An exploration of strategies for oral skills improvement by advanced program students at thai nguyen university of technology

Dương Đức Minh Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 84(08): 123 - 128 
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu – Đại học Thái Nguyên 123  
AN EXPLORATION OF STRATEGIES FOR ORAL SKILLS IMPROVEMENT 
BY ADVANCED PROGRAM STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY 
OF TECHNOLOGY 
Duong Duc Minh
* 
Thai Nguyen University of Technology - TNU 
ABSTRACT 
Research in language learning strategy has addressed the necessity of improving oral skills in 
second language acquisition. This study attempts to explore strategies reported to be employed by 
30 EFL advanced program students at Thai Nguyen University of Technology (TNUT) to improve 
their oral skills. Semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used as the 
instruments for the data collection. The data was then analyzed qualitatively for the purpose of the 
study. The findings of the study showed that two main categories to improve speaking skills have 
been reported included 1) fluency-focused strategies and 2) accuracy-focused strategies. Two main 
categories to improve listening skill comprised 1) direct strategies and 2) indirect strategies. 
Key words: oral skills improvement, language learning strategy, science-oriented students. 
INTRODUCTION
*
Nowadays, English has become an 
international language, and it is widely used 
in various areas, especially in education as 
well as science and technology areas. As the 
result, students have to be aware of the 
necessary to employ strategies to success in 
their study academically and socially. 
According to Feyten (1991), of the total time 
people spend on communication, 45% is on 
listening, 30% on speaking, 16% on reading, 
and 9% on writing [5]. Oral skills, both 
speaking and listening, are at the very 
foundation of literacy, and they play an 
important role in the study of students, so it is 
clear that oral skills have an important impact 
on student's personal and professional life. 
The advanced program (AP) has been put into 
practice at TNUT from the academic year 
2009 – 2010. In the advanced programs, all 
the courses are taught in English except some 
compulsory courses, e.g. Marxist – Leninism, 
Physical Education, and National Defense 
Education are taught in Vietnamese. At least 
60% of courses are instructed by professors 
from the University of New York at Buffalo 
and invited professors from renowned 
universities worldwide to participate in 
teaching [17]. As a result, AP students are not 
only required to specialize their knowledge 
but also to improve their English (especially 
*
Listening, and Speaking skills) in order to 
achieve greater efficiency in the learning 
process at Thai Nguyen University of 
Technology. 
LITERATURE REVIEW 
Language learning strategies (LLS) are the 
behaviors or steps which an individual uses to 
enhance his/her learning. The term 
“strategies” which applies to language 
improvement, has been developed since the 
first studies by Rubin (1975) [14], Oxford 
(1990) [10] and Kyong and Oxford (2008) 
[6]. Examples are note taking, practicing, 
finding a conversation partner, analyzing 
words, using background knowledge, and 
controlling anxiety. There have hundreds of 
such strategies been identified. Successful 
language learners use language learning 
strategies that are most effective for them and 
they put them together smoothly to fit the 
needs of a given language task while less 
successful learners are “a desperate grab-bag 
of ill-matched techniques”. 
In some recent years, a lot of attention has 
been paid to the importance of developing 
strategies in language learning. Many 
research works has been conducted to 
examined and explored the use of learning 
strategies in the teaching and learning of 
vocabulary (Brown and Perry, 1991) [2], 
listening comprehension (Rossano, 1994) 
[13], reading (Rusciolelli, 1995) [15], and in 
the understanding of the learning process 
Dương Đức Minh Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 84(08): 123 - 128 
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(Chamot, 2001 [3]; Nunan, 1992 [8]). 
However, little research has been done on 
productive skills, such as oral skills and 
writing. Only few studies dealt with strategy 
employed in speaking and listening, for 
example, Bejarano et al (1997) examined 
speaking as an interactive skill [1], and Lam 
and Wong (2000) explored the importance of 
oral skills in discussions [7]. No research 
work has been conducted in exploring 
reported strategies for oral skills improvement 
by students at TNUT. 
This study attempts to explore language 
strategies that AP students at TNUT use in 
order to improve their oral skills. In the study, 
“oral skills” refer to listening and speaking 
skill, the term “improvement” means to be 
come better in listening and speaking and 
“AP students” here are thirty students 
majoring in electrical and mechanical 
engineering at TNUT. Two research questions 
were generated for the purpose of the study: 
1) what types of strategies reported by 
science-oriented graduate students for their 
listening skill improvement and 2) what types 
of strategies reported by science-oriented 
graduate students for their speaking skill 
improvement. The researchers examined a 
recorded semi-structured interview of 3 
students and 19 open-ended questionnaires to 
collect data for the study. 
METHODOLOGY 
1. Participants 
The participants of the present study were 30 
first-year AP students at TNUT. All the 
classes they have are lectured in English 
except Marxist-Leninism, Physical 
Education, and National Defense 
Education courses are taught in Vietnamese. 
At the moment, the students are studying 
English from 38 to 42 periods per week. They 
deal with English as a medium of instruction 
to survive in their study. Among them, 3 
students were purposively selected for in-
depth study based on their oral skills 
proficiency id ... is about the 
individual background information, and the 
second section covers open-ended questions 
about strategies for oral skills improvement. 
An open-ended question is designed to 
encourage a full, meaningful answer using the 
participant's own opinions on learning 
strategies for oral skills improvement. 
3. Data collection procedure 
The data collection was divided into two 
phases. One is for a questionnaire, the other is 
for interviews. An open-ended questionnaire 
was administered to all the participants. 
However, the final sample for data analysis 
consisted of 19 students. Eleven students 
didn’t respond the questionnaire because they 
were absent. The 3 students interviewed in 
Vietnamese. The interview lasted for 20 
minutes and was recorded. 
4. Data analysis 
The interviews’ records were fully transcribed 
using verbatim and then analysed using 
Strauss & Corbin’s (1998) open and axial 
coding [16]. All student responses to the 
open-ended questionnaire items were 
collected and typed out. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
[1].After the carefully analysis of the 
collected data from interviews and 
questionnaires, there were finally 19 
strategies for oral skills improvement reported 
by the AP students. Strategies reported by the 
AP students for their speaking skill 
improvement consist of 10 strategies and 9 
strategies for listening skills which will be 
presented in Table 2. 
Table 2: Strategies for Speaking and Listening Skills Improvement Reported by the AP students 
STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL 
IMPROVEMENT 
STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL 
IMPROVEMENT 
1. Memorizing words / sentences / phrases to 
improve one’s speaking skill 
1. Listening to radio programs in English 
2. Communicating with other people in English 2. Listening to English songs 
3. Imitating English native speakers 3. Watching TV programs in English 
4. Trying to use English in real-life situations 4. Watching English speaking films 
5. Trying to interact with teacher in class by 
asking and answering questions 
5. Doing the repetitive listening 
6. Using the internet to improve one’s speaking 
skill 
6. Using the internet to improve one’s listening skill 
7. Seeking an opportunity to speak English 7. Having a conversation in English 
8. Talking to oneself in English 8. Interacting with teachers in English 
9.Asking for a correction from teacher 9. Seeking ways for improving one’s listening skill 
10. Playing a speaking game in English 
However, the strategies for speaking and 
listening skills improvement can be classified 
into 2 sub-categories for each oral skill. 
Firstly, the strategies for speaking skill 
improvement are categorized into (1) the 
fluency-focused strategies and (2) the 
Dương Đức Minh Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 84(08): 123 - 128 
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accuracy-focused strategies. Secondly, the 
strategies for listening skill improvement are 
classified into (1) the direct strategies and (2) 
the indirect strategies. Table 3 presents the 
classifications of the strategies for oral skills 
improvement reported by the AP students. 
According to strategies for speaking skill 
improvement, most of the strategies reported 
by the AP students were the fluency-focused 
strategies (7 fluency - focused strategies out 
of 10 strategies for speaking skill 
improvement). Generally, the AP students are 
adult learners where English is used as a 
medium of instruction according to the 
requirements. The possible explanation for 
why the fluency-focused strategies were 
mostly reported by this group of students is 
that they are science-oriented students where 
the focus of their study is not a language. 
Instead, they have focused on contents not 
language usage. Additionally, because of 
English is used as a medium of instruction; 
therefore, this group of students need to 
survive the program socially and 
academically by having a good ability to 
communicate in English. They need to speak 
fluently to keep on their relationships and 
study. They try to communicate as much as 
possible. The only one goal for their speaking 
at this time is that their speaking should be 
understood by their interlocutors. Therefore, 
most of the strategies reported by this group 
of students are the fluency-focused strategies 
for speaking skill improvement which they 
employed to make a better or improve their 
speaking skills. 
However, there are some accuracy-focused 
strategies reported by this group of students 
for speaking skill improvement. This is 
because of at some levels, accuracy is also 
very important for them. For example, they 
need to make a formal presentation. 
Moreover, accuracy is very important for 
them to write their theses, reports, or articles. 
So, accuracy is also important for them if they 
want to succeed in their learning. 
Table 3: Classifications of Strategies for Speaking and Listening Skills Improvement 
STRATEGIES FOR SPEAKING SKILL 
IMPROVEMENT 
STRATEGIES FOR LISTENING SKILL 
IMPROVEMENT 
The Fluency-Focused 
Strategies 
The Accuracy- Focused 
Strategies 
The Direct Strategies The Indirect 
Strategies 
Communicating with other 
people in English 
Memorizing words/ 
sentences / phrases to 
improve one’s speaking 
skill 
Listening to radio 
programs in English 
Seeking ways for 
improving one’s 
listening skill 
Trying to use English in 
real-life situations 
Imitating English native 
speakers 
Listening to English 
songs 
Having a conversa-
tion in English 
Trying to interact with 
teacher in class by asking 
and answering questions 
Asking for a correction 
from teacher 
Watching TV programs 
in English 
Interacting with 
teacher in English 
Using the internet to improve 
one’s speaking skill 
 Watching English 
speaking films 
Seeking an opportunity to 
speak English 
 Doing the repetitive 
listening 
Talking to oneself in 
English 
 Using the internet to 
improve one’s listening 
skill 
Playing a speaking game in 
English 
On the other hand, strategies for listening skill 
improvement reported by the AP students 
were mostly the direct strategies (6 direct 
strategies and 3 indirect strategies for 
Dương Đức Minh Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 84(08): 123 - 128 
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listening skill improvement). If we take a look 
carefully to the 6 direct strategies for listening 
skill improvement, we will see that all of the 
direct strategies deal with mass media 
communication such as news, radio, 
television, and etc. This is because of, at the 
present day, we are living in the technology’s 
world. As a result, it is very easy for people to 
listen to English radio programs, songs, or to 
watch English speaking films, English news, 
and etc., through the internet or satellite with 
a reasonable cost. Another explanation for 
why the direct strategies were mostly reported 
for listening skill improvement is that in order 
to practice to improve listening skill, they can 
practice to improve listening skill individually 
or they have no need to find out a partner or 
interlocutor to interact for a listening practice. 
They just find out the English programs on 
the internet, radio, or television to watch and 
listen. Therefore, roles of mass media in 
language teaching and learning are increasing 
and very important for the world today. Mass 
media helps people to learn a language easily 
than the past. 
CONCLUSION 
The AP students in the present study reported 
19 strategies for oral skills improvement. 
Firstly, there were 10 strategies for speaking 
skill improvement reported by the AP 
students which could be classified into 2 sub-
categories – the 7 fluency-focused strategies 
and the 3 accuracy-focused strategies. 
Secondly, there were 9 strategies for listening 
skill improvement reported by the AP 
students which could be classified into 2 sub-
categories – the 6 direct strategies and the 3 
indirect strategies. 
The AP students are adult learners who focus 
their study on contents of the subject and 
English is used as a medium of instruction 
since this program is the international 
program. All of them (19 students) are non-
English native speakers. However, although 
the AP students have to use English for their 
study, but the focus of their study is still on 
the contents not a language usage (a content 
driven not a language driven). Since English 
is used as a medium of instruction, the AP 
students need to learn and communicate with 
their classmates and teachers in English. 
Therefore, a speaking skill and a listening 
skill are very important for them to survive 
the program socially and academically. 
The findings from the present study show that 
a mass media communication or a technology 
has an increasing role in language teaching 
and learning nowadays. As a teacher, we 
should pay more attention to a development 
of technology in order to provide and prepare 
ourselves for a new age of language learning 
and teaching – a technology-based language 
teaching and learning era. For language 
learners, if they know how to use 
technologies or mass media communication 
effectively and maximally, it is very easy for 
them to success in learning a language. 
However, this study may be replicated with 
the same subjects in the second academic year 
of their study. Because the present study was 
conducted when they are in the first semester 
of the first academic year where they just 
have a chance to use English or communicate 
in English for a few months. So, to speak 
English fluently is very important for them to 
survive the program socially and 
academically at this moment. But for the 
second academic year, their English ability 
both speaking and listening should be 
improved more than this moment, therefore; 
at that time these subjects may tell more 
strategies about how they improve their oral 
skills. This is especially for the accuracy-
focused strategies to improve their oral skills 
where accuracy is needed and important for 
them in the future. 
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November 2010. 
TÓM TẮT 
NHỮNG THỦ THUẬT PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG GIAO TIẾP TIẾNG ANH 
CỦA SINH VIÊN CHƢƠNG TRÌNH TIÊN TIẾN TẠI TRƢỜNG 
ĐẠI HỌC KỸ THUẬT CÔNG NGHIỆP THÁI NGUYÊN 
Dƣơng Đức Minh* 
Trường Đại học Kỹ thuật công nghiệp - ĐH Thái Nguyên 
Những nghiên cứu về các thủ thuật học tập trong việc học ngoại ngữ đã chỉ ra sự cần thiết của các 
thủ thuật trong việc nâng cao kỹ năng nghe, nói. Nghiên cứu này sẽ khám phá, tìm hiểu các thủ 
thuật để nâng cao kỹ năng nghe, nói tiếng Anh của 30 sinh viên khóa 46 chương trình tiên tiến tại 
trường Đại học kỹ thuật công nghiệp Thái Nguyên. Phỏng vấn bán cấu trúc và bảng câu hỏi khảo 
sát đã được sử dụng để thu thập dữ liệu. Các dữ liệu sau đó được phân tích định tính phục vụ mục 
đích nghiên cứu. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy: 
Hai nhóm thủ thuật để nâng cao kỹ năng nói: nhóm thủ thuật tập trung vào sự lưu loát và 2) nhóm 
thủ thuật tập trung vào độ chính xác. 
Hai nhóm thủ thuật để nâng cao kỹ năng nghe bao gồm: 1) nhóm thủ thuật trực tiếp và 2) nhóm 
thủ thuật gián tiếp. 
Từ khóa: thủ thuật học tập, kỹ năng nghe, kỹ năng nói, sinh viên kỹ thuật 
*