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PRE-READING
AND POST-READING
ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE READING TEXTS
IN ENGLISH
11 TO ENHANCE ~- THE SPEAKING
.
SKILL OF THE ELEVENTH FORM STUDENTS
AT HIGHSCHOOL
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PRE-READING
AND POST-READING
ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE READING TEXTS
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SKILL OF THE ELEVENTH FORM STUDENTS
AT HIGHSCHOOL

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•

ABSTRACT

A

t present, method

o.fteaching speak~ng .skill has attrac~ed the a~ention

'of teachers of EnglIsh because of Its Important role m developmg the

speaking .skill of students especially highschool students. This study aimed
ascertaining the applicability

of teaching

speaking

skill

at

for the eleventh-form

students through the speaking activities before and after teaching the reading texts

in the book English 11. This study also focussed on designing the pre-reading and
post-reading

activities

reading comprehension
was carried

with a variety of techrIiques to make the learning of
more lively through oral practice.

used

in a real

eleventh-form class at Trung Vuong Highschool. Three questionnaires

were also

composed
research

out by the researcher and eight

to collect
revealed

indispensable

activities


Experimental teaching
were

the students' and teachers' opinions.
that the

students

m

the

The findings of the

investigation

recognized

the

role of speaking in their English learning and loved to have more

speaking

activities in their class after they participated

into the experimental

teaching


sessions. In the scope of this study, it is concluded

that the suggested

activities are possibly applied in teaching speaking to the eleventh-form

students

at the pre-reading and post-reading stage to enhance their speaking competence.


2

INTRODUCTION

I.

RATIONALE
According to the plan of the Ministry of Education and Training, the new set of

textbooks composed for pupils of the first form and the sixth form will be in use from
September 2002. Yen, V.D (2002) suggested that" this change not only brings about the
change in content of the textbooks but also the change in teaching methods. The
intellectual economy oriented by the market mechanism and socialism requires the young
generation to be.trained in-such a way that they will become qualified people who are able
to solve complicated problems in real life.
To have such competent people, the objectives of teaching are not only'providing
knowledge but also activities through which the learners can apply what they have learnt.
As a result, the learners can be active, creative in solving problems. This recognition is

true to the teaching of all levels of learners from elementary schools to highschools, to the
teaching of most of the subjects especially foreign languages such as English, French,
Chinese, Russian, etc.
As a trainee teacher of English as a second
interested
recognized

in teaching
from

speaking

the one-month

language,

skill to the highschool
internship

training

the researcher

students.

sessIOn

at

It was

Trung

is
also

Vuong

Highschool that speaking was the learners' need. Students were eager to learn how
to speak in Eng!ish fluently and naturally. The problem was how to bring the students
as many opportunities to practise speaking English as possible through speaking activities.
From the above reasons, the researcher chose the topic: "Pre-reading and post-reading
activities based on the reading texts in English II to enhance the speaking skill of the 11th
form students at highschool".

II.

LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE

2.1.1 The functions of oral practice in language learning
Formerly, English language learners paid little attention to oral language. They
spe~t most of the time in - training
minor part in learning. Written

the written language,

oral language plays a


language, according to Brown

& Yule (1983), is


3
the language of literature and of scholarship. It is the language which

admired,

IS

studied, and rich in excellent exemplification.
Together with new trends and new methods

language learning,

III

oral practice

IS

highly appreciated.

To speak fluently and confidently in a variety of situations

IS

a central human need and an important goal of education. Dr, P. (1996) claimed


that of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing),
intuitively the most important:
"speakers"

of that language,

people who know a language

speaking seems

are referred

to as

as if. speaking included all other kinds of knowing;

and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning
to speak.
Practice
practice.

in general

The main

is very important

aim of learning


language

III

learning especially oral

is not only to fully understand

knowledge

given. by teachers through lessons, books, activities, etc. in class but .also to make
such knowledge become the learners' own, then using it in reality. Thus, the role
of practice

in learning

IS

undeniable.

J. (1991)

Harmer,

stated

that

language


production allows students to rehearse language used in classroom conditions whilst
receiving feedback
which

(from the teachers,

from other students

allows them to adjust their perceptions

and from themselves)

of the language

input they have

received.
2.1.2

Oral practice through the application of pre-reading

and post-reading

activities in teaching English at highschools
In reality, speaking activities with their active characteristics
out as either pre-reading,
classrooms.

After


spending

while-reading
time

or post-reading

for reading,

students

can be carried

activities. in highschools'
will

be

tired

with

an

abundant of words and ideas. Their eyes need to relax and their minds want to be
free

from

working


and

working.

Speaking,

in

the

meantime,

is

a valuable

,.. assistance for teachers. Many useful and easy activities will exploit the reading text
to the full.
The most important
closer

to students.

understand

factor is that speaking activities will bring the lessons

If teachers


the lessons

thoroughly,

apply them

in class,

they

will

and make the class become

help

students

a warmer

where students can put into practice what they have learned. Thenceforth,

place

students

will have chances to get acquainted with working in pairs, in groups, or even in
certain circumstances

they will meet in their future career. Furthermore,


they will


4
be accustomed. to express themselves in public effectiyely
not least, through

speaking

and naturally. Last but

activities, students are engaged

in using the spoken

language, help them know how to communicate in real situations.
2.1.3 Characteristics

of a good oral activity

The most distinctive characteristic of a speaking time IS that learners have
much time for speaking to each other. Students use English
interact

III class

interviews,

etc..


characteristic

through
Dr,

activities

P. (1996)

of a successful

such

as

games,

to communicate

role-plays,

considered learners' talk

as

the

or


discussions,

first

important

speaking activity. She also stated that most of the

time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by the learners' talk. 'Speaking'
activities in which learners listen to the teacher more than talking to themselves
are not good oral activities. Speaking time is for learners

because

they need to

Improve their skills but not their teachers.
Another
learners

characteristic

of a good oral activity

in class is even. Not only do teachers

IS the participation

invest


brilliant students take control the classroom discussion,

of the

time in activity or just

but also,

according to Dr,

P. (1996), all of students get a chance to speak, and contributions

should be fairly

distributed.
Teachers' motivation during the activity IS the next characteristic
speaking activity. This one requires the most effort from teachers
actively join in the activity. Dr, P. (1996) highlighted
speak if they are interested in the topic and have

of a good

to help learners

that learners are eager to

something new to say about it,

or if they want to contribute to achieving a task objective.
The final characteristic


of the good oral activity is it should create a place

for every student to talk freely without hesitation or in fear of making mistakes in
performing.

In a speaking activity, "Success, incidentally, does not mean perfection!

A class may engage successfully with language practice in groups, where mistakes
do occasionally
'volume'

occur, but most

are

acceptable

and a large

of practice is achieved" (Dr, 1996, p.22).

2.1.4 Teacher's
Most

role in organizing a speaking activity

language

communication.

front

of the utterances

of class?

students

have

Yet, what prevents
Brown,

D. (1994)

realized

the

major

them from speaking
assumed

that one

part

of


speaking

III

and expressing ideas III
of the major

obstacles

learners have to overcome in learning to speak is the anxiety generated over the


5
risks of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible.

Because of

the language ego that informs people that "you are what you speak", learners are
reluctant to be judged by hearers. Thus, the first main role of teachers m an oral
activity

is to create a "relaxed

(Trang,

1999, pAO)

and friendly atmosphere

and teachers


are co-operators

in class or m group"

to warm up the activities, to

make learners eager to speak English in class.
Sometimes,
children

in training a skill, teachers figure as parents

babbling

sounds

before

beginning

to say actual

in teaching their

words.

"Mothers

and


fathers tend to simplify the language they use so that the children can more or
less understand

it. They .do not simplify

however, using only certain

their

language

m any preci~e way,

structures; rather they get the level of their language

more or less right for the child's

level of understanding:

there are similarities m

the way people talk to "foreigners"

(Harmer, 1991,p.34).

Teachers, thereby, are to

assist learners in increasing


their chances of success and the effectiveness

of the

practice activity. Ur, P. (1996) supposed that such assistance may take the form of
allowing
hints

plenty

of time to think, of making the answers

and guiding questions,

of confirming beginnings

easier through

of responses

giving

in order to

encourage continuations.
In conclusion, the teacher is an assistant as well as a cooperator to exploit
the students' ability in expressing themselves in class to the full.

2.2


SOME

KNOWLEDGE

TEACHING

CURRENT

SITUATION

IN

reflected

that

in many highschools

m Viet Nam,

the

language teaching method is applied. After each reading

often let students
students'

THE

SPEAKING AT HIGHSCHOOLS


Trang, H.T. (1999)
traditional

ABOUT

translate

the text into Vietnamese

text, teachers

to consolidate

and evaluate

understanding. Students keep silent and work hard to finish their task. The

students have no chance to practise speaking in class.
As far as language learning is concerned, nowadays,
m language
practice.

learning

Teachers

importance

has


shifted

and learners

of communication

away from grammatical

of English as a second
in the learning process

the balance of power
practice
language

towards

oral

appreciate

the

and in real life. For the

demands of being able to express themselves in front of a crowd, interacting with
foreigners and

getting well-paid jobs, people rush into English Teaching Centers


with the hope that they will be the positive elements in communicating

in real life


6
if they can manage the language skills, especially the speaking skill. Students in
highschools

are no exception:

English Speaking Clubs, English Teaching

Centers

are really attractive places for them to train their speaking skill at their desire. One
of the reasons is time reserved for speaking

III

classroom

is not enough for our

students to practise the English language.
Considering the content of th;: textbook English 11, it has been realized that
teachers can and should apply some speaking activities to encourage the ability of
using oral language for our students through pre-reading and post-reading


activities.

Most of the lessons in the .book English 11 which contain useful basic knowledge
about computer science, advertising. sports, etc. can provide many interesting topics
for speaking activities.
So,

speaking

",

activities

are

cet1ainly

necessary

to

satisfy

the

need of

interacting in English among our highschool students now.
III.


OBJECTIVES
From

the

researcher's

awareness of the change in the syllabus and teaching

methods, the learners' need and from the reality of teaching English at highschools,
this research was done aiming

at

+ Searching for knowledge of the current situation

III

teaching speaking,

an imp0l1ant skill in language learning among the 11th form students
at Trung Vuong Highschool.

+ Ascertaining the applicability of oral practice at the pre-reading and
post-reading

th

stage in teaching English to the 11


form students at

highschools.
Two hypotheses were also formed as follows

+ Both the

11th form teachers and students

are aware of the necessity

and the importance of speaking skill.

+

Teachers can apply the speaking activities at the pre-reading

and post-

reading stage when they teach the reading texts to improve the students'
speaking skill.
IV.

SUBJECTS
The target population of the study was the eleventh-form

Vuong Highschool,

students in Trung


where the researcher had spent one -month internship training

session as a trainee teacher.


7

Two groups of eleventh -fonn
investigation.

students

were

invited

to take part in the

The first group (Group A) consisted of 104 students

classes 11AlO and 11A11. Until now, these students have
years, first at different

studied English for five

secondary schools and then at Trung Vuong Highschool.

Most of the students were in their 17; only four of

them were 18 years old.


During the time they studied at Trung Vuong Highschool,
the same textbook

these students have used

for English as those in other highschools

taught them applying

from the two

the Audio-Lingual

population was quite homogeneous

Method.

and their teachers

The assumption

was that. this

in their level as they were taught English in the

7-year training programme.'
The second group of partIcIpants

.


.

(Group B) was 52 students

from class

11AlO. It was one of the two classes in Group A. Speaking activities designed for
Unit One (Motion Pictures), Unit Two (Advertising), Unit Three (Everybody's Jogging)
and Unit Four (Mathematics) were taught for this class in the experimental teaching
sessIOns.
Finally,

10 teachers

in charge of teaching

students in Trung Vuong Highschool,

voluntarily

English

for the eleventh-form

participated

in the investigation.

Among them, the youngest one was 29 years old and the oldest one was 60. Most

of them had graduated from the University

of Education

who were graduates of an in-service training programme.
been in charge

of teaching

English

except for two teachers
Some of them have ever

for the two groups

of students

mentioned

above. Their English teaching

experience ranged from 2 years to 35 years. This

shows that they have been

trained

and taught


English

with

different

methods and they have, more or less, applied the latest methodology

teaching

in their own

classes. Therefore, it was expected that they would provide valuable opinions about
teaching speaking skill through different kinds of activities in class. It is. reasonable
to highly appreciate their opinions drawn from their own teaching experience.

v.

SCOPE
The study

designed

by

focused

the

English 11. All


on applying

some pre-reading and post-reading

activities

investigator before and after teaching the reading texts in the book
of

these

activities

were

to

provide

the

11th

form

students

opportunities to speak EnglishJ a skill which was identified as being of importance
and necessity


in language

-

learning

-

and in practical

use nowadays. Through the


8

i

experiment~ the applicability of these activities in the syllabus for Eng;ish 1 would be
taken into consideration.
VI.

METHODOLOGY
The researcher had followed these research methods: collecting

and studying

materials in language teaching methodology, observing, using questionnaires to collect
data, and using tables to present the results.
6.1 Materials

Three questionnaires (A, B and C) were designed and delivered to the teachers
and the students involved in the research at Trung Vuong Highschool.
Questionnaire A (Appendix 1) was delivered
consisted

to the students

of Group A. It

of 9 clos.ed and open-ended questions. The first five questions

collecting information
learned speaking

about students' attitude towards oral practice

skills in their own classes.

aimed at

and how they

The next three questions

were to

check students' self-practice outside the class. The last question allowed the students
to express their own opinions freely. It was intended to know about the students'
need and requirements for improving their speaking skills.
There were also closed and open-ended questions in Questionnaire B (Appendix

1) for the teachers. This questionnaire was to learn the teachers' opinions about the
role of oral practice and the possibility of applying speaking activities for the 11th
form students at Trung Vuong Highschool.
Questionnaire C (Appendix 1) included 4 questions for the students who took
part

in the

experimental

teaching

sessions. This was aimed at learning about the

students' attitude towards the pre-reading and post-reading
opinions

to contribute

to the experimental

teaching

activities,

sessions

and their own

and the activities


applied. This questionnaire was given to the students at the end of the experimental
teaching sessions.
Questionnaire

A

and

Questionnaire

C were

delivered

to

students

and

collected right after the students had finished their answers. The students had also
been noticed that their opmlOns were highly appreciated

and they could express

their ideas at their desire.
6.2 Procedure
First, three questionnaires


were designed

for the two classes of the 11th

form students and the 11th form teaching staff in Trung Vuong Highschool. Then,
Questionnaire A was delivered to two classes, l1AI0

and llAl1.


9
Second, under the permIssIon of the teachers in charge of Class llAIO
Trung Vuong Highschool,

the experimental

teaching

at

sessions were carried out

four weeks, two periods per week (45 minutes for each period). The research

III

doer

taught these students the reading text in Unit One, Two, Three and Four and applied
some speaking activities at the beginning and at the end of each lesson. As mentioned

above, the students

received

Questionnaire

C, answered

the questions

and gave

them back to the researcher.
Questionnaire B was delivered

to them and collected

within

two weeks

at

convenient times for both the teachers and the research doer. Finally, data from the
three questionnaires were collected and analyzed .
.6.3 Data Treatment
In this. study, simple calculations will be used to treat the data. The responses in the
three questionnaires were counted to find out the percentage of each option in relation to
the total number of the students and teachers. The results will be presented in tables.



10

.~

CONTENT
CHAPTER

ONE

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, data collected from the questionnaires for the teachers and the
eleventh-form

students in Trung Vuong Highschool will be presented in tables and

followed by the researcher's
Results

1.1

discussion.

of Questionnaire

a. The students'

A

attitude towards oral practice in learning English

Results (%)

Answers
a. Extremely necessary.

57.7%

b. Necessary

43.3%
0%

. c. Not very necessary

3.84%

a. Oral practice helps me to speak English naturally.
b. It

helps

me

to' become

communication

in English.

more


self-confident

III

16.34%

c. I can use English at my desire.

6.73%'

d. All of the above.

73.1%

Table l. Students' Attitude Towards Oral Practice in Learning English
As seen from Table

I, all of the eleventh-form

students

in Trung Vuong

Highschool (100%) agreed that oral practice is necessary in leaming English. 73.1 %
had the positive attitude towards oral practice as it helped them to become more
,~

self-confident


in communication

in English (16.34%), to use English at their desire

(6.73%) as well as to speak English naturally (3.84%). Clearly, the findings agreed
with the standpoint that high school students the demand of expressing themselves in
English.

Classroom

activities

that develop

through speech would therefore
course (Ur, 1996).

learners' ability to express

seem to be an important component

themselves

of a language


11

b. The current situation


in learning

the speaking

skill of Class llAIO

at Trung

Vuong Highschool

Answers

Result (%)

After each English lesson.
Once a week.
Occasionally.
Never.
Topics learnt in English 11 textbook.
Topics suggested by your teacher.
Topics that the students are interested in.
Pairwork.
Groupwork.
and Answers between teacher and
Questions
st).J.dents.
d.. AILof the above.

35.6%
4.8%

50.96%
8.65%
57.69%
26.92%
15.38%
16.34%
2.88%
47.11%

a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.

Table 2. Oral Practice in Class llAIO

34.61%

at Trung Vuong Highschool

Although oral practice is necessary and important in learning a language as
we found in Table 1, there were not many speaking activities applied in English
language class by most highschool teachers. It can be easily realized through the
answers of the students when being asked about how they practised speaking. More

than

half

occasionally

of

the

students

used in English

(50.96%)

revealed

that

lessons.

Only 35.6%

speaking

supposed

activities


were

they had speaking

activities after each English lesson. And the topics that they had usually talked
about

were

comparison

the

ones

they

had

learnt

III

English

11 textbook

with 26.92% for topics suggested by their teachers,

(57.69%)


III

and 15.38% for

topics that they were . interested in. The most commonly used speaking activity in
their class was Questions and Answers between the teacher and students (47.11%).
The frequent use of this type of oral practice caused misunderstanding

in students'

conception of speaking activities. They assumed that they were really engaged in
oral practice whereas these were likely to be a kind of practice to consolidate their
reading comprehension

skill.

So, according to Lynch, T. (1996), there
teacher

and learners,

IS

actually some interaction between

but only in the sense that each speaking

tum


from the

teacher is followed by one from an individual pupil or with a choral response.
There is little communication;

.the questions

the teacher asks require

that she knows in advance. She asks them in order to confirm
know what she thinks they know!

When a

leamer's

response

a response

that the pupils
goes beyond the


12
narrow limits of the desired answer, she refuses to accept it. Thus, this finding is
concordant with Lam's

(2001) that a lot of highschool


English to answer their teachers'
speaking
However,

activities

confessed

(55%) just used

questions. In the teachers' viewpoint, this type of

may be good

the students

students

for students

to improve

that they were bored

their

with

speaking


skill.

this daily practice

because they had done it automatically by their teachers' request.
So, what did the students do to activate their speaking ability?
the questions 6, 7 and 8 in Questionnaire

Results of

A will answer this question. 62.5% of

students told that they sometimes practised speaking outside class; 24.03% practised
speaking in English Language Centers around the city; 11.53% in English Speaking
Clubs around the city, or any places where there were English-speaking
such as coffee-shops, bars, etc (16.34%).45.19%

people \

spoke English at home with their

friends. However, trying to find a place where they could use the language did not
become a habit as the majority of these students (84.6%)

just sometimes did so

when they had spare time. A small number of students (6.73%) practised speaking
English regularly, once a week. Neither inside nor outside the classroom
eleventh-form


did the

students at Trung Vuong Highschool practised English regularly and

sufficiently.
c. Students' suggestions to improve their speaking skill
Answers

Results (%)

1. More time for practising speaking in class. /"
2. Extra-curricular activities such as English speaking club,
etc.
3. Combining English learning with games, songs. 4. More time for practising speaking skill in lab.
5. English interaction in English periods.
6. Topics should be close to daily life. .7. More topics for speaking. 8. Communicating with foreigners in English periods.
9. Creating a natural atmosphere for speaking. 10. Listening and speaking activities based on the topics In
the book English 11.
11. Organizing groups of friends to study together.
12. More speaking, less writing and writing test.
13. More interacting with foreigners.
14. Practising pronunciation. 15. Practisin listenin and s eakin
-

37.49%
20.19%
17.3%
16.34%
10.57%
8.64%

7.69%
7.69%
5.76%
4.8%
4.8%
3.84%
2.88%
2.88%
2.88%

Table 3. Students' Suggestions to Improve the Speaking Skill


13

The results of the open-ended
the eleventh-form
different

question on students' suggestions

to improve

students' speaking skill are displayed in Table 3. The students had

suggestions

and most of them (81.71%) would like to be given more oral

practice to enhance their speaking skill. The findings match the viewpoint that speaking

in foreign language has often been \iewed as the most demanding

of the four skills

(Bailey & Savage, 1994).
The most noticeable suggestions muong these were "spending more time for
speaking activities, having more extra-curricular
Clubs, spending
topics

more time to

for speaking,

activities such as English Speaking

practise English

in the laboratory,

etc." The last three suggestions

having

may be derived

reality in which these students had to learn English in a monotonous

more


from the.
way

with

repeated text types and task types. Lam. C.T (2001) found that many Vietnamese
students have considered

their Engl ish class to be not interesting

enough or even

boring. How can they acquire the language well if they get bored with it? Students
also needed more time for practising speaking in lab. In fact, time in lab is very
interesting to most students. In lab. they have opportunities to touch modem audiovisual

facilities,

to

reach

the

native

.

speakers' voice


through

CDs,

cassettes,

videotapes, etc.
Moreover,
English

periods

they

set forth their requirement

and combine

learning with games

7.69% hoped to communicate
(1995) discovered

to interact

in English

and English

with foreigners in English periods.


during

songs. Besides,
As Lewis, M.

when he analyzed .?tudents' need, the students really wanted to

be able to speak and listen in real situations. It is time for high-schools

teachers

made their lessons more vivid by such a kind of activities.
In addition, students also suggested such interesting opinions
should

pay attention

creating a comfortable

that the teacher

to when they wanted to apply any speaking
atmosphere

study together. Other suggestions

for speaking,

organizing


activity,

e.g

groups of friends to

sllch as practising pronunciation.

more interacting

with foreigners do not take up very high frequency.
1.2 Results of Questionnaire
a. The current

situation

B

in teaching the speaking skill in Class HAlO at Trung

Vuong Highschool
The result of the first question
of oral practice in language

idS

us know the teachers' opinion about the role

learning and teaching. 100% eleventh-form


teachers

in


14
Trung Vuong Highschool

agreed that oral practice was very important and certainly

necessary. Hereby, training the speaking skill could not be neglected in the syllabus
for English. Other findings are displayed in Table 4.
Results(%)

Answers

0%
70%
0%
30%
30%
40%
10%
20%
30%
20%
50%
50%
90%


Once a week.
Sometimes.
Never.
Other(s)
15 minutes.
20 minutes.
45 minutes.
Other(s)
Pairwork.
Groupwork. .
Questions and Answers.
Other(s)
The activities were designed based on the English
lessons from English 11 textbook.
b. The activities were collected from other books.
c. The activities were topics suggested by your students.

a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.

a.

0%
10%

Table 4. Oral Practice in Teachers' Own Classes

The results in Table 4 allow us to know the ways that oral practice was
administered in the teachers' own classes. At the pre-reading and post-reading stage, oral
practice was sometimes applied by 70% of the teachers. Speaking skill is a drill which
requires time the more the better to practise. As cited in the Literature Review, Harmer,
J.(1991) proposed that language has to be acquired as a result of some deeper experience.
This point of view suggested that the teacher should give much time and many chances
for training language learners by being in the habits of using that language. However, the
finding shows that most of the teachers did not have plans for helping their students train
speaking

skill adequately to keep it in the balance with the other skills such as reading

X

and writing.
90% of the teachers based on the reading texts in the

textbook to design the

speaking activities. But they merely reached the Questions and Answers technique in their
self-designed
•


activities. Only in 50% of the teachers had ever tried to organize the

speaking activities as pairwork or groupwork .
About time for each speaking activity, 70% informed that they saved from 15 to 20
minutes for oral practice after each lesson. This is quite understandable

as the objectives


15
of the syllabus for

English

in highschool is to train students' ability of reading and

writing well.
b. Teachers'

Difficulties in Applying Speaking Activities in Their Classes
Results (%)

Answers

•
•

•

•

•
•
•

•

•

20%
30%
10%

Students are passive .
Students lacked vocabulary .
Activities will make nOIse which affects the classes
nextdoor.
Students can't speak English correctly or fluently .
The reading text wastes a lot of time .
Big classes with over.50 students .
Students speak softly .
Students' level.
Time is'not enou~ .
Table 5. Teachers'

10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%


Difficulties in Applying Speaking Activities

Actually highschool teachers faced a lot of difficulties when they wanted to
apply

the

speaking

passiveness

activities

in their classes. These

were

students'

in speaking, the difference in students' levels, the learning conditions,

and the syllabus. Those teachers felt that their
speaking

difficulties

activities

students were not active enough' in


and they often spoke too softly. Many

questions

should be

made at this point. For example, why were the students so passive in oral practice
? Was

it because

the activities

were

difficult

to them;

or the topics were not

appealing; or the studerits were not provided with enough guidance from their teachers,
etc.?
The teachers also complained about the students' level of English. They thought
eleventh - form students lacked vocabulary

and they could not speak correctly and

fluently. However, they seem to be over-worried as students at any grade may confront

with these difficulties. Only aiming at the good students

and forgetting the others who

also need stimulus and help is also a matter of concern to most teachers. Above all, it is
the teacher who makes their students active in speaking, who helps to provide vocabulary
and who guides them to speak correctly and fluently.
Some teachers found it hard to organize speaking activities in big classes with over
th

th

50 students. It is really uneasy to any highschool teachers either at 10 form or 11 form .
or lih

form

since all the classes are big. Teachers were also afraid that organizing

speaking activities would make

nOIse which would affect the neighbouring classes

/

--_/


16
and


that

they did not have enough time for such activities as they had to cover the

reading texts in the book English 11 and other required exercises. Because

of

the

difficulties mentioned above, the effectiveness of oral practice was decreased. The result
was the bright students got bored, the weak ones were ashamed to reveal their bad points
when they speak, and the teachers seemed to lose heart and put speaking activities away.
c. Teachers'

Suggestions to Improve the 11 th Form Students'

Speaking Skill
Results (%)

Answers
a.
b.
c.
a.
b.
c.
d.


•
•
•

•

•
•
•
•

•

•
•

One speaking activity
Two speaking activity
Other(s).
Pairwork.
GroupworlC.
Oral.presentation.
Other(s).
Inviting native English teacher.
Creating comfortable atmosphere .
Making students produce hislher own words.
Making more questions based on the textbook for students to discuss.
Speaking examinations.
Having more time for speaking.
Sub-topics related to the topic of the reading texts .

Free talks .
The number of students is small about 15-20 students .
Testing should be changed .
Students should be grouped in the same level.

.

20%
80%
0%
30%
50%
20%
10%
10%
10%
10%
10%
20%
10%
10%
10%
20%
10%
10%

Table 6. Teachers' Suggestions to Improve the 11th Form Students' Speaking Skill
80% of the teachers would like to have 2 speaking activities for a reading at
the pre-reading and post-reading


stage. 50% of the teachers thought

groupwork was

the best activity that should be applied to large classes. 30% chose pairwork.. 80%
agreed that groupwork

and pairwork were suitable to large classes at high-schools.

Because Lam, C.T (2001) found that groupwork and pairwork have already been used
for a long time, we should use these types of activity m organizing the classroom
for oral practice.
The
changes

eleventh-form

in the syllabus,

teachers
testing

in Trung

Vuong

Highschool

expected


some

forms and class size in order to improve the

speaking skill of highschool students. In their opinion, more time should be given
so that they can help the students practise speaking. Next, sub-topics related to the
topic of the reading texts should be provided in the textbooks. Classes should have


.1

17
from 15. to 20 students of the same level of English. Considering

class SIze, the

ideal number of 15 to 20 students was hardly found in highschools.
wanted

to have

speaking

The teachers

examinations. The problem is if students just study for the

exams and teachers teach to help their students pass the exams, the aim of learning might
be far away from the objectives


of the learning process.

Teachers

should remember

that students learn not to cope with examinations, but to acquire knowledge and training
skills.
1.3

Comparison between the results of Questionnaire A and Questionnaire B

It is interesting to find that there are some similarities and differences in the
teachers'

and the students' opinions

towards

oral practice

in learning

English at

highschool.
About"the similarities, first, both the students and the teachers agreed that oral
practice is necessary

even extremely necessary


in English

learning

and teaching.

This shows that both groups have the same interest in developing the speaking skill in
learning

English. To the students, through speaking activities, they can speak English

more naturally, thus become more self-confident in communication

in English, and

especially, they can use English at their desire. The teachers, also paid proper attention to
their students'

need of speaking through their application

of pairwork,

groupwork,

questions and answers exercises in class.
Second, time is also a matter of concern to both groups. While the teachers claimed
that time was not enough for them to organize speaking activities, the learners did need
time for practising


speaking. As known from these highschool teachers,

they totally

had 3 periods (45 minutes each) for English every week and the teachers had to complete
all the lessons in the required textbook. However, they can still deal with this shortage of
time through short speaking activities.
Third, both groups would like to renovate testing the English subject. They wanted
to have speaking tests and less writing tests. Finally, both the teachers and the students
longed for learning English with native speakers.
However, there are some differences. in their 0pIIDons as follows. First, the
students had more practical

and useful suggestions towards improving their speaking

competence. For example, they proposed learning speaking in class, in the laboratory or in
groups outside class, or they preferred speaking topics which were close to their daily life.
They also suggested interesting activities for oral practice such as games and songs
in English. They even wished for practice in not only speaking but pronunciation and


18
listening as well. Although

some of their suggestions

cannot be satisfied

at the


moment, they are of value for their teachers' consideration and application.
The teachers tended to cling to the topics in their textbooks and to traditional
activities such as questions and answers in oral practice;

some offered free talks which

were likely to be out of their control in large classes.
1.4

Results of Questionnaire

j

C
Results (%)

Answers
a.
b.
c.
d.

5.8%
17.3%
71.2%
5.8%

Interesting.
Not very interesting.
Useful.

Not '(ery usefu.l.

11.53%
13.5%
69.23%
13.5%
51.92%
5.8%
3.84%

a. I spoke English a lot.
b.. I spoke English more than I used to do in class.
c. I iust listened to my friends.
a. I didn't use to speak in English lessons.
b. I didn't have enough vocabulary.
c. There wasn't enough time for every student to speak.
d. The activity was too difficult for me.

Table 7. Students' Opinions About the Experimental Teaching Sessions
To some extent, the experimental teaching sessions in which some speaking
activities were applied at the pre-reading

and

post-reading stage were successfully

carried out. The students either joined in the activity or listened to their friend discussing
in their groups. Most of the students thought the pre-reading and post-reading activities as
oral practice were useful even though it seemed to be not very interesting to some of them.
The majority of-these


students just listened to their friends in the discussion

(69.23%). On explaining their passive participation in the discussion, they had different
reasons such as they did not have enough vocabulary (51.92%); or they did not use to
speak in English lessons (13.5%); or there was not enough

time for every student to

speak (5.8 %), or the activity was difficult for them (3.84 %).
This was perhaps the first time they were engaged in such a speaking activity in
their class. They used to have reading, writing activities and mainly work individually.
Groupwork may be new to them and so little experience in group-working prevented them
from being as active as expected. Nevertheless, the students'
experimental teaching sessions brought

suggestions

after the

the investigator many benefits in designing and

applying speaking activities at the pre-reading and post-reading stage. Here are some of
their suggestions:


19
•

Teacher should guide some activities more thoroughly.


17.3%

•

Providing more vocabulary for students.

15.4%

•

Students like those activities, teachers should apply more

9.61%

activities in class.
•

Teachers

should give presents to stimulate

students

to

9.61%

participate in the activity.
•


Students should participate in the activity more actively.

40.36%

The students suggested many interesting and relevant ideas towards improving the
activities in the experimental teaching sessions. First,

17.3% needed the teacher to give

more guidance to some activities. This suggestion reminds the teachers that whenever
starting an activity, the guidance from the teachers should be specific and understandable.
If so, the students will find the activity easier to take part in. Second, vocabulary seems to
worry the students as 15.4% suggested to be provided with more vocabulary together with
the activity. In fact, vocabulary is always a big problem to any student when they speak a
foreign language. Lack of vocabulary may cause lack of interest in participation. Thus, the
requirement of increasing the stock of vocabulary should be taken into consideration by
the teachers. Games once again were suggested as an activity that could strengthen their
speaking skill and making the class hours more enjoyable. A small number of students
preferred speaking activities with pictures, presenting in front of the class, etc. Moreover,
in order to encourage students, they would like their teachers to give presents to stimulate
them to take part in the activity (9.61 %).
Students also have suggestions for themselves. Some students really enjoyed the
speaking activities and they hoped their teachers would

apply more similar activities in

class. Lewis, M. (1995) has ever found that people need to use language in order to learn
it. In a language class there should be opportunities for speaking in various ways. Many
students


(40,36%) were even more demanding as they wanted to see their friends

participate in the activity more actively.
On the whole, either the students who joined the discussion actively or those who
just stood aside listening to and observing their friends accepted speaking activities as
ways to strengthen their speaking competence and expected their teachers of English to
help them more in the future.


l

20

CHAPTER TWO
SOME DESIGNED PRE-READING AND
."pOST-READING ACTIVITIES FOR ORAL PRACTICE
2.1

Description

of the suggested

pre-reading

and post-reading

activities

Totally, sixteen speaking activities were especially designed for the pre-reading

and post-reading stage. The activities include the following parts:
o 1. Level: All of activities are for the eleventh-form students at high-schools. The
activities are based on the topics in the book English 11.
2. Aim,s: These activities aimed at helping the 'students
. (i)

. strengthen their competence in speaking English.

(ii)

be

able to use the vocabulary stock and some grammar points in the

reading texts . ..(iii)

widen their common knowledge about the social life.

{iv)

get acquainted with many communicative situations they may cope with in
the future through games and activities.

Besides, each activity will focus on particular aims depending on their types, the
(tOPiC~ imd the content of the lessons.
3. Time: The pre-reading activities are carried out in 5 to 7 minutes. The postreading activities are carried out in 15 to 20 minutes . ./
4.

Preparation


time: It is variable. Some activities require from 15 minutes to

more than 60 minutes to prepare.
5.

Materials:

The materials needed for the activity such as charts, pictures,

photos, etc. can

be

collected from numerous

sources, I.e. newspapers,

magazines, or they can be self-designed, etc.
6. Procedure:

This will be stated to help the teacher in implementing the activity

in their class. .
2.2

The commonly-used
Through

\


speaking

activities

books on methodology,

through

the investigator's

observation

on

speaking activities in classroom and through the current situation of teaching English in
highschools, speaking activities can be roughly divided into three main types: groupwork,
pairwork and games. Various techniques can be manipulated
. designing a speaking activity.

by

a

teacher

when


21 .


a. Painvork
~Pairwork seems to be a good idea because it immediately increases the amount of
students in practice. If we refer back to our imaginary class of forty students, we can see
that at anyone

time (in an oral pairwork exercise) twenty students are talking at once

instead of one (in Questions-Answers between the teacher and the students individually).
(Pairwork allows students to use the target language (depending of course on the task set
by the teacher) and also encourages student co-operation, which is itself important for the
atmosphere of the class. Students can help each other to use and learn language. The
teacher will still be able to act as a prompter or controller. With pairwork, students can
practise language use and joint learning (Harmer, 1991). In class, students usually have to
work together to solve the problems that their teachers raised. Thus, this activity is quite
familiar with them. Especially, in English learning, difficult questions always remind
students that only working with friends can help them overcome obstacles easily and
effectively.
b. Groupwork
Groupwork is one of the most frequently used activities in oral practice. Students
will work in groups, sharing ideas and discussing to find out the answers or solutions to
the problems raised in each topic. This kind of activity has a strong point that each student
has equal chance to talk and express ideas. According to Harmer (1991),

groupwork is

more dynamic than pairwork, i.e. there are more people to react with and against in a
group and, therefore, there is a greater possibility of discussion. Working in groups is
potentially more relaxing than working in pairs) for the latter puts a greater demand on the
student~s ability to co-operate closely with only one other person. It is also true to say that
groupwork tasks can often be more exciting and dynamic than some pairwork tasks.

However, teachers should have careful plans to control all the groups, for example, they
must go around the class to encourage students to speak in English, if not, they may speak
in their mother tongue or just chit-chat.
c. Games
Harmer, J. (1991) claimed that games are a vital part ofa teacher's equipment, not
only for the language practice they provide, but also for the therapeutic effect they have.
They can be used at any stage of a class to provide an amusing respite. They are especially
useful at the end of a long day to send the students away feeling cheerful about their
English class. In a game-like activity, we can divide students in pairs or in groups
depending on the topic or the activity the teacher designed.

/'


22
2.3

Suggested

techniques

for the speaking activities at the pre-reading

and post-

reading stage
a. Observing pictures and answering questions
A lot of pictures will be given or delivered to the students by the teacher at
the beginning


of the speaking

discuss by answering

activity. When observing

given questions

and expressing

the pictures,

students will

ideas on people. things or

events in those pictures.
Example 1: Unit Two -Advertising - English 11 (Appendix 2)
Pictures of different kinds of motorcycles were collected from newspapers and
magazines and stuck on the- blackboard. Each group of students will observe the picnlres
and answer questions as done in the first example for a discussion. After that, each group
will have two representatives to perform in front of the class.
b. Story-telling with pictures
This activity requires the number of students in each group is equal to the number
of pictures used. Students in a group receive some pictures and try to arrange them in a
proper order. Then, group members take tum telling about what happening in the pictures
to make a complete story.
Example: Unit Nine - Steamboat Coming - English 11.
Pictures of people and the steamboat on the wharf will be delivered to groups of
four students. All the members have to work to create a short story using all four pictures.

c. Values clarifying
Values clarifying helps us to discover somethirrg about ourselves, people and
things around us (Klipp Ie, 1984, p.88).
Example: Unit Five - Artificial Intelligence - English 11 (Appendix 2)
a-v....

Students work in groups to find out the true values of computer in our society by

discussing and deciding.

/'

d. Miming
Miming exercises train the students'

skill of observation

and improvisation.

Miming exercises are useful because they emphasize the importance of gesture and facial
expresslOn in communication.

(Klipp Ie, 1984, p. 115). Language in practice through

questions
Example :Unit Seven - Women's Liberation - English 11
Students in pairs will receive a card. There will be a thing that one student of each
pair must describe and act out without using the words given on the card. The partner will



23
have to listen to, observe and guess what it is. He/She can put questions to find out the
information on the card.
e. Ranking
This technique requires students to put a certain number of items from a given list
into an order of importance or preference. Then in a discussion, the students explain or
defend their choices in pairs or small groups (Klippel,1984, p. 58).
Example: Unit Six -The Pharmacist - English 11 (Appendix 2)
Students work in pairs to find out as many jobs as possible, then, write them on a
piece of paper. Students have to rank the job according to the importance or preference
and state their reasons.
f.

Guessing

This activity is(). kind of games. Klippel (1984) assured that everybody knows
guessing games. Not only children but also adults like guessing as observed from many
popular TV programmes such as "Duong len dinh Olympia","

Chiec non ky dieu",

etc .. Both chance and skill (in asking the right questions) play a part in finding the
solution. They are generally liked by students of all ages because they combine language
practice with fun and excitement.
Example: Unit Three - Everybody's Jogging - English 11 (Appendix 2)
To begin the activity, teachers show pictures of different sports and tell their
names. Then, one member of a pair or a group has to choose one of the sport and write its
name on a piece of paper, fold it and hide it. Another in the pair or the group make only 5
questions to find out which sports that his/ her friends want to conceal.
g. Describing pictures

Students will sit in groups to describe what a picture looks like.
Example -Unit One: Motion Pictures - English 11 (Appendix 2)
Each group has a poster. They have 5 minutes to say as many sentences as they
can to describe it. One member will be the secretary of each group to take notes on a piece
of paper. Then, groups report how many sentences they have made in 5 minutes.
h. Problem solving
Everyday, we have to find out the solution to many problems in life. For example,
we may discuss with family members to find a suitable job, whether we should study
abroad or not, etc. Such problems can provide many interesting topics for students in
speaking activities. According to Klippel (1984), in some ways these activities are similar
to ranking exercises because, like them, they generate discussions of the importance or