i Vietnam national university, ha noi College of foreign languages

Department of post-graduate studies

Candidates statement
I certify that the minor thesis entitled A study on improving English Speaking skills to 10th-form minority students at Gia Phu High School in the New Set of English Textbook and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art is the result of my own work, and that the minor thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted to any university or institution. Authors signature Lng Th Thoan

ii

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge with all my greatest attitude the support, guidance and invaluable critical feedback which I have received from my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Bang, M.A. My special thanks also go to all lecturres and the staff of the Department of Post Graduate Studies at College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their useful materials, instructions and enthusiasm which are of great values to the thesis. I am appreciative of all my colleagues and my students at Gia Phu High School where I have gathered information for my study. Without their help, this study could not have been successful. Last but not least, my sincere thanks are due to my dear family and my friends who always stand for me with their consideration and encouragements.

iii

Abstract The topic of this thesis resulted from a fact that the students at Gia Phu High School rarely speak English, even in English classes though they have been learning English since they started at the lower secondary school. Being a teacher of the school, within my minor thesis, I would like to investigate the reasons for the students inhibition and unwillingness to speak English, and hope to be able to make some recommendations that can help the students overcome their inhibition and unwillingness, and improve their speaking skills. The study consists of three parts. The first part is an introduction to the thesis which presents the factors as the plan of the study such as the rationale, aims, scope, design and methods. The review of related Literature Review is display of theoretical background. In this part, the theories on speaking skills of world well-known experts are extracted and cited, such as: Communicative Language Teaching, nature of language skills and oral communication, understanding speaking, nature of speaking skills and development of teaching speaking skills. Research methodology, presentation of statistical, results and discussions are made in this part. The final part focuses on the summary, recommendations for changes in teaching and learning English speaking and conclusions.

iv

List of tables Table 1: Students asessment of speaking topics in the textbook English 10 Table 2: Students attitude towards speaking skills. Table 3: The factors that make students reluctant in speaking English. Table 4: Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking skills. Table 5: Current implementation to encourage the students to speak more. Table 6: Students desiressires.

Table of contents Candidates ......i Acknowledgement iv Abstract iii List Table of of tables . . ........iv contents ..v Part one: Introduction........1 I. Rationales of the study... .1 II. Aims of the study.. ..1 III. Scope of the study.. .2 IV. Methods of the study. ..2 statement .

vi
V. Design of the study..... .2 Part two: Development....4 Chapter I: Literature review.......4 I. Communicative Language Teaching... ......4 1. Definition of CLT.. ....5 2. CLT...5 3. Communicative competence.. ....6 II. Nature of language 1. skills Nature of and oral language Characteristics of

communication........8 skills...8 2. oral communication... ...9 III. Nature of speaking skills and development of teaching speaking skills.....10 1. Nature of speaking skills and Oral interaction... ..11 1.1. Definition of spoken language... ...11 1.2. Characteristics of speaking... 12 1.3. Development approach of speaking skill.. .......12

vii
1.3.1. The presentation phase.... .......12 1.3.2. The practice phase.... ..14 1.3.3. The production phase.........14 IV. Oral language...

...14 1. Definition of oral language... ...14 2. The importance of oral language in school curricula.. .....14 3. What oral language skills do students need to develop?..............................................16 4. The role of the teacher as facilitator of oral language development........17 V. Summary..

.18 Chapter II: research methodology, Data analysis and I. Research discussions

methodology... 1. Research questions....

...19 ..19 2. The participants..... ..19 3. The instrument.. ...20

viii
a. The questionaire ...... ..20 b. The interview .......... ...20 4. Data collection and analysis procedure... ....21 a. 21 b. Data analysis... ..21 5. Conclusion... 21 II. Data analysis 21 1. Questionnaires.... ...21 1.1. Questionnaire for teachers.. ...21 1.2. Questionnaire for students.. ...24 2. ...33 3. Conclusion...... ...37 Chapter iii: Findings and recommendations.......38 1. Summary of the findings.. ..38 2. recommendations... 38 Part three: conclusion.....43 Interview. and discussions.. Data collection..

ix
1. Summary of the study........ ..43 2. Limitations and suggestions for further study.... .....44 References...I Appendixes...III Appendix III Appendix B ..... V AppendixC.. VII A..