Using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks at Phuc Yen College of Industry.pdf

1. VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
------  ------
ĐỖ THỊ LAN HƯƠNG
USING ENGLISH READING TEXTS AS INPUT FOR
SPEAKING TASKS
AT PHUC YEN COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY
SỬ DỤNG BÀI ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH LÀM NGUỒN NGỮ LIỆU CHO CÁC
HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP PHÚC YÊN
MINOR PROGRAM THESIS
Field: English methodology
Code: 601410
HANOI, 2012

2. VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
------  ------
ĐỖ THỊ LAN HƯƠNG
USING ENGLISH READING TEXTS AS INPUT FOR
SPEAKING TASKS
AT PHUC YEN COLLEGE OF INDUSTRY
SỬ DỤNG BÀI ĐỌC TIẾNG ANH LÀM NGUỒN NGỮ LIỆU CHO CÁC
HOẠT ĐỘNG NÓI TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CÔNG NGHIỆP PHÚC YÊN
MINOR PROGRAM THESIS
Field: English methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: MA. Pham Minh Hien
HANOI, 2012

3. i
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Declaration.............................................................................................................. i
Acknowledgements................................................................................................ ii
Abstract................................................................................................................. iii
Table of contents.................................................................................................... v
List of tables.......................................................................................................... ix
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION........................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale of the study ....................................................................................... 1
1.2. Focus of the study............................................................................................. 2
1.3. Purposes of the study........................................................................................ 2
1.4. Research questions ........................................................................................... 3
1.5. Scope of the study............................................................................................. 3
1.6. Methods of the study ........................................................................................ 4
1.7. Design of the study........................................................................................... 4
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................... 6
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................. 6
1. Theory of input .................................................................................................. 6
1.1. Definitions of input........................................................................................... 6
1.2. The input hypothesis of Krashen‟s theory......................................................... 6
1.3. Reading texts as comprehensible input ............................................................. 8
2. Communicative approach ................................................................................. 9
2.1. Definition of Communicative Language Teaching............................................ 9

4. ii
2.2. Communicative activities.................................................................................10
3. Speaking skills ..................................................................................................10
3.1. What is speaking?............................................................................................10
3.2. Characteristics of speaking ..............................................................................11
3.3. Functions of speaking......................................................................................12
3.4. The nature of teaching speaking.......................................................................15
CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDY....................................18
2.1. The overview of teaching and learning situations at Phuc Yen College of
Industry.................................................................................................................18
2.1.1. An overview of Phuc Yen College of Industry..............................................18
2.1.2. Students‟ background ...................................................................................19
2.1.3. Teachers and teaching methods.....................................................................19
2.1.4. Course books and teaching materials for teaching speaking skills .................20
2.2. Methodology of the study ..............................................................................21
2.2.1. Rationale for the use of action research.........................................................21
2.2.2. Description of subjects and participants in the study.....................................21
2.2.3. The instruments for carrying out the study....................................................22
2.2.3.1. The research questions...............................................................................22
2.2.3.2. The methods for the data collection............................................................22
2.2.3.3. The methods for processing and analyzing the data....................................24
CHAPTER THREE: DATA COLLECTION AND DISCUSSION ...................26
3.1. Findings from the teacher’s classroom observation.....................................26
3.2. Findings from the questionnaires .................................................................27

5. iii
3.2.1. Questionnaire No.1 .....................................................................................27
3.2.1.1. Students‟ background of learning English..................................................27
3.2.1.2. Students‟ reasons for learning English .......................................................28
3.2.1.3. Students‟ attitude towards learning English speaking skills........................29
3.2.1.4. Time and materials used for learning speaking at school............................30
3.2.1.5. Factors that make students feel difficult in learning speaking.....................31
3.2.1.6. Students‟ desire from speaking lessons ......................................................32
3.2.2. Questionnaire No.2 .....................................................................................33
3.2.2.1. Students‟ responses to question 1...............................................................33
3.2.2.2. Students‟ responses to question 2...............................................................34
3.2.2.3. Students‟ responses to questions 3, 4 .........................................................35
3.3. Findings from the pre-test and the post-test.................................................35
3.4. Data discussion...............................................................................................38
3.4.1. Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skills .......................................38
3.4.2. The effects of English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks......39
PART THREE: CONCLUSION .........................................................................40
1. Summary of the findings ..................................................................................40
2. Implications and suggestions for teaching speaking using English reading
texts as input for speaking tasks ..........................................................................41
3. Limitations of the study and recommendations for further study .................41
4. Conclusion.........................................................................................................42
References.............................................................................................................44
Appendix 1............................................................................................................... I
Appendix 2..............................................................................................................II
Appendix 3............................................................................................................ IV

6. iv
Appendix 4............................................................................................................ VI

7. v
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1 Students‟ background of learning English 27
Table 2 Students‟ time of learning English 28
Table 3 Students‟ reasons for learning English 29
Table 4 Students‟ attitude towards speaking skills 29
Table 5 Time for learning speaking at school 30
Table 6 Materials used for learning speaking 31
Table 7 Students‟ difficulties in learning speaking 31
Table 8 Students‟ desire from speaking lessons 32
Table 9 Students‟ responses to question 1 (Questionnaire No.2) 33
Table 10 Students‟ responses to question 2 (Questionnaire No.2) 34
Table 11 Students‟ responses to questions 3, 4 (Questionnaire No.2) 35
Table 12 Results from pre-test 36
Table 13 Results from post-test 37

8. 1
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English has been considered as an international language that is
used in every field of life. As a result, English is the foreign language that is most
widely used and taught in all over the world as well as in Vietnam. However, how
to teach the language effectively to enable students to use it successfully in
communication is really a big question faced by all English teachers.
The ability of students communicate naturally in English is one of the long
term goals that language teachers would like to achieve in class. According to
Bygate (1987), the problem in teaching a foreign language or a second language is
to prepare the students to use the language. In mastering English, the students
should be able to know and apply four language skills such as listening, reading,
speaking, and writing, because they would make someone become perfect in using
language. Indeed, it is a demanding task for language teachers to provide sufficient
inputs for students to be competent speakers of English. Speaking is one of the
language skills that should be mastered by language learners. With speaking, the
students can make a good communication to the others. For most people, mastering
the art of speaking is the most important aspect of learning a second or foreign
language. A successful language learner is measured by their ability in carrying out
conversation in daily life, therefore, speaking is a main part of language. The fluent
speaking will be a positive impact for all people in studying language. Hence, in
teaching and learning of language, speaking should be the first purpose in
developing language in all levels of education.
As a teacher of Phuc Yen College of Industry, through self-observation and
my own five-year teaching experience, the author sees that during speaking lessons,
classroom interaction is restricted. Usually, students feel insecure about their level
of English and they face problems communicating as well as expressing themselves
in the target language. As a result, few students in the class get involved in the

9. 2
activities conducted by teachers while others rather remain silent as they are in fear
of making mistakes and do not know what and how to speak in speaking lessons.
Obviously, one of the biggest challenges to the teacher is to find effective ways to
improve their students‟ communicative skills.
This paper addresses this issue by using English reading texts as a means to
provide comprehensible input in learning speaking skills because reading texts are a
valuable source providing information, grammar structure, vocabulary, etc for
students in developing their English competence. While a considerable amount of
research has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using reading texts
to develop students‟ reading skills, little has been particularly done on its
effectiveness in improving students‟ speaking skills.
For these reasons, the author decided to conduct a study on “Using English
reading texts as input for speaking tasks at Phuc Yen College of Industry”. This
study primarily examines the students‟ difficulties in their learning speaking skills.
It then investigates the effectiveness of English reading texts used as input for
speaking tasks. The author does hope that this study will be of help for those who
want to find effective ways of teaching and learning speaking skills.
1.2. Focus of the study
The study focuses on effects of using English reading texts as input for
speaking tasks to carry out communicative classroom tasks in the lessons of
speaking skills employed by English teachers to enhance the effect of using it as a
means to provide comprehensible input in teaching and learning speaking skills.
1.3. Purposes of the study
The purpose of the study is to improve English speaking skills for first-year
non-English majors at Phuc Yen College of Industry. It has three purposes as
follows:
- To identify students‟ difficulties in their English speaking skills.

10. 3
- To exploit English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks in speaking
lessons to improve their speaking skills.
- To justify the effectiveness of using English reading texts as input for
speaking tasks in teaching speaking skills to first-year non-English majors.
1.4. Research questions
Regarding the importance of speaking teaching, purposes of the research,
this study is accomplished to find the answer to the question “How effectively are
English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks exploited to improve first-
year non-English majors’ speaking skills at Phuc Yen College of Industry?”
Specifically, the study addressed the following three research questions:
- What are the students‟ difficulties in English speaking?
- Are English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks effective in
teaching non-English majors‟ speaking skills?
- If yes, how effective is it?
1.5. Scope of the study
The study concentrates on improving first-year non-English majors at Phuc
Yen College of Industry by using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks.
Within its scope, the research was only aimed at justifying the effectiveness of
using English reading texts as input in teaching English speaking skills to first-year
non-English majors. Only accuracy of speaking skills will be considered in order to
evaluate students‟ improvement after using English reading texts.
1.6. Methods of the study
This study is conducted as an action research because it is aimed at
improving first-year non-English majors‟ speaking skills. In order to get data, a
combination of different instruments, namely class observation, questionnaire and
audio-recording is used. The combination of different instruments used in this

11. 4
research would help to gain reliable data and help the research have a close
investigation into the problem that the students were having. The data collected
from the observation will be analyzed by qualitative method, and the data collected
through the questionnaires and audio-recording will be analyzed by quantitative
method.
1.7. Design of the study
The study is presented in three parts: Introduction, development and
conclusion.
Part one INTRODUCTION introduces the rationale, focus, research
questions, scope, methods and design of the study.
Part two DEVELOPMENT includes three chapters:
Chapter one is the literature reviews. This chapter intends to set up the
framework of the study. It focuses on the nature of language skills and
communication. Some discussions on definitions of input, the input hypothesis of
Krashen‟s theory, reading texts as comprehensible input are presented. Some
principles in teaching speaking are also mentioned.
Chapter two includes two sections. The first section presents the local
situation at Phuc Yen College of Industry, with a brief description of the speaking
learning and teaching conditions, students, teachers and the course books used for
teaching speaking to non-English majors. The second section describes the research
methodology including the description of the subjects, data collection instruments
and procedures.
Chapter three presents the results collected from the self-observation,
questionnaires and audio-recordings in the form of tables and figures. This is
followed by the discussion and analysis of the data.

12. 5
Part three CONCLUSION mentions the implications and suggestions for
teaching speaking using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks.
Recommendations for further research are also mentioned in this part.
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Theory of input
1.1. Definitions of input

13. 6
According to Encyclopedia II (2005), input is information processing. In
information processing, input refers to either information received or the process of
receiving it. In human-computer interaction, input is the information produced by
the user with the purpose of controlling the computer program. The user interface
determines what kinds of input the program accepts.
Input is an indispensable component in second language acquisition (SLA).
According to Ellis (1985), input may be provided by interaction with native
speakers in a natural setting or by formal instruction. Input can be spoken or
written, and it is the data that learners use to determine the rules of the second
language. By defining input, Ellis establishes two important distinctions in the field
of SLA research. First, he makes the traditional distinction between incidental and
intentional acquisition, frequently referred as acquisition versus learning (Krashen,
1981) or implicit versus explicit learning (Bialyatok, 1978; Ellis, 1990). When input
is provided by interaction in a natural setting, learners are concerned mainly with
trying to understand and to produce a message, although they can also acquire
second language rules incidentally. Second, if learners focus on the language form
itself, they acquire the language intentionally. By considering input to be both
spoken and written data, Ellis considers both comprehension and production
processes that may occur in the learner in response to language input.
1.2. The input hypothesis of Krashen’s theory
Stephen Krashen is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in the
theories of language acquisition and development.
Krashen‟s theory of second language acquisition consists of five main
hypotheses:
- The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis
- The Monitor hypothesis
- The Natural Order hypothesis

14. 7
- The Input Hypothesis
- The Affective Filter hypothesis
The input hypothesis is the central part of the overall theory of SLA. It
claims that language can be acquired only by understanding contents, that is, by
receiving “comprehensible input”. We have to receive input that is just beyond our
competence but not beyond our understanding. Comprehensible input means that
students should be able to understand the essence of what is being said or presented
to them. This does not mean, however, that teachers must use only words students
understand. In fact, instruction can be incomprehensible even when students know
all of the words. Students learn a new language best when they receive input that is
just a bit more difficult than they can easily understand. In other words, students
may understand most, but not all, words the teacher is using. Making teacher talk
comprehensible to students goes beyond the choice of vocabulary and involves
presentation of background and context, explanation and rewording of unclear
content, and the use of effective techniques such as graphic organizers. By using
context or visual cues, or by asking for clarification, students enhance their
knowledge of English. When input is comprehensible, students understand most
aspects of what is required for learning, and the learning experience pushes them to
greater understanding. It is Krashen‟s attempt to explain how the learner acquires a
second language. In other words, this hypothesis is Krashen‟s explanation of how
SLA takes places. Thus, the input hypothesis is only concerned with “acquisition”
not “learning.” (Krashen, 1988). The “acquired system” or “acquisition” is the
product of a subconscious process very similar to the process children undergo
when they acquire their first language. It requires meaningful interaction in the
target language – natural communication – in which speakers are concentrated not
on the form of their utterances, but in the communicative act.
Krashen makes the following claims:

15. 8
a. Learners‟ progress along a natural order by understanding input that contains
structure a little bit beyond their current level of competence.
b. Although comprehensible input is necessary for acquisition to take place, it is not
sufficient, because learners also need to be disposed affectively to “let in” the input
that they comprehend.
c. Input becomes comprehensible as a result of simplification and with the help of
contextual and extra-linguistic clues.
d. Speaking is the result of acquisition, not its cause. If the learner receives a
sufficient amount of comprehensible input, speech will “emerge” on its own.
Learners‟ production does not contribute directly to acquisition.
e. If input is understood and there is enough of it, the necessary grammar is
provided automatically.
The input hypothesis answers the question of how a language acquirer
develops competency over time. It states that a language acquirer who is at “level i”
must receive comprehensible input that is at “level i + 1”. “We acquire, on other
words, only when we understand language that contains structure that is „a little
beyond‟ where we are now.” This understanding is possible due to using the context
of the language we are hearing or reading and our knowledge of the world.
(Krashen, 1987)
1.3. Reading texts as comprehensible input
Stephen Krashen has emphasized the importance of reading for language
acquisition. He notes that those who read more in a second language perform higher
on comprehension exams than those who read less (Krashen, 1993). Language
learners can acquire language through reading material that contains vocabulary and
structure that is only a bit beyond their current level of competence, i.e., “i + 1”.
Material that is too far below their current ability will not be useful enough in order
for them to progress. Material that is well beyond their comprehensible will

16. 9
overwhelm and cause discouragement. Krashen relates his input hypothesis to
reading in the following:
The reading hypothesis is a special case of the comprehensible input
hypothesis. It claims that reading for meaning, especially free voluntary
reading, is comprehensible input, and is the source of much of our
competence in literacy, in our reading ability, writing style, much of our
vocabulary and spelling competence, and our ability to use and
understand complex grammatical constructions. (Krashen, 2002)
Krashen (1993b, 1994) especially supports extensive reading for
pleasure, or for free vocabulary reading. Extensive reading may be defined as
the reading of large amounts of material for pleasure and information. Such
material is usually chosen by the students and is comprehensible to them.
Reading material which is enjoyable and comprehensible will raise the students‟
overall English competence.
2. Communicative approach
2.1. Definition of Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), or briefly referred to as
Communicative approach, can be generally understood as an approach to second
language or foreign language teaching, which emphasizes interaction as both the
means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. (WipiPedia)
Williams (1995) summarizes the CLT classroom as one in which there is
an emphasis on the use of authentic language and unpredictable input.
Negotiation of meaning between students and teachers should be essential in the
implementation of tasks with resulting comprehensible input. While in
traditional second language classroom, learners play passive roles in class, in
CLT class, learners are encouraged to contribute as much as he gains, and learn
in an independent way.

17. 10
2.2. Communicative activities
Communicative activities refer to the techniques which are employed in
the communicative method in language teaching. The activities involve “doing”
things with language.
3. Speaking skills
3.1 What is speaking?
It is obvious that speaking is the key to human communication. Speaking
consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. According to
Frorez (1999), speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing and receiving and processing information”. Its form and
meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants,
their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for
speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended and evolving, but it is not completely
unpredictable. Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce
specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary
("linguistic competence"), but also that they understand when, why, and in what
ways to produce language ("sociolinguistic competence").
Byrne (1976) states that “speaking is a two-way process between the
speaker(s) and the listener(s) involving the productive skill of speaking and the
receptive skill of understanding”. Both the listener and the speaker have a positive
function to perform: the speaker has to encode the message conveyed in an
appropriate language while the listener has to decode the message.
Chaney (1988) defined that “speaking is the process of building and sharing
meaning through the use verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts”.
Different researchers have the same idea that speaking the two-way process
between the speaker and the listener.
3.2. Characteristics of speaking

18. 11
Speaking skill is very important for communication. According to Kayi
(2006), speaking is fundamental to human communication because in our daily life,
most of us speak more than we write. Frake (1980) as quoted by Gebhard (2000)
says that it is through talk that people construct their cultural worlds, display and
recreate their social orders, plan and critique their activities, and praise and
condemn their fellows.
In most of the case, speaking is the interaction between at least two people
and in that course of interaction, the listener can give immediate reaction to what is
spoken. The reaction can be positive or negative attitude toward the content of
speaking or can be the revealing of comprehension or incomprehension. Focusing
on the complexity of spoken interaction, Luoma (2004) cited some features of
spoken discourse:
- Composed of idea units (conjoined short phrase and clauses)
- May be planned (e.g. a lecture) or unplanned (e.g. a conversation)
- Employ more vague or generic words than written language
- Employ fixed phrases, filters and hesitation makers
- Contain slips and errors reflecting on-line processing
- Involved reciprocity (i.e. interactions are jointly constructed)
- Showing variation (e.g. between formal and casual speech), reflecting
speaker roles, speaking purposes, and the context.
3.3. Functions of speaking
There are numerous attempts to classify the functions of speaking in human
interaction. Brown and Yule (1983) divide them into interactional functions of
speaking and the transactional functions. On the basis of that framework, Jack C
Richard has made useful classification with talk as interaction, talk as transaction,

19. 12
and talk as performance. Each of these speech activities are quite distinct by form
and function and needs different teaching approaches.
Talk as interaction normally is what we mean by “conversation” describing
interaction served as a social function. The style of talk as interaction can be casual
or formal depending on the situations the speakers are in, and the people to whom
they are talking. The focus is more on the speakers and how they wish to present
themselves to each other than on the message. The main features of talk as
interaction can be summarized as follows:
- Has a primarily social function
- Reflects role relationship
- Reflects speaker’s identity
- Maybe formal or casual
- Uses conversational conventions
- Reflects degree of politeness
- Employs many generic words
- Uses conversational register
- Is jointly constructed
Some of the skills to perform well interaction are listed as:
- Opening and closing conversations
- Choosing topics
- Making small-talk
- Recounting personal incidents and experiences
- Turn-taking
- Using adjacency-pairs

20. 13
- Interrupting
- Reacting to others
Such situation as a student talking to a person on a passenger bus (polite
conversation which is not for the purpose of looking for any future relationship) can
be an example of talk as interaction.
For many students, talk as interaction is not their purpose of learning a
foreign language because mastering the art of talk as interaction is difficult. This
can be a disadvantage for some learners where the ability to use talk for
conversation can be important.
Talk as transaction focuses on what is said or done rather than on the
participant themselves. Burns distinguishes between two different types of talk as
transaction: one focuses on the information exchanged like asking someone for the
time and the other concentrates on obtaining goods or services, such as checking
into a hotel. Accuracy is not the center of attention in this kind of talk as long as the
information is successfully understood.
As summarized by Jack C Richard, the main features of talk as transaction
are:
- It has a primarily information focus
- The main focus is the message and not the participants
- Participants employ communications strategies to make themselves
understood
- There may be frequent questions, repetitions, comprehension checks
- There may be negotiation and digression
- Linguistic accuracy is not always important
Some of the skills involved in using talk as transactions are:
- Explaining a need or intention

21. 14
- Describing something
- Asking questions
- Confirming information
- Justifying opinion
- Making suggestions
- Clarifying understanding
- Making comparisons
- Agreeing and disagreeing
Talk as performance refers to public talk such as giving presentations,
lectures. Talk as performance tends to be in the form of monolog rather than dialog
and is closer to written language then conversational language.
The main features of talk as performance are showed by Jack C Richard as
follows:
- There is a focus on both message and audience
- It reflects organization and sequencing
- Form and accuracy is important
- Language is more like written language
- It is often monologic
Some skills needed in talk as performance are:
- Using an appropriate format
- Presenting information in an appropriate sequence
- Maintaining audience engagement
- Using correct pronunciation and grammar
- Creating an effect on the audience

22. 15
- Using appropriate vocabulary
- Using appropriate opening and closing
Which speaking activity should be taught to learners is the key factor
deciding how classroom activities should be designed and what teaching method
should be used.
3.4. The nature of teaching speaking
Speaking is so much part of daily life that we take it for granted (Thorndike,
2001). For most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with
knowing that language since speech is the most basic means of human
communication (Lazaration in Celce-Murcia, 2001).
Speaking is very important because it enables us to express our ideas, give
response or comments on what we hear or read orally. Brown (2001) suggests
teachers consider some current issues in teaching oral communication, namely:
1. Conversational discourse: the benchmark of successful language
acquisition is almost always the demonstration of an ability to accomplish
pragmatic goals through interactive discourse with other speakers of the language.
2. Teaching pronunciation: these phonological details of language are
important.
3. Accuracy and fluency: both are important because fluency without
accuracy will make a language not comprehensible.
4. Affective factors: one of the learners‟ obstacles learning to speak is
anxiety.
5. The interaction effect: for the learner, the matter of what to say is often
eclipsed by convention of how to say things, when to speak and other discourse
constraints including the interlocutor effect or difficulty of a speaking task as
gauged by the skills of one‟s interlocutor.

23. 16
Since teaching speaking means teaching students to be able to speak a
language, teaching speaking means teaching students to:
- produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns.
- use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhyme of the
language.
- select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting,
audience, situation and subject matter.
- organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.
- use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
- use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is
called as fluency. (Nunan, 2003 cited in Kayi 2006)
Brown & Nation (1997) assert that in speaking classes students must be
exposed to three key items, namely: (1) form-focus instruction, that is, attention to
details of pronunciation grammar vocabulary and so forth; (2) meaning-focused
instruction, that is opportunities to produce meaningful spoken messages with real
communicative purposes; and (3) opportunities to improve fluency.
To gain those targets in teaching speaking, there needs to be mutual
cooperation between teachers and students by being active in the speaking practices.
Krashen (1981) as cited by Wenden (1987) says that students physically needed to
be developed through interactional activities among the teacher-student and student-
student. In line with Krashen, Celce-Murcia (2000) says that the most important
feature of a classroom speaking activity is to provide an authentic opportunity for
the students to get individual meaning across and utilize every area of knowledge
they have in second or foreign language. In other words, creating circumstance for
speaking practice in practice in classroom is very important in the teaching of
English to develop students‟ speaking skill.

24. 17
CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDY
This chapter addresses the two main issues. The first is the overview of
English teaching and learning situations at Phuc Yen College of Industry. Some
points have been taken into consideration such as the conditions in which English is
taught, the students‟ background, the teaching staff and the materials they have been
using. The second part of this chapter is the research methodology which consists of

25. 18
the description of the subjects of the study and procedures for carrying out the
research.
2.1. The overview of teaching and learning situations at Phuc Yen College of
Industry
2.1.1. An overview of Phuc Yen College of Industry
Phuc Yen College of Industry has been in operation for 50 years. At the
beginning, its duty was to train geodesic students for the whole country, so English
at that time was not in the list of subjects. Since 1995, many new branches have
been opened such as Economics, Information Technology, Construction and
Automobile. Accordingly, English has become a major subject that provides
students with basic knowledge about grammar and other skills. Besides, located in
Vinh Phuc province where there are a lot of industrial zones with many foreign
companies, the college hopes to train skilled workers for those areas. Hence,
English is considered an important compulsory subject.
Phuc Yen College of Industry has seven offices, three centers and nine
faculties. English group belongs to Informatics and Foreign Languages Center,
which was established in 2000. The center has a mission of teaching English to non-
English major students of all other faculties at the college. Every year, the college
admits nearly 1500000 newly enrolled students for a course of three-year study.
After graduating, those students, apart from their professionals, need to
communicate in English fluently. Therefore, the authority in our college has decided
that English is the main subject with the purpose of helping the non-English majors
to develop their English communicative skill to meet the demand of their future
employment.
2.1.2. Students’ background
The students of Phuc Yen College of Industry come from all parts of Vinh
Phuc province and surrounding areas. Most of these students commonly spent most
of the time learning three subjects: mathematics, physics, and chemistry. As a

26. 19
result, the students‟ level of English when entering the college is really at the
beginning stage even though most of them had at least seven years to learn English
at secondary and high schools and some of them learnt it for three years or less.
At secondary schools as well as high schools, the students are familiar with
the Grammar-Translation method, the emphasis of which is on the rules of the
language, not on the acquisition of language skills, especially speaking skills.
Moreover, their final exams are in written form with grammar exercises, so the
focus of every lesson is always on grammar, not on other skills. Hence, they can not
speak fluently and most of them do not feel confident in communicating in English.
At Phuc Yen College of Industry, the students have to take written and oral
exams after the semesters, so they need to learn speaking skills and other skills as
well. These facts call for teachers to provide students with useful language teaching
methods in order to motivate them in speaking lessons.
2.1.3. Teachers and teaching methods
English group of the college has got 13 teachers of English language aged
from 28 to 39. Four of them took full-time courses in English language in different
foreign universities in Viet Nam and the rest joined in-service training courses.
There are only two teachers who get M.A degree and the others get B.A degree.
In terms of language teaching, in the past these teachers used to employ the
traditional teaching method – the Grammar Translation one even though they were
always aware of the importance of the new trend of current teaching methods:
learner-centered approach and communicative approach. Now they have been
changing their teaching methods by applying new techniques for more attractive
lessons such as pair/ group work, role-play, making presentation in front of the
class, etc. to make the students to feel highly motivated in learning. However, the
teachers can sometimes do these and the amount of time spent on such activities is
not much because of limited course time and big classes. Accordingly, the time
spent on speaking teaching makes up small part of the whole program.

27. 20
Actually, to meet the demand of the increased needs of English for
communication, the teachers of Phuc Yen College of Industry make their best effort
to search for more suitable and effective methods and teaching materials in order to
motivate the students to use English more competently and communicatively.
2.1.4. Course books and teaching materials for teaching speaking skills
At Phuc Yen College of Industry, there are two levels: professional
secondary level with two-year course time and college level with three-year course
time.
For college level, the students have two semesters of learning general
English and one semester of learning English for specific purposes. For general
English, the students have forty five periods each semester. The main textbook used
is Lifelines, pre-intermediate by Tom Hutchinson, 2002, which is designed in a
communicative way. However, the textbook is used for non-English majors at the
college, so there is no separated speaking syllabus. Therefore, the teachers have to
integrate the four skills into each other and design their speaking lessons based on
the topics assigned that are relevant to the students‟ level to help them understand
the whole lessons.
The need for teaching English speaking skills is increasing to meet the
demand of the society. For such situation of Phuc Yen College of Industry with
course time limited, big classes, no separated speaking lessons, the teachers always
try their best to look for more relevant and suitable teaching methods and materials.
In this research, using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks is highly
recommended for the teachers to teach speaking skills. The effect of this kind of
method will be discussed in the next chapter.
2.2. Methodology of the study
2.2.1. Rationale for the use of action research

28. 21
As defined by Mills (2003), action research is “any systematic inquiry
conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their
particular school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn. The
information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective
practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational
practices in general, and improving student outcomes.”
The aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within
educational context in which the research is carried out. (Cohen and Manion, 1985)
The researcher, as a teacher, decided to choose an action research as her
methodology because action research is classroom-based research conducted by
teachers so as to reflect upon and evolve their teaching. This satisfies the main
purpose of the thesis, that is to gain understanding of teaching and learning within
the researcher‟s classroom and to use that knowledge to increase her teaching
efficacy and improve her own students‟ speaking skills.
2.2.2. Description of subjects and participants in the study
The researcher I s a teacher at Phuc Yen College of Industry. The students
participating in the research were 51 first-year non-English majors of class
CCK05KT1, academic year 2011-2012 of Economics Faculty at Phuc Yen College
of Industry. They consist of 39 girls and 12 boys aged from 18 to 20. They have
learned English for seven years or less. In order to take part in the English course at
college level, they are required by the college to take an exam and must get at least
mark 5. Therefore, it can be assumed that the students are quite homogenous in their
English level of proficiency.
2.2.3. The instruments for carrying out the study
In this part, the instruments for carrying out the research are presented. Each
stage of the instruments is described in each following section.
2.2.3.1. The research questions

29. 22
The study addressed the following three research questions:
- What are the students‟ difficulties in English speaking?
- Are English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks effective in
teaching non-English majors‟ speaking skills?
- If yes, how effective is it?
2.2.3.2. The methods for the data collection
In order to collect necessary data and information for the study, different
methods were used, of which classroom observation with the students were carried
out through the whole term, questionnaires were delivered to them at the beginning
and the end of the course and the other one, audio-recordings at the beginning as a
pre-test and the end of the term as a post-test.
Classroom observation
The researcher herself did this to check the students‟ participation in the
speaking lessons using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks.
Observation was conducted through the whole research program of speaking
lessons. The researcher paid great attention to the students‟ accuracy in speaking.
This helped her to find adequate amount of data to yield any conclusions about the
students‟ speaking problems, as well as how much progress they made during the
research.
Questionnaires
The two questionnaires were delivered to 51 students of the class
CCK05KT1 of the research. Short and clear explanations about the aims of these
questionnaires were given before handouts were distributed.
The first questionnaire was used to collect information about the students‟
opinions about learning speaking before the speaking lessons in which the teacher

30. 23
did not use English reading texts as input for speaking tasks. It would answer the
first question: What are the students‟ difficulties in English speaking?
The second questionnaire was given to the students after the teacher used
English reading texts as input for speaking tasks with the aim to collect the
information about the students‟ reflections and their opinions of using English
reading texts in teaching speaking skills and it answers the research questions:
- Are English reading texts used as input for speaking tasks effective in
teaching non-English majors‟ speaking skills?
- If yes, how effective is it?
The teaching was carried out with 51 first-year non-English majors of the
Economics Faculty at Phuc Yen College of Industry. The teaching was conducted
during the seven lessons in seven weeks to investigate the effect of using English
reading texts as input in teaching speaking skills. Two weeks before and after the
teaching was used for tests. The detailed description of one sample lesson using
English reading texts as input for speaking tasks is presented in appendix.
Audio-recording
During the research program, the students were asked to attend two speaking
tests. The first test was conducted in the first week, and the second test was in week
9. The tests were designed to exam students‟ accuracy in speaking skills. The
factors of accuracy include grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, sociolinguistic
competence or pragmatic competence. Grammatical errors were the main factors in
deciding level of accuracy for this research. The tests consisted of two parts:
1. Introduction: Students introduce themselves to the teacher.
2. Discussion:
a. Students are required to read aloud a passage of about 70-100 words. The passage
is taken from the book Lifelines, Elementary by Tom Hutchinson for the first test

31. 24
and from the book Lifelines, Pre-intermediate by Tom Hutchinson for the second
test. The topics are within the content of the reading units.
b. Discussion: Students answer the questions from the teacher. All the answers are
in the reading passage.
The two tests are audio-recorded for analyzing. The results of the second test
is then compared with the results of the first to see whether the students‟ speaking
skills are improved after using English reading texts as input for speaking tasks.
2.2.3.3. The methods for processing and analyzing the data
The data collected for the research is the combination of self-observation,
questionnaires and audio-recordings. In order to analyze the data, both qualitative
and quantitative techniques were used in the study. For qualitative technique, the
nature of the research is descriptive. For quantitative analysis, the data from
questionnaires and audio-recordings were analyzed statistically in the form of
frequencies and percentages. Followings were the discussion of the results collected
from the data. After that, a summary of the findings was presented before coming to
the conclusion. Based on this, some implications for using English reading texts as
input for speaking tasks and further research in this area were suggested.

32. 25
CHAPTER THREE: DATA COLLECTION AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, the results of the study are presented followed by the
discussion and analysis of the data. The results are statistically presented in the
forms of tables, charts or diagrams. These are used to answer the three mentioned
research questions.
3.1. Findings from the teacher’s classroom observation
The teacher‟s observation during class hours was conducted as
supplementary instrument in order to find out how students learnt speaking skills
with the help of English reading texts for vocabulary, grammatical structure, etc,
how they evaluated the new way of using the reading texts in the textbook to
support their speaking skills and how useful they thought it was. The findings are as
follows.
In order to observe the students‟ involvement in speaking activities, after
clear instruction and explanation of the reading texts in terms of vocabulary,
grammatical structures, pronunciation of some new words, the teacher gave the
students speaking tasks in pairs or groups and then went around the class to make
sure that all of the students were on task. She sometimes joined in their pairs or

33. 26
groups to help and encourage them to express their thought in English. The teacher
also sometimes used both English and Vietnamese to get full understanding from
the students.
For the students, they held the new way of teaching speaking skills in high
regard. They acknowledged that the use of English reading texts in the textbook did
a great help in improving their speaking. With the tasks designed by the teacher
such as role-play, drill activities, information gap activities, summary, ask and
answer, retelling the story based on the reading texts, students were provided with
vocabulary, grammatical structures and background information that supported
them a lot in speaking.
During the class hours with the exploitation of English reading texts, the
students were highly motivated. They took part in the lesson actively and
enthusiastically. All the students held a positive attitude towards using English
reading texts in speaking lessons.
Although the students were willing to join discussion, their participation was
uneven. In many groups, there were some talkative and some silent members. Some
groups finished their work earlier and made a lot of noise.
In general, the students were moderately motivated into the lessons in
comfortable speaking environment. They learnt a lot and felt relaxed after the
lessons.
3.2. Findings from the questionnaires
3.2.1. Questionnaire No.1
3.2.1.1. Students’ background of learning English
Students’ hometown Number of students Percentage (%)
Rural areas 24 47.06
Mountainous areas 15 29.41
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34. 27
Tab
le 1:
Students’ background of learning English
Question 1 is aimed at to find out the students‟ hometown before entering the
college. This is to see the students‟ social background related to their conditions of
learning English.
As we can see from table 1, many of the students (47.06%) come from rural
areas where the English learning condition is not good. Whereas only 23.53% of
them come from town or city where the condition for learning English is better.
Noticeably, 29.41% of the students are from mountainous areas where English
learning environment is poor.
Tab
le 2:
Stud
ents
’
time
of learning English
Question 2 relates to the students‟ time of learning English. 56.86% of the
students have learnt English for seven years. It is understandable that it was
required from the government that students had to learn English from secondary
school in the past and now it is from primary school. The students learning English
for three years account for 35.29% while 7.85% of the participants have learnt
English less than three years. None of the subjects have learnt English more than
seven years.
From the results of the two first questions, a conclusion can be drawn out
that the students are varied in English learning conditions and time of learning it.
These different conditions and time of learning English may affect on the students‟
Town or city 12 23.53
Students’ time of learning
English
Number of
students
Percentage (%)
Less than 3 years 4 7.85
3 years 18 35.29
7 years 29 56.86
More than 7 years 0 0
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35. 28
learning styles and level of English proficiency. With 76.47% of the students
coming from mountainous and rural areas, even 56.86% of them learning English
for seven years, their English competence may not be as equal as the level required
by the government. Especially, with these areas, learning speaking is rare.
Understanding these features, the teacher can find suitable teaching methods for
those students.
3.2.1.2. Students’ reasons for learning English
You want to learn English because: No. of
students
Percentage
a. To go aboard 5 9.8
b. To communicate with English speaking people 25 49.01
c. To find a good job 45 88.23
d. To pass the exams and get high scores 34 66.67
e. To read newspapers, magazines and watch TV in English 22 43.13
f. Other 3 5.9
Table 3: Students’ reasons for learning English
The data from the table shows clearly that a considerable number of the
students who want to pass the exams and get high scores account for 66.67%. Of the
six reasons, the largest number of the students, 88.23 percent, learns English for
finding a good job. It is easy to understand that many companies now require
employees to know English for their work. If they want to get a good and stable job
with high salary, they should know English. English newspapers, magazines, TV
shows are of interest to 43.13 percent. 49.01 percent of the participants learn
English because they want to communicate with English speaking people and only
9.8 % learn English to go abroad. 5.9% have other reasons such as English widens
their knowledge; they want to play online games, etc.
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