HA NOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

ASSIGNMENT ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

IMPROVING ENGLISH COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS

FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT FACULTY
OF ENGLISH, HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Hà Nội, 2019
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION.....................................................................1

1.Rationale....................................................................................................1

2. Aims and Objectives of the study.............................................................1

3. Scope of the study....................................................................................2

4. Research questions...................................................................................2

5. Methods of the study................................................................................2

6. Design of the study...................................................................................2

7. Significance of the study..........................................................................3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT......................................................................4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................4

1.1. Definitions of communication.......................................................4

1.2. Factors effecting students’ communicative skills............................5

1.2.1. Listening...................................................................................5

1.2.2. Speaking...................................................................................6

1.2.3. Grammatical accuracy..............................................................6

1.2.4. Understanding pronunciation....................................................7

1.2.5. English fluency.........................................................................8

1.2.6. Self-confidence.........................................................................8

1.2.7. Enthusiams...............................................................................9

1.2.8. Length of answer......................................................................9

CHAPTER 2: FINDING AND DISCUSSION...........................................11

2.1. Data collection..................................................................................11

2.1.1. Subject of the study....................................................................11

2.1.2. Instruments for collecting data...................................................11

2.2. Data presentation and analysis.........................................................11

2.2.1. The fact of using English communicative skills of students.......11

2.2.2. The students’ interest in learning English communication.........13

2.3. Summary of the chapter...................................................................15

CHAPTER 3: CONTRIBUTIONS AND SOLUTIONS.............................16

3.1. The positive factors on application extra-activities..........................16

3.2. Suggestions......................................................................................16

PART C: CONCLUSIONS........................................................................19

1. Summary of the study..........................................................................19

2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study..................19

REFERENCES...........................................................................................20

APPENDICES............................................................................................21
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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

For many years, English has been being considered as a global language.
English is dominant in all six continents. It is the main language of books,
newspapers, airports and air traffic control, international business and academic
conferences, science, technology, medicine, diplomacy, sports, international
competitions, music, and advertising. It is also called international language which
is used as a language of international communication.

Communicative skills are the important factors for judging a person’s

English ability. In the international relationship, English communication ability is
very important to be able to participate in the wider world of work. The speaking
skills are measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the
language. In fact, communication well is one of the key which helps learners step
by step discover English language. English communication is increasingly
important factor, plays an essential role in integrating new flat working
environment. In my opinion, there is a need for the first – year students at Hanoi
Open University to be prepared for more related communicative skills that the
majority of the students can master.

All the above reasons have inspired me to choose the subject “Improving
communication skills for the first year students at Faculty of English, Hanoi Open
University” to do research. Hopefully, it will be useful to be used by the students at
the university or other people as one of studying strategies among many other
strategies in improving their communicative skills.

2. Aims and Objectives of the study

This study is aimed at helping students make a progress in studying English

listening and speaking through extra – activities or examinations to improve their
English communicative skills effectively.
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The objectives of this study are identifying the English communicative skills,
finding out the difficulties and expectations when the first-year students at HOU
using English communicative skills, and giving some suggestions to help them
overcome their difficulties effectively by participating extra-activities and
examinations. In fact, there are lots of various techniques to study English
communication. It requires much of time and effort. However, due to the limitation
of time, resources and knowledge of mine, this study only focus on study some
effective techniques in studying English speaking through extra-activities or
English’s competitions for students at Faculty of English – Hanoi Open University.

3. Scope of the study

Due to the limitation of time, the study is confined to the first- year students
at Faculty of English – Hanoi Open University with focus on 50 students.

4. Research questions

- What are the English communicative skills?

- What are difficulties when the first-year students at HOU using English
communicative skills?

- What are suggestions to help students at HOU overcome their difficulties

when using English communicative skills?

5. Methods of the study

We went ahead with two main methods:

+ Observation

+ Exploring the materials

6. Design of the study

The study is divided into four part:

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- The first part is “Introduction”. In this part, there are some following
parts the rationale, the aims, the scope, methods, design and significance
of the study.

- The second part is “Development” which consists of 3 chapters:

+) Chapter 1: Literature review provides the background of the study,

including definitions of key concepts, and discussions of related studies.

+) Chapter 2: The study data collection and data analysis and discussion –
presents the data collected in details and then analyses major patterns
found in the data collected according to the three research questions.

+) Chapter 3: Some suggestions to improving students’ communicative

skills.

- The last part is “Conclusion” – summarizes the main issues discussed in

the paper, the limitations of the research, several pedagogical
recommendations concerning the research topic as well as some
suggestions for further studies. Following this chapter are the References
and Appendices.

- References.

- Appendices.

7. Significance of the study

This is study contributes in improving communication skills. Therefore, this

study comes to be as a reference in difficulties that face students in communication
skills as well as the way to improve English skills.
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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. Definitions of communication

In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (p.13), the definition of

communication is to imparting or exchanging of information by speaking,
listening, writing, or using some other medium. According to Bruke (1998,
p.13), communication is the ability to convey or share ideas and feelings
effectively. While another expert, Theodore Huebner (1998, p.12) says:
“Language is essentially speech, and speech is basically communication by
sound”.

The term communication has been defined at various levels.

Communication is a dynamic interactive process that involves the effective
transmission of facts, ideas, thoughts, feelings, and values. It is not passive
and does not just happen; we actively and consciously engage in
communication in order to develop the information and understanding
required for effective group functioning. It is dynamic because it involves a
variety of forces and activities interacting over a period of time. The word
‘process’ suggests that communication exists as a flow through a sequence or
series of steps. The term ‘process’ is also indicates a condition of flux and
change. The relationships of people engaged in communication continuously
grow and develop.

Communication can also be understood as an exchange of meaning

and understanding. Meaning is central to communication, and transmission
of meaning is the central objective of communication. Communication
begins with the sender sending out message cues, which are perceived by the
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receiver who assigns meaning to them and responds to them as per the need.
Communication can be complete unless the message sent by the sender is
properly decoded at the receiver’s end and comprehended. Moreover,
communication can be considered effective only when the receiver’s
response is matching with the meaning the sender wanted to convey. From
the above definitions, it can be inferred that communication is the process of
expressing one’s ideas, thoughts, feelings, expressions, emotions, language,
knowledge etc. The process may involve Transaction, exchange, and sharing.
Communication is the base of human existence. Starting from the child’s cry
which the first communication by any human being. Communication is
present in home. It spreads out to society (the people with whom we live and
share our experiences on a daily basis). It is also instrumental is framing our
culture. Culture in a developed state of being becomes an integral part of
religion. Communication is also responsible in administration and control in
the country. Every aspect related to human being is dependent on
communication. Either it be politics, economics, sociology or technical
things like evolution of science and development & use of technology.
Particularly, in the present context communication assumes a lot of
importance.

1.2. Factors effecting students’ communicative skills

1.2.1. Listening

Listening is an important skill that students need to pay much attention in

helping not only students but people in general as well to have a good
communication in everyday reaction. Listening is a skill in a sense that it’s a related
but distinct process than hearing which involves merely perceiving sound in a
passive way while listening occupies an active and immediate analysis of the
streams of sounds. This correlation is like that between seeing and reading. Seeing
is a very ordinary and passive state while reading is a focused process requiring
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reader’s instrumental approach. Listening has a “volitional component”. Tomatis,

A. (2007) view is, while listening; the desire to listen, as well as the capability to
listen (comprehension) must be present with the listener for the successful
recognition and analysis of the sound.

Howatt, L. and Dakin, D. (1974, p.162), states “Listening is the ability to

identify and understand what others are saying. This process involves understanding
a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, the speaker’s grammar and vocabulary, and
comprehension of meaning”.

In the point view of Barker, L. (2001, 189), listening is more than just being
able to hear and understand what someone else says, listening skills involve
etiquette, asking for clarification, showing empathy and providing an appreciate
response”.

In conclusion, there are various different ways to define what listening is. However,
it is approved that listening occupies a crucial position to gain an effective
communication. Listening also requires numerous skills as it is a complicated
process challenging the listeners. Listening comprehension is a very basic skill one
must have in order to be a good English speaker. One of the most common and
critical mistakes non-native speakers of English make is focusing their time and
effort in improving their English speaking skills without first assessing and
practicing their English listening comprehension skills. A lot of them actually know
grammar rules pretty well and can construct even complex sentences. Surprisingly,
just when you thought they can communicate well in English, they suddenly come
to a halt when asked questions.

1.2.2. Speaking

Speaking is an essential tool for communicating, thinking, and learning.

Through speaking and listening, students learn concepts, develop vocabulary, and
perceive the structure of the English language which is essential components of
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learning. Additionally, speaking is a vehicle to link individuals to society.

Exchanges students have with their peers and teachers can help them come to know
the world in more personal and socially responsible ways. When students talk
about their ideas, they clarify their thinking. They can figure out what they believe
and where they stand on issues.

There are different ways to define speaking skill. Some liguists give their
own definition of speaking skill. Scott (1990) adds that “Speaking emphasizes the
use of language above the level of the sentence and that the learner is now
concerned with using language, not English usages”. What is more, speaking is
process of transferring knowledge of converse and how to express one idea,
thought, desires and willingness into good pattern and ordinary speech used to talk
or recognize another (Mories, 1966, p.454). The ultimate goal of learning a
language is actually to be able to communicate, not to know language grammar
rules of language usages. Therefore, learning to speak involves developing a
number of skills and differents types of knowledge about how and when to
communicate.

Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. Despite

its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English
language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or
memorization of dialogues. However, today’s world requires that the goal of
studying speaking should improve students’ communicative skills, because, only in
that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and
cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance.

1.2.3. Grammatical accuracy

Why do we learn grammar? According to Alexander (1992, p.1), he says:

“There is no point in learning grammar for the sake of learning grammar. Grammar
is the support system of communication and we learn it to communicate better.
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Grammar explains the why and how of language. We learn it because we just can
not do without it”.

Some people wonder why there is a need to have grammatical accuracy in

English, when even some native English speakers commit grammatical mistakes
themselves. Native English speakers can say what they want without much
difficulty due to their familiarity of the language. If they have difficulty expressing
a certain concept in a certain way, they can just use other ways of saying those
things. They may commit some mistakes in grammar, but the mistakes do not
distort or change the meaning of the sentences they want to convey, thus, it doesn’t
give the listener much of a problem understanding them. On the other hand, the
mistakes many non-native speaker of English commit are those that often change
the meaning of sentences they want to express, and thus create a misunderstanding.
That’s exactly the reason why non-native speakers have to study grammar more
than native speakers.

1.2.4. Understanding pronunciation

It is quite common for non-native speakers of English to mispronounce

English words. When discussing on the approach to teaching speaking, Flohr and
Paeser (2006, p.6) cite a statement in Bygate’s book (2000, p.563), which is
“Approaches to the teaching of speaking in a foreign language reflect the
understanding of at least two phenomena: the natura of speaking in a second
language; and how people learn”.

Some non-native speakers cannot understand the question, because the one
asking speaks too fast or because of the speaker’s accent (in case of an Australian or
a British speaker for example). They would often ask the speaker to repeat the
question several times or request the speaker to speak more slowly, before they
finally understand the question. Some, on the other hand, answer the questions just
to find out in the end that he or she misunderstood the question, and therefore gave
an inappropriate answer. However, it is not something we have to be ashamed of,
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but something learners ought to understand. They have to get to the root of the
problems, in orders for us to improve our pronunciation. English is not phonetic
unlike other languages, English is not phonetic. What does that mean? It means we
do not always say English words the way we spell them.

Example: The Japanese word “honto” (really) is pronounced the way it is spelled.
The English word “really” is not pronounced as “re-a-li” or “re-a-lai”, nor is the
word “really” spelled as “rili”.

1.2.5. English fluency

English fluency means being able to use the language with ease. In order to
be more fluent in the said language, it is suggested that learners practice speaking
English as often as possible. Good English fluency helps people communicate the
fastest and the most effectively. According to Flohr and Paesler (2006, p.6),
speaking fluency is the most important ones in learning a foreign language. They
also emphasize that “The focus in learning a foreign language is on communication
activities and expressive abilities and the the goal is to become a fluent speaker”.
However, it is not enough to practice all vethe time. They have to make sure you
practice speaking English the right way. They can do this by practicing with a
buddy who can speak English well, so that he/she can correct your mistakes if you
commit any.

The single most important reason for teaching speaking is to develop oral
fluency, that is, the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably, accurately and
without undue hesitation. Learners of English will want to use speech principally
for two reasons. The first reason is that they want to give and receive information,
that is, for transactional or message-oriented purposes. The other is the that they
want to maintain good social relationship, that is, for interactional purposes focused
on sharing personal experiences and opinions.

1.2.6. Self-confidence
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Did people already know how to ride a bike the moment you were born?
They had to study it, practice, fall down at times and learn from your mistakes, until
you finally got it right. If they just studied about how to ride a bike and did not even
try it, would you learn? No, they would still probably be reading a “Dummies Guide
to Riding a Bike” until now. Learning the English language is the same thing. It’s
not enough that you study about it. They should practice it! Do not be afraid to
make mistakes. It’s a part of the learning process.

There are a lot of people who are good in English but are not that confident
to use the language, thus, they waste their talents. There are also know many people
who commit many mistakes in grammar, pronunciation and word usage, yet
because of their self-confidence they even landed a job which is in line with
English. Here’s a friendly advice to the former group of people: “If you don’t
believe in yourself, who will. In my experience as an English trainer, I’ve met some
people who were supposed to take English language examinations such as TOEFL,
IELTS, etc. During our mock interviews, many of them would say “I’m not very
good in English”, as parts of their responses to certain questions. If I were the real
examiner, why would I give you a high score in this exam if you yourself admit
you’re not good in English? Why are you taking this exam in the first place if you
know you deserve to fail? So like what I said, believe in yourself, and everything
will start falling into place.

1.2.7. Enthusiams

It is sure that almost everyone has experienced listening to speeches. It may

be during our elementary or high school graduation given by the guest ,speakers or
valedictorians, or during election campaign periods when politicians would recite a
long list of promise to the voters, or even during special occasions like wedding and
birthdays. Whatever the case may be, it all boils down to one thing. Most probably,
learners did not even care about what they were talking about. Most people who are
asked to give speeches are those who are intelligent and those who can speak very
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well. So, what could probably have went wrong? According to Ur (1996), low or
uneven participation is also one of problems with speaking activities, only one
participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard, and in a large group this
means that each one will have only very little time talking. This problem is
compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while others speak very
little or not al all.

Speaking well does not only involve the right grammar, pronunciation,
accent and proper use of words. A person might be good in all these aspects yet not
many people would like to listen to what he has to say. Why? A good English
speaker (or speaker for that matter), can catch and hold the attention of his/her
listeners. How can he/she do this?

1.2.8. Length of answer

How long should one’s answers be? The length of one’s answers depends on
the situation. If it’s just a conversation between friends, where you are telling
someone a story which is very interesting for him/her, going into details and a long
answer is okay. In the point of Ur (1996) view, one of some problems with speaking
skills is nothing to say, even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners
complain that they cannot thinks of anything to say: they have no motive to express
themselves beyond the guilty felling that they should be speaking.

Mother-tongue use is also another problem (Ur, 1996), in classes where all,
or a number of, the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use it:
because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign
language, and because they feel less “exposed” if they are speaking their mother
tongue. If they are talking in small groups it can be quite difficult to get some
classes-particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones-to keep to the target
language. However, when one is in a job interview or an English examination,
where in the interviewer does not have much time to speak with you, you ought to
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give answer that are brief and detailed. Make sure you have already answered what
has been asked, before moving on to elaborate on the details of the answers.

CHAPTER 2: FINDING AND DISCUSSION

This chapter addresses subject, research instruments, including questionnaires,

procedure of the study and data analysis used in this chapter.

2.1. Data collection

2.1.1. Subject of the study

The study was conducted with 50 K26 course students in the first-year in
Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University. The students are at the same age and
the same studying environments. Almost all of these students studied English in
comprehensive approaches which focus on listening, speaking, writing, and reading.
Most of them can do grammar very well but they have difficulties in mastering four
language skills. Therefore their communicative competence is limited. As many of
them revealed, they find communicative skills important yet challenging one. That
was the reason why most of students feel bored and unmotivated when
communicating English.

2.1.2. Instruments for collecting data

The main instrument for data collection in this study was survey
questionnaires. There are 2 tables:

- Table 1 consists of 5 questions given to find out the fact of using English
communicative skills of students.

- Table 2 including 3 questions indicates the students’ interest in

communicating lesson.

The questionnaires were delivered to 50 students with variety of questions

and received 50 respondents. This tool aim to find out:
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- Students’ difficulties in communicating English

- Students’ interest in communicating English

2.2. Data presentation and analysis

2.2.1. The fact of using English communicative skills of students

The first part of survey questionnaires consists of five questions to finds out
whether the fact of using English communicative skills of students and what the
difficulties are. After collecting and analyzing the data, a table which presents the
result was drawn as below:

Table 1

1 How often do you communicate in Number Percentage

English in the classes? (%)
A Always 0 0
B Sometimes 10 20
C Rarely 40 80
2 Do you feel difficult to communicate in
English fluently?
A Yes, very much 20 40
B Yes, much 23 46
C No, normal 5 10
D No, not at all 2 4
3 Do you feel hesitation in communicating
in English due to fear of making mistakes
or will be ridiculed by others?
A Always 45 90
B Often 5 10
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C Never 0 0
4 What kind of problems do you face to
express your thought?
A Vocabulary 24 48
B Grammar 8 16
C Pronunciation 14 28
D Sentence structure 4 8

With the aim of finding out the fact of using English communicative skills of
students, fifty copies of the survey questionnaires were distributed to students and
received fifty respondents. The data will be analyzed based on this target
population.

As can be seen clearly from the table 1, in question 1, most of the surveyed
students (80%) rarely communicate in English in the classes and outside the class.
While there are 10 students (20%) choosing option B. They only speak English
when they are forced to speak. Because they feel that they can easily convey their
point of view through their mother tongue. While speaking English, they have to
think what they would have to say, then they translate those sentences in their minds
before uttering those sentence.

Moving to question 2, it mentions to the students’ difficulties in

communicating. Students feel difficulty in communicating in English fluently as
English is not their mother tongue and they have no demand on it and they also do
not use in speaking class or other activities. There are 20 of 50 students, counting
for 40%, find it very difficult to be able to communicate in English fluently and
naturally because they spend little time on practicing speaking. Learning English
well in general and learning communicating in particularly is a hard process. It
requires learners to practice a lot both in the class and outside the class. With
question 3, it is obvious that English is not their mother tongue and they think if
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they speak wrong in class or other activities, their fellow students will laugh at them
and make fun of them. Their shyness and hesitation are the major hindrance to keep
them back from speaking English. They should be confident while communicating
in English no matter how many mistakes they make. By continuous effort, they will
be able to speaking correctly.

Nearly 48% students recognize that the problem they have to face is
vocabulary. The reason is that they have no proper vocabulary and fear that if they
speak wrong in front of others, they will ridicule them. They know and understand
each and everything but can’t convey or explain to other due to this communicative
problem. Other problem is pronunciation. Their wrong pronunciation can lead to
others misunderstanding.

Turning to the last question, 100% students hope that they could have a new
method to help themselves improve their English communicative skills. The
teachers can use some activities; for example matching games, dialogue, role-plays,
songs, stories and on. These activities not only create interesting among students but
also help them to improve their speaking. This will be learning through fun.

2.2.2. The students’ interest in learning English communication

This part consists of 3 questions which investigated the students’ attitude of

participating in extra-activities and their evaluation of the effectiveness of extra-
activities when learning English communication and the students’ preferences as
well as expectations of taking part in extra-activities.

Table 2

1 How do you feel after taking part in Number Percentage

English extra-activities; such as English (%)
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clubs, outdoor classes and drama

society?
A Relaxed and movivated 40 80
B Normal 9 18
C Uncomfortable 1 2
2 What are the benefits of extra-activities
to your communicative skills? (You can
choose more than one option)
A Making communication more enjoyable 50 100
and more fun
B Making communication less challenging 29 58
and difficult
C Lowering your anxiety and shyness, then 34 68
developing your confidence in
communicating
D Having more chances for students to 43 86
practice communicative skills
3 How often do you want to take part in
extra-activities?
A Often 30 60
B Occasionally 14 28
C Rarely 3 6
D Never 3 6

The table above illustrates vividly the students’ interest in extra-activities.

From the chart, it can be seen that most of the students hold their interest in extra-
activities. Question 1 talks about students’ feeling about taking part in extra-
activities when learning English communication. The results collected from this
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question shows that a quite high number of students (80%) feel comfortable and
relaxed mean while a significant number, accounting for 18%, feel normal.
Especially, 2% confirm that they feel uncomfortable. Although the number of these
students is small, it should also be taken into consideration. Because if the students
expect to get the highest learning results when participating in extra-activities to
improve communicative skills, the reasons for this fact must be found.

Question 2 dealing with the benefits of extra-activities to communicating is

specially designed for those who admit the effectiveness of participating in extra-
activities in learning English communication. It can be seen obviously that all of the
students agree that extra-activities make speaking lessons more enjoyable and more
fun. 58% raise their voice that these activities make speaking lessons less
challenging and less difficult. These numbers are really meaningful as based on the
data collected from table 2, there remain a large number of students who find
speaking topics and speaking activities rather boring and challenging.

The last question deals with students’ preferences for the frequency of
exploiting extra-activities. More specifically, 60% of respondents prefer often
exploited. A smaller percentage (28%) reveal that the student should sometimes use
them, which means it is not effective to employ plays in every day, but it should
depend on the speaking lessons’ schedule. 6% support their preference for rarely-
participated extra-activities, which is expected to avoid the boredom and
ineffectiveness of overusing them.

2.3. Summary of the chapter

This chapter aims at justifying the methodology of the study. Questionnaire

survey was considered the main and effective tool for data collection. The result and
data analysis are very elaborate and details. Through this chapter, the reader can
understand thoroughly about new learning methods to help themselves improve
communicative skills and know the effects of participating in extra-activities in
learning and teaching English.
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CHAPTER 3: CONTRIBUTIONS AND SOLUTIONS

With the aim of the studying how extra-activities is used to motivate students
to communicate, the major aim of giving the survey questionnaires to eliclit the
feedback from the target population: fifty students in practicing listening and
speaking classes. Through the findings and discussion, the author gives some
suggestions to application extra-activities in the learning process in the successful
and effective way.

3.1. The positive factors on application extra-activities

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Through the above results taken from the questionnaires, it is effective to

take part in extra-activities as a motivator for students to communicate. There are
positive for factors this affirmation as follows:

Firstly, a large number of students like to take part in English clubs, outdoor
classes, talent contest, drama society. Once the participants are suggested by the
teachers or friends, they are willing and eager to join. This positive attitude towards
extra-activities reassures the feasibility of using role-play as a motivator in learning
English.

Secondly, it is clear that the number of students who are willing to join extra-
activities adapted with clubs, outdoor classes, drama society increase considerably.
It has approved that the speaking classes are surely more interesting and enjoyable
with the participation of extra-activities. In this case, extra-activities play a role as
an inspiration to appeal students to communicate.

Thirdly, extra-activities can lower students’ anxiety and shyness and make
them become more confident speakers. More importantly, plays give students
chances to practice their communicative skills. With these benefits, it is no doubt
the extra-activities can be used to enhance students’ motivation in learning English.

In brief, those factors reveal the fact that there exists an effective teaching
technique named play which can be used to motivate students in communicating
English. The positive factors achieved after carrying out the study reassures that
these plays can raise students’ motivation in learning English.

3.2. Suggestions

The most important thing to deal with students is that they should be made
aware of the benefits of communicative skills in general and extra-activities in
particular. Once they consider studying languages for communication, they will
have intrinsic motivation to use the target language instead of mother tongue. Here
are some suggested techniques of extra-activities:
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 Discussion: After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for

various reasons. The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas
about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups. Before the
discussions, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by
the teacher. In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so
that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant
things.

 Information gap: In this activity, students are supposed to be working in

pairs. One student will have the information that other partner does not have
and the partners will share their information. Information gap activities serve
many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information. Also,
each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if
the partners do not provide the information the others need.

 Interview: Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various

people. It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that
they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow.

 Slow Down Speaking Speed: Learners are often told not to worry about the
mistakes they are making, however, it is easy to understand why you would
like to make a good impression on your audience. To overcome this difficult,
you may try slowing down your speaking speed. Selecting your words
carefully may also be seen as a sign of respect towards your audience. It
shows that you want to give them the best possible answer.

 Learn To Listen: When speaking in a foreign language, you might be so

focused on what you are saying and whether it’s correct or not, that you
forget to listen to what others are saying. This is a big mistake as they might
be using the exact words or grammar you will be needed later on. So pay
attention to what is being said around you, it is your most important resource
at the time of speaking to someone.
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 Speak up: If you speak too softly, how in the world will people be able to
hear clearly what you have to say? Do not expect the listeners to be the ones
to exert effort in trying to understand somebody, if a learner is the one who
wants to convey a message.

 Feel it: If the learners cannot feel what you say, they would expect the
message to have an impact to the ones listening? Whether they are giving a
speech, or taking an English exam, or answering a question, they should not
sound as if they are reading something from a very boring textbook. They
should put more feelings into it. It’s not just the content that matters, it’s the
delivery!

PART C: CONCLUSIONS

1. Summary of the study

This study is done with the purpose of seeking one effective learning
technique to improve students’ communicative skills. And as it has many
learning techniques exploited by learners to learn speaking, the study limits
itself to apply extra-activities to motivate major students to communicate
English.

The literature review has been made in the hope of demonstrating the scope
of the study theoretically in terms of communicative skills and extra-activities.
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The findings from the data analysis show that despite students’ awareness of the
importance of communicative skills, some students have low motivation towards
major English classes. They find communicating activities either challenging or
boring. Thus they show their unwillingness to raise their voice. Therefore, a
learning technique, extra-activities, is tested whether they can improve students’
motivation in communicating English. And according to students’ attitudes,
perspectives and preferences, extra-activities are applicable as motivators in
communicating English.

Thus, in order to make the study more practical, some suggestions on

applying extra-activities as well as a variety of plays applied in all stages of a
speaking lesson have also mentioned. It is hope that the study will prove
worthwhile to those who want to motivate students in communicating English
and who are concerned about the problem.

2. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, it
cannot avoid some limitations. Due to the shortage of time, limit of knowledge
and the scope of the study, the study cannot cover all the uses of extra-activities
in four language skills and language elements. Therefore, further study can focus
on the use of extra-activities as a motivator in learning reading and writing
English, extra-activities as an effective technique to learn vocabulary and
grammar, how to motivate students speak English inside and outside classroom,
and techniques to help students produce a natural standard English.

Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this

research will be highly appreciated.
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REFERENCES

1. Breen, M., & Candlin, C. N. (1980). The essentials of a communicative

curriculum in language teaching. Applied Linguistics, 1, 89-112. 

2. Baloto, F. (1996). How to motivate learners of English. English teaching

Forum, Vol I, No 1 (p.34).

3. Byrne, D. (1986). Teaching Oral English: Longman Handbooks for English

Teacher. Singapore: Longman Group.

4. Celce-Murcia, Marianne. (2001) Learning English As A Second Or Foreign

Language. Boston: Heinle&Heinle.
 24

5. Doff, Adrian. (1989). Teaching English. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

6. Freeman, Diane Larsen. (1986) Techniques And Principles In English

Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

7. Hadfield, Jill. (1990). English Intermediate Communication Games. Essex:

Jill Hadfield.

8. Holden, S. (1981). Drama in Language Teaching. Harlow: Longman.

9. Janusz Krzyzy Nski. A study of the attitudes and motivation of learners of

English. University of Wrodaw.

10. L.G. Alexander (1992), Longman English Grammar Practice (Intermediate

level). Longman (p.1).

APPENDICES

1. How often do you communicate in English in the classes?

A. Always

B. Sometimes

C. Rarely

2. Do you feel difficult to communicate in English fluently?

A. Yes, very much

B. Yes, much
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C. No, normal

D. No, not at all

3. What kind of problems do you face to express your thought?

A. Vocabulary

B. Grammar

C. Pronunciation

D. Sentence structure

4. In my opinion, what do the extra-activities help you in improving

communicative skills?

A. Speaking

B. Vocabulary

C. Confidence

D. Pronunciation

5. What are the benefits of extra-activities to your communicative skills?

A. Making communication more enjoyable and more fun

B. Making communication less challenging and difficult

C. Lowering your anxiety and shyness, then developing your confidence in

communicating

6. Do you think applying extra-activities can help you develop your

communicative skills?

A. Yes

B. No
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7. Which of the difficulties do you have to face in preparing for extra-

activities?

A. Self-confidence

B. Enthusiasm

C. English fluency

8. Do you like taking part in extra-activities when communicating in English?

A. Yes, I do

B. No, I don’t

9. Which of the difficulties do you have face in participating in extra-activities?

A. Grammatical accuracy

B. Understanding pronunciation

C. Giving comments and questions for each other

D. Interacting with other people

10. How often do you want to take part in extra-activities?

A. Often

B. Occasionally

C. Rarely

D. Never

11. Do you feel hesitation in communicating in English due to fear of making

mistakes or will be ridiculed by others?

A. Always

B. Often
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C. Never