Difficulties encountered by teachers and non- English major students of culture management IN TEACHING AND LEARNING SpeAKING SKILL at Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts

Part A: Introduction 1. Rationale Learning English is becoming a need that most students are aware of and that the society demands, especially in the process of industrialization and modernization in connection to the open door policy of Viet Nam. Therefore, the idea that only English major students have priority in enhancing their skills becomes backward. In fact, every learner must be taken care of so that they can benefit from the modern educational opportunities. It is confirmed that both English major students and non- English major students should be given good consideration and education to improve overall. Even for non- English major students, the four skills as speaking, listening, reading and writing should be stimulated. According to Dong Xiaohong (1994.31) speaking is "one of the most necessary language proficiency". Speaking, thus, seems to be the most important skill that should be paid attention to in the process of teaching and learning. Likewise, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and culture rules. It is true for the non- English major students of culture management of Thanh hoa college of Culture and Art (THCCA) where learners are future office secretaries or culture managers who learn English in order to be able to communicate with the foreigners and to work as secretaries in the offices. But in fact there are a large number of students who find it difficult to speak in English. When most of the students are required to talk in English, they often stand speechless or they have to think for a long time about what they intend to say. Moreover, when poor speaking competence is reported, one tends to blame the students for having poor ability or making insufficient effort. Nevertheless, there are other important factors in the teaching and learning process that should be taken into consideration. It could be unsuitable teaching materials, inappropriate attitude of the teachers and students toward the subject, teachers' inappropriate teaching methods or insufficients class time allocated to speaking. So what are the speaking difficulties for the teachers and non- English major students of Culture management at THCCA? This is the question that the following study attempts to investigate. Once problems have been identified, it will be possible to give solutions to the teachers and students to improve the teaching and learning of speaking skill at THCCA. 2. Aims of the study The study has been carried out with the following purposes. - To identify the students' attitude toward speaking skill. - To investigate the teachers and non- English major students' areas of speaking difficulties. - To give some suggestions and solutions to reduce difficulties and improve the teaching and learning of speaking skill. In other words, the aims of the study are to answer the following questions. 1. What are the difficulties encountered by non- English major students who are learning speaking skill in the English course book “English for office secretaries" at THCCA? 2. What are difficulties for the teachers in teaching speaking skill? 3. What are feasible solutions to overcome the identified difficulties? 3. Scope of the study. Dealing with speaking problems of all current materials used for non major students of culture management is too broad for a study of this size. Therefore, the focus of this study is to investigate speaking difficulties experienced by teachers and non- English major students of culture management at THCCA when using the course book “ English for office secretaries” designed by the teacher at THCCA, then give solutions to the problems in order to help students improve their speaking skill. 4. Methods of the study. To fulfill the above aims, a study has been carried out on the basis of material collection and two survey questionnaires - For the theoretical basis, many materials on speaking are collected, gathered, analyzed and synthesized considerately for the content of the intended thesis. - For the practical basis, the researcher chooses the survey research with two survey questionnaires for teachers and non- English major students of culture management at THCCA. 5. Design of the study. The minor thesis is devided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion. Part A (Introduction) presents the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methodology and the design of the study. Part B (Development) consists of five chapters Chapter 1 reviews the theoretical background, which is relevant to the purpose of the study. Chapter 2 gives a brief introduction on the materials and current situations of teaching speaking at THCCA. Chapter 3 describes the research methodology, which focuses on the context of the study, participants, the instruments and data collection procedure. Chapter 4 deals with data analysis and some suggestions Part C (Conclusion) summaries the study and offers some suggestion for further research. Part B: development Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1. The nature of speaking 1.1.1. Definition of speaking. It is obvious that speaking is the key to human communication. Though speaking takes many definitions, following are some of the definitions by the most famous researchers According to Byrne (1976:8), “speaking is a two-way process between the speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding.” Both the listener and the speaker have a positive function to perform: the speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message. The message itself in normal speech usually contains a great deal of information that the listener needs. And at the same time, the listener is helped by the speakers’ prosodic features such as stress and intonation which accompany the spoken utterances and form part of its meaning, and also by his facial and body movements. Brown (1983) also states that “speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information.” Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open ended and evolving. However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions that tent to recur in certain discourse situations (declining and invitation, requesting time off from work) can be identified and charted. Speaking requires not only that learners know how to produce specific points of language, such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why and in what way to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Scott (1978) reveals that “speaking can be typified as an activity involving two or more people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contribution.” Each has an intention or a set of intentions that he wants to achieve in the interaction and an ability to interpret what is said to him which he can not predict exactly either in terms of form or in terms of meaning. Chaney (1988:13) defined that “speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts”. Different researchers have different concepts of speaking but they all agree with one very important feature of speaking, that is a two way process between the speaker and listener. Spoken language and communication: It would be pointless to talk about the importance of language if we ignore relation between language and communication as language is a means of communication. According to Broughton (1980:25), “all living creatures have some means of conveying information to others of their own group, communication being ultimately essential for their survival;” Man can use various means of communication, but mainly through spoken language. Today, it is commonplace to say that “language is never used for its own sake, but always for the sake of achieving an objective, or to perform a function, to persuade, in form, inquire, threaten, etc.” (Ur, 1981:3). Brown and Yule (1983:23) believe that spoken language has two main functions: “The primary function of spoken language is interactional, to establish and maintain social relations.” Most people spend a lot of their daily lives chatting with others. The purpose is to express their emotion and concerns to the person they are talking to. Not only do they chat with their relatives or friends, but also they spend a lot of time talking with strangers so that they can remain social relations. Moreover, another important function of spoken language is transactional to convey information. This deduction is again confirmed by Broughton (1980): Thoughts Sender Language Recipient Figure 1: Spoken language and communication He explains that thanks to spoken language, we can produce a sequence of vocal sounds in such a way that listeners can reconstruct from these sounds an approximation to our original meaning thus understands the thought. According to Wright (1987), we speak because of the following reasons: Giving or asking for factual information Expressing what we think and find out what someone else thinks. Expressing what we feel and find out what someone else feels. Expressing what we think is right or wrong,…etc. In order to exchange information, a man has to talk with other people and thus he uses spoken language to take part in communication. 1.1.3. Types of speaking. There are two major types of speaking: monologue and dialogue Monologue In Brown and Yule’s opinion (1983), a monologue involves the ability to give an uninterrupted oral presentation such as when a broad caster reads news in radio or television programs, a teacher or professor gives a formal lecture, an announcer gives the instruction or changes in the airport, etc. This type corresponds with non-reciprocal listening where the transfer of information is in one-direction only from the speaker to the listener and is used like the written form with no reaction and response from the listener. These types take place when the speaker wants to talk with a large number of listeners about the same issue. Dialogue A dialogue, conversely, means interacting between two or more speakers for transactional and interactional purpose. There are turn takings to change the roles of speakers and listeners in this type. Idea exchanges occur directly and quickly as well. Donne Byrne (1986) also says: “Dialogues seem to be best suited to the teaching of the spoken language”. Using a dialogue to speak spoken English to non-major students of culture management is one of effective techniques which will be discussed in this study. 1.1.4. Speaking skill According to Martin Bygate (1987:5), there are two basics ways in which speaking can be seen as a skill. He distinguishes between motor-perceptive skills, which are concerned with correctly using the sounds and the structures of the language and interactional skills, which involve using motor-perceptive skills for the purpose of communication. Motor-perceptive skills are developed in the classroom through activities such as model dialogues, pattern practice, oral drills, etc....Until relatively recently, it was assumed that mastery of motor- perceptive skills was what one needed in order to communicate successfully. We now know that this is not necessarily the case and that learners can benefit from direct classroom practice in communicative interaction. Bygate suggests that, in particular, learners need to develop skills in the management of interaction and also in the negotiation of meaning. The management of interaction involves such things as knowing when and how to take the floor, when to introduce a topic or change the subject, how to invite someone else to speak, how to keep the conversation going, when and how to terminate the conversation and so on. Negotiation of meaning refers to the skill of making sure the person you are speaking to has correctly understood you and that you have correctly understood them. Speaking, therefore, can be considered as a skill for many reasons: the first is that we don’t know how to assemble sentences in the abstract. The second is that we have to produce them and adapt depending on circumstances. 1.1.5. Stages of teaching speaking. 1.1.5.1. The role of the teacher and students in teaching and learning speaking The role of the teacher According to Breen and Candlin (1980), the teacher has three main roles in a speaking class. The first is to act as a facilitator of the communicative process, the second is to act as a participant, and the third is to act as an observer. In addition, Donn Byrne (1976:3) has a clearer explanation for the teacher’s roles as follows: * The teacher acts as an informant at the presentation stage He/ she knows the language items, selects new materials and presents them in such a way as to make its meaning clear and understandable and as memorable as possible. The students listen to the teacher’s introduction and try to understand. The major thing is how the teacher will present the lesson so that the limited time of one lesson is not affected and the students get enough time to practise the new language items themselves. * The teacher as a conductor and monitor at the practice stage At this stage, the teacher talking time is less. It is the students’ turn to do most of the talking. The teacher’s main role is to provide students with the maximum amount of practice which must be both meaningful and practical. He/she becomes a skilful conductor of an orchestra giving each performer (student) a chance to take part. * The teacher as a guide at the production stage The lesson finishes when the students are given enough new language items. But at any level, students need to be given regular opportunities to use language freely. Furthermore, they want to put what they have learned into real life. And through these opportunities they can use the language as they wish to express their own ideas so that they will become aware that they have learned something useful to them and are encouraged to pursue learning. Therefore, the teacher takes the role of a guide or an adviser in providing the students with activities for free expression even if they occasionally make mistakes. The role of the learners The aim of teaching speaking is to enable learners to communicate effectively and successfully in real life. In Nunan’s view (1998: 80). To meet this aim the learners have take the following roles : - The learner is the passive recipient of outside stimuli - The learner is an interactor and negotiator who is capable of giving as well as taking. - The learner is a listener and performer who have little control over the content of learning. - The learner is involved in a process of personal growth. - The learner is involved in a social activity, and the social and inter- personal roles of the learner cannot be divorced from psychological learning process - The learner must take responsibility for their own learning developing autonomy and skills in learning how to learn. 1.1.5. 2. Stages of teaching speaking According to Methodology course 1- Teaching the skills (Ha Noi 2002: 42-43) a speaking lesson should have three stages: pre-speaking, while- speaking, and post- speaking. Obviously, each stage has it own characteristics. The Pre-speaking stage This stage plays an essential role in the whole process of a speaking lesson because it is difficult to ask students to speak without preparation which involves such activities as pre-speaking questions, brain storming, discussion tasks or vocabulary tasks.... It is commonly found in every course book that oral materials are written into different forms: dialogue and prose. Byrne introduced the procedure in which the ten steps to present dialogue are included. Establish the setting: Pictures are made use of and drawn if simple. Use English as much as possible at this stage Arouse students interests and experience related to the situation Explain some selective words Set a listening task by asking key questions of the dialogue Ask the students to listen without looking at their books Ask the students to look at their books while they are listening Ask the students to listen and repeat Deal with any difficulties in the dialogue Ask the students to practise the dialogue Ask the students to dramatize the dialogue What’s more, the presentation of prose massage suggested by Byrne (1991: 26) includes the nine steps. Introduce the topic by asking the students to have a quick look at the picture or by asking them about a related book, film, or TV programme they have seen. Introduce the text including new words or new structures. However, there is no need to explain all things in the text. Provide relevant language practice, for example, train the students with pronunciation drill so that they can speak English easily, fluently and also help them remember the new words Set the reading task by making questions Ask the students to read the silently Read the passage aloud Explain any difficulties faced by the students Do silent reading again Get the students to talk about what they have learned The two above produces could be said that they are perfect for presenting a dialogue and prose. However, depending on the students’ level and time allocation, some of the steps can be left out. In addition, before delivering activities for this stage, the teacher needs to pay careful attention to the object of each lesson, the situation of teaching and learning and the student’ needs as well. The while- speaking stage Unlike the pre-speaking stage, it is the student’s turn to do most of the talking. The teacher, at this stage, lets students work with each other without interfering or correcting any mistakes in order not to stop students from speaking fluently. The teacher only gives assistance if necessary. The specific aim of the while- speaking stage is to develop students’ speaking skill so the teacher does the minimum amount of teaching and talking since the students will be working on the while- speaking task by themselves, individually or in groups. Instead, the teacher will have to do a lot of monitoring and assisting weaker students who have difficulty completing the task. The post- speaking stage It is the last phase of a speaking lesson so it is the time for the students’ production. What they produce will reflect their speaking skill, interests or views. A real show of English speaking takes place when the students are able to use English for themselves. Also, when they reflect upon their performance, they can recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement. The post-speaking stage is like the follow up stages. After students have practised speaking skill in the while- speaking stage, they do an extension speaking activity. This helps students take the information from other groups or whatever they have produced in the while- speaking stage and do something meaningful with it. Accordingly, getting the students to report their work and the whole class may be invited to comment can be recommended to be the most effective at this stage. Thus, the teacher in this stage must take on the role of a manager or a guide in order to give feed back, correct serious mistakes, give students marks and set personal goals for improving their speaking abilities. Byrne (1988:2) comes to a conclusion that to develop oral ability, the three stages