Some techniques to help 10th - Form students diminish reticence in learning English speaking skill

I. INTRODUCTION
1. Reasons for choosing the topic:
It is undeniable that English is an international language and together with its increasing importance, the need of learning English is becoming more urgent than ever.
In learning English at high schools in Vietnam, speaking skill has become compulsory since the old English textbook was put into use in 2006, and it is especially attached the great importance in NEW English textbook ( published in 2012).
However, as we can see, for a long time, the language teaching and learning have been based on the out-of-date methods in which students only passively sit, take notes but rarely contribute to the lessons. They do not ask their teacher questions, even when they have problems. Therefore, when approaching new teaching methods such as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Project- based approach, students feel passive in classroom. This results in numerous problems inflicting students in learning the speaking skill, one of which is the reticence in oral activities.
There have been a variety of studies on this situation and various solutions have been given. However, students’ reticence is still common occurrence in language classrooms in Vietnam. Based on my twelve-year teaching experience at Hoang Hoa 4 high school, I know that the students rarely speak English, even in English speaking classes, though they have been learning English since they were at the primary school.
It is important to involve students in classroom learning activities and minimize their reticence because involvement in classroom interaction will help students explore and learn English much better.
For such reasons I choose “ Some techniques to help 10th- form students diminish reticence in learning English speaking skill” ( New English textbook) as a theme for my experiential initiative. 
2. Aims of the study: The study is carried out to: 
(1 ) Find out some factors causing 10th- form students to be reticent in English speaking activities.
(2 ) Give some suggestions to stimulate students to speak English.
3. Scope of the study:
 The subjects chosen for this study are 10th- form students at Hoang Hoa 4
high school, Thanh Hoa province where I have been teaching. Moreover,
because of the limited time and within an experiential initiative, only speaking skill was chosen on the ground that speaking seems to be the most challenging language skill to English learners in Vietnam in general. 
4. Methods of the study: 
To achieve the objectives of the study, several methods are used, but I use mainly quantitative and qualitative methods. 
The data serving the research analysis and discussions are collected by means of a survey questionnaire for students and observation. 
5. New things of the study:
 The study is based on what I did research in the school year 2013-2014, but in this research, the scope of the study is the students who are learning New English Textbook.
II. DEVELOPMENT
1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND:
1.1. Definition of reticence:
Reticence is generally viewed as an abstract concept and has been defined by many researchers. McCroskey (1977) portraits it as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons ”. Reticent people often speak less and for shorter durations; their language tends to be less comprehensible, less immediate, and less intense (Evans, 1996). 
A student’s reticence in class not only reveals that he/she is unwilling to talk in certain circumstances; it could also indicate any of the following symptoms: 
(1) the student’s apathy toward the topic at hand or to the learning process itself; 
(2) the student who is not comprehending is overwhelmed, or is bored; 
(3) the student is isolated from the learning community; 
(4) the student has not learned the value or strategies of engagement or he/she does not appreciate or believe in that value. 
It can be seen that different researchers approach reticence’s definitions in different ways. However, they all share the same point of view that reticence is quite pervasive in English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms and can negatively affect the learning of the target language.
1.2. Possible causes of language learning reticence:
In the past few decades, an increasing number of studies in ESL/EFL have been conducted to explore the reasons for students’ reticence in classrooms. Generally speaking, reticence in class discussions might result from: 
(1) low self esteem – students who think of themselves as unworthy or unable to communicate successfully, so they tend to remain silent out of shame. 
(2) fear of being ridiculed when they inappropriately or inaccurately respond.
(3) fear of success – this occurs when a student interacts successfully; they attributes their success to luck or accident and then is apprehensive for others expecting him/herself to continue excellent performance, which means to interact with similar or superior success in the future.
(4) cultural differences – various cultures forbid or strongly discourage individuals from speaking up in classroom settings; sometimes for the reason of deference towards teachers; elder students’ behaviour could also contribute to this phenomenon.
 (5) communication apprehension – a clinical fear of communicating with or in the presence of others.
1.3. Effects of reticence in class: 
The effects of reticence are particularly evident in ESL/ EFL classes and it, to some degree, is a strong indicator of academic performance. Reticence negatively affects everything from the teachers’ expectations of student performance, actual classroom performance, and perceptions of others while communicating.
Reticent learners suffer from mental blocks during spontaneous speaking activities, lack confidence, are less able to self-edit and identify language errors and are more likely to employ strategies such as skipping class. Reticent students also forget previously learned material, volunteer answers less frequently and have a greater tendency to remain passive in classroom activities than their less reticent counterparts. 
The effects of reticence could also extend outside the second language classroom. A high level of reticence might also correspond with communication apprehension, causing individuals to be quieter and less willing to communicate in other public occasions. As a result, people who exhibit this kind of communication reticence are more likely to be perceived as less trustworthy, less competent, less socially and physically attractive, tenser, less composed and less dominant.
Therefore, working on reticence problem in and out of class is of great significance not only in academic development, but also in mental development of the students.
2. FACTUAL BACKGROUND:
2.1. Research setting:
The study was conducted at Hoang Hoa 4 high school, a rural school of Thanh Hoa province. The school was established in 1989 and it has recorded a lot of achievements in training provincial gifted students for some recent years.
 The school has 32 classes with over 70 teachers of different subjects. Each class consists of about 40 students. Most of the students come from the villages in the district where English learning and teaching does not get much attention. The only sources from which students can get knowledge are the textbooks and their teachers. Like students in many other schools in Vietnam, students in my school are complained a great deal for their inability to use English for communication after leaving school. 
 The total number of English teachers at Hoang Hoa 4 high school is 7. All of them are female aged from 30 to 42. They were trained from training courses in English language teaching at different universities in Vietnam. All of them are friendly, active, knowledgeable and full of inspiration for teaching.
 The main English textbooks used in teaching English at this school are Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, and Tieng Anh 12 ( Basic stream). Besides, in the school year 2017-2018, there is one 11th- grade class ( 11A10) and two 10th- grade classes (10A4 and 10A10) applying NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 
( published in 2012). The teaching method applied by the teachers at this school is various and integrated, but mainly Grammar Translation Method (GTM) because both teachers and students are more concerned about the students’ performance in the national examination for 12th students and the examination for gifted students. Therefore, from my personal observation as a classroom teacher, students are unwilling to speak English in the speaking lessons.
The teaching of English in general and the teaching of English speaking in
 particular at my school has encountered many difficulties. As a consequence, it is very necessary for the staff at Hoang Hoa 4 high school to find out effective ways to minimize the difficulties in teaching English and from then, to improve the quality of English speaking lessons.
2.2. Major findings: Factors making 10th- form students at Hoang Hoa 4 high school reticent in English speaking lessons.
The study showed that the level of students’ participation in speaking activities was very low. A lot of students tended to be reticent in the speaking lessons. With regard to what contributed to students’ reticence in classroom, many factors were identified. They were students’ factors, teacher’s factors and objective factors. 
 Firstly, a range of student- related factors brought reticence into play. Among these factors, the most prominent one was low English proficiency. Although all of the students had learnt English for at least 7 years, their English language proficiency such as vocabulary, grammar, even pronunciation was poor. Gradually, they would not feel interested in speaking and became reticent.
	Another important factor was the fear of being laughed at when making mistakes. Probably because of the fear of leaving a bad impression on the teacher and peers, many students worried about making mistakes and thus, were unwilling to speak. 
Addition to it was “personality”. Some students were so shy and introverted that they became nervous when speaking to a group of people even in the mother tongue, let alone the foreign language.
Another factor was “ Students’ speaking skill is influenced by their mother-tongue”. During my reality of teaching, I realize that students are greatly affected by their mother-tongue while speaking. When being required to talk about a given topic, it is common that students first think about the ideas in Vietnamese, then try to translate them into English. This has been proved ineffective in developing students’ speaking ability. It is much better that students are guided to think in English in order to make their speaking more natural.
Secondly, the findings referred to teacher’s factors. According to the questionnaire for students, the most important factor relating to teachers was teachers’ ways of mistake correction. In speaking lessons at Hoang Hoa 4 high school, students were often interfered immediately when they made mistakes during their performances. This was a great influence on their continuous speaking. 
Too much teacher’s talking time was the factor 52% of the students chose. The teachers occupied almost all the class time, so students didn’t have much time to speak. Therefore, chances given to them to express their own ideas were limited. In stead of taking part in oral activities actively, they only kept silent, took notes
and spoke only when they were asked to. 
One more factor was teacher’s uneven allocation of turns. 42% complained their teacher favored the better students when soliciting responses. That was the reason why some lower proficient students in class had few chances to speak out. 
Another reason was some teacher’s preference for using Vietnamese in English lessons.
Last but not least, it was Teachers’ assistance does not meet students’ needs: Some students sometimes don’t know how totalk about a given topic due to their teacher’s unclear instructions or vague explanations, for example. Besides, the inappropriate method of their teachers discourages them. Consequently, the teachers works as a controller while the students become passive.
Thirdly, objective factors like large and multilevel classes, time constraint and text book also resulted in the students’ silence in speaking lessons. 
While speaking topics in the textbook were interesting, the difficulty of speaking tasks was one of the factors that caused to the students’ silence in oral activities. Another factor is full- sized classes. With the average number of students was 40 to 49 in each class with different ability, it was not easy for teachers to control their students’ activities. Consequently, many students kept silent all the time. Besides, lack of time was a factor, though it only took up a small percentage. The teacher is always under pressure to cover the allocated syllabus in the time allowed. Due to time limit, learners had little chance to practice in class. The teachers seldom asked students to do pair work or group work, and classroom interaction was usually in the form of short questions and answers.
3. IMPLEMENTATION AND SOLUTIONS:
From the major findings of the study, in order to minimize the students’ reticence in English speaking lessons, some suggestions have been made with the hope to improve the current situation of teaching and learning the speaking skill.
3.1. Increasing students’ English proficiency: 
As can be viewed from the survey questionnaire for students, low English proficiency was the greatest contributor to the students’ reticence in oral English lessons. Thus, it is very essential for teachers to find solutions to enhance students’ English competence.
If students lack words or structures to express themselves, what teachers should do is providing structures and related words when introducing topics through listening or reading as pre-speaking activities. Teachers should provide examples which are great helping enrich their vocabulary, memorizing phonetic sounds and stress as well as grammatical structures. Besides, teachers should pay attention to students when they are speaking so as to guess their ideas to support them in case they cannot find exact words to express themselves. What is more, teachers need to explain that words represent thoughts so students should not attempt to use unusual syntax, or “big words” but try to find direct and meaningful ways of making them understood. 
For example, when teaching Activity 3 - Speaking- Unit 4: For a better community- Tiếng Anh 10 tập 2.
The aim of this task is that students will be able to talk about the three most important things to do in your local area.
I provide students with useful phrases:
The most important thing to do is now that..
The second priority is..on the ground that.
We consider .. to be the priority because..
If students have difficulties in finding ideas for the topics, teachers can make use of and introduce various ideas for discussion to make these topics interesting and familiar enough to students. This problem can also be solved by choosing the topics which are more interesting and appropriate to the students’ age, level, and relating to the real life to create enjoyable class atmosphere that make reluctant students interested in speaking. 
For example, when teaching Activity 4- Speaking- Unit 9: Preserving the environment- Tiếng Anh 10 tập 2.
The aim of this task is that students will be able to talk about the environmental impacts of human activities.
Procedure:
- Give suggestions and ask students to complete the table:
Human activity
Type of pollution
Consequence
fossil fuel burning by motor vehicles, factories, aircrafts and rockets 
air pollution
a series of environmental problems such as acid rain, greenhouse effect, globe warming and health problem
fertilizers and pesticide sprays, harmful rubbish and chemicals thrown in the rivers
soil pollution
contaminated vegetation and the decrease of soil fertility leading to the negative utilization of land
loud and annoying sounds from factory machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, and musical instruments
noise pollution
human psychological and health problems such as stress, the increase of health rate and hearing damage
- Ask students to complete the conversation:
Sample:
Student A: Our earth is having the severe soil pollution. The soil is very harmful now.
Student B: Yes, It is the result of human activities. People use fertilizer and spray pesticides, threw harmful rubbish and chemicals in the river.
Student A: These cause the vegetation contaminated and the the decrease of soil fertility. This leads the negative unilization of land.
- Call two or three pairs to present and then give feedback.
3.2. Creating a friendly classroom atmosphere and rapport with students :
The relationship that the teacher build with their students influences the interaction that takes place in the classroom. Research has shown that students are more willing to speak in class when the teachers make the class environment one of interest and engagement, which will then lessen learner reticence. Besides, as recommended by the student interviewees, teachers have to develop positive personality traits such as patience, a sense of humor, or considerateness
 to make students more comfortable with their language learning process. 
During the teaching process, I always try to remember the students’ name and then use their names. Instead of pointing at students and asking: “ What is your opinion about.......?”, I often say: “ Hoa, Could you tell me something about this matter?”. I assume that when students are called by their names, they will feel happier because their teacher shows his/ her concern to them.
 Walking around the classroom and assisting the learners when necessary during the lessons is an useful way I apply to bring the friendly. Furthermore, I also give students immediate praise, compliment and encouragement than criticism. For example, after the student’s presentation, I often use encouraging words such as : "Good ideas", "Excellent" , "Perfect", "Well done”. Furthermore, smiling expectantly, nodding as students talk and maintaining eye contact with students also stimulate them to take part in oral activities effectively.
Additionally, I also talk to students when meeting them outside the classroom. This would create a trust between teachers and students which can lead to enhanced rapport and confidence to speak English in class. If the students are confident in themselves, they will be on their way to speaking successfully, with better fluency and accuracy.
In short, establishing close and good relationship with the students, especially with the reluctant students, is one of the best ways to reduce reticence and encourage them to communicate. I am very excited when one of my students told about me that : “My teacher is so wonderful. For us, she is like a close friend who is always willing to give help and valuable knowledge”. 
3.3. Innovating seating arrangement in the classroom:
One of the important factors which create active participation of the students in
 the speaking lessons is arranging desks and chairs suitably so that students may
 feel more comfortable and motivated for oral activities. 
In the traditional arrangement, desks are placed in rows facing one direction. 
By this way, children are all asked to put their focus on a single point in the front of the room (and to the teacher). And they are discouraged from communicating with other students, whose backs are visible in front of them and whose faces are behind them. 
Due to the drawbacks of the traditional seating arrangement, when teaching speaking, I often apply some new ways of arranging desks and chairs as follows:
a. U-