VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


BÙI THỊ ÁNH TUYẾT

M.A. MINOR THESIS

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE 10-FORM STUDENTS’

PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT MARIE
CURIE HIGH SCHOOL, HAI PHONG

(Các hoạt động trong lớp học để khuyến khích khả năng trình bày tiếng Anh
của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Marie Curie, Hải Phòng)

Field: English teaching methodology

Code: 60 14 10
Cohort: MA 15
Supervisor: Lê Thế Nghiệp, M.A
Hanoi, 2009
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................................ii
ABBREVIATIONS..............................................................................................................iii
INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................1
1. RATIONALE.................................................................................................................1
2. OBJECTS OF STUDY...................................................................................................2
3. AIMS OF STUDY........................................................................................................2
4. SCOPE OF STUDY......................................................................................................2
5. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY....................................................................................3
6. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES........................................................................................3
7. DESIGN OF THE STUDY............................................................................................3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT..................................................................................................7
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................7
1.1. SOME DEFINITIONS................................................................................................7
1.2. FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC....................7
1.2.1. Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety..................................................................7
1.2.2. Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom
environment’................................................................................................................10
1.2.3. Classroom procedure..........................................................................................12
1.3. Socio-cultural factors................................................................................................13
1.3.1. Social environment for L2/FL acquisition.........................................................13
1.3.2. Errors in social setting........................................................................................14
1.4. COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES................................................14
1.4.1. Purpose...............................................................................................................14
1.4.2. Requirements......................................................................................................15
1.4.3. Types of communicative classroom activities....................................................16
1.5. INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION.................................................18
1.5.1. Important of integrating skills............................................................................18
1.5.2. Presentation through reading activities..............................................................19
1.5.3. Presentation through writing activities...............................................................19
1.5.4. Presentation through listening activities.............................................................19
CHAPTER II........................................................................................................................21
THE STUDY........................................................................................................................21
2.1. Aims..........................................................................................................................21
2.2. Informants.................................................................................................................21
2.3. Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at Marie
Curie High school, Hai Phong city...................................................................................21
2. 3.1. Materials............................................................................................................21
2.3.2. Teachers’ method...............................................................................................22
2.3.3. Students’ motivation..........................................................................................22
2.4. Methods.....................................................................................................................23
2.5. Data collection ..........................................................................................................24
2.6. Data analysis .............................................................................................................24
2.6.1. Survey questionnaire for teachers .....................................................................24
 2.6.2. Survey questionnaire for students......................................................................27
2.7. Discussion of the findings.........................................................................................29
CHAPTER III:......................................................................................................................31
3.1. Information sources...................................................................................................31
3.2. Activities in class.......................................................................................................32
3.3. Practical tips for teachers..........................................................................................41
PART III ..............................................................................................................................44
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................44
1. Summary of the study..................................................................................................44
2. Limitations of the study................................................................................................45
3. Suggestions for further study.......................................................................................45
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................46
APPENDIX 1..........................................................................................................................I
APPENDIX 2.......................................................................................................................III
APPENDIX 3........................................................................................................................V
 i

ABSTRACT

This thesis is concerned with stimulating 10-form students’ presentation in English

speaking classroom. Specifically, a survey will be taken on teachers of English and 10-
form students at Marie Curie High school in Hai Phong city to consider how English
speaking lessons are conducted and how students respond to English speaking lessons. The
thesis also study students’ difficulties when participating in English speaking lessons. This
thesis also recommends some practical tips and typical classroom activities which were
applied by the author and suggested by teachers of English at Marie Curie High school to
improve quality of teaching and learning presentation in English.
 ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Le The Nghiep for his guidance
and inspiration while I was working on this study.

Research for this paper was supported by the Post-graduate Department - College of
Foreign Languages – Hanoi National University with encouragements and permissions.

I would also like to acknowledge the advice, comments I have received from my colleagues
at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong.

My thanks also go to 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school in
Haiphong who provided me with valuable data for the study so that I can have a better
view of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High
school in Haiphong.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support.
 iii

ABBREVIATIONS

CA: Communication Apprehension

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

EFL: English as Foreign Language

ELT: English Language Teaching

ESL: English as Second Language

FL: Foreign Language

L1: First Language

L2: Second Language

 1

PART I

INTRODUCTION

1. RATIONALE

As English has been an international language, the ability to present a topic is clearly
valuable at every stage of students’ lives. Whatever the subjects they study, presentation
will bring them success in English speaking classes, academic work, job interviews and
their future work life – it is the most transferable of all their skills, and a critical part of
their professional development. Presentation is also an important part in an English
speaking class at high school, in which students are required to present their ideas in a
short and simple way.

This research is motivated by both subjective and objective reasons. Subjectively, doing a
research on Methodology, especially on teaching speaking is very useful for a teacher of
English. Objectively, the importance of English in communication is increasingly
emphasized, while the present English teaching at Vietnam’s high schools seems to face
with an obstacle in improving learners’ communicative competence. According to
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the purpose of language teaching and learning
is to develop communicative competence in the target language. Littlewood also states:
“One of the most characteristic features of Communicative Language Teaching is that it
pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”.
However, the traditional method applied at Vietnamese secondary schools does not comply
with the textbook at all. Most teachers focus on teaching vocabulary, grammar, reading and
writing skills. They do not pay adequate attention to speaking and listening skills. As a
result, this leads to some problems. Learners can be good at written English but they have
difficulty in using it in oral communication. Besides, their English is not good enough to
use in real communicating situations. Moreover, teaching and learning conditions at
Vietnamese secondary schools are face with some drawbacks. A class of 45 to 50 learners
is not appropriate for language teaching and learning. Therefore, a suggested solution is
 2

that teachers should apply suitable classroom activities to stimulate learners’ speaking
ability right from the beginning.

Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application of communicative
language teaching approach in developing the 10th form learners’ ability in presentation at
Vietnamese secondary schools in general and at Marie Curie high school in Haiphong in
particular.

2. OBJECTS OF STUDY

Due to actual English teaching and learning conditions, so far the most widely used
English textbooks at Vietnamese high schools have been applied to 7-year English course.
Thus, the subjects of the study will be the high school students who use 7-year English
textbooks. For the limitation of the study, it can only focus on the 10 th form Marie Curie
high school students.

3. AIMS OF STUDY

Fist of all, this study is conducted to emphasize the importance of presentation skill in
learning English.

Secondly, this study will suggest some classroom activities to stimulate the 10th form Marie
Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class.

Finally, it provides suggestions for teachers of English to prepare English lessons at Marie
Curie High school.

4. SCOPE OF STUDY

Due to the limit of the thesis, the study can not cover all techniques to stimulate students’
speaking ability in a language class. Therefore, it will focus on some typical classroom
activities which may produce a stimulus for the 10th form Marie Curie High school
students’ presentation.
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5. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY

The theoretical background of the study is mainly based on the books and documents
written by a number of scholars on foreign language teaching.

This study is conducted based on qualitative and quantitative methods. Comments,

remarks, suggestions and conclusions are based on actual researches, experience, and
discussions. Besides, books are used as reference.

Situational survey will be conducted on the students’ learning style and motivation, their
problems in English presentation tasks. The study will also be conducted on teachers’
techniques to raise students’ ability of presentation.

Questionnaires will be given to analyze learners’ attitude towards presentation tasks as

well as teachers’ techniques in speaking classes and needs in foreign language teaching
and learning.

6. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Perhaps one of the obvious problems is the lack of students’ interest and active
participation in learning activities. Traditional methods of teaching in English classrooms
have focused on passive learning. This problem is probably caused by less exciting and
practical activities of teachers. The questions to be dealt with are:

How important is presentation to foreign language learning?

What should be done to stimulate the 10th form Marie Curie High school students in
presentation tasks in an English speaking class?

7. DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The study is intended to consist of three parts:

1. Part 1 – Introduction: give reasons for choosing the thesis, objects, aims and scope
of the study as well as the methodology of the study.

2. Part 2 – Development: will be divided into three chapters:

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Chapter 1: Literature Review focus on some definitions of presentation, types of

presentation. Some factors that prevent students from presenting a topic and
communicative classroom activities are also mentioned as the basis of the thesis. Finally,
the thesis discuss the important of integrating skills, the relation between presentation and
other skills including reading, writing and listening.

Chapter 2: The study gives the data analysis from the survey of 10 teachers of
English and 100 students at Marie Curie High school to make the foundation for the
activities in chapter 3.

Chapter 3: indicates some typical activities and practical tips for teacher to
stimulate 10-form students’ presentation in an English speaking lesson and examples for
illustration.

3. Part 3 – Conclusion: summarizes the study, limitations of the study and suggestions
for further study.
5
6
 7

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. SOME DEFINITIONS

Presentation is generally defined in different dictionaries is to show and to explain the

content of a topic to an audience or to audiences. According to Wikipedia – The Free
Encyclopedia, presentation is the process of showing and explaining the content of a topic
to an audience. The same definition is also recognized by Longman Language Activator
(1998: 1017) – To present is to be the person who tells the people watching or listening
about the different things what will happen or are happening.

For 10-form students, presentation is simplified and limited in a given topic. In a typical
10-form English speaking lesson, students are asked to make small presentations based on
a given topic. The lesson is normally built up with three tasks:

- Task 1: Students practice sample dialogues to have a general understanding about

the topic;

- Task 2: Students participate in group discussion, in which students express their

ideas and get to know the others’ ideas on the given topic.

- Task 3: From the ideas collected from discussion task, students integrate the ideas
to make a presentation. This presentation will be presented by a student on behalf
of his/her group.

1.2. FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC

1.2.1. Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety

Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it is associated
with learning a second or foreign language, it is termed as ‘second/foreign language
anxiety’. It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991) and can be
defined as a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated
 8

with an arousal of the automatic nervous system. Is has been found that the feeling of
tension and nervousness center on two basic task requirement of foreign language learning:
listening and speaking because both the skills can not be separated.

According to Horwitz et al. (1986: 127), there are three related performance anxieties: (1)
communication apprehension (CA); (2) test anxiety; (3) fear of negative evaluation. Due to
its emphasis on interaction, the construct of communication apprehension is also relevant
to the conceptualization of foreign language anxiety (McCroskey, 1977). The description
of these components will lay the foundations for the concept of second/foreign language
anxiety, providing an insight to comprehend the sources or causes it can originate from.

Communicative Apprehension (CA)

The speaking skill is so central to our thinking about language learning that when we refer
to speaking a language we often mean knowing a language. MacIntyre and Garder (1991)
points out that the skill which produces most anxiety is speaking. This anxiety comes in
part from a lack of confidence in our general linguistic knowledge but if only this factor
were involved, all skills would be affected equally. What distinguishes speaking is the
public nature of the skill, the embarrassment suffered from exposing our language
imperfections in front of others.

One of the most studied topics in the field of speech communication is the tendency on the
part of some people to avoid, and even, fear, communicating orally. Horwitz et al. (1986:
128) define communication apprehension (CA) as “a type of shyness characterized by fear
or anxiety about communicating with people”.

Communication anxiety may be specific to just a few settings (e.g., public speaking) or
may exist in most everyday communication situations, or may even be part of a general
anxiety trait that arises in many facets of an individual’s life (Fiedman, 1980). Learners’
personality traits such as shyness, quietness, and reticence are considered to frequently
precipitate CA. These feelings of shyness vary greatly from individual to individual, and
from situation to situation. McCroskey and Bond (1980) found seven factors that could
result in a quiet child (this can equally offer explanation of adult CA); (1) low intellectual
skills, (2) speech skill deficiencies, (3) voluntary social introversion, (4) social alienation,
 9

(5) communication anxiety, (6) low social self-esteem, (7) ethnic/cultural divergence in
communication norms. While communication apprehension is one of these factors, the
others can lead to communication apprehension.

Communication apprehension obviously plays a large role in second/foreign language

anxiety. People who are apprehensive speaking groups are likely to be ever in more trouble
when doing so in a second/foreign language class, where in addition to feeling less in
control of the communicative situation, they also may feel that their attempts at oral work
are constantly being monitored. This apprehension is explained in relation to the learner’s
negative self-perceptions caused by the inability to understand others and make himself
understood. McCroskey (in Apaibanditkul, 2006: 4) labels this kind of apprehension –
which Neer refers to as “apprehension about classroom participation” – as classroom
communication apprehension.

Test anxiety

An understanding of test anxiety is also important to the discussion of foreign language

anxiety. Text anxiety, as explained by Horwitz et al. (1986), refers to a type of anxiety
stemming from a fear of failure. Test anxiety is quite common in language classroom at
any levels.

Unfortunately, for highly anxious students, second/foreign languages, more than any other
academic subject, require continual evaluation by the teacher – the only fluent speaker in
the class. It is also important to note that oral testing has the potential to provoke both test
and oral communication anxiety.

Fear of Negative Evaluation

Fear of negative evaluation is an extension of the second component (test anxiety) of

second/foreign language anxiety because it is not limited to test-taking situations; rather, it
may occur in any social, evaluative situation, such as interviewing for a job or speaking in
second/foreign language class. It is also broader in the sense that it pertains not only to the
teacher’s evaluation of the students but also to the perceived reaction of other students as
 10

well. Besides, students, when making presentations, may be anxious due to their in
sufficient background knowledge on the topic discussed.

In spite communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation provide
useful conceptual building blocks for a description of second/foreign language anxiety, it is
more than just the conglomeration of these three components. We conceive foreign
language anxiety as a distinct complex of self-perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors
related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language
learning process. What makes language learning a distinct and unique process is its
interaction with the concept of ‘self’.

1.2.2. Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom
environment’

As mentioned above, the language anxiety is related to three components. All the three
components are strongly linked with learners’ sense of ‘self’, as it is learners’ ‘self’ which
is at risk of failure or being negatively evaluated in any test-like situation or a situation
which requires communication in front of others. This risk to one’s sense of ‘self’
frequently occurs in a L2/FL classroom. This section reviews literature on language
anxiety related to learners’ sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom environment’.

Self perceptions

According to Horwitz et al. (1986: 128), perhaps no other field of study poses as much of a
threat to self-concept as language study does. They believe that any performance in L2 in
likely to challenge an individual’s self-concept as a competent communicator, which may
lead to embarrassment. Laine (1987: 15) indicates that self-concept is the totality of an
individual’s thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and values having reference to himself
as object. This self-concept forms the basis of the distinction between language anxiety and
other forms of academic anxieties. The importance of the disparity between the ‘true’ or
‘actual’ self as known to the language learner and the more limited self as can be presented
at any given moment in the foreign language would seem to distinguish foreign language
anxiety from other academic anxieties such as those associated with mathematics or
science.
 11

Learners’ belief about language learning

As language learning poses a threat to learners’ self-concept, in response learners may

generate some particular beliefs about language learning and its use. Certain beliefs about
language learning also contribute to the student’s tension and frustration in the class. For
example, the followings are such reported beliefs:

“I just know I have some kind of disability: I can’t learn a foreign language no matter how
hard I try.” (Horwitz et al. 1986: 123).

“Russian is too hard. I’ll never be able to learn Russian enough to go to Russia and talk to
people”. (Tittle, 1997: 15)

Such beliefs have been found to cast a considerable influence upon the ultimate
achievement and performance in the target language. In Ohata (2005: 138), a number of
beliefs derived from learner’s irrational and unrealistic conceptions about language
learning, such as

1) Some students believe that accuracy must be sought before saying anything in the
foreign language,

2) Some attach great importance to speaking with excellent native (L1)-like accent,

3) Others believe that it is not ok to guess an unfamiliar second/foreign language word,

4) Some hold that language learning is basically an act of translating from English or any
second/foreign language,

5) Some view that two years are sufficient in order to gain fluency in the target language,

6) Some believe that language learning is a special gift not possessed by all.

These unrealistic perceptions or beliefs on language learning and achievement can lead to
frustration or anger towards students’ own poor performance in a second/foreign language.
 12

Instructors’ beliefs about language teaching

Just like learners’ beliefs about language learning, some instructor’s beliefs about language
learning and teaching have also been found to be a source of anxiety. Onwuegbuzie (1999:
220) asserted instructors’ belief that their role is to correct rather than to facilitate students
when they make mistakes. Further, he stated that the majority of instructors considered
their role to be less a counselor and friend and objected to a too friendly and inauthoritative
student-teacher relationship. The researcher also reported that students realize that some
error corrections are necessary but they consistently report anxiety over responding
incorrectly and looking or sounding ‘dumb’ or ‘inept’. Young (1991: 429) mentioned the
view that the problem for the student is not necessarily error correction but the manner of
error correction – when, how often, and most importantly, how errors are corrected.

In addition to error correction, some instructors have been reported not to promote pair or
group work in fear that the class may get out of control, and think that a teacher should be
doing most of the talking and teaching, and that their role is more like a drill sergeant’s
than a facilitator’s. These beliefs have been found to contribute to learner’s language
anxiety (Young, 1991: 428). Recognition or awareness of these beliefs by both the
learners, as well as the teachers, is essential for effective reduce of language anxiety in
learners.

1.2.3. Classroom procedure

Giving a short talk or presentation in the class has also been reported to be highly anxiety
inducing, which makes the classroom environment more formal and stressful for the
learners. Different activities in the classroom procedure, particularly those that demand
students to speak in front of the whole class, have been found to be the most anxiety
provoking. For instance, Koch and Terrell (1991) found that more than half of their
subjects in their Natural Approach classes – a language teaching method specifically
designed to reduce learner’s anxiety – expressed that giving a presentation in the class, oral
skits and discussions in large groups are the most anxiety-producing activities. They also
found that students get more anxious when called upon to respond individually, rather than
if they are given choice to respond voluntarily. In addition, students were found to be more
 13

relaxed speaking the target language when paired with a classmate or put into small groups
of three to six than into larger groups of seven to fifteen students. Similarly, Young (1991:
429) added that more than sixty-eight percent of her subjects reported feeling more
comfortable when they did not have to get in front of the class to speak. Earlier, Horwitz et
al. (1986: 123) reported the same:

“Sometimes when I speak English in class, I am so afraid I feel like hiding behind my
chair. When I am in my Spanish class I just freeze! I can’t think of any thing when my
teacher calls on me. My mind goes blank.”

This suggests that any measure to treat language anxiety should not fail to exploit learning
environments where students feel free of anxiety. For this, Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) approaches are often recommended by the researchers to provide such and
unthreatening environment where students talk to one another and not exclusively to the
teacher.

1.3. Socio-cultural factors

In the previous parts, it has been viewed that difficulties in learning L2/FL can explain the
potential causes of language anxiety at the output stage of language learning within the
classroom setting. However, language anxiety may also be an outcome of social and
communicative aspects of language learning. The following parts will review the literature
on language anxiety from a socio-cultural perspective of language learning and its use.

1.3.1. Social environment for L2/FL acquisition

Environment, where the target language is not used as L1 in the community, provides
L2/FL learners only limited and sometimes faulty input. For such learners, the only input is
teachers’ or classmates’ talk – both do not speak L2 well. Learners in such environments
are exposed to the language only in the classroom where they spend less time in contact
with the language. The limited exposure to the target language and lack of opportunities to
practice speaking in such environments result into embarrassment or stress for them when
they are required to speak both in and out of the class.
 14

1.3.2. Errors in social setting

Although it is clear that language learning cannot be without errors, errors can be a source
of anxiety in some individuals because they draw attention to the difficulty of making
positive social impressions when speaking a new language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989:
cited in Horwitz & Gregersen, 2002: 562). Errors in social settings are mostly overlooked
if they do not interfere with meaning because people consider it impolite to interrupt and
correct somebody who is trying to have a conversation with them. Interlocutors only react
to an error if they cannot understand the speech and try to adjust their speech with the
speaker in their effort to negotiate for meaning. It is only in the classroom environment that
feedback on errors is provided frequently; this leads many learners to frustration and
embarrassment by making them conscious of their deficiencies.

1.4. COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1.4.1. Purpose

Communicative activities are those which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative
end of our continuum. Learners are somehow involved in activities that give them both the
desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in a varied use of the target
language. Such activities are vital in a language class since the learners can do their best to
use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree of language autonomy. Littlewood
(1981) favored the opinion that it is quite necessary to consider the following purposes of
communicative activities:

• They provide ‘whole-task practice’. In foreign language learning, our means for
providing learners with whole-task practice in the classroom is through various
kinds of communicative activities, structured in order to suit the learners’ level of
ability.

• They improve motivation. 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.
 15

• They allow natural learning. Languages takes place inside the learners and, as
teachers know to 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.

• They 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.

1.4.2. Requirements

In order to get involved in activities in an English speaking class, teachers of English

should pay attention to the following requirements (Ur, 1996: 120):

• Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the
activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most
time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses.

• Participation is even. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of

talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are evenly
distributed.

• Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the
topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to
achieving a task objective.

• Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in utterances that

are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of
language accuracy.
 16

1.4.3. Types of communicative classroom activities

Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and
because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types, description of typical
classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible. However, most
practitioners of CLT accept the general procedure with the following communicative activities
in their materials and language class provided by Littlewood (1981).

Pre-communicative activities: Structural activities

Quasi-communicative activities

Communicative activities: Functional communication activities

Social interaction activities

Pre-communicative activities

These activities are ones to prepare for the communicative activities which learners are
required to do.

In pre-communicative activities, the teacher isolates specific elements of knowledge and

skills which compose communicative ability, and provide the learners with opportunities to
practice them separately. This first kind of activities is sub-divided into structural activities
and quasi-communicative activities.

• Structural activities

Structural activities focus on the grammatical system, describing ways in which language
elements can be combined. These activities consist of pronunciation, vocabulary and
structure practice.

• Quasi- communicative activities

Quasi-communicative activities consist of one or more typical conversational exchanges.

Some resemble drills, but others are closer to dialogues. These quasi-communicative
 17

activities are intended to help the learners relate forms and structures to communicative
function, specific meaning, and social context.

In short, the aim of pre-communicative activities is to practice using acceptable language

fluently, without being concerned to communicate meanings effectively.

• Communicative activities

These activities require the learners to integrate his pre-communicative meanings. In

discussing the various examples of communicative activities, Littlewood proposes to
distinguish between two main categories: functional communication activities and social
interaction activities.

• Functional communication activities

Functional communication activities are those which emphasize the functional aspect of
communication – the ability to find language which convey in intended meaning effectively
in a specific situation. The main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the
language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively as possible. Success is
measured primarily according to whether they cope with the communicative demands of the
immediate situation. Some examples of these activities are questions and answers, open-
ended responses, interview based on a text, information-gap activities, role-plays, etc.

• Social interaction activities

Social interaction activities are those which place emphasis on social as well as functional
aspects of communication. Learners must still aim to convey meanings effectively, but
must also pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place.
Success is now measured not only in terms of functional effectiveness of the language but
also in terms of the acceptability of the forms that are used. In the early stages of learning,
acceptability may mean little more than a reasonable degree of accuracy in pronunciation
and grammar. Later, it will increasingly come to include producing language which is
appropriate to specific kinds of social situation. Examples of these activities are
pair/group-work activities such as simulations, role-plays, and discussions.
 18

1.5. INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION

1.5.1. Important of integrating skills

The term “integrated skills” is frequently used as if it was almost synonymous with
reinforcement. Viewed in this way, the process of integrating language skills involves
linking them together in such a way that what has been learnt and practices through the
tasks of one skill is reinforced and perhaps extended through further language activities
which bring one or more of the other skills into use.

Therefore, typically, a piece of spoken language, in the form of a dialogue, will be

followed by relating writing activities. Indeed, this pattern-oral work leading to reading
and writing- has almost become the classical model for the organization of learning
materials into “lesson” or “units”. The extent to which this is done and the way in which it
is implemented, in the form of teaching materials will be influenced by such factors as the
level of the course, the relative importance of skills for the learners, and the view taken of
the optimum ordering of the skills, but overall, this kind of skill linking is regarded as
pedagogically sound.

This consumption can be supported by the importance of integrated skills activities as

follows (Donn Bryne, 1987)

1. They provide opportunities for using language naturally, not just practicing it.

2. Many pair- and group work activities call for a variety of skills, sometimes
simultaneously in order to involve all the learners.

3. Learners seem to learn better when they are engaged in activities which involve
more than one skill.

We are not of course suggesting that single-skill activities are not effective: there will in
fact be many occasions when we shall ask the learners just to talk or read or write, because
this is appropriate. Equally, however, we should be looking for opportunities to knit
together, because this is what happens in real life.
 19

1.5.2. Presentation through reading activities

It is clear that, integrating skills is useful to create or to prepare contexts for practicing and
using the intended language item or skill. In additions, the use of one skill leads quite
naturally to the use of another. As a result, reading is likely to lead to speaking. To give
simple example, if we read an advertisement for a job in the newspaper, we may discuss it
with someone else or ring up and enquire the advertising company about the job.

More specifically, in the classroom, if we are looking for sources of talk, whether guided
or free, it is apparent that many of these come from reading activities. Learners will, of
course, need dialogues as conversational models but these are not necessarily the best
stimuli for talk. A reading text on an interesting or relevant topic may be much more
productive, often because the ideas are presented more directly. Through reading the
learners can also greatly expand their receptive knowledge of the language, especially in
the often area of vocabulary.

1.5.3. Presentation through writing activities

Similarly, writing activities are sources of talk. A writing activity, done collaboratively in
pairs or small groups, will be accompanied by a good deal of talk-talk that is needed to
“get something done”. For example, to prepare for a discussion, learners in pairs or groups
take notes of their ideas and arguments. It is the same in problem- solving activities,
learners prefer to note down solutions to speak fluently and logically. There are many other
speaking activities necessarily prepared by writing activities in advance. Generally, the
writing activities before presenting a topic are very beneficial, especially for language
students at elementary level. They can write to arrange ideas and memorize words and
expressions as well, which will help them to speak more easily and confidently.

1.5.4. Presentation through listening activities

Like reading and writing activities, listening activities do create a stimulus for speaking
activities. For example, students hear a short conversation (or an extract from a long
conversation), which provides very few clues as to what the speakers are talking about.
The learners themselves have to decide who the speakers are, where they are, what they are
 20

talking about and possibly what will happen next. This type of listening then, leads on
naturally to discussion. In another listening activity, learners are given some information,
for example about a town (places of interest, facilities, etc.) in the form of a talk or
conversation, on the basis of which they have to plan a visit. The planning involves
discussion and decision-making activities; making choices between places, events;
activities for which the background information is made available in the recorded form.

However, oral communicative activities through listening comprehension require learners

to have a comparatively good listening ability so that learners can catch information and
ideas for speaking activities afterwards. Therefore, it is necessary for learners to do simple
listening activities right from the beginning of the course and then they can gradually do
oral communicative activities effectively based on listening comprehension.
 21

CHAPTER II

THE STUDY
2.1. Aims

The survey is aimed to investigate the current situation of teaching and learning the
speaking skill in general and learning how to make presentation in English in particular.
First, the specific objectives are to search for the attitudes of students and teachers towards
the speaking skill and to find out how presentation is taught. Second, the survey is to study
both teachers’ and students’ views of the important factors that effect students’ ability of
presentation, and their preference to those given by the teachers. Besides, the survey will
help to see what the difficulties of both teachers and students are when they deal with
presentation task in an English speaking class. Finally, it will recommend some
implications for applying classroom activities to motivate students to present their ideas.

2.2. Informants

The informants participating in the survey are 100 grade 10th students of two English
classes at Marie Curie High school. They almost come from Hai Phong city. Most of them
have been learning English for four years at lower secondary school. However, only few
students could express intelligibly in English. This means that they were beginners in
speaking English when they entered high school. Few of them can talk about topics
required in the English text book.

2.3. Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at

Marie Curie High school, Hai Phong city.

2. 3.1. Materials

The English materials used in Marie Curie High school language classes are very limited.
They are almost only the textbooks compiled by Vietnamese teachers. It is hard for
students to have authentic materials such as English newspapers and magazines, visual and
audio aids. Therefore, their English lessons are less exciting. The learners also find it hard
to get access to the real “language”.
 22

2.3.2. Teachers’ method

Most teachers of English, not only at Marie Curie High school, but also in other high
schools, tend to focus on teaching grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading and writing
skills to help their students get good scores in examinations. Besides, they tend to apply
traditional techniques of the traditional method, for example, repeating dialogues in the
textbooks, giving questions for students to answers. Due to this method, the students have
little interest in English lessons and their learning is passive and unsuccessful. Moreover,
their speaking ability is not practiced and improved.

2.3.3. Students’ motivation

So far, the major aim of Marie Curie High school students in learning English is still aimed
at passing school written examinations. In fact, these examinations are mostly based on
grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skill.
Consequently, despite their interest in developing speaking and listening skills for
communication, they would rather study the above mentioned language components and
skills. Therefore, they hardly have opportunities to develop speaking skill in English
learning.

The second reason, in my opinion, is the names of characters and scenes in the text book.
Students may not be interested in the book since learning English with Vietnamese names
and Vietnamese scenes seem not to make an impression that they are learning “real
English” in “English speaking environment” but learning English with the Vietnamese in
Vietnam’s situations.

The last but not least, visual aids and audio aids are not always available due to inadequate
investment in language teaching and learning in Vietnam. Consequently, textbook seems to
be the only source of learning for students and teachers.

In general, one of the clearly seem features of the high classroom atmosphere is the lack of
interest. Most of the classroom activities concentrate on teaching and practicing language
structures. As a result, during the lesson, the learners do most repetition, substitution,
memorizing activities, or answering questions based on texts and so on. They do not have
 23

much time to use English in oral communication. Therefore, when doing speaking
activities, they often cope with such problems as “inhibition”, “nothing to say”, “mother-
tongue used”.

Besides, the teaching and learning process focusing much on grammar, reading and writing
skills can cause tension to learners. They can be tired of difficult grammatical exercises
and boring writing practice. In short, the classroom atmosphere at Vietnamese high schools
does not seem to create an appropriate environment and stimulus for the students to present
their ideas.

2.4. Methods

The survey questionnaires were used in the research as the main source of information. It
was conducted with two sets of survey questionnaires for 10 teachers and 100 students at
Marie Curie High school.

The survey questionnaire for teachers consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit
their views on the following aspects (Appendix 1):

- The role of presentation in English teaching (questions 1, 2, 3, 4)

- The difficulties when teaching cross- cultural knowledge in conversation classes

(question 7)

- The useful activities in the conversation class (questions 5, 6)

- The classroom interaction mode in a presentation task (questions 8, 9)

The survey questionnaire for students consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit
their views on the aspects as follows (Appendix 2):

- The role of presentation in English learning (questions 1, 2, 3)

- The way they obtain information for presentation task (question 4)

- The motivating activities in the English speaking class (questions 5, 6, 7)

- The difficulties when doing presentation activities in the speaking class (questions 8, 9)
 24

2.5. Data collection

Table 1: Data collected from survey questionnaire for teachers

Choices (Percent)
A (%) B (%) C (%) D (%) E (%) F (%)
Questions
1 0 0 60 30 10
2 80 10 10
3 30 70 0 0 10
4 60 0 40
5 80 90 20 0
6 30 50 10 10
7 60 10 10 10
8 0 0 10 90
9 0 0 0 100

(Questions 7 has more than one answer)

Table 2: Data collected from survey questionnaire for students

Choices (Percent)
A (%) B (%) C (%) D (%) E (%) F (%) G (%)
Questions
1 20 50 20 10
2 10 60 20 10
3 37 63 0 0
4 4 2 3 2 20 80 10
5 0 72 28 0 0
6 10 30 60
7 9 27 62 3
8 46 31 23
9 52 32 4 30

(Questions 4 has more than one answer)

2.6. Data analysis

2.6.1. Survey questionnaire for teachers

The survey questionnaire for teachers was conducted with 10 teachers of English at Marie
Curie High school. Data collected from the survey was analyzed according to the four
aspects listed in 2.4.
 25

• Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of presentation in English teaching and

learning (questions 1, 2, 3, 4)

For question 1 – “How important is presentation to English learning and teaching?” almost
teachers (60%) have positive attitudes towards the role of presentation to English learning
and teaching. There are only 10% of the teachers think that it is not important at all.

For question 2 – “How often do you find yourself motivated enough to teach presentation
in your speaking lessons?” 80% of the teachers say that they sometimes find themselves
motivated enough to have presentation topics discussed in their lessons. 10% of the
teachers rarely do and the other 10% never do. This data indicates that though most
teachers understand the important role of presenting task, they do not always have
discussions about topics required in their lessons. There are various reasons that do not
motivate the teachers to teach presentation in their speaking lessons: they lack of
background knowledge about the topics, they do not feel well before class, they do not
think that students are interested and comprehensively understand the topics, etc.
Consequently, the time they spend on presentation task is rather short: 70% of the teachers
spend 10-20 minutes for their students discussing and do presentation task, 20% spend 5-
10 minutes and the rest 10% spend no time for this task.

Perhaps, answers for question 4 – “In your opinion, does presentation teaching require
spending a lot of time reading materials before each lesson?” could give an explanation to
the problems raised in question 2 and 3. There were 50% of the teachers thinking that
presentation teaching requires spending a lot of time reading materials before each lesson
but students have to study so many other subjects, such as Mathematics, Physics,
Chemistry, Literature, etc., which make teachers exposed to the risk that they can not
conduct a presentation task when students have no preparation. Still, the percentage of
those who suppose that not always do they make such kind of preparation is 40%. In fact,
this is a matter of teachers’ background knowledge of discussed topics.

• Their opinions of the useful presentation activities in the conversation class

(questions 5 – which activities do you often carry out in a speaking lesson? And
 26

question 6 – If you have a presentation activity in the English speaking class,

what do you find most useful?)

As described in table 1, for most of teachers, group-work and pair-work are preferable
activities that they usually carry out in the speaking class. Individual work is still
conducted in the speaking class but it only makes up 20%. However, the efficiency of
these activities is not very high: 50% of the teachers find their students working well in
groups, 20% in pairs, 10% individual work and there are still 10% of the teachers think that
no activities can help their students in the speaking class. This may be problems of the
learning environment at Marie Curie High school where teachers have to deal with large
English classes of 40 – 50 students while an ideal language class must have only 15 to 20
students.

• Their opinions of difficulties when teaching presentation task in English

speaking classes (question 7 – What are the difficulties when you teach your
students presentation in your English classes?)

60% of the surveyed teachers agree that their biggest difficulty is students’ laziness and
passiveness (60%) while some teachers (10%) recognize their lack of knowledge of the
discussed topics or they can’t give satisfactory explanations to these topics (10%). In
addition, such difficulties as the non-standard learning environment with too many students
in a class, lack of visual aids, students’ anxiety due to their lack of confidence, and
grammatical and vocabulary knowledge. On the other hand, the insufficiency of authentic
materials leads to the fact that teachers cannot explain well about cross-cultural matters
while they hardly have chance to contact with foreigners.
 27

• Their opinions of classroom interaction mode in the English speaking class

(question 8 – Whether students should design the teaching plan together with
teachers or not? And question 9 – What do you think about the learner-teacher
interaction?)

The answers to question 8 show that all of the teachers believe that they must be the only
one to design the teaching plan. There are several reasons explaining for this belief: the
teachers believe that students do not have enough knowledge to get involved in planning
lessons, students will mislead the lesson plan because they lack of seriousness and teaching
experience, and students will not like participating in preparing lesson plan.

However, 100% of the surveyed teachers agree that there must be an interaction between
students and teachers (answers to question 9). Therefore, they require their students to
prepare the lesson and get all needed information at home. The only problem pending is
that they do not know whether their students are well prepared before going to class or not.

2.6.2. Survey questionnaire for students

The survey questionnaire for students was conducted with 100 students at Marie Curie
High school. The data of the survey questionnaire was analyzed according to the four
aspects listed in part 2.4.

• Students’ attitudes towards the role of presentation in English teaching and

learning (question 1 – How important is presentation to English to English
learning and teaching?, question 2 – What is your opinion of presentation tasks
in English speaking class? And question 3 – How much time do you usually
spend on presentation task in a 45-minute English lesson?)

For question 1, a majority of students believe that presentation is rather important (50%)
while a small number of students have the opposite opinion (20%). A few students realize
the importance of presentation (20%). However, there are students who see no role of
presentation in learning English (10%).
 28

For question 2 which deals with the interest of presentation to English learning and
teaching, 10% of the students completely agree that it is very interesting, and 60% of the
students say that presenting a topic is interesting. However, 20% think that it is not very
interesting and 2% believe that it is not interesting at all.

According to answers to questions 1 and 2, the time that students at Marie Curie High
school need for discussion in presentation task is different. Most of them want to spend
from 10 to 20 minutes on this task (63%) while a few of them only spend from 5 to 10
minutes. However, it can be concluded that almost students appreciate the important role
of presentation in their English learning.

• Students’ ways of obtaining information for presentation task (question 4 – In

what ways do you obtain information about your discussed topics?)

According to answers to this question, the main sources of information for students to
prepare their presentation task are reading lesson (80%), listening lesson (20%), and
writing (10%). In addition, TV accounts for 4%, internet occupies 3%. A very small
number of students find information in newspapers or through interviewing other people
(2%). And some of students collect information for their lesson through reference books or
from their own personal experiences.

• Students’ opinions of motivating presentation activities in the English speaking

class (question 5 – How often does your teacher give speaking activities so that
you can build up a report in the presentation task?; question 6 – How does your
teacher organize these speaking activities?; and question 7 – What activities you
like most in a presentation task?)

According to answers to question 5, most students join in speaking activities given by their
teacher, 73% do these activities usually and 27% often. Although the teacher organized
speaking activities in different ways, 10% for individuals, 30% for pair-work and 60% for
group-work, students find group-work motivating the most in presentation task and the
percentage is very high (62%), compared to pair-work (27%), individuals (9%). However,
there are still 3% of students who don’t like any of these activities above.
 29

• Students’ opinions of the difficulties when they deal with presentation activities
in the speaking class (question 8 – When do you speak in English in the English
speaking class?; question 9 – What prevents you from speaking in the class
time?)

According to the students’ answers, the major difficulty when they do presentation
activities is the lack of knowledge of discussed topics which is proved by such percentage
of 52%. Another difficulty is that the students are shy and cannot do these activities well
with the percentage of 32%. Some of students say that the problem is they are afraid of
making mistakes in class (30%). And a few students find no interest in their teachers’ task.
As a result, only 31% of students are willing to talk in class with the reason of interesting
lesson, 23% starts speaking when their classmates talk to them and most of them (46%)
speak English only when their teacher ask them.

2.7. Discussion of the findings

Though the survey has been conducted on a small group of students and teachers, it can
provide the author with a deeper insight into the situation of English learning and teaching
in general in English speaking class in particular.

First of all, the results of the questionnaires have shown that learning and teaching
presentation is considered important by most teachers and students, but it has remained
sporadic in most language classrooms even in the English speaking class. This is caused by
various reasons including the lack of information about the topics discussed, the shortage
of authentic materials, the shortage of time in class and students’ anxiety when conducting
their presentation in front of class.

Secondly, the author has discovered some interesting things about the English teaching and
learning in the English speaking class. As can be seen through the data, both teachers and
students prefer group-work and pair-work to do the presentation task. In fact, by these
activities, students are eager to give their ideas for the presentation at the end of the lesson.

We can also see that the presentation activities by which teachers and students are most
motivated are group-work type. As for the students, it can be explained by their preference
 30

to speak freely with confidence when talking in their own groups. As for teachers, it will
be easier for them to manage such a big class of 50 students, so the teachers choose that
kind of activity. This type of activity, in fact, brings good effects to transmit knowledge to
students in a limited class time.

In addition, it is shown that teachers have many difficulties when they teach presentation
task in an English speaking class. The biggest difficulty is students’ laziness and
passiveness which make it difficult to carry out their intended activities. Another difficulty
that is worth mentioning here is the teachers’ knowledge of discussed topics. If a teacher
does not have any background knowledge of the discussed topics, he or she may not be
confident enough to speak about these topics as well as giving satisfactory explanations to
the topics. Students, consequently, will not be interested in the topics. On the other hand,
such a learning environment with big classes and inadequate modern teaching facilities has
caused many problems to the teachers, particularly when they teach in speaking classes.

To sum up, presentation tasks are obviously good to improve students’ speaking and
presentation skills which are not only important for them at school but also in real life.
However, it is not able to expect that students can make a good presentation at the first
time or in short time since there are a lot of difficulties for both teachers and students to
prepare for a presentation task. Teachers, as a partner, should always encourage students to
study the discussed topics and to get rid of their anxiety when making presentation. The
primary goal for each presentation task is not to judge the students’ presentation as right or
wrong but to let them express themselves as they are.
 31

CHAPTER III:

SUGGESTIONS FOR APPLICATION OF CLASSROOM

ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE THE 10TH FORM MARIE
CURIE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN
AN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS

Based on the results of the survey questionnaires and my personal experience, some
techniques are suggested to stimulate students’ presentation in an English speaking class as
follows.

3.1. Information sources

In order to get a comprehensive picture of the target language, we need to present our
students with different kinds of information. The list below shows some possible sources
of information which can be used as materials for teaching presentation. By using a
combination of visual, audio and tactile materials, we are also likely to succeed in
addressing the different learning styles of our students.

1. Partial lessons in the English 10 textbook (reading, speaking, listening, writing

lessons)

2. TV

3. Videos/ Movies

4. CDs

5. Internet

6. Newspapers

7. Stories

8. Students own information

 32

9. Interviews

10. Guest speakers

11. Photographs

12. Illustration

3.2. Activities in class

Most standard EFL activities can be easily adapted for use in the speaking classroom. The
most important point is to ensure that the students are actively engaged in the target
language. Some of the favorite activities are discussed below.

 Information gaps

One type of speaking activity involves the so-called “information gap” – where two
speakers have different parts of information making up a whole. Because they have
different information, there is a ‘gap’ between them. To my experience, students are
willing to ask and answer to fulfill the missed information. Of course, they will follow
given examples and information in the textbook such as:

Task 1. Quan is a tenth-grade student. He goes to school every morning. Below is his
weekly timetable. Ask and answer questions with a partner, using the information from the
timetable.

Examples:

A: What time does Quan have a Civic Education lesson on Monday?

B: (He has a Civic Education lesson) at 7:15 a.m.

A: What lesson does Quan have at 7: 15 a.m on Monday?

B: (At 7: 15 a.m on Monday he has) a Civic Education lesson.

 33

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Civic Physical
7: 15 Physics English Math Literature
Education Education
Information Information
8: 05 Literature Literature Geography English
Technology Technology
8: 55 Math Biology Literature History English Math
Physical
9: 55 Math Chemistry Physics Physics Math
Education
10: Class
Chemistry
40 Meeting

Aims: To practice saying about Quan’s timetable, asking and answering with “Wh”
questions.

Level: elementary

Time: 5 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 14.

In class: 1. Teacher asks his/her students to work in pairs asking and answering
questions about Quan’s timetable as mentioned in the example.

2. Teacher walks around to make sure the continuance of all pairs and help
his/ her students if necessary.

3. After 5 minutes, teacher calls some pairs to practice making dialogue to

be sure that all students in class understand and practice in a right way.

Source:

English Textbook 10, Education Press, 2006.

Teacher can ask his students to fill missed information in the handouts. With topics such as
football or the World Cup, students are interested in finding out information that they miss
in their handouts. Task 2 (Unit 14, English textbook for 10-form students,), for example,
can go in following stages:
 34

Teacher introduces some scores in football (0 – 0: Nil – nil, 1 – 0: One – nil, 2 – 2: Two
all, Penalty kick shoot out). Then he gives his students handout and ask them to work in
pairs to fill in missed information by making dialogue as follow:

A: Where was the first World Cup held?

B: It was held in Uruguay.

A: Which teams played in the final match?

B: Uruguay and Argentina.

A: Which team became the champion?

B: Uruguay.

A: What was the score of the match?

B: 4 – 2.

Handout A:

RUNNER- HOST
TIMES YEAR WINNER SCORE SCORE
UP COUNTRY
1 1930 Uruguay Argentina
3 1938 4 2 France
4 1950 Uruguay 2
5 1954 3 2
West
8 1966 England England
Germany
11 1978 Netherlands Argentina
13 1986 Argentina 3 2
15 1994 Brazil 0 0 The USA
16 1998 France Brazil
17 2002 Brazil Germany 0

Handout B

HOST
TIMES YEAR WINNER SCORE RUNNER-UP SCORE
COUNTRY
1 1930 4 2 Uruguay
3 1938 Italy Hungary
4 1950 2 Brazil 1 Brazil
 35

West
5 1954 Hungary Switzerland
Germany
8 1966 4 2
11 1978 Argentina 3 1
13 1986 West Germany Mexico
15 1994 Italy
16 1998 3 0 France
17 2002 2 0 Korea & Japan

Teacher goes round for help (if necessary). After ten minutes, teacher asks some pairs to
practice ask making dialogue before class. By these stages, students can get information
and use their answers to talk about the World Cup winners in task 3 later.

Information gap activity is preferred by most teachers of English at Marie Curie High
school because they can base on given information in tasks to make sub-table or handouts
as the example above before get students involved in the presentation part at the end of the
speaking lessons.

 Role – play

Role-play is the way of bringing situations from real life into the classroom. When we do
role play, we ask students to imagine. It provides students with the ability to hopefully "get
in character" with the role that they must portray (if it is carried out well). In the following
example, students will make an interview to ask their partners about their background.

Task 2. Imagine you are a journalist. Use the cues below to interview a classmate about
his/her background or that of a person he/she knows well. Change the roles when you have
finished.

• Greeting • primary school

• date of birth • secondary school

• place of birth • schoolwork

• home • favorite subject(s)

 36

• parents • experience

• brother(s) • thanking

• sister(s)

Aims: To encourage students to find out information related to their friends’

background for their presentation next task.

Level: Elementary

Time: 10 minutes

Materials: English textbook 10, page 35.

In class: 1. The teacher elicit situation and ask students to make questions basing
on given information, for example:

- When were you born?

- Where were you born?

- What is your address?

- Could you tell me about your parents? What do your father/ mother
do?

- How many brothers do you have?/ What do they do?/ How old are
they?

- Which primary school did you go to?

- Which secondary school did you go to?

- How do you work at school? Do you join all school activities?

- What is your favorite subject?/ What subject do you like best?

2. The teacher introduce some special expression for students to do the

natural conversation:

- Hello. I’m Lan.

- Hello. Nice to meet you!

 37

- How nice to see you!

- Since when have you studied at this school?

- Could you tell me something about your parents?

- Let me see...

- Oh, good! / Oh, yes! / Oh, come on!

- I think it’s time to stop. Thanks a lot.

- Thank you for giving me time.

- Thank you very much. That was very interesting.

3. Students work in pairs to do the interview.

4. Teacher walks around to encourage and help students if necessary.

5. Teacher calls some pairs to do the interview before class.

Source:

English Textbook 10, Education Press, 2006.

After doing this task, students can collect information to talk about the friend they have
interviewed for reporting at the end of the lesson. Most students are eager to do the task
because they can do it in role of the interviewers.

 Talks/discussions

Discussion is a valuable form of learning a language. Most teachers hope that they will be
able to organize discussion sessions in their classroom, particularly of the exchange of
opinions provokes spontaneous fluent language use. Many find, however, that discussion
sessions are less successful than they had hoped.

The first thing to remember is that people need time to assemble their thoughts before any
discussion. The ability to give spontaneous and articulate opinions is challenging in our
language, let alone the language we are struggling to learn. The following sequence,
therefore, stresses the need for discussion preparation and shows the teacher building the
discussion up in stages.
 38

The teacher starts by asking individual students to name the last film they saw. Did they
enjoy it? Was it funny? Serious? Violent? The replied he gets at this point will be fairly
monosyllabic, but at least the topic has been introduced and the students are enjoying
thinking about movies.

The teacher now says that the class is going to concentrate on the issue of violence in
films. Is there too much? Does it matter? Should anything be done about it? He puts the
students into groups. In one group, the students have to think (and make notes about) the
level of violence in films and what effects it might have. In another group, students have to
think of (and make notes about) ways of stopping the portrayal of violence in films. In
another group, students have to think up (and make notes about) reasons why the level of
violence in films is quite justifiable and un-worrying.

When students have had a chance to think of ideas (with the teacher going round to
individual groups offering help where necessary), he asks for an opinion about violence
from one of the groups. When a student has given it, he encourages other students to ask
questions about that opinion. He then asks a different student to say what can be done
about it, and that student in turn, is questioned. Finally he asks a student from the ‘violence
isn’t working’ group to disagree with the idea that violence in movies is a bad thing.

The teacher keeps prompting in this way until the conversation takes off, with different
opinions being freely exchanged. Later, when the activity has run out of steam, he can
work on any language arising out of the activity.

This kind of discussion can be formalized into a proper debate – speakers on different sides
giving speeches, comments from ‘the floor’ and a vote at the end. It can also be provoked
by giving pairs statements they have to assess on a 0 (=completely disagree) to 5
(=completely agree) scale for, e.g.

There’s too much violence in movies. 0 1 2 3 4 5

or by giving the class a number of different statements. They have to choose one and
defend it.
 39

There are many discussions possible. The important thing is that students need to be
Engaged with the topic. They then might do some Study (if there is a necessity for
language input, facts or fingers, for example) and move quickly to Activate stages – which
include the discussion itself. Almost certainly, however there will be feedback, including
Study, after the discussion is over.

In general, this kind of discussion is only successful if they have background knowledge of
the discussed topics. Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to provide his students with
language input, facts or fingers through pictures, short story or even Vietnamese story
related to the topic.

 Quizzes

According to some teachers’ experience, plays such as quizzes are one of the successful
activity types. Quizzes can be used to test materials that you have previously taught, but
they are also useful in learning new information for their presentation later. With such a
topic as historical places (Unit 16, Textbook for 10-form students), for example, teacher
can use quiz as a completion in which students will answer the questions as follow:

1. When and when was Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam originally built?

2. What were their functions?

3. Why is Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam a place of interest?

4. What is special about the stele there?

5. What trees in Van Mieu continue to flourish even now?

The answers for these questions can be taken from the reading lesson of Unit 16. After
students answer all questions, teacher introduces new lesson: Today we will talk about some
historical places in Vietnam. Or teacher can use given information in Task 1 in the speaking
lesson (Unit 16) as the warmer. He asks students close their books and answer his questions:

1. Where is President Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum situated?

 40

2. When did the construction of the Mausoleum start?

3. When did the construction of the Mausoleum finish?

4. When can we visit the Mausoleum?

5. Can we take photographs inside the Mausoleum?

Quizzes are preferred by most of students. However, quizzes will be more interested if
teacher give students some small rewards like candies, notebooks, pens or even good
comments.

 Simulations

Another kind of oral activity which can be used in the classroom is the simulation. We will
use the term here to denote an activity which involves decision-making, in which the
participants may act as themselves or in social roles. It is not performed for an audience,
and the participants work together within the constraints of the imaginary setting.

Simulations do not as a category provides any basis for predicting the kinds of language
skills that learners will use: it depends what kind of simulation is being considered. For
instance, a simulated committee meeting is likely to produce one kind of interaction, a
simulated interview another, and a simulated public meeting a third. Indeed a single
simulation often consists of several different kinds of interaction, including the three just
mentioned. It is however possible to make some predictions, once the nature of the
simulation is known.

Simulations general divide into three phases: firstly, a stage for giving the participants
necessary information; secondly, the problem-solving discussion; and thirdly, follow-up
work. Herbert and Sturtridge (1979) illustrate this in their diagram, shown her in Figure 1.

PHASE 1
Information Input Linguistic Input
Language work based on the task Classroom practice of the
The role-cards (if any) language of discussion and
The background to the task essential lexis
Technical data
 41

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHASE 2 Sub-group discussions

Discussion of the task

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow–up
PHASE 3 Further work arising
from the discussion

Follow-up
Feedback and evaluation session
Immediate remedial work

Figure 1: The structure of simulation

This kind of activity can be carried out during an English speaking lesson, taking the one
of Unit 10 (Conservation, Appendix 3), for example. In this lesson, students will get
information in reading part in task 1 and 2. Then they work in groups to find out
advantages and disadvantages of zoos of the new kind in task 3. After all, they make a
report to share their views with the rest of the class.

3.3. Practical tips for teachers

 Personalization

Only by personalizing activities and content can we hope to lead students to better
understanding of the discussed topic. It will be better for students to give their ideas and
present it on their own way. And as every language teacher knows, students love to talk
about themselves.
 42

 Suitable Level of Difficulty

We are working with EFL students, so we must constantly remember that they probably
will not understand everything that we say. It is not necessary that they understand every
word and indeed a challenge is wonderful for learning, but consistently using material or a
way of speaking that is too difficult is a sure way to make students lose their interest in a
target-culture.

 Pair work and group-work

Pair –work and group-work are the most useful and preferable to students in the speaking
class in general and in presentation task in particular. Students learn more in groups. They
have more opportunities for using the target language, discussing the target culture, and
then presenting it before the class. Although using pair work and group work has some
problems, for example, students can make noise, mistakes; it’s difficult to control the class,
these organizations have many advantages. Specifically, students will have more language
practice, more involved in the language task, feel secure and help each other.
 43

 Mistake correction

It is important for teachers to correct students’ mistakes made during speaking activities.
However, teachers should consider the suitable ways to correct otherwise they will destroy
the purpose of the speaking activity. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about
correcting. Some teachers who have a good relationship with their students can intervene
appropriately during a speaking activity if they do it in a quiet non-obtrusive way. But it is
a risky enterprise. The general principle of watching and listening so that teachers can give
feedback later is usually much more appropriate.

To sump up, the speaking activities in this chapter tend to follow the same basic pattern:
Engage-Activate-Study – that is, the teacher gets students interested in the topic, the
students do the task while the teacher watches and listens and they then study any language
issues that the teacher has identifies as being problems. The most important thing is that
the speaking activities will help students be eager to do tasks in textbook and result in a
confident presentation at the end of the speaking lesson.
 44

PART III

CONCLUSION

The previous chapters have provided answers to the research questions. In this chapter, I
will give a summary of the important findings and some discussion about the limitations
and suggestions for further study.

1. Summary of the study

Recently, in the process of international integration, English is still the most popular
foreign language to connect people, countries together. Moreover, presentation in English
is widely used in most fields. Therefore, the demand to present an idea in English is
increasing. For these reasons, the study is aimed to suggest some classroom activities to
stimulate the presentation ability of the 10th form students at Marie Curie High school.

In the study, both theory and practice are taken into consideration. First of all, the study
reviewed some theoretical background including the definitions of presentation, factors
that prevent students from presenting, and integrating skills needed to collect information
in English speaking class. Then, some hypotheses were put forward and examined by the
survey data analysis afterward. Finally, some possible implications to stimulate students’
presentation ability at Marie Curie High school are suggested.

The significant part of the study is the survey from which the author has discovered some
findings as follows. The results of the survey have pointed out the positive attitudes of both
teachers and students towards the important role of presentation to English teaching and
learning. The study has indicated the presentation activities which students prefer and find
them most motivating and useful in an English speaking class including discussions, and
role–plays. In addition, through the study, the author knows that the biggest difficulties
when students deal with presentation task are the lack of knowledge as for students and the
lack of materials as for teachers. Though the survey was conducted on a limited number of
 45

teachers and students, it will hopefully raise 10th form students’ ability of presenting
discussed topics at Marie Curie High school.

2. Limitations of the study

The study has been conducted in a short time and the data have been attained from a small
number of particular students at Marie Curie High school, so the findings may hold true for
the teaching and learning in Marie Curie context. Accordingly, the findings may not be
applied to a larger number of informants.

Moreover, the researcher has also suggested some activities based on her experience in
teaching in an English speaking class at high school.

3. Suggestions for further study

Firstly, this study has focused on some activities to raise students’ presentation ability in
the English speaking class. It should be done in a more comprehensive way in the class of
reading, listening, and writing.

Secondly, the researcher hopes to work with other colleagues to combine and compile
some more supplementary materials that are useful for students when they deal with
presentation tasks.

Lastly, there should be more research into designing activities that help students
understand more about presentation and give them some techniques for an effective
presentation.
 46

REFERENCES

Apaibanditkul, K. (2006). Anxiety of international Thai students in an English speaking

context. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Southern IIIinois University at Carbondale.

Barbour, R, S., & Kitzinger, J. (1999). Developing focus group research: Politics, Theory
and Practice. Sage Publication.

Brown, H.D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey:

Prentice Hall Regents.

Byrne, D. (1987). Teaching oral English. England. Longman.

Daly, J. (1991). Understanding communication apprehension: An introduction for

language educator, in Horwitz, E. K., & Young, D.J. (eds). Language anxiety: From
theory and research to classroom implications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp.3-
14

Doff, A. (1998). Teach English: A training course for teacher. Cambridge University
Press.

Dornyei, Z., & Kormos, J. (2000). The role of individual and social variables in oral task
performance, Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 275-300.

Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press.

Gardner, J.(2006). Assessment and learning. SAGE Publications.

Gobel, P., & Matsuda, S. (2003). Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign
language classroom. Science Direct Journal, 32(1), 21-36.
 47

Gregersen, T., & Horwitz, E. K. (2002). Language learning and perfectionism: Anxious
and non-anxious language learners’ reactions to their own oral performance, The Modern
Language Journal, 86(4), 562-570.

Harmer, J. (2001). How to teach English: An introduction to the practice of English

language teaching. Malaysia: Addition Wesley Longman Limited.

Harmer, J. (1999). How to teach English. Malaysia: Longman

Harmer, J. (1991). The practice of language teaching. Malaysia. Longman

Horwitz, E. K., (2001). Language anxiety and achievement, Annual Review of Applied
Linguistics, 21, 112-126.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope, J. A. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety,
The Mordern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132.

Horwitz, E.K., & Young, D. J. (1991). Language anxiety: From theory and research to
classroom implications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Herbert, D and Sturtridge, G. (1979). Simulations. London: NFER.

Hoàng Văn Vân, Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Nguyễn Thu Phương, Nguyễn
Quốc Tuấn (2006). Tiếng Anh 10. Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục, Việt Nam.

Johnson, K. and Brumfit (1983). Communicative approach to language Teaching. Oxford

University Press.

Johnson, K and Morrow. K. (1981). Communication in the classroom. England. Longman.

Lewis, M.. and Hill, J. (1992). Practical techniques for language teaching. Language
Teaching Publications.

Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

MacIntyre, P. D. (1995). How does anxiety affect foreign language learning: A reply to
Spark and Ganschow, The Modern Language Journal, 79(1), 90-99.
 48

Martin Bygate (1995). Speaking. Oxford University Press.

Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge

University Press.

Pica, T. (1987). Second language acquisition, social interaction, and the classroom,
Applied Linguistics, 8(1), 3-21

Richards and Rodgers (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge
University Press.

Ur, P.1996. A course in language teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Willies, J. (1981). Teaching English through English. Longman

 I

APPENDIX 1

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH)

This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on raising students’

presentation in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school. Your assistance in
completing the following questions is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you
will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis.

Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance!

Please tick the answer you think the most suitable, or write some words to some
questions. For some questions you can tick more than one answer.

1. How important is presentation to English learning and teaching?

A. Essential B. very important

C. rather important D. not very important

E. not important at all

2. How often do you find yourself motivated enough to teach presentation in your
speaking lessons?

A. Sometimes B. rarely C. never

3. How much time do you usually spend on teaching presentation in a 45-minute

English lesson?

A. 5-10 minutes B. 10-20 minutes

C. 20-30 minutes D. 30-40 minutes

E. 0 minute

4. In your opinion, does presentation teaching require spending a lot of time reading
materials before each lesson?

A. Yes B. No C. Not always

 II

5. Which activities do you often carry out in a speaking lesson?

A. in pairs B. in groups C. individually D. none of them

6. If you have a presentation activity in the English speaking class, what do you find
most useful?

A. in pairs B. in groups C. individually D. none of them

7. What are the difficulties when you teach your students presentation in your
English classes?

A. Students are lazy and passive

B. You are lack of knowledge of related topics.

C. You can’t give satisfactory explanations to the issues discussed.

D. Others: (please specify)..………………………………………………….……

8. Whether students should design the teaching plan together with teachers or not,
my opinion is:

A. strongly agree B. agree

C. neutral D. oppose

B. strongly oppose

9. What do you think about the learner-teacher interaction?

A. receiver and giver B. raw material and maker

C. customer and shopkeeper D. partners

E. explorer and director

 III

APPENDIX 2

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH)

This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on raising students’

presentation in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school. Your assistance in
completing the following questions is greatly appreciated. You can be confident that you
will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis.

Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance!

Please give your answers:

Name: ………………………………………….

Class: ………………………………………….

Time of learning English: ……………….. year(s)

Please tick the answer you think the most suitable, or write some words to some
questions. For some questions you can tick more than one answer.

1. How important is presentation to English learning and teaching?

A. essential

B. important

C. rather important

D. not very important

E. not important at all

2. What is your opinion of presentation task in English speaking class?

A. very interesting B. interesting

C. not very interesting D. not interesting at all

3. How much time do you usually spend on presentation task in a 45-minute English lesson?
 IV

A. 5-10 minutes B. 10-20 minutes

C. 20-30 minutes D. 30-40 minutes

4. In what ways do you obtain information about your discussed topics?

A. TV B. Newspapers C. Internet

D. Interviews E. Listening lesson F. Reading lesson

G. Writing lesson

H: Others (please specify): ……………………………………………………...

5. How often does your teacher give speaking activities so that you can build up a
report in the presentation task?

A. always B. usually C. often D. sometimes E. never

6. How does your teacher organize these speaking activities?

A. Individuals B. Pairs C. Groups D. None of them

7. What activities do you like most in a presentation task?

A. Individuals B. Pairs C. Groups D. None of them

8. When do you speak English in the English speaking class?

A. When the teacher ask you

B. The lesson is interesting

C. When your classmates talk to you

9. What prevents you from speaking English in the class time?

A. You have nothing to say

B. You feel shy in front of your classmates

C. Your teacher’s task gives you no stimulus

D. You are afraid of making mistakes

 V

APPENDIX 3

Unit 10: CONSERVATION

B. SPEAKING

Task 1. Work in pairs. Read the paragraphs and answer the questions.

1. For what purpose are zoos of the new king opened?

2. What are their main features?

A. Zoos are very sensitive about their image nowadays. They don’t want to be seen as
places where animals are imprisoned against their will. Instead, they want to be seen as
places where endangered species can develop. They want to reconstruct the animals’
natural environment. So there appears a new kind of zoo.

B. Howletts Zoo in Kent is owned by John Aspinall, who is famous for his programme of
breeding endangered animals and reintroducing them into the wild. The zoo has the largest
gorillas in the world and its policy is to provide as natural an environment as possible for
the animals. At times, this can be risky, and some keepers have been injured and one has
been killed.

Task 2. Put a tick (√) in the right box to show your agreement or disagreement. Then share
your ideas with a partner.
Yes No
animals may have better food

animals may suffer from dangerous diseases.

animals may do what they want to

animals may develop.

In the zoo of the new
kind
 VI

animals may feel happier.

Task 3. Work in groups. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of zoos of the new
kind. Use the cues below:

- the conditions the animals are in

- the money spent on reconstructions of the animals’ natural environment

- the animals that people want to visit

- the dangers that keepers may have

Task 4. Make group reports, sharing your views with the rest of the class.