SKKN Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at Nguyen Huu Canh high schools

 SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI
 Trường THPT Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh
 Mã số: ................................
 SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS 
 OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS
 AT NGUYEN HUU CANH HIGH SCHOOL
 Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai
 Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu:
 - Quản lý giáo dục
 - Phương pháp giáo dục
 - Phương pháp dạy học Tiếng Anh ☒
 - Lĩnh vực khác 
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 SỞ GIÁONăm DỤC học: ĐÀO 2019 TẠO - 2020 ĐỒNG NAI 3
 TABLE OF CONTENT
Number Content Page
1. Introduction 5
2. Literature review 5
 Definition of speaking
 The importance of speaking skill
3. Methodology 7
 Research context 
 Participants
 Research instruments
4. Some problems grade 10 students have before making the 8
 research
5. Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at 9
 Nguyen Huu Canh high school
6. Implementation 13
7 Some illustrations of the ways to help students improve their 15
 speaking skills
8. Findings and discussion 17
9. Evaluation of the the research 19
10. Conclusion 20
 References 21
 Appendices 23 5
SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE 10 
STUDENTS AT NGUYEN HUU CANH HIGH SCHOOL
1. Introduction
 In the world of integration, English fluency plays an integral part of 
communication as well as any other aspects of life. Speaking English well 
may help one feel more confident. Confidence is the key to every success. 
Therefore, teaching and learning English should be combined effectively so 
that students can get active roles in learning process. The more confident they 
get, the better they can communicate.
 The goal of teaching speaking is to improve students’ communication 
skills in order that they can express themselves and learn how to use the 
language. Nowadays, many teachers agree that students should learn to speak 
English by interacting with others. Therefore, English teachers should be 
creative in developing their teaching process to create good atmosphere where 
students have real-life communication. By using this method, teachers help 
students have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target 
language. Moreover, teachers should apply appropriate methods and 
techniques of teaching speaking to make the English lessons more exciting for 
students to develop their speaking skills.
2. Literature review
Definition of Speaking
 Speaking is considered to be one of the four skills that give speakers 
the ability to communicate effectively. Speaking skills allow the speaker to 
express his ideas in a passionate and convincing manner. In addition, 
speaking skills help to make sure that one will not be misunderstood by those 
that are listening.
 In the opinion of Everson (2009), speaking is the crucial skill of 
language in the sense that it enables individuals to communicate through the 
use of verbal codes or words that are understood by both sender and the 7
Cohen (1996) speaking contains its own skills, structures, and conventions 
different from written language. Also, Kaikala (2012) noted that speaking is 
both a factor of language learning and teaching achievement and an important 
skill in human interaction. On the whole, proficiency in speaking skills 
provides learners with many benefits such as becoming a successful, effective 
communicator. We are living in a global community in which languages and 
cultures mix together. Therefore, it is very useful for those that are good at 
speaking skills to express themselves.
3. Methodology:
Research context
 Nguyen Huu Canh high school is the place where I conducted and 
collected all the data of the research. This school is located in Bien Hoa city. 
Most of the students come from working - class families; therefore, they 
rarely have chances to study English at Foreign Language Centres or extra 
classes. They only study English at school.
Participants
 The subjects involved in the research include 40 grade 10 students aged 
from 15 to 16 from Nguyen Huu Canh high school. The class chosen for my 
investigation is 10A1. They are my students, so it was convenient for me to 
ask them to complete the questionnaires in class.
Research instruments
 At the beginning of the school year, in every speaking lesson the 
classroom atmosphere tended to be deadly dull. Most of my students were so 
afraid of taking turns speaking English that they did not look at me. I tried my 
best; however they seemed not to cooperate with me. I wondered how I made 
my students get involved in my English speaking lessons.
 In this school year students were asked to do three speaking tests. The 
first test was after Unit 1 to test students on speaking skills. The second test 
was in the final first term test (there were 4 parts and speaking skills 9
5. Some ways to improve speaking skills of grade 10 students at Nguyen 
Huu Canh high school
 From these problems above and the results of question 5 in the first 
questionnaire I always did my best to find some ways so that I can help my 
students improve their speaking skills.
 No one can deny the fact that most of the foreign language learners try 
to learn English because it serves the purpose of international communication. 
Obviously, perfect communication is not possible for anyone without using a 
language. As speaking skills play a dominant role in communication, there are 
some key principles that are important for developing speaking skills.
Providing good input
 Input is something that students receive from teachers. Input is what 
students hear, see and perceive when teachers teach. Teachers should provide 
good input to prepare students with their storage of language information. 
Teachers can create an environment where there are many sources of input. 
These sources may include materials from tapes, videos, English TV 
programs, other English speakers and teachers can also be the rich sources of 
input. In addition, good input requires elements of quality. Among good 
input, comprehensible input is very necessary. It is teachers’ input that 
students can understand with great ease owing to its high quality as well as 
relevance. Comprehensible input helps students acquire language naturally 
rather than learn it consciously (Krashen, 1985), so teachers should be 
sensitive and skillful in selecting input materials for students and input 
materials should be suitable for students’ developmental process.
Creating interactive process
 After providing good input, teachers should provide interactive process 
for students to communicate and control their production. In interactive 
process students are motivated as teachers create an atmosphere of attention 
and participation; therefore, lessons that help students enrich their vocabulary 11
Learning by doing
 Learning by doing encourages students to experience the language, 
which is a process of acquisition leading to high level of proficiency. High 
level of proficiency requires much practice. Much practice can boost students’ 
confidence in their own English language abilities. Teachers should 
encourage students to speak, to practise, and to use English to communicate in 
class and also out of class as much as possible. The more they practise, the 
more progress they make. Obviously, learning by doing can also increase 
motivation of students as well as desire to learn. More importantly, students 
can develop their practical language skills which can be applied in their daily 
lives.
From controlled to automatic
 There are two ways to improve students’ oral production. One is to 
practise speaking based on structure. This way focuses on mastery of 
grammatical structures rather than on mastery of vocabulary. It can make 
students have a sense of control over the language and they can communicate; 
however, it is more suitable for low- level students. The other kind of activity 
that promotes speaking is topic or function based. This way helps students 
have more opportunities to express their thoughts, ideas, or even arguments. 
Whether teachers adopt structure focused or function or topic focused 
activities depends on students’ level.
 There are two kinds of speaking activities. One is factual information 
exchange; the other is personal idea exchange. By factual information 
exchange, students can exchange information based on facts, do not have to 
express their own opinion. They just need to share information or complete 
the missing information. Such activity is called information-gap exchange. 
This activity can keep students talking as they have information to say. The 
other activity expressing their own ideas can be productive or non-productive. 
If students are interested in the topic or have a lot of things to say, they can 13
need to make sure of class as well as monitor them closely while it is 
happening.
 These principles can be applied in teaching speaking flexibly. The most 
important thing is that teachers can help students practise speaking as much as 
possible.
6. Implementation
 I have been teaching English for 21 years. My school is in Bien Hoa 
city. Most of students come from working - class families, so they rarely have 
conditions to study English at Foreign Language Centres or extra classes. 
They only study English at school. Among four skills, my students are often 
afraid of speaking skills. To make my speaking periods successful I have tried 
many ways. As I want to help my students follow my lesson easily, I give 
them input which refers to what information they must have in the lesson so 
that they may reach the objective and how they get this information. My 
instructions should be brief, easy to understand and clear so that all students 
know what they have to do. These help attract students’ commitment to the 
lesson and avoid confusion.
 After all my students understand what to do, I reduce my speaking time 
in class while increasing student speaking time. I observe my students while 
they are practising. At that time I circulate around classroom to ensure that 
my students are on right track and see whether they need my help while they 
are working in pairs or groups. By this way I want my students have more 
time to practise speaking and I can find ways to help slow or weak students.
 One of the problems that often prevent speaking English process of 
students is shortage of vocabulary. Most of the students do not spend time 
learning vocabulary, so their vocabulary is very limited. When speaking they 
often get stuck or cannot finish the sentences they want to speak. One simple 
way is that before teaching speaking I often give students vocabulary that are 
relating to the topic. Another way is that in pre-speaking stage I use “mind