as a

44
45

0
0

0
0

Good
Number %
12
26,1
8
10

18,2
22,2

Fair
Number
21
14
15

%
45,
6
31,8
33,3

C. Normal
D. Not important at all
Question 2:
How do you find speaking topics introduced in
English 11 textbook?
A. Very interesting
B. Interesting
C. Normal
D. Boring
Question 3:
How do you find speaking activities introduced
in English 11 textbook?
A. Very difficult
B. Difficult
C. Normal
D. Easy
Question 4:
Are you willing to speak in speaking classes?
A. Yes, I like speaking very much
B. Yes, sometimes
C. No, I’m never willing to speak

A
(%)

B
(%)

C
(%)

28

71

As can be seen clearly from the above table, a lot of the surveyed students
think that speaking is the most difficult skill meanwhile there are only 8 % consider
speaking very important. More specifically, 46 % find speaking topics introduced
in English 10 textbook boring and 62% find speaking activities introduced in
English 10 textbook very difficult. Moreover, there are so many students who are
never willing to speak in speaking classes (71%). In summary, the students are
losing their interest during the lesson. Therefore, an effective technique should be
exploited to motivate students in these speaking lessons.
-8


Table 3: A summary of students' activeness in English speaking learning
Students' activeness in
English speaking learning

Students' responses
(%)

1. The level of students' involvement in the
speaking lesson
Very active
Quite active
Little active
Not active at all

5,2

Rarely
Never

7,5
18,3
30,2
44

The data collected from the students' questionnaire and classroom observation
give us an overview of the activeness of the 10 th form students in learning speaking
English. According to what is shown from the table 3, it can be realized that a
small number of the 10th form students enjoy learning speaking English while there
are still a lot of the students who have a negative attitude towards English speaking
learning.

-9


Obviously, students nowadays have a clear awareness of English learning; they
learn it not because they are forced to study but because they are conscious of the
importance and necessity of English at present. Therefore, in order to help students
learn English effectively, the enhancement of students' activeness in English
speaking learning is of paramount importance.
2.3. Measure implementation
Traditional classroom speaking practice often takes the form of drills in which
one person asks a question and another gives an answer. The question and the
answer are structured and predictable, and often there is only one correct,
predetermined answer. The purpose of asking and answering the question is to
demonstrate the ability to ask and answer. In contrast, the purpose of real
communication is to accomplish a task, such as conveying a telephone message,

- 10


- Interviews

- Picture narrating

During my teaching time, I realized that the above activities are sometimes too
difficult for “weak” students to participate. In this initiative, therefore, I mention
some other speaking activities in order to enhance the 10 th form students’
activeness.
2.3.1. Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the
context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate
ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristics of brainstorming are that the
students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new
ideas.
+ Aims:
Brainstorming helps students recall vocabulary, structures, expressions related
the given topic.
+ Advantages:
- Brainstorming is a creative process that can be undertaken individually but is
mainly used in a group setting.
- It is used to work through ideas to find a solution to a problem or situation.
- It is a powerful way to generate, share and maximize new ideas.
- Brainstorming provides many advantages to the process of sorting through
problems.
+ Example:
Unit 1: A day in the life of … - Lesson B < Speaking >

appropriate level of language in order to complete the activity. There is sometimes
a lot of repetition in the communication as students try to narrow down the
information. This can be very useful when the teacher wants the students to focus
on a particular structure. Here is an example of an activity where students first
choose their “secret” information that their partner must then discover.
+ Aims:
Information gap activities force the students to ask each other questions; these
activities help make the classroom experience more meaningful and authentic.
+ Advantages:
Information gap activities are useful because they are very meaningful; all students
are involved in the process equally and they are all moving towards a specific

- 13


purpose. Each student has the task of finding out certain information, and therefore
must find a way in which to ask for this information. Motivation is usually quite
high in these activities. These activities help move the students from working in a
more structured environment into a more communicative environment; they are
hopefully using lots of the target language, and in the process discovering where
they have gaps. Knowing where these gaps are gives them a direction in which to
improve.
+ Example:
Unit 11: National parks – Lesson B < Speaking >
Task 3: Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions to complete your table.
Aim: Using conditional sentence type 3 to express the regrets about what someone
did or did not do in the past.
Teaching aids: worksheets
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure:

Result
she wouldn’t have missed the train

If he had tried in Math
she could have bought the book
If he had driven carefully
her parents would have been disappointed

The students may ask and answer:
Student A: What would have happened if Hoa hadn’t got up late?
Student B: If she hadn’t got up late, she wouldn’t have missed the train.
Or:
Student B: Hoa wouldn’t have missed the train if what had happened?

- 14


Student A: She wouldn’t have missed the train if she hadn’t got up late.
- Step 2 (5 minutes): The teacher has the students to ask and answer questions in
order to find all the necessary information to complete their table in 5 minutes. The
teacher goes around and observes the class.
- Step 3 (5 minutes): The teacher calls on some students to read the complete
sentences.
- Step 4 (3 minutes): The teacher calls on some other students to comment and then
gives feedback.
2.3.3. Playing Cards
In this game, students should form groups of four. Each student in a group will
choose a card. Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask
the other people in the group. However, the teacher should state at the beginning of
the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by

* What weather do you like? Why?
* What do you often do when it’s warm/ hot/ cool/ cold?
- Step 3 (5 minutes): The teacher lets the students talk with each other about the
topics.
- Step 4 (4 minutes): The teacher calls some pairs to represent in front of the class.
- Step 5 (1 minute): The teacher comments and gives feedback.
2.4. Result
After using the above activities in speaking lessons for the 10th grade, I realized
that there have been some considerable changes such as:
+ The atmosphere of the class became more ebullient; the students were eager to
participate in speaking activities and active to contribute their ideas to the lesson.
+ The students were more confident and less afraid of making mistakes.
The progress of the students can be seen through the following tables comparing
the studying results between the time before and after using some useful speaking
activities.
Table 1: Result of the quality test at the beginning of the school year
(Before using some useful speaking activities)
Class Total Excellent
Number
10A2 46
1
10A4 44
0
10A5 45
0

%
2,2
0
0

Class Total Excellent
Good
Number
% Number
10A2 46
5
10,9
20
10A4 44
1
2,3
11
10A5 45
2
4,4
19
5

%
43,5
25
42,2
5

Fair
Bad
Number % Number %
16
34,7
5

English. They have positive attitude towards learning English because they are
aware of the important role of learning English nowadays. The role of the teacher
and classroom atmosphere are important to students' language learning. Teacher is
not a controller but an organizer instead. On the basis of what are found, I put
forward some implications and suggestions for enhancing students' activeness in
learning English in a hope that students will be more active and creative in English
language learning.

Xác nhận của hiệu trưởng

Thọ Xuân, ngày 20 tháng 05 năm 2018
Tôi xin cam đoan đây là SKKN của mình viết,
không sao chép nội dung của người khác.
Người viết SKKN

Đỗ Thị Sen
- 17


REFERENCES

1. Hoang Van Van (2006), Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Giáo Dục.
2. Cẩm nang dạy và học tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông - NXB Giáo dục 2007
3. Chuẩn kiến thức kỹ năng môn Tiếng Anh 10 – (Tái bản lần thứ nhất) - NXB
Giáo dục Việt Nam 2010.
4. Thiết kế hoạt động dạy và học Tiếng Anh 10, tập II, NXB Giáo dục Hà Nội.
5. Thiết kế bài giảng Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Hà Nội 2009.
6. Lê Văn Sự, English methodology, Hanoi 2005.
7. Littlewood, W. (1990), Communicative Language Teaching, an Introduction,
Cambridge University Press.

5. Bạn có muốn giao tiếp hay thảo luận bài tập với các bạn khác trong lớp hay
không ?
□ Có
□ Không
6. Bạn có thường tự tạo cơ hội cho mình để thực hành Tiếng Anh trong và ngoài
lớp học không?
□ Thường xuyên
□ Hiếm khi
□ Thỉnh thoảng
□ không bao giờ
7. Bạn cảm thấy thích học Tiếng Anh khi nào ?
□ Tham gia một cách tích cực vào các hoạt động học
□ Chú ý tới bài giảng của Giáo viên
□ Nhận những ý kiến phản hồi từ Giáo viên
□ Các hoạt động hay và ý nghĩa
□ Giáo viên đưa ra nhưng yêu cần cao về bài tập
- 19


□ Ý kiến khác…………………………………………………………….
Cảm ơn sự hợp tác của các em rất nhiều!
DANH MỤC
CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH
GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC CẤP
CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN
Họ và tên tác giả: ĐỖ THỊ SEN
Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên – Trường THPT 4 Thọ Xuân
TT

1


SỞ GD&ĐT

C

2015 - 2016

SỞ GD&ĐT

C

2016 - 2017

- 20