VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
----------o0o----------

NGUYỄN THỊ NGA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND
CONSTRAINTS ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS AT PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY
Nghiên cứu những thuận lợi và trở ngại trong lớp học của việc dạy và học nói
tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Phương Đông

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2015


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
----------o0o----------

NGUYỄN THỊ NGA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND
CONSTRAINTS ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS AT PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

Nghiên cứu những thuận lợi và trở ngại trong lớp học của việc dạy và học nói
tiếng Anh tại trường Đại học Phương Đông

M.A. MINOR PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Le Van Canh, PhD

Hanoi, 2015


DECLARATION
I, Nguyễn Thị Nga, K22 being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts hereby
certify that this minor thesis entitled AN INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSROOM
OPPORTUNITIES FOR AND CONSTRAINTS ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT
PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

is completely the result of my own work for the Degree of

Master at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other
university or institution.
Hanoi, December 8th , 2015
Candidate

Nguyễn Thị Nga

i



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement
and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and
appreciation.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor, Assoc. Prof Le Van Canh, Ph.D for his continuous support, his
patience, motivation and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the
time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a
better supervisor for my thesis.
Secondly, I would like to send my thanks to all lectures and the staff of the
Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International
Studies of Vietnam National University Hanoi for their useful materials,
instructions and enthusiasm which are of great importance to this thesis.
My special thanks also go to my colleagues and students of Phuong Dong
University whose valuable advice, tremendous assistance and cooperation are
indispensable for the thesis. Without their help, this study could not have been
fulfilled.
I find myself indebt to my beloved family- my parents, my husband, my
sisters and brothers and all my friends who have always stood for me with their
consideration and encouragements to help me overcome all problems to complete
this thesis.
Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my readers for
their concern, interest and comments for this study.

ii


ABSTRACT

This thesis aims at investigating the classroom opportunities for and
constraints on the teaching and learning of speaking skills of non-major students
at Phuong Dong University. Specifically, the study has been conducted in the
form of a survey research with three instruments: the classroom observation, the
questionnaire and the interview. The participants are 70 non-major students and
3English teachers from Phuong Dong University. The data revealed that students
of Phuong Dong University experience certain opportunities as well as
difficulties from themselves and from their teachers when taking part in speaking
activities and techniques given by their teachers during speaking lessons. Some
recommendations to overcome the difficulties are also given in the thesis.
It is hoped that this thesis will be useful for both teachers and students of
Phuong Dong University in their teaching and learning of English speaking
skills.

iii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Students’ English learning history
Table 2: Students’ general opinions on language skills
Table 3: Students’ opinions on speaking skill
Table 4: Students’ assessment of their speaking skills
Table 5: Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking lessons
Table 6: Students’ participation in speaking class
Table 7: Tteachers’’ instructions in speaking class
Table 8: Teachers’ mistake correction
Table 9: Students’ opportunities in speaking activities during speaking lessons
Table 10: Students’ difficulties in speaking activities during speaking lessons

iv



TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

DECLARATION ........................................................................................................ i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... iv
PART I: INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................1
1. Rationale ................................................................................................................1
2. Aims and objectives of the study .........................................................................2
3. Research methodology ..........................................................................................2
4. Scope of the study .................................................................................................3
5. Structure of the thesis ...........................................................................................3
PART II: DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................5
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................5
1.1. Definition of speaking skills ...............................................................................5
1.2. Importance of speaking skills in ELT ...............................................................6
1.3. Approaches to teaching and learning speaking skill .......................................7
1.4. Interaction Hypothesis in second language acquisition ..................................9
1.4.1.Interaction Hypothesis ..............................................................................9
1.4.2.The Interaction Hypothesis and classroom interaction .......................10
1.5. Patterns of classroom interaction....................................................................11
1.5.1.Teacher-learner interaction ....................................................................11
1.5.2.Learner- learner interaction ...................................................................12
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY .................................................................14

2.1. The research context ........................................................................................14
2.2. Methods of the study ........................................................................................15
2.3. Research questions ...........................................................................................15
2.4. Participants .......................................................................................................16
2.5. Data collection instruments .............................................................................16
2.5.1. Observation .............................................................................................16

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2.5.2. Questionnaire ..........................................................................................17
2.5.3. Interview ..................................................................................................17
2.6. Data collection procedure ................................................................................18
2.7. Data analysis .....................................................................................................19
2.8. Summary ...........................................................................................................19
CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................20
3.1. Presentation and analysis of data ...................................................................20
3.1.1. Data from classroom observation .........................................................20
3.1.2. Data from survey questionnaire and interviews ..................................22
3.1.2.1. Students’ English learning history ..........................................22
3.1.2.2. Students’ opinions on language skills. ....................................22
3.1.2.3. Students’ assessment of speaking activities in speaking
lessons ......................................................................................................25
3.1.2.4. Students’ participation in speaking class ...............................26
3.1.2.5. Teachers’ manners in classroom .............................................28
3.1.2.6. Students’ opportunities in speaking activities during
speaking lesson .......................................................................................30
3.1.2.7. Students’ difficulties in speaking activities during
speaking lesson .......................................................................................35
3.1.3. Conclusion ...............................................................................................39

3.2. Feasible solutions ..............................................................................................40
3.2.1. Helping the students to improve their grammatical structures and
enrich their vocabulary ....................................................................................40
3.2.2. Eliminating the students’ anxiety..........................................................41
3.2.3. Reducing the students’ use of Vietnamese during pair work and
group work ......................................................................................................42
3.2.4. Allocating enough time for each activity ..............................................42
3.2.5. Making the classroom under control ....................................................43
3.2.6. Teaching students strategies to develop speaking skills......................43
3.2.6.1. Using minimal responses ............................................................44
3.2.6.2. Recognizing scripts .....................................................................44

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3.2.6.3. Using language to talk about language .....................................45
PART III:CONCLUSION ......................................................................................46
1. Conclusion ...........................................................................................................46
2. Limitations of the study ......................................................................................46
3. Suggestions for further study ............................................................................47
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................48
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ I
Appendix 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ............................................. I
Appendix 2 :INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS ............................ IV
Appendix 3:INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS .............................. V
Appendix 4: OBSERVATION SHEET ................................................................ VI
Appendix 5 : 1st OBSERVATION ......................................................................VII
Appendix 6 : 2nd OBSERVATION ...................................................................... XI
Appendix 7 : 3rd OBSERVATION ................................................................... XIII


vii


PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Amid the context of international integration and globalization, English has
become an international language and increasingly proved its important role in
all fields of life, including education. In recent years, Vietnam has eye-witnessed
an upward trend of teaching and learning English, especially when students are
fully aware of educational opportunities that they can benefit from the mastery of
English.
In Vietnam, English is taught as a foreign language that has four skills,
namely listening, reading, speaking and writing. Among these four skills,
speaking seems to be the most demanding but central skill. However, students
have experienced lots of problems during their speaking learning. Despite the
fact that some students who have learnt the English language for more than ten
years, they are unable to use the language fluently and effectively. They are often
passive and shy in using English in real communication. The reasons behind this
problem are various. Some students say that they don’t know what to say or
afraid of making mistakes. Others claim that lack of ideas, vocabulary or stimuli
are factors inhabiting them from participating in speaking tasks. The teachers of
English are also to blame in this situation. They may not have provided enough
opportunities to students for improving their communication skills. Besides, they
may not have properly used classroom techniques or strategies in developing
English for communication. Therefore, all these factors have made the process of
teaching and learning speaking skills become irrelevant, boring and sometimes a
burden, too.
With 3 years of experience in teaching English at Phuong Dong University, I
realized that during the process of teaching and learning speaking skill, both
teachers and non-major students at my own university have experienced not only

opportunities but constraints as well. Actually, being aware of this current
situation, in some ways, will enable the people involved to continue to benefit
from the advantages and try to identify and suggest practical solutions to the
problems they have to encounter. This awareness will also pay the way for the

1


improvement of teaching and learning English in order to ensure a better future
of using English as a communicative language for non-major students at Phuong
Dong University. Therefore, all these aforementioned factors have encouraged
me to undertake a survey research in which I would like to identify the
opportunities as well as constraints in classrooms of teachers and students when
dealing with English speaking skill at my own university. I am inspired to
conduct a study named “An investigation into classroom opportunities for and
constraints on the teaching and learning of English speaking skills at Phuong
Dong University”.
2. Aims and objectives of the study
The study is certainly aimed at finding out the opportunities as well as
constraints in classroom which teachers and non-major students of Phuong Dong
University have to experience during the process of teaching and learning
English speaking skills. Specifically, the objectives of the research are as
follows:
(1) To investigate the common classroom activities and techniques in
teaching speaking skills to non-major students at Phuong Dong
University.
(2) To explore the learning opportunities that those activities create for
students to develop their speaking skills.
(3) To find out the constraints on speaking skills of students brought about by
those activities.

3. Research methodology
Three research questions will be addressed as follows:
(1)What are the teachers’ common classroom activities and techniques in
teaching English speaking skill to non-major students at Phuong Dong
University?
(2) What learning opportunities do those classroom activities and techniques
create for non-major students to develop their speaking skills?
(3) To what extent do those classroom activities and techniques constrain on
non-major students’ speaking skills?

2


In order to answer the research questions stated above, this study is carried out
on the combination of two different methods, namely quantitative and qualitative
methods.
As for instrument, classroom observation is carried out to find out teachers’
common classroom practices in speaking lessons. Survey questionnaires for
students and interviews with both teachers and students are carried out to find out
the opportunities and constraints of those practices they have to experience
during speaking lessons.
As for participants, the study is intended to involve 70 second-year students of
Phuong Dong University. They come from 3 classes of Finance and Banking
Department and now are in the first semester of their second year, working with
Starting Skill 2. Moreover, 3 teachers who are directly responsible of teaching
English speaking skill for the 3 classes at Phuong Dong University also take part
in the study.
4. Scope of the study
This study only focuses on the classroom opportunities and constraints on the
teaching and learning of English speaking skills at Phuong Dong University.

However, in an attempt to make this study more manageable, the study only aims
at the teaching and learning of English speaking skills of non-major students at
Phuong Dong University. The subjects of the study are restricted to 70 secondyear students at Phuong Dong University despite their gender and ability and 3
English teachers who directly teach speaking skill for non-major students of
Phuong Dong University.
5. Structure of the thesis
The study is divided into three main parts, and a list of reference and
appendices are attached to the end
Part I, Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims and objectives, the scope, the
research methods and the design of the study
Part II, Development, consists of three chapters. Chapter one is the Literature
review. This chapter provides the theoretical background of the study. Chapter
two is the Methodology of the study which includes instruments, participants,

3


data collection procedure and data analysis of the study. Chapter three, Results
and discussion, states the findings from the study and discusses some
recommendations
Part III, Conclusion, gives a brief review of the study, limitation as well as
suggestions for further studies.
Appendices and references are attached at the end of the thesis.

4


PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of speaking skills

There have existed various ways of defining speaking skills in language
teaching and learning. In fact, many definitions about speaking have been
proposed by language experts.
First of all, as Nunan (1991:39) argues that mastering English language
needs to master the entire skills productive and receptive one. Speaking skill
occupied an important place in foreign language teaching and learning “To most
people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important factor of
learning a second or foreign language and success is measured in terms of the
ability to carry out a conversation in the language”.
According to Ur (1991: 48), “speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists
of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning”.
Regarding to this matter, Brown (1994) states that speaking is a process of
constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing
information.
In Brown and Yule’s opinion (1983), spoken language consists of short,
fragmentary utterances, in a range of pronunciation. Usually, there is a great deal
of repetition and overlap between one speaker and another. Speaker usually uses
non-specific references. Johnson and Morrow (1981:70) assert that speaking
which is popular with the term “oral communication”, is an activity involving
two or more people in which hearers and speakers have to react to what they hear
and make their contributions at a speed of a high level. In this definition, as a
result, the essential components mentioned to exist in speaking are the speakers,
the hearers, the message and the response. Both the speakers and the hearers
should agree on the message and the meaning being talked through acceptable
language.
Brown and Yule (1983) also point out that the ability to give uninterrupted
oral presentation (monologue) is rather different from interacting with one or
more other speakers for transactional and international purposes. That explains

5



why speaking skill generally has to be learnt and practiced carefully before
giving a presentation.
Meanwhile, as indicated by Bygate (1987), in order to speak a foreign
language, it is of great importance to have micro-linguistic skills, which means to
understand some grammar, vocabulary, and the rules governing how words are
put together to form sentences. However, these motor- perceptive skills, as
Bygate calls them, are not sufficient since while producing sentences. We often
have to adapt them to the circumstances. He then presents the second set of
speaking skills: the interaction skills which involve using knowledge and basic
motor-perceptive skills in deciding what to say and how to say it, while
maintaining the intended relation with others.
1.2.

Importance of speaking skills in ELT
Needless to say, language, in general, serves as a tool for communication.

We converse with others, express our ideas and get to know others’ ideas as well
through the use of language, which will take place when there is speech. Without
speech, we cannot communicate with one another. The importance of speaking
skills, hence is enormous for the leaners of any language, especially of an
international language like English.
First of all, the goal of language is communication and the aim of speaking in
a language context is to promote communicative efficiency. It is the speaking
skills which help learners develop fully their communication, which, according
to Richard. A (1991), is the proper aim of language teaching. Additionally, as for
Larson.C.U (1996), effective communication offers learners a more satisfied and
meaningful life, which then help them feel motivated and confident enough to
express their opinions. Threats, conflicts or nerves, as a result, can be neglected

and a friendly relationship will certainly come to them.
In the second place, when asserting the importance of speaking skills in
ELT , Decaney and Bowen (1968) indicates that only after a reasonable mastery
of spoken form has been achieved should other skills be taught. Obviously,
speaking skills enforce and bring about the successful acquisition of reading,
listening and writing, or in other words, the whole process of English language

6


learning. Communicative use in speaking skills, according to Littlewood (1991),
serves as the goal as well as a means of learning which helps learners reach it.
Once learners have the ability to
communicate well, they will find it much easier to perform other skills.
In a nutshell, it is undeniable that speaking skills seem to be a dominant
factor in the process of English language learning and teaching. Effective
speaking ability creates favorable conditions for learners to acquire the language
better and efficiently use that language as a real means of communication.
Speaking ability, indeed, is the very signal that measures the language knowledge
of learners.
1.3. Approaches to teaching and learning speaking skill
It is known that the history of language teaching has experienced the change
in methods, which have reflected recognition of changes in the sort of
proficiency in learners needs. What has changed in a second language teaching is
not in the way we teach but in the aim of language teaching and learning.
(Le,2004).
Teaching a second language use to be aimed at enabling learners to read and
appreciate class of literature. Therefore any teachers who were able to reach this
aim were thought to be good teachers (Le, 1004). For a long time, tradition
methods like Grammar Translation Method were used to teach English that made

learners become structure competent and communicative incompetent.
Nowadays, it is undeniable that most learners of English desire to be able to
communicate with others in the language they learn. Among the four skills,
speaking skill seems to take most responsibility in helping learners shaping a
good competence of communicating in English. Therefore, parallel with this
change in the aims of learning English, modern approaches of teaching speaking
have to be changed. A number of language teaching methodologists have
constantly looked for the most appropriate way to English speaking skill
efficiently. As a result, many methods and approaches have come into being. As
illustrated by Murphy (1991), the following are the modern approaches of
teaching speaking used after the Grammar Translation Method:

7


 Silent Way: the way in which teachers rarely speak, while student
speaking is focused.
 Suggestopedia: very controlled speaking activities which are based upon
lengthy written scripts.
 Community Language Learning: many peer to peer interactions that
contribute to a community spirit among students.
 Direct Method: students engage in many controlled, content-explicit,
speaking activities.
 Natural Approach: initially emphasizes guided speaking.
 Communicative Language Teaching: many peer to peer, guided and free
speaking activities which are organized around notional, functional and/ or
linguistic considerations.
 Task-based Approach: activities are centered upon practical tasks for
students to perform.
In general, it is hard to say which method is the most suitable and appropriate

without considering the circumstances in which it is applied. However, as added
by Murphy, though not all methods are applicable for young learners, the
approaches of Communicative Language Teaching and Task-based Approach
seem to be dominant and often widely used for learners.
In fact, Task-based Approach is a development within the Communicative
Language Teaching approach, as Brown (1994:83) stated “Task-based is a
perspective that can be taken without a communicative language teaching
framework.” Both methods employ on the belief that it helps to develop the
learners’ communicative language ability by learning to communicate through
interaction in the target language. Thus, the goal of language learning classroom
is to provide students with communicative practices with the aim for learners to
acquire language. Providing students with communicative activities gives
students chances to form and practice communication strategies or string lexical
phrases together to express ideas.
Moreover, in teaching practice, it is generally observed that negotiation of
meaning in communicative tasks may provide opportunities for learners to

8


develop their strategic competence and fluency but may not necessarily lead to
more comprehensible output and the development of greater accuracy. As
teachers, we need then to ask a question “What will help learners to become
more accurate?” when communicating with others. One solution might be we
need to take away the time pressure in a communicative task and give learners
the chance to prepare the content of what they are going to say. It is hoped that
they may focus more on correct expression.
As communicative approaches have developed, teachers have been concerned
to ensure that students not only practice speaking in a controlled way in order to
produce features of pronunciation, vocabulary and structure accurately; but also

practice using these features more freely in purposeful communication.
Therefore, the challenge for the communicative classroom is to find activities
and procedures for speaking which will prepare students for spontaneous
interaction and which will aid the acquisition process. Since a particular type of
activity may provide for some of these things but not others, there is then the
question of how to create a varied program of activities which gives a range of
opportunities for speaking practice.
1.4. Interaction Hypothesis in second language acquisition
1.4.1. Interaction Hypothesis
The Interaction Hypothesis states that interaction facilitates second language
acquisition because conversational and linguistic modifications that occur in
discourse provide learners with necessary comprehensible linguistic input. In
other words, second language acquisition occurs when learners interact in
conversation with native speakers or with each other. This approach is credited to
Long (1996), who sought a way to bring together two major approaches in
second language acquisition. Hatch (1978) recognized the importance of
conversation on the development of grammar. Krashen’s Input Hypothesis
(1985) stressed the importance of linguistic input in the target language that is
slightly more advanced than what the learner has mastery of. The current state of
a learner’s rule-based linguistic knowledge is designated as “i” while the slightly
more advanced input is “i+1”.Long believes that what makes input to be

9


comprehensible is modified interaction, or negotiation of meaning. In Krashen’s
input hypothesis, comprehensible input remains the main causal variable, while
Long claims that a crucial element in the language acquisition process is the
modified input that learners are exposed to and the way in which other speakers
interact in conversations with learners (Lightbown and Spada, 1993).

Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (1996) posits that interaction focuses on the
“negotiation for meaning”. The frequency of occurrence of the target form brings
about salience, negative feedback, and input modifications to increase
comprehensibility and content predictability. These processes include “noticing”
of new forms, new form-meaning connections, gaps in interlanguage, and
mismatch between input and output. Long (1996) noted that interaction facilitates
comprehension and acquisition of semantically contingent speech and
negotiation for meaning. Long stressed the importance of the interactional
modifications that occurs in negotiating meaning. In other words, interactive
input is more important than non-interactive input (Elis, 1994).
1.4.2. The Interaction Hypothesis and classroom interaction
Classroom interaction is occurred everyday in the classroom activities
between the teacher and the learners. It is commonly defined as a kind of action
that occurs as two or more objects has an effect upon another. The idea of a twoway effect is essential in the concept of interaction, as opposed to a one-way
causal effect.
Classroom interactional tasks that stimulate negotiating for meaning may turn
out to be those among several useful language-learning activities, for they may
be the easiest ways to facilitate a learner’s focus on form. Classroom
interactional tasks often contain learner classroom participants, group work,
teacher talk, role plays….The communicative language teaching theory reveals
that communication and interaction are the purpose of language learning
(Richards & Rodgers, 1986) and previous studies on communicative language
teaching (Hymes, 1972 ; Nunan, 1991) show that interaction facilitates the
learning of language functions as well as of target language forms

10


Numerous studies have examined the effect of the quantity and quality of
leaner classroom participant on their second language achievement, but the

results haven not been conclusive. For example, Seliger (1977) and Strong
(1984) found positive effects, while Allwright’s study (1980) yielded opposite
results. With regards to the quality of learner participation in class, tasks and
group work are involved, Long (1980) and Newton (1991) showed in their
studies that the two-way interactional result in increased negotiation of meaning.
Furthermore, the study by Long, Adams, McLean and Castanos (1976) found
that students working in small groups produce better language production
compared to learners working individually. This suggests that group work offers
more opportunities for learners to produce language.
1.5. Patterns of classroom interaction
In communication approach of language teaching, classroom interaction
became an important feature of second language pedagogy. It can occur between
the teacher and learners, and between learners themselves, either collectively or
individually. According to Angelo (1993), classroom interaction comprises of
teacher-learner interaction and learner-learner interaction.
1.5.1. Teacher-learner interaction
In the classroom, the teacher often asks questions to learners and learners
answer the questions and vice versa, or the teacher participates in learning
activities. These forms are called teacher-learner interaction. Generally, such
interaction takes place between the teacher and the class or small groups in the
class or individuals.
In the traditional classroom, the teacher only sits or stands behind a desk, and
spends a large amount of time giving lectures and directions whereas students’
roles are sitting, listening and taking notes passively. The focus of interaction
was predominant between the teacher and learners. This one is usually initiated
and controlled by the teacher. The teacher’s central role is to dominate in terms
of the talking time and of the running of the process. The teacher controls the
topic for classroom talk, and determines when start and stop talking in the
classroom (Cazden, 1988).


11


In teacher-learner interaction, the pattern Initiation-Response-Feedback
(IRF) is followed. The percentage of utterances falling into this three-part
structure may be over half (about from 50% to 60%). Since the IRF structure
produces a single pattern of interaction where the teacher both initiates and
closes the exchange and the student’s output of limited to the response in the
second turn. This pattern of interaction is a product of the institutional setting of
the classroom (Hall, 1998). The talking time for the teacher and students are
unequal and the teacher controls the topic and general discourse by directing turn
talking through the use of questions. Here is a typical example of such pattern in
classroom:
“Teacher initiates the first turn:

“I”- T: What do you do in your free time?

Student respond in the second turn: “R”- L: Listen to music
Teacher follows up at the third turn: “F”- T: Good.”
In this case, the teacher initiates the conversation with a question, and asks a
student to answer the question, and then provides feedback to the student’
answer. According to Van Lier (1996: 152), this model has been characterized as
a “closed, rather than an open, discourse format “, so it makes the lesson less
communicative.
1.5.2. Learner- learner interaction
Learner –learner interaction occurs among learners. In this form of
interaction, the teacher plays as a monitor and learners are the main participants.
Learner- learner interaction occurs in groups called learner-learner interaction, in
pairs called peer interaction.
Pair work and group work seem to be dominant in this kind of interaction.

Many researchers assert that practice is the most beneficial when carried out in
collaboration with small groups or peers rather than with the teacher or in a
whole-class setting. Significantly, students almost always initiate their questions
during small-group rather than whole-class activities. According to Harmer
(2001), pair work and group work increase the amount of talking time available
to every learner in the classroom. They allow learners to work and interact
independently without the necessary guidance of the teacher, thus promoting
learners’ independence. This cooperation helps the classroom become a more

12


relaxed and friendly place. Therefore, the teacher should frequently use group
work and pair work to maximize each learner’s opportunity to speak and reduce
the psychological burden of public performance.
In pair work and group work, the need for well-planned and well-designed
activities is of great significance (Gillies, 2004). To increase the quality and
quantity of such discourse in the classroom, the teacher needs to organize the
most beneficial speaking activities that afford the most opportunities for students
to collaborate and negotiate meaning during the interaction. Ur (1996) proposed
two activities for oral communication: Topic- based and task-based activities.
 Topic-based activities
Topic-based activities seem to be divergent or open-ended in nature, since
the emphasis is on the discussion of a particular subject and the actual production
of relevant speech. These activities contain discussions and debates which do not
appear to support negotiation. During such sessions, learners express individual
ideas to independently without the need to engage in collaboration very much, so
they do not necessarily need to exchange information during the activity (Pica
et.al, 1993).
 Task-based activities

In contrast, task-based activities are convergent in nature (Duff, 1986) since
learners are required to use the target language as a means to reach specific
outcome or consensus. This outcome may be open-ended, however, with no
single “right” answer. During the activity, there is more emphasis on learners
through expressing the meaning by using all the target language to ensure
comprehension, rather than using particular linguistic features or conversing on a
specific topic. This category includes such as role-play, problem solving and
information-gap activities. The main objective is to engage in real
communication as Noonan (1989:10) states “a piece of classroom work which
involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in
the target language while their attention is focused on meaning rather than form”
In brief, for language learners in classroom setting, interactional language
activities occur either between the teacher and other learners or between learners
themselves.

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CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology used for this study. It includes the
research context, the methods of the study, the research questions, the
participants, the instruments, the collection, procedure and analysis of data.
2.1. The research context
The investigation took place in Phuong Dong University, a private university
situated in Hanoi capital of Vietnam. For non-major students at Phuong Dong
University, they are required to complete 2 different courses : General English
(GE) from semester 2 to 5 which accounts for 270 periods and English for
Specific Purpose (ESP) for semester 6 with a total number of 60 periods.
In the first course- the GE course, English lectures aim it providing students
with general knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, phonology as well as

developing students’ four language skills namely listening, speaking, reading and
writing. Four sub-courses are carried out to serve this demand. General English 1
(GE1) makes use of the book “Starting skills 1” from Unit 1 to Unit 10. GE2 and
GE3 exploit “Starting skills 2” with the first half and second half the book,
respectively. In GE4, the first 5 units of “Starting skills 3” are used to teach
students. Two forms of tests are employed after each semester: a written middletest and a combination of both written and oral test for final test. GE1 is designed
to help students reach A1-1 level. GE2 is for A1-2 level. Accordingly, after
finishing GE course, students are expected to get A2 level according to CEFL.
In the second course- The ESP course, the students are equipped with the
knowledge of terms and structures related to future jobs. The textbooks utilized
at this phrase depend on students’ required majors such as English for Finance
and Banking, English for Office Administration, English for Tourism, English
for Construction and English for Mechanics. Those textbooks are designed by
teachers at Phuong Dong University themselves with a view to giving students
formal instructions on reading, writing and common expressions which can be
used in their future workplace. At this stage, students also experience both
midterm and final test as they do in GE course.

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2.2. Methods of the study
The study is carried on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative study.
According to Bouma (1996: 173), “both qualitative and quantitative approaches
are essentials to the research process in social sciences”, so the combination of
these both methods will help find out satisfactory and sufficient information, thus
gaining reliable results.
In the first place, according to Burns (1999), quantitative methodology is the
one aimed at exploring objectivity and control as it can offer ways of testing
hypothesis that are widely accepted or standardized. Therefore, to obtain an

overview of opportunities and difficulties students encounter during their
speaking lesson, a survey questionnaire will be conducted among students of
Phuong Dong University. In doing so, the researcher hopes to cross check the
real-problem of teaching and learning English speaking skill at Phuong Dong
University.
Moreover, when regarding qualitative research, as qualitative method can
offer the researcher with real, rich and deep data (Larsen Freeman & Long,
1991), the researcher decided to carry in-depth interviews with some teachers
and students with a view to gaining detailed and profound understanding the
opportunities as well as problems in teaching and learning speaking skills at
Phuong Dong University. Their results would be of great significance for the
process of analyzing data.
2.3. Research questions
The research is aimed at exploring the classroom opportunities and constraints
of teaching and learning English speaking skills at Phuong Dong University. In
brief, its purpose is to answer the following questions:
(1)What are the teachers’ common classroom activities and techniques in
teaching English speaking skill for non-major students at Phuong Dong
University?
(2) What learning opportunities do those activities and techniques create for
non-major students to develop their speaking skills?

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(3) To what extent do those classroom activities and techniques constrain on
non-major students’ speaking skills ?
2.4. Participants
The participants of the study are three English teachers who are teaching
English for non-major students at Phuong Dong University. They range from 26

to 32 years old. Two of them have Masters in English and one has a bachelor
degree in English. Of course, all of them have at least 3 years teaching English to
non-major students at Phuong Dong University. In this semester, each of them is
in charge of 2 classes which are dealing with GE2.
A total number of 70 second- year students also take part in this research.
They are students from Finance and Banking Department of Phuong Dong
University. Those students are in 3 different classes and are being taught by 3
above English teachers, respectively. Their age varied between 19 and 22 so they
belong to the same psychological group. However, their length of English
learning at school (before entering university) was different, in which some have
learned English for 5 years while some have learnt for 10 years. As a result, their
English levels are also various.
2.5. Data collection instruments
In this research, the observation, interview and questionnaire are used as the
instruments to collect the data.
2.5.1. Observation
Darlington and Scott (2002:74) stated that “Observation is a very effective
way of finding out what people do in particular contexts, the routines and
interactional patterns of their everyday lives”. It is a good way to get at “real life”
in the real word”. Moreover, when making use of the observation instruments,
the researcher can maximize the usefulness of the hours he spends in classroom
observation and participation to get data (Arthea & Verna, 2005: 19). In this
study, the observation was conducted three times in three different classes of
GE2. Those classes were taught by three different teachers separately. The
observation took place when 2 continuous periods of speaking lesson were being
delivered to students. By observing those classes, the researcher hopes to find out

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