DEVELOPING SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS TO TEACH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE FIRST- YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION
Abstract
Speaking is undeniably an important language skill among language learners in general and learners of English in particular. The reality of the teaching and learning English speaking; however, is still far from satisfactory. This study was aimed to develop supplementary materials to teach speaking skills for the first-year English majors of Hung Yen university of Technology and Education (UTEHY) in their Speaking 1 lessons. There were 60 English major freshmen and 6 teachers of speaking in UTEHY taking part in the study. To gather both quantitative and qualitative data, two sets of survey questionnaires and semi-structure interviews were used. The results indicate that students have many difficulties in learning speaking skills, of which their deficiencies in vocabulary and grammar knowledge are the two most common ones. In addition, it is the textbook that cannot really be helpful for the students to overcome their problems because of the insufficient work of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation it provides. Consequently, both the students and teachers need to give a hand in supporting the application of supplementary materials in the speaking lessons. Possible recommendations are given as a remedial approach for vocabulary, grammar, speaking activities and pronunciation. Hopefully, the findings and suggestions of the study would aid English teachers at UTEHY in their speaking lessons. The effectiveness of teaching speaking skills for first year English majors at UTEHY; therefore, would be improved.
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