Engaging beginner students in speaking practice at The Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong

INTRODUCTION
Reason of study
English has become a vital and mandatory communication language in Vietnam since the opening of its doors to the world in 1986. Many English-speaking foreigners from across Asia, Australia, American and Europe started coming to invest in Vietnam. This has motivated the people of Vietnam to learn English to facilitate efficient and effective communication among their counterparts. The importance of English was immediately acknowledged by the Vietnamese government and as a result the English programs were made compulsory beginning with the secondary schools and subsequently the high schools and finally universities.
Today, of the four English basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), it is thought that speaking skill seems to play the most important role: knowing-language-people are considered “speaker” of that language as if speaking included all four kinds of knowing. Classroom activities that help to help develop learners’ ability in expressing themselves would play an important part in a language course.
The goal of teaching speaking, surely, is to improve the oral production of the students. Along with international trend, students should improve and promote their communication skill so that they can express themselves and learn to follow the social and cultural rules appropriating in each communicative circumstances. In order to do that, language-teaching activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing individual language use. Teachers’ role is not only to create a warm and friendly classroom but also to provide students with effective and plentiful activities. Only by such way can those activities encourage students to speak and attract them to speaking lessons.
Factors mentioned above have called forth my ambition to carry out the study of “engaging beginner students in speaking practice at The Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong”.
Purpose of the study.
To study students attitudes towards speaking skill then suggest some effective activities to engage beginner students in speaking practice at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong.
Scale of the structure
Actually, attracting students’ interest and involvements need to be done in teaching all four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing). However, it is impractical to overspread such a large. Thus, the study limits itself to: 
To find out the students’ attitudes towards speaking skill of beginner students at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong. 
To suggest speaking activities to engage beginner students in speaking practice at Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong.
Methods of the study 
The study was done from the beginning of September of 2017 to the ending of March of 2018.
First, a survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong with a point of view to find out their difficulties they encounter as well as their attitudes towards the speaking skill. (Questions - APPENDIX A)
Second, references books about speaking and methodology are reviewed to get background knowledge of what speaking is, successful and interesting techniques in teaching speaking.
Third, some effective activities are suggested in order to engage beginner students in speaking practice.
Fourth, the text book is New Headway Elementary –Students’ Book ( the third edition) – Liz and Soars that will be enclosed with this study.
Last, one more survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong to examine their attitudes towards the speaking skill after being provided some suggested activities. (Question the same with APPENDIX A).
II. CONTENT
2.1. A general view of speaking skill.
Speaking skill is the art of communications and one of four productive skills that must mastered in learning foreign languages. Good speaking skill is the act of generating words that can be understood by listeners. A good speaker is clear and informative.
Speaking is the skill that students will be judged most real life situations. It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person based on his or her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively. However, speaking is in many ways and undervalued skill. This, perhaps, is because we can almost all speak, and so have the low opinion of it. Speaking is often thought of as a popular form of expressions. Speaking, on the contrary, is a skill which deserves attention a bit as much as literacy skill. Our learners often need to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their basic transactions. Harris (1777:81) says: “Speaking is a complex skill requiring the simultaneous of different abilities developed at the different rates”.
John (1982) believes that speaking ability as regarded the measure of knowing a language. The learners define speaking as the most important skill they can acquire. They assess their progress in term of their accomplishment in spoken communication.
Besides, Martin Bygate observes: speaking is the skill by which learners are most frequency judged and through which they make or lose friends. It is the medium through which much of language is learnt and which for many is particularly conductive for learning”. Bygate emphasizes the importance of speaking, not only for perfoming basic translations, but also for establishing and maintaining social relationships.
In general, speaking is an interactive process of construct meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experiences, the environments and the purpose for speaking.
2.2. Teaching and learning condition at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong in speaking practice.
2.2.1. The teaching and learning condition.
The teaching and learning condition in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong is fairly good with system of the new blackboard, the equipment is modern: the furniture is right in size. However, there are not many illustrations English pictures for studying, not projector, not language lab that is why in English periods the class atmosphere is not funny. In this school, there is also a library where teachers and students can borrow books, magazines and newspapers. Nevertheless, teaching aids to study English in this center are inadequate. In class time, teachers often use visual aids but they are not rich. That’s why their lectures don’t attract students’ attention and it appears quite boring to the students.
Further, there are from 38 to 45 students in each class so it is a little bit difficult for teachers to keep discipline in class.
This study was conducted in order to explore the students’ attitudes towards to English-speaking skill as well as to give one suggested activities to engage the beginner students in speaking lesson at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong.
2.2.2. Students’ attitudes towards difficulties when speaking in class.
A survey is conducted for 100 beginner students in the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nongcong. The questionnaire used in this study was students’ opinions about students’ difficulties when speaking in class (7 questions) in class. In this study, the planning stage involved the selection of the participants, which were 100 beginner students at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong and limited to the academic year 2017-2018, the preparation of letter of consent and the distribution of the letter of consent to the selected groups of students. All students agreed to participate in the survey by signing the letter of consent (see APENDIX A).
Table1. Questions-result 1: Students’ difficulties-Pre-applying techniques.
(done on 11th of September, 2017) 
(What difficulties do you have when speaking in class?)
percentages
1. I don’t have enough words to express what I want to say
81 %
2. I am shy when I stand in front of class.
65%
3. I am afraid of making mistakes when speaking.
53%
4. The lessons are too difficult for me .
70%
5. My friends don’t cooperate with me. 
60%
6. I don’t understand what people say to me .
80%
7. I am not interested in speaking .
30%
According to the data presented in Table 1 towards students’ difficulties when speaking in class (N=100), almost students ( 81%) participants agree that they did not have enough words to express what they wanted to say. Similarly, 80% of them had a difficulty of not understanding what people said to them. More than two-third of the students (70%) stated that the lessons were too difficult for them while 60% of them got the feel of not being cooperated with by their friends. Regarding of making mistakes when speaking, more than half of them (53%) said that they are afraid of making mistakes in communicate activities. Their difficulties to speaking activities was further supported by a high percentages (65%) being shy when they stood in front of class. However, only nearly one third of them (30%) did nod prefer speaking, most of them (70%) like speaking despite of those difficulties.
2.3. Some suggested activities to engaging beginner students in a speaking lesson at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center of Nong cong.
2. 3.1. Making sentences
Objectives: This activity can adapt information to make easy for student to speak English.
Procedures: Teacher give information about a person then talk . Each student has to make sentence for each word.
Example given: Unit 3–The world of work
Practice-Talking about people
Teacher asks Ss to work in pairs to read information about Fernando then talk about him as a mode. Teacher asks Ss to talk about a relative as followed
Fernando Diaz
Job
Tourist guide
Country
Peru
Town
Lima
Place of work
in a tourist office
Languages
Spanish, English, and a little German
Spanish
No
Married
a dog 
Free time
walking his dog, playing football
Fernando Diaz is a tourist guide. He comes from Peru. He live in Lima town. He works in a tourist office. He can speak Spanish, English and a little German. He isn’t married. He likes walking with his dog and playing football in his free time.
2.3.2. Face to face activities.
Objectives: Face to face activity not only motivates students to think a lot in a logical way, use imagination as quickly as possible to pick out the ideas but also can check the students’ memory of new words.
Procedure: Teacher giveS the topic word then students will have to find as much as possible things related to the given words.
Example given: Unit 5 –Where do you live?
What’s in the living room?
 Teacher asks students to work in pairs. Before beginning the lesson, teacher writes the phrase “living room” on the blackboard and asks Ss to find as much as possible things related to it. Two Ss stand to face, the Ss who can say more words will be winner.
An armchair
A television
pictures
A sofa
A DVD player
A fridge
A lamp
A table
2.3.3. Hot seat activities.
Objective: Students have chance to apply the grammar into speaking skill so that students will be able to improve both speaking and grammar.
Procedure: 
- Teacher writes two names of tense on two chairs
- Teachers say one time marker of any tenses. Students have to sit down the chair, to have the tenses in accordance with that time marker.
- Then, students have to make one sentence with the time marker teacher said.
Past Simple
Present perfect
- Teacher calls two students. Teacher says “yesterday”, the student runs and sits down the chair with the name “past simple”, then he/she has to make a sentence with the word “yesterday”. Similarly, teacher says “since”, the student runs and sits down the chair with the name “present perfect”, then he/ she has to make and say a sentence with the word “since” and so on. The student who sits faster and makes the right sentence is the winner.
2.3.4. Pictures description.
Objective: Improving student’s ability of observation and expression what they have observed in the pictures as well as students’ knowledge of describing languages 8. 
Procedure: Teacher shows some pictures on the board or divides class into small groups and distributes each of them a picture then asks students to describe what is in the picture. After all groups have finished their discussions, teacher calls some students to speak in front of the class.
Example given: Unit 4-Take it easy
Vocabulary and speaking- Leisure activities
Teacher shows pictures on textbook page 30-31 then asks Ss to observe pictures carefully then asks Ss to match the words given with photos from a to p
Reminds Ss to use the structure of Present Progressive Tense : S + be V-ing	
2.3.5. Discussing.
Objective: Learners become much more involved in the speaking activity when they are posing and answering questions themselves rather than merely responding to teachers’ questions. It will give students including weaker one more opportunities to speak without guessing the answers.
Procedures: Teachers writes down some questions related to the content of the lesson then gives students 3 to 5 minutes to think about their answers and speak them out.
Example given: Unit 11: Looking good! - Starter
Purpose of this speaking lesson is to help students to speak about clothing. 
Teacher asks Ss to work in pairs. Teacher gives Ss some questions then asks Ss to ask and answering front of the class:
What are you wearing?
What is your favorite clothes?
What is traditional costume in Vietnam?
What do you often wear when you go to school?
What do you often wear when you stay at home?
Teacher lets Ss work individually in 3 to 5 minutes. After that, call some pairs to present their ideas.
2.3.6. Teaching through song.
What makes music such a great teaching tool is its universal appeal, connecting all cultures and languages. This makes it one of the best and most motivating resources in the classroom, regardless of the age or background of the learner.
Objectives: Creating a relaxed learning atmosphere for students. Music and lyrics of songs help provide students energy that had none before or changed students’ mood. Students also know song related to topic they are going to discuss.
Procedure: Teacher prepares a song related to the lesson and handout of lyrics of it. Before starting new lesson, teachers play the song for students may be one or more than one time. Let students listen to it and then ask students some questions about name, singer, and content of song.
Example given: Unit 11: Looking good! – Listening and speaking
By the end of this part, Ss will be able to update themselves with information about the song on an Irish band called West life. Teacher asks Ss to look at the song in textbook at page 86-87.Teacher plays the song for students. (see lyrics in APPENDIX B). After listening to it, teacher checks students’ understanding about this song, for example: the names of song, musician, singer, composer, the content.
2.3.7. Comparing pictures.
Objectives: Students will also learn how to observe and find the differences among pictures or things with fastest speed. So they can practice the ability of comparing and describing the pictures.
Procedures: Teacher gives students some pairs of similar pictures. Let students observe in few minutes then each of group finds most of differences, it will win and receive a gift.
Example given: Unit 10: Bigger and better!
Teacher shows two pictures: picture1: city life, picture 2: country life then asks Ss to work in groups of four to compare life in the city with life in the country and a volunteer of each group will present their comparison. 
Note: Using comparative adjectives given to make sentences.
Adjective
Opposite
Fast
Slow
Modern
Old
Expensive
Cheap
Dangerous
Safe
Dirty
Clean
Unfriendly
Friendly
Noisy
Quiet
Exciting
Boring
Busy
Relaxing
Example: 1. The city is noisier than the country.
	 2. The country is safer than the city.
2.3.8. Explaining the words.
Objective: This activity aims at reviewing the new words and improving the speaking reaction of students.
Procedures: Teachers divide class into small groups of two students .One students will explain so that the other students can guess what the word is. In two minutes, the group which the most words will be the winner.
Example give: Review for oral test.
Teacher prepares some cards which ten words in each card. Asks Ss to work in pairs to read information in cards then make dialogues in front of the class.
B
1. a uniform 6. Thailand
2. a notebook 7. student
3. a house 8. September
4. a bedroom 9. Lunar New year
5. apricot blossom 10. poor
A
1. Aodai 6. Lao 
2. Pen 	7. teacher
3. a classroom8. January
4. a living room	9. Christmas
5. peach blossom	10.rich
Example: Vietnam
Student A explains: “ It’s proper noun. It’ a country in Southeast Asia. We live in this country”. If student B answers “Vietnam”, they got 1 point.
2.3.9. Role play: Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else’s shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation.
Objective: Students can speak English more naturally and fluently because they have to perform their own play and develop imagination and creativeness. Role-play increases the self-confidence of hesitant students because in role-play activity, they will have a different role and they don’t have to speak for themselves.
Procedures: Teacher asks students to work in pair or group to make a role-play about situation in front of the class.
Example given: Unit 9 : Food you like!- Practice - Role-play.
The speaking part of this unit requires students to take turns to be shopper and seller.
Teacher gives shopping list, set mode then asks students to work in pairs to make dialogues.
Thing to buy
Bread Eggs Milk Butter Apples Biscuits Potatoes Carrots Strawberries Tomatoes Apple juices Cakes Cheddar cheese tea
A:Can I help you?
B: Yes, please. I’d like some bread.
A: Here you are. Anything else?
B: Yes. Can I have 6 eggs?
A: Yes, of course.
B: How much is that?
A: That’s 1.60 pound. 
B: Thank you. Goodbye.
A: Bye. 
- Teacher gives feedback.
2.3.10.Speaking in topic.
Objectives: This activity is the kind of speaking with students’ preparation in advance so students will feel more confidents when they speak in front of class.
Procedure: Teacher gives topic for students in the previous lesson and ask them to prepare speaking about this topic. For the next lesson, each student has 1 minute to present about their topic
Example given: Unit 5: Where do you live– Listening and speaking
Asks Ss to see the chart 
Candy and Bert
Alise
Kwan
Manola
House or flat?
house
house
Flat
flat
Old or modern?
 Quite old
Very old
Modern
modern
Where?
New England
Samoa
Korea
Lisbon
How many bedrooms?
3
1
1
1
Live(s) with? 
Only them
Her family
A lone
A lone
Extra information
Do bed and breakfast for tourist in summer.
House one room
Marry next year
Have a cat
A lot of friend come to visit
Teacher gives students the topic: “Talking about where you live”, asks students to play-act as Candy and Bert, Alise, Kwan, Manola to tell about their accommodation.
Example: Candy and Bert
Bert: We live in a house. It is a quite old house in New England. There are three bedrooms in our house. Only Candy and I live here now. We do bed and breakfast for tourists in summer.
-Asks students to take turn to play-act.
2.3.11. Telling story.
Objectives: Students can improve their logical thinking in order to develop their speaking skill.
Procedures: Teachers shows some pictures that are put in