SKKN Enhancing 10th graders’ speaking skill through the implementation of scaffolding strategies

1. INTRODUCTION

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. Rationale for the Study

Regarded as an international language, English is spoken in most parts of the

world and is considered the principle means of communication among the trade,

diplomatic, and airline communities. English has been a compulsory subject

among Vietnamese students for many years. Teaching English in Vietnam will

help our students take advantage of globalization, and teachers are always seeking

ways to improve their techniques for more effective lesson plans and higher

cognitive retention among their students at all levels. As teachers of English at a

high school, the authors constantly face the many problems inherent in helping

students absorb and apply a foreign language. Of primary importance is teaching

speaking skills, which is a topic of much debate among researchers.

In fact, speaking is an essential skill in both the first language and the second

language. Moreover, it is a means of planned and organized thought expressions.

However, it is considered the most challenging language skills due to its

complexity and high requirement of language means. Although there is an

increased attention to the field of teaching and learning English language speaking,

it still tends to be a neglected area in English language teaching at high school

level in Vietnam. One reason for this negligence may be the fact that most

examinations in English merely test the students‘ grammar and referenced norms.

Moreover, that little time and efforts are spent on teaching and learning speaking

leads to Vietnamese high school students‘ unsatisfactory results in speaking.

These low results are due to numerous factors including students‘ lack background

knowledge and low language competence. As a matter of fact, although many

learners are very good at doing exercises in structural forms, they can hardly

communicate with others. Therefore, it is beneficial to give some perspective

techniques for teaching speaking in order to improve their speaking abilities.

The role of teachers, besides other objective factors, is very important in

helping students to express their ideas in spoken forms successfully. In the class,

teachers can supply them with appropriate guide and support in fulfilling the

speaking tasks. Teachers, in fact, give their students some kinds of these guide and

support, which is termed ―scaffolding‖, in their teaching. Scaffolding is used in a

very wide range in teaching all language skills. Even when some teachers are not

familiar with this term, they are using the techniques and strategies unconsciously.

Actually, scaffolding is necessary to assist students in achieving higher- level of

thinking than what they would if they were working alone, to solve the problems of

ideas stuck, vocabulary limitation and to raise the students‘ interest in learning

writing.

Realizing the benefits and dispensable role of scaffolding in teaching English in

general and in teaching speaking in particular, as teachers of English at Ha Huy Tap

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high school, we would like to do something with the hope of improving students‘

speaking skills. Therefore, the study title goes as “Enhancing 10th graders’

speaking skill through the implementation of scaffolding strategies”

In this paper, the authors demonstrated the use of scaffolding techniques, and

examined their effectiveness in opening the textbook‘s content ( TIENG ANH 10 –

GLOBAL SUCCESS) in such a way as to increase 10th grade students‘ motivation to

read and enjoy English. Teacher observations and student surveys were collected to

determine the effectiveness of using these new techniques. The results of this

research yielded a new plan for using various kinds of scaffolding to help teachers

with teaching speaking. It is hoped that using scaffolding will be an effective

technique to enhance students‘ speaking competence.

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. Aims of the study

Focusing on the importance of student participation and enjoyment in

speaking lessons, this study aims at examining the use of scaffolding for 10th

graders in speaking lessons at Ha Huy Tap High school.

These are three objectives of the study:

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To discover the urgency and feasibility of the scafolding strategies to enhance

students‘ speaking skill.

–

To investigate the effectiveness of using scaffolding strategies during

speaking lessons.

–

To find out students and teachers‘ attitudes towards using scaffolding

strategies in speaking lessons and give some recommendations.

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. Objects of the study

The research scope includes the three classes, namely class 10D1,10D and

class 10T1 at Ha Huy Tap High School, Nghe An province. They are selected to be

the participants of the study, all of them have fulfilled English text book 9 in the

previous school year.

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. Method of the study

This study illustrates the findings of an action research developing scaffolding

in teaching speaking. It is conducted at Ha Huy Tap High school in Vinh city with

secondary students. The instruments for data collection are journal, oral interviews,

questionnaires, and video recordings. Scaffolding could be developed by means of

cooperative work in order to achieve common interests and support each other.

Furthermore, students also are expected to display self-regulation by learning

strategies, as well as enhance intrinsic motivation in order to achieve leaning goals.

In order to do this kind of action research, we must make some attempt to foster

autonomy among the learners we work with. In doing so we will frequently find

ourselves in a position where we are able, through careful observation and analysis

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of empirical data, to contribute to theory.

. Schedule

In order to evaluate the practicality and validity of scaffolding in improving

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students‘ speaking skill, we would follow the subsequent steps:

1. Before applying this method:

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Interview students to give their timetable doing tasks by themselves.

Ask students that have they ever make target to acquire in the near future

Have a speaking test to diagnose students‘ abilities

1. While applying this method:

Give scaffolding strategies in speaking lessons.

1. After applying this method:

Re-ask the initial questions to see the advancement as well as the progress after

using the strategies.