IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH CONTENT BASED INSTRUCTION

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IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL

THROUGH CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

(A Classroom Action Research in the Second Grade Students of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

By

LI HUI

S890809216

Thesis

Submitted to Fulfill One of the Requirements for Getting Graduate Degree in English Education

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

GRADUATE SCHOOL

SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY

SURAKARTA

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APPROVAL

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH CONTENT –BASED INTRUCTION

(A Classroom Action Research in the Second Grade Students of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

By LI HUI S890809216

This thesis has been approved by the Consultants of English Education Department of

Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, on 25th February, 2011.

Consultant I Consultant II

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd Drs. Gunarso Susilohadi, M.Ed

NIP. 19621231 198803 1 009 NIP. 195403151 198503 1 002

Approved by

The Head of English Education Department Graduate School

Sebelas Maret University

Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd NIP. 19621231 198803 1 009

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LEGITIMATION FROM THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH CONTENT –BASED INTRUCTION

(A Classroom Action Research in the Second Grade Students of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China in the Academic Year of 2010/2011)

By LI HUI S890809216

This thesis has been examined by the board of thesis examiners of English Education

Department of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, on 31st March

2011.

Board of Examiners

Chairman : Prof. Dr. Joko Nurkamto, M.Pd Secretary : Dr. Abdul Asib, M.Pd

Examiner I : Dr. Ngadiso, M.Pd

Examiner II : Drs. Gunarso Susilohadi, M.Ed

Signature

……….. ……… ……… ……….

Surakarta,………..2011 The Director of Graduate Program of

Sebelas Maret University

Prof. Drs. Suranto, M.Sc., Ph. D NIP. 19570820 198503 100 4

The Head of English Education Department of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University

Dr. Ngadiso, M. Pd NIP. 19621231 198803 100 9

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PRONOUCEMENT

This is to certify that I, Li Hui, alias Vivienne Lee who writes this thesis entitled

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL TRHOUGH CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION (A Cla ssroom Action Research for Students of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China in the Academic Year of 2010/2011).

It is my original work, not plagiarized or made by others. Anything related to other’s works are written in the quotation, and the sources are listed on the Bibliography.

If this pronouncement proves not true, I will accept any consequences or academic punishment, including withdrawing or cancelling my academic degree.

Sincerely Yours!

Surakarta, 21st February 2011

Li Hui

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MOTTO

“Do as you would be done by others.”

or

“Don't do unto others what you don't

want others do unto you."

己所不欲勿施於人

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to:

ü My Dear Parents who gave birth to me, brought me up, and educated me.

ü My God Father who always supports and encourages me to take the graduate school.

ü My Friends who helped me a lot.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The writer realized that the accomplishment of this thesis would not run well without any help from the others. Therefore, here she wishes to give her sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the following people who helped her a lot:

1. Prof. Drs. Suranto, M. Sc. Ph. D as the Director of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret

University who has given his permission to write this thesis.

2. Dr. Ngadiso, M. Pd as the Head of English Education Department of Graduate School,

and also as the first consultant who has given his guidance theoretically, practically, and patiently in conducting the research.

3. Drs. Gunarso Susilohadi, M. Ed, as the second consultant who has given his guidance

theoretically, practically, and patiently in conducting the research.

4. All the lectures of English Education of Graduate School of Sebelas Maret University

Surakarta, for their lectures, guidance, suggestions, and criticism.

5. Yin Wenhui, the Head of Business English Department of CsV&TC, China who has

given his permission to study and to conduct this research in the college.

6. The collaborator, Zeng Yun, who always helped the writer to conduct this research in

the class.

The writer realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect. Hence, any criticisms or suggestions from the readers and users are welcome to the writer in order to make improvement. In the same time, the writer hopes that this thesis can be useful for other writers, teachers, and students.

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ABSTRACT

Li Hui. S 890809216: Improving Students’ Speaking Skill through Content-based

Instruction (A Classroom Action Research at Third Semester Students of Class 0902 of the Business English Department of Changsha Vocational & Technical College, China).

Thesis, Surakarta: English Education Department, Graduate School, Sebelas Maret University, 2011.

The research is aimed at (1) finding whether and to what extent content-based instruction improved the students’ speaking skill; and (2) describing the teaching and learning situation when content-based instruction was applied in the speaking class. This study applied action research technique to conduct the research to improve students’ speaking ability through Content-based Instruction (CBI). Hopkins mentions that action research is a research which combines as substantive act with a research procedure; it is an action disciplined by enquiry, a personal attempt at understanding while engaged in process of improvement and reform. This research consisted of two cycles, with four meetings in each cycle; while each cycle consists planning, action, observation, and reflection. The research was conducted at CsV&TC, China; the subjects of the research were the students of second grade in the academic year of 2010-2011. In this research, there were two types of data: quantitative data and qualitative data. The quantitative data were collected through test, namely pre-test and post-test. The qualitative data were collected through observation, questionnaire, and interview to the students. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics; find out the mean of the scores in the test and the significant improvement of the scores using t-test of

non-independent variable. The qualitative data were analyzed using

Constant-Comparative Method suggested by Glaser and Strauss consisting of the following steps: (1) comparing incidents applicable to each category; (2) integrating categories and their properties; (3) delimiting the theory; and (4) writing the theory.

The research findings indicated that CBI was effective in two aspects: (1) in improving students’ speaking ability: students’ speaking level increased; students could answer the teacher’s questions; students could fluently communicate with their friends by using correct grammatical forms and appropriate vocabulary with good pronunciation; the use of mother tongue was reduced; (2) in improving class situation: the atmosphere in the whole class became alive; students enjoyed the speaking activities; there were many chances for students to practice their speaking skill; students had great motivation to learn speaking; speaking became easy and fun to the students.

The results of this study showed that CBI was effective and beneficial to improve the students’ speaking competency and the classroom situation.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER PAGE……… ... i

APPROVAL PAGE……… ... ii

LEGITIMATION PAGE………. ... iii

PRONUCEMENT……… ... iv

MOTTO……… ... v

BEDICATION………. ... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………... ... vii

ABSTRACT……… ... viii

TABLE OF CONTENT……… ... ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATION……… ... xi

LIST OF APPENDICES………. ... xii

LIST OF TABLES………. .... xiii

LIST OF FIGURE AND GRAPH………. .... xiv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION……… ... 1

A. The Background of the Research……… .. 1

B. The Formulation of the Problem……… ... 6

C. The Objective of the Study……… ... 7

D. The Benefits of the Study……….. ... 7

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………. ... 8

A. Speaking……….. ... 8

1. The Nature of Speaking……… ... 8

2. Speaking in Second Language………. ... 10

3. Teaching Speaking……… ... 12

4. Testing Speaking……… ... 18

B. Content-Based Instruction……… .... 22

1. The Nature of Content-Based Instruction………. ... 22

2. Theoretical Support……… ... 23

3. The Advantage of Content-Based Instruction………… ... 26

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5. The Implementation of Content-Based Instruction…… ... 29

C. Rationale……… ... 32

D. Hypothesis………. .... 33

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY……….. ... 34

A. The Setting of the Research………. ... 34

B. The Subject of the Research………... 34

C. The Method of the Research……… ... 35

D. The Procedure of the Research……… ... 37

E. Techniques of Collecting the Data………. ... 39

F. Technique of Analyzing the Data……… ... 40

CHAPTER IV RESULT OF THE STUDY……… ... 42

A. Introduction………. ... 42

1. The Condition before the Research………. 43

2. Students’ Ability in Speaking ………. ... 44

3. Classroom Situation………. ... 46

4. Student’ perception about speaking ……….... 46

B. Research Implementation………. ... 50

1. Cycle 1……… .... 51

2. Cycle 2……… .... 75

C. Findings and Discussion……… ... 96

1. The Findings ………. ... 96

2. Discussion ………. ... 103

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION…… ... 107

A. Conclusion……… .... 107

B. Implication……… .... 109

C. Suggestion………. .... 110

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… ... 112

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LIST OF ABBRIVIATION

CBI = Content-Based Instruction

CBCs = Content-Based Classrooms

CsV&TC = Changsha Vocational & Technical College

BEDS = Business English Department Students

T = Teacher

S = Student Ss = Students

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

1. The List of Interview Questions in Pre-research Stage ……… .116

2. Blue Print of the Pre-test ……….. .117

3. Learning Implementation Plan of Cycle 1 ……… .119

4. Learning Implementation Plan of Cycle 2 ……… 124

5. The Result of Pre-test from the First Rater ……….. .129

6. The Result of Pre-test from the Second Rater ……….. .130

7. The Computation of the Final Score of Pre-test ……… .131

8. The Result of Post-test Cycle 1 from the First Rater ……… .132

9. The Result of Post-test Cycle 1 from the Second Rater……… .133

10.The Computation of Students Score in Cycle 1 ……… .134

11.The Result of Post-test Cycle 2 from the First Rater………. .135

12.The Result of Post-test Cycle 2 from the Second Rater……… .136

13.The Computation of Students Score in Cycle 2 ……….. 137

14.The Computation of the Field Note of Cycle 1 ……….. 138

15.The Computation of the Field Note of Cycle 2 ……….. 141

16.Questions for Interview after the Implementation of Cycle 1 ……… 145

17.Questionnaire form Given after the Implementation of CBI ………. 146

18.Samples of Students’ Questionnaire Products ……… 147

19.The Questionnaire Result Conducted after the Implementation of CBI………. 149

20.The Sample form of Classroom Observation Sheet ……….... 151

21.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 1 Meeting 1 ……… 152

22.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 1 Meeting 2 ……… 157

23.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 1 Meeting 3 ……… 160

24.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 2 Meeting 1 ……… ... 164

25.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 2 Meeting 2 ………. ... 168

26.Students’ Worksheet for Cycle 2 Meeting 3 ………. ... 172

27.Pictures of Teaching and Learning Process ………. ... 176

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 The Research Schedule ……….. ... 34

Table 4.1 Process of the Research ………. ... 42

Table 4.2 Result of Pre-research ……… ... 43

Table 4.3 Feature of Students’ Speech ……….. .... 44

Table 4.4 Result of Interview ………. ... 47

Table 4.5 Speaking Difficulty ……… ... 48

Table 4.6 Overall Implementation of the Research ……… .. 50

Table 4.7 The Implementation of Cycle 1 ……….. .. 51

Table 4.8 The Implementation of Cycle 2 ………. ... 75

Table 4.9 The Comparison of Students’ Speaking Score in Each Cycle ………… .. 93

Table 4.10 The Comparison of Percentage of Students Passing Grade in Each Cycle 94 Table 4.11 Summary of the Research Findings ……… 96

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LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS

Figure 3.1: Action Research Protocol ……… 37

Graph 4.1 The Scores of Student’s Speaking Competence ……… 98

Graph 4.2 Improvement of the Students’ Speaking Competence ……….. 99

Graph 4.3 Improvement of Students’ participation ……… 101

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INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research

Following the reform and opening-up policy, China is progressing toward a global modernized economic society. English as an international language plays a more and more important role in many parts of our life. It is being used in international business, politics, education, agriculture, science, technology, etc. Therefore, English has been made as the most popular foreign language learned by many students in the world.

In China, English is not only regarded as a second language, which is widely used in both formal and informal occasions, but also considered to be the initial foreign language that is being learned compulsorily since middle school till university level for many years (Actually, in recent years, the English course has been started since primary school). Therefore, English as a major course must be learned and mastered by every student.

Since the beginning of nineteen-nineties, The Vocational & Technical Colleges in China developed at very rapid speed. The objective of this kind of college is to provide practical talents in the field of production, technology, service, management, etc. There is no exception for the Changsha Vocational & Technical College (CsV&TC).The goal of this college is to help the students to master the particular skills for their specific working fields. According to an investigation among all the students in the Business English Department of CsV&TC, nearly 70-80% students will choose International Business as their future career. However, The International business is a trade conducted in different countries. It involves using the English as a communication tool to deal business with people from different countries, while communication places great emphasis on the speaking capacity. People who can read, listen and write, but cannot speak will not be considered as a professional business man in the international business field.

Because of this, one of the goals of the Business English Department of (CsV&TC) is to improve the students’ speaking skill and get them to be ready in their future job position. Thus, both the working skill and the speaking ability in the curriculum of the Business English Department of CsH&VTC (Changsha Higher Vocational & Technical College) are highly stressing. The main target and final goal of

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the students in the speaking class of Business English Department, therefore, is to have the oral communication capability. That is the students should be able to communicate with people on the daily commercial aspect accurately, fluently and appropriately.

According to Johnson (1998: 3), fluency refers to the absence of pauses and other indices of word-finding (or grammatical) difficulty. It is the natural language use or “the maximally effective operation of the language system so far acquired by the

students” in situation where the learner’s focus is on the effective communication of meaning. Accuracy means to the similarity to native speaker’s grammar in the case of L2, or to prescriptive grammar in the case of L1. Accuracy embraces both formal correctness and appropriateness. It is deals with the production of structurally correct instances of L2. The concept of appropriateness is that language use is inevitably influenced by the

context in which it is being used. All choices about aspects of language use, such as vocabulary and syntax, do not in really involved reference to the exact requirements of a fixed and unvarying ‘standard English’, so much as locate what is being written or said in terms of the varying degrees of formality that English language so uniquely allows, and within the richly varied register of the language (Jon and John, 2000: 107).

All in all, the students of the Business English Department should master the basic and specific speaking skill which is related to their daily life and future career. The students should have the capacity to blurt out the basic and specific English focus on the communication of meaning with the production of the structurally correct instances of L2 in terms of varying the degrees of formality that the English language allows.

However, there has a bitter case between the objective and the present situation in the speaking class of Business English Department of CsV&TC (Changsha Vocational & Technical College). The speaking ability of the speaking class of BEDS (Business English Department Students) is still low, unsatisfying, and far from the expectations. This can be seen especially in the class of 0902. Students in this class have low learning motivation and interest; they don’t pay much attention to the class; they cannot answer the teacher’s questions orally; they feel shy, nervous, and lack of confidence when asked by the teacher to answer questions or to conduct a presentation; in addition, they cannot fluently express their ideas by using appropriate vocabulary and correct grammatical forms; the students only can speak the first two or three sentences, and then totally get

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stuck and speak their mother tongue during the presentation; moreover, they often feel hesitate to pronounce the words, and most of them mispronounce the words. The students’ low speaking ability must be dealing with the teaching and learning process. From the observation and interview with the teachers and students in the class of 0902, the causes of the problem can be mainly concluded as the follows:

Firstly, the text books chosen as teaching materials in the speaking class were long sentence-based stories without providing any communicative or meaningful activities to prompt the students’ speaking ability. Meanwhile, the content in the text books was going far away from the practical English (in the students’ opinion), which made the students feel it was useless or no meaning to attend the speaking class. Moreover, in the speaking class, the students were asked by the teacher to answer questions after reading the text loudly or silently, which made them feel very bored and thus reduce their interest in the speaking class.

Secondly, the speaking class was teacher-centered. It was the teacher who did most of her talk. The teacher often conveyed the content or knowledge of the text book to the students without letting the students make their own practice. Only these students whose minds were wandering around were asked by the teacher to answer the questions passively. Yet it was not confidently and fluently answered.

Thirdly, the students were reluctant to speak in the speaking class. They often complained that they didn’t know how to say it (something related to the topic) in English as they were lack of relevant vocabularies related to that topic. They were also afraid of being humiliated by their classmates or teacher as they couldn’t produce correct pronunciation and speak the English fluently.

Fourthly, because of the environment condition and also because the English language has different grammar structures from Chinese, it was not easy for the students to speak it as fluently as their native language. That’s to say, it took a long time for the students to express or explain their ideas or thoughts. Thus, some short-tempered students spoke their native language in the speaking class, instead of the English.

According to the objective and the conditions mentioned above, it is very urgent and necessary for the teacher of speaking class to make every effort to change some of these situations into positive ones. In line with this, the researcher found the

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Content-Based Instruction (CBI) as an appropriate and effective approach that is especially suitable for the students in the Business English Department of Vocational & Technique College. CBI is designed to provide second-language learners instruction in content and language. Content refers to the information or subject matter that we learn or communicate through language rather than the language used to convey it (Richard, 2006: 28). In other words, content is interpreted as the use of subject matter as a vehicle for second or foreign language teaching/learning.

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in second language acquisition (Brinton, Snow and Wesche, 1989 in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-based_instruction). One central principle that supports the theory of second language acquisition is that “people learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself” (Richards and Rogers, 2005: 207). Met (in http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article) also states that natural language acquisition occurs in context, which is never learned and divorced from meaning, and CBI provides a context for meaningful communication to occur.

CBI supports language learning in the following seven reasons:

First, with CBI, students are exposed to a considerable amount of language while learning content. In content-based classrooms (CBCs), teachers and students explore interesting content while students are engaged in appropriate language activities, reflecting the learning the students carry out in other content-area classes, the resultant language learning activities, therefore, are not artificial or meaningless exercise.

Second, students are taught useful language that is embedded within relevant discourse contexts rather than as isolated language fragments. In CBCs, students have many opportunities to attend to language, to use language, and to negotiate content through language in natural discourse context. Thus, CBI allows for explicit language instruction, integrated with content instruction, in a relevant and purposeful context.

Third, students in CBI classes have increased opportunities to use the content knowledge and expertise that they bring to class. The use of coherently developed

content resources allows students to call on their own prior knowledge to learn additional language and content material.

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Fourth, CBI generates increased motivation among students; in CBCs, students are exposed to useful and authentic materials, and also get involved in the demanding activities which can lead to intrinsic motivation. Motivation and interest usually arise partly from the recognition that learning is occurring and that it is worth the effort, and partly from the appropriate matching of increasing student knowledge of a topic with increasing task (or learning) challenges.

Fifth, CBI supports such learning approaches as cooperative learning,

apprenticeship learning, experiential learning, and project-based learning. It also lends itself well to strategy instruction and practice, as theme units naturally require and recycle important strategies across varying content and learning tasks.

Sixth, CBI allows greater flexibility and adaptability to be built into the curricular activity sequence. Because additional subtopics and issues can be incorporated into the course, teachers have many opportunities to adjust the class to complement the interests and needs of the students.

Seventh, CBI lends itself to student-centered classroom activities; in content-based classrooms, students have opportunities to exercise choices and preferences in terms of specific content and learning activities.

Therefore, with CBI, both the teacher and the students can achieve their goals in the teaching and learning process. In CBI, the content plays the central role, and language is used to communicate meaning. The language teaching focuses on how information and meaning from meaningful content are utilized in discourse or texts, not in single

sentences. The importance of attending mainly to meaning and not to language form, and the consideration is for the needs of the learner. Furthermore, in the CBCs, the students learn through doing and are actively engaged in the learning process. They do not depend on the teacher to direct all learning or to be the source of all information, they can learn through peer input and interactions. They will assume active, social roles in the

classroom, and involve interactive learning, negotiation, information gathering, and the co-construction of meaning. In addition, the authentic and meaningful contents will motivate the students to make greater connections between topics, elaborations with learning material, and can recall information better.

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Based on the analysis above, it is believed that the content-based instruction is an effective approach to overcome the problem of improving the student’s speaking skill.

B. Formulation of the Problems

Based on the background above, the problems of this study are as the following:

1. Can and to what extent the Content-based Instruction improve the students’

speaking ability of Business English Department of CsT&VC?

2. How is the teaching and learning situation when Content-based Instruction is

applied in the speaking class? C. The Objective of the Study

Based on the analysis of the causes of the problem, the objectives of this research is to know:

1. whether and to what extent Content-based Instruction improves the students’

speaking skill of Business English Department of CsT&VC.

2. the teaching and learning situation when Content-based Instruction is applied in

the speaking class.

D. The Benefits of the Study

1. For the Business English Department of CsV&TC

This research can both expand and enrich the English language teaching instruction for the Business English department, consequently to improve the teaching quality in this College.

2. For the English teacher or lectures

The approach conducted in this research can be used as another choice of teaching approach in the speaking class. Besides, it will also be found to be the best way for teachers to conduct the specific knowledge to their students.

3. For the students

The result of this research can improve the student’s speaking skill with the view that learning is fun. Furthermore, it will help the students to master the specific working skills which are related to their future career.

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This research can function as additional references or sources to carry out or conduct further research about language learning and teaching.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Speaking

1. The Nature of Speaking

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Florez and Cunningham cite form Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997 in http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-3/adult.htm). Its form and meaning depend on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.

Rizvi (2006: 92) also states that speaking is an interactive communicative process that involves speakers and listeners. In communicative process, speakers need to learn to adapt their talk to the listeners; use a range of ways to express themselves; use talk to clarify their ideas and sustain their talk to develop thinking and reasoning.

Speaking is not the oral production of written language, but involves learners in the mastery of a wide range of sub-skills, which, added together, constitute an overall

competence in the spoken language (McDonough and Shaw, 2003: 133).

Bukart (1998 in http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/spindex.htm) state that

language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge:

- Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary):

It is the ability to use the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation.

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It is about the knowledge of knowing when clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building)

- Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses

between speakers, relative roles of participants):

It refers to the understanding of how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reasons.

In our lives, we use talk in different ways for different purpose and audiences. As a skill that enables us to produce utterances, when genuinely communicative, speaking is desire-and purpose-driven, in other words we genuinely want to communicate something to achieve a particular end. This may involve expressing ideas and opinions, expressing a wish or a desire to do something, negotiating and/or solving a particular problem, or establishing and maintaining social relationships and friendships.

Burnett and Myes (2004: 24) put forward the following spoken language that may be used in many different ways:

Explaining suggesting discussing reporting Instructing speculating arguing narrating Summarizing negotiating clarifying directing Persuading planning informing presenting Questioning disagreeing analyzing hypothesizing Evaluating describing expressing feelings reasoning

Speaking English can be particularly difficult because, unlike reading or writing, speaking happens in “real time,” it requires the simultaneous use of a number of abilities which often develop at different rates. Generally, there are at least five components of speaking skill concerned with it such as following (Widiastuti cited from Syakur 1987: 3, in

http://etd.eprints.ums.ac.id/332/ ):

a. Comprehension

Oral communication certainly requires a subject to respond, to speech as well as to initiate it.

b. Grammar

It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation. It is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1978: 5) that the student’s ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form in appropriate ones. The utility

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of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form.

c. Vocabulary

One cannot effectively communicate or express their ideas both in oral and written form if they do not have sufficient vocabulary. So, vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in communication.

d. Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the way the students produce clearer language when they speak. It deals with the phonological process that refers to the component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a language.

e. Fluency

Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency in speaking is the aim of many language learners. Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast speed of speaking and only a small number of pauses and “ums” or “ers”. These signs indicate that the speaker does not have to spend a lot of time searching for the language items needed to express the message (Brown. 1997: 4).

2. Speaking in Second Language

Many language learners learning a second language regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing that language. These learners define fluency and accuracy as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication. The speaking ability in a second language can more or less be divided into two categories: accuracy and fluency (Cotter Hue in

http://hubpages.com).

a. Accuracy focuses on the correct use of grammar, vocabulary, and other skills. In most lessons, the teacher builds accuracy in the early stages through controlled or semi-controlled activities. Students practice a pattern, and use the language in context. Drills, scripted dialogues, and short questions which promote the language are all common examples in any level of lesson.

b. Fluency is the ability to speak smoothly and clearly. With advanced students, it also refers to the ability to participate rather than react to a conversation. Activities which focus on fluency often appear towards the end of the lesson, when more open ended (yet focused) activities appear.

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According to Florez (1999, in http://www.cal.org/caela/scb/IV) a good speaker of a second language usually acts as the following:

- producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language;

- using grammar/structures accurately;

- assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives;

- selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;

- applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension;

- using gestures or body language; and

- paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994).

Based on the descriptions above, it can be concluded that speaking is an interactive communication process that involves speakers and listeners. It is often conducted in different ways, in different circumstances, and for different purpose, involving not only the knowledge of mechanics, but also concerned with the function, and social and cultural rules to the competence that the learners are able to speak with people fluently, and accurately use the right words (vocabulary); put them in the correct order (grammar); sound like a native speaker (pronunciation); even produce the right meaning

(comprehension).

3. Teaching Speaking

a. The goal in teaching speaking

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 teaching 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.

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Nunan (in Kayi, 2006, in http://iteslj.org/Techniques) states that teaching speaking is to teach the students to:

1) Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

2) Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second

language.

3) Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting,

audience, situation and subject matter.

4) Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.

5) Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.

6) Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called

as fluency.

Baker and Westrup (2003: 5) also put forward the following reasons to practice speaking during a lesson:

1) Speaking activities can reinforce the learning of new vocabulary, grammar or

functional language;

2) Speaking activities give students the chance to use the new language they are

learning

3) Speaking activities give more advanced students the chance to experiment with the

language they already know in different situations and on different topics. All this helps students to learn English better and succeed.

In line with the statements above, the goal in teaching speaking skill, therefore, is communicative efficiency. That is, learners should be able to make themselves

understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

b. Guidance for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

There is some guidance for English language teachers while teaching speaking (Kayi, 2006, in http://iteslj.org/Techniques):

1) Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing

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and shared knowledge.

2) Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practice different

ways of student participation.

3) Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speaking time. Step

back and observe students.

4) Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response.

5) Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach that

conclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more.

6) Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great. It was a good job.

I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of your voice…"

7) Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they are speaking.

Correction should not distract student from his or her speech.

8) Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contact parents and

other people who can help.

9) Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see

whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs.

10)Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.

11)Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressing themselves

in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice the spoken language.

In teaching speaking, Ur (1996: 121-122) also gives some different advices to the English teacher:

1) Use group work

This increases the sheer amount of learner talk going on in a limited period of time and also lowers the inhibition of learners who are unwilling to speaking in the full front of the class

2) Base the activity on easy language

The level of language needed for a discussion should be lower than that used in intensive language learning activities in the same class: it should be easily recalled and produced by the participants, so that they can speak fluently.

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3) Make a careful choice of topic and task to stimulate interest

Teachers should consider the students’ need and provide the right topic and task based on the students’ interest to motivate the students to talk more. The more they talk, the more they will achieve.

4) Give some instruction or training in discussion skills

Specific and clear rules should be given to the students during the classroom activities, so that they can perform the task smoothly later.

5) Keep students speaking in the target language

Teachers can appoint some students in the speaking class as monitors to remind the other students to use the target language.

c. Activities for teaching Speaking

There are many activities to promote speaking. According to Kayi (2006, in http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-TeachingSpeaking.html), there are thirteen activities to promote speaking, which are:

1) 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 discussion, 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.

2) Role Play

Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles. In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel. Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…" (cite from Harmer, 1984)

3) Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulations different than role plays is that they are more elaborate. In simulations, students can bring items

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to the class to create a realistic environment. For instance, if a student is acting as a computer seller, she brings computer and demonstrate it and so on.

4) 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.

5) Brain Storming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time. Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristic of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas.

6) Storytelling

Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates. Story telling fosters creative thinking. It also helps students express ideas in the format of beginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a story has to have.

7) Interviews

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, but students should prepare their own interview questions. After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class. Moreover, students can interview each other and "introduce" his or her partner to the class.

8) Story Completion

For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences he or she stops narrating. Then, each student starts to narrate from the point where the previous one stopped. Each student is supposed to add from four to ten sentences. Students can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on.

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Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazine and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news.

Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before class.

10) Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four. Each suit will represent a topic. For instance: diamonds represent earning money, hearts represent love and

relationships, spades represent an unforgettable memory, and card represent best teacher. Each student in a group will choose a card. Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group. For example: if the topic "diamonds: earning money" is selected, here are some possible questions: “Is money important in your life? Why?” or “What is the easiest way of earning money?” or “What do you think about lottery?” etc. However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in spoken language production. Rather, students ask open-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences.

11) Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures. Students are asked to tell the story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteria provided by the teacher as a rubric. Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structures they need to use while narrating.

12) Picture Describing

For this activity students can form groups and each group is given a different picture. Students discuss the picture with their groups, and then a spokesperson for each group describes the picture to the whole class. This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skills.

13)Find the Differences

For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given two different pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture of girls

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playing tennis. Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences in the pictures.

d. The Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activity

Ur (1991:121) lists four characteristics of successful speaking activities as follows:

1) The learners talk a lot

As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is occupied by the learner talk.

2) Participation is even

In the speaking class, the classroom activity is not dominated by a minority of talkative students, all learners have equal chances to talk or speak in English. Contributions are evenly distributed.

3) Motivation is high

Learners are eager to speak: (a) because they are interested in the topic. They have something new to say about it; and (b) because they want to contribute to achieve a task objective.

4) Language is of acceptable level

Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy.

4. Testing Speaking

A test is a procedure for measuring ability, knowledge or performance (Nagarja, 1996: 207). The speaking test is used to test students’ speaking proficiency. When we give a speaking test to the students, normally, we want to know the followings:

- How accurately and appropriately the learner use the language (grammar and

vocabulary)

- How well the learners develop the conversation and organize their ideas

- How fluently they speak

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- How positively they contributed to the conversation

(http://www.bulats.org/Bulats/The-Speaking-test.html).

According to Kitao and Kenji (1996: 2) a speaking test can be a source of beneficial backwash. If speaking is tested, it can encourage the teaching of speaking in classes. There are many techniques which can be used to test the speaking ability. Thornbury (2005: 125-126) mentioned the most commonly used test types as follows:

a. Interviews

In conducting the interviews, students are called out one by one for their interview. Interview is relatively easy to set up, but the rather formal nature of interview is hardly conducive to testing more informal, conversational speaking styles. It is also difficult to eliminate the effects of the interviewers questioning style.

b. Live monologues

The candidates prepare and present a short talk on a pre-selected topic. This eliminates the interviewer effect and provides evidence of the candidates’ ability to handle an extended turn, which is not always possible in interviews. Other students can take the role as audiences; a question-and-answer stage can be involved. This can provide some evidence of the speaker’s ability to speak interactively and spontaneously.

c. Recorded monologues

Recorded monologues are less stressful than a more public performance and, for informal testing; it is also more practicable in a way that live monologues are not. Learners can take turns to record themselves talking about a favorite sport or pastime. The assessment of the recorded tests can be done after the event, and results can be ‘triangulated’.

d. Role-plays

Students will be used to doing at least simple role plays in class, so the same format can be used for testing. The other ‘role’ can be played either by the tester or another student. The situation in the role-play should be better grounded in everyday reality. However, in the role-play test, the influence of the interlocutor is hard to control.

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These are similar to role-play except that the learners are not required to assume a role but simply to be themselves. In this performance, the learners’ interactive skills can be observed in circumstances that close approximate real-life language use.

Moreover, Kitao and Kenji (1996: 4) also suggest that testing speaking can use visual material. Pictures, maps, diagrams, and other types of visual material can be used to test speaking without requiring the students to comprehend written or spoken material. Through careful selection of the material, the tester can control the vocabulary and, to some extent, the grammatical structures required. In the test of using visual materials, usually, the students are given a series of pictures which tell a story, and are required to put together a coherent narrative. A variation on this is to give the pictures in random order of the narrative to a group of students.

On a speaking test, getting the students to say something appropriate is only half the job. Scoring the test is equally challenging (Madsen, 1984: 166). However,

Thomburry (2005: 127) suggests two main ways: either giving it a single score on the basis of an overall impression (called holistic scoring) or giving a separate score for different aspects of the task (analytic scoring). The holistic-scoring has the advantage of being quicker, and is probably adequate for informal testing of progress. It needs more than one scorer, and any significant differences in scoring should be discussed and a joint score negotiated.

Analytic-scoring takes longer, but compels testers to take a variety of factors into account and, if these factors are well chosen, is probably both fairer and more reliable. However, in the process of scoring, the scorer may be distracted by all the categories and lose sight of the overall picture.

In describing the criteria levels of scoring, Hughes (2003: 110) said that the descriptions may be holistic or analytic and it was said that it is possible to use one method as a check on the other.

Madsen (1983: 167-168) state that the advantage of holistic grading is probably obvious. It concentrates on communication while not overlooking the components of speech. It is used to evaluate a various aspects simultaneously such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension. According to Madsen (1983: 170), this rating scale can be adapted for the use of the teachers, and the teachers can prepare their

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own scale. Moreover, teachers with clearly identified evaluation criteria will want to rate their students on a holistic scale. Based on the theories above, the scoring rubric applied in this research is as follows:

Scoring Rubric

No. 1 Score Indicator

fluency

17-20 Speech as fluently as that of a native speaker

13-16 Speed of speech seems to be slightly affected by language

problems

9-12 Speech and fluency are strongly affected by language

problems

5-8 often hesitant and forced silence by language limitation

1-4 Speech is so halting and fragmentally that makes

communication impossible

No. 2 Score Indicator

Vocabulary

17-20 Almost no inadequacy or inaccuracy

13-16 Few times inadequate or inaccurate

9-12 Sometimes inadequate or inaccurate

5-8 Inaccurate or in adequate that affect the understanding

1-4 Inadequate for communication

No. 3 score Indicator

Grammar

17-20 No grammatical inaccuracy

13-16 Few grammatical inaccuracy

9-12 Grammatical inaccuracy does not impede the understanding

5-8 Grammatical inaccuracy does not seriously impede

understanding

1-4 Grammatical inaccuracy makes understanding almost

impossible

No. 4 score Indicator

Pronunciation

17-20 Accurate pronunciation

13-16 Few inaccurate pronunciation

9-12 Inaccuracy of pronunciation does not impede understanding

5-8 Inaccuracy of pronunciation does not seriously impede

understanding

1-4 Inaccuracy of pronunciation makes understanding almost

impossible

No. 5 score Indicator

Comprehension

17-20 Understands everything in normal educated conversation

13-16 Understands quite well the normal educated speech/ dialogue,

but sometimes need repetition or rephrasing

9-12 Understands simplified speech/dialogue but need repetition

and rephrasing

5-8 Understands only slow, very simple speech, require repetition

and rephrasing

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B. Content-Based Instruction

1. The Nature of Content-based Instruction

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in second language acquisition (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989 in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content-based_instruction). According to Richard and Roger (2001: 204), CBI refers to an approach to second language teaching in which teaching is organized around the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus.

Furthermore, Krahnke (1987: 65) defines CBI as the teaching of content or information in the language being learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teaching the language itself separately from the content being taught.

Moreover, Brinton, Snow, and Wesche (1989: 2) offered the definition of CBI as “the integration of particular content with language-teaching aims”. The activities in CBI class are centered around the content being taught and students are expected to learn the content by using the target language.

Stewart (2008: 12) states that the proponents of content-based instruction argue that language is most effectively learned in the context of relevant and meaningful content.

According to Richard (2006: 28), content refers to the information or subject matter that we learn or communicate through language rather than the language used to convey it. In addition, Da Silva in Hale (2008: 3) identifies content as a crucial part of language learning and the separation of language from content as both arbitrary and artificial. Historically, the word content has changed its meaning in language teaching. Content used to refer to the methods of grammar-translation, audio-lingual methodology and vocabulary or sound patterns in dialog form. Recently, content is interpreted as the use of subject matter as a vehicle for second or foreign language teaching/learning (http://en.wikipedia.org).

CBI is developed under the framework of communicative language teaching (CLT), it is grounded on the following two central principles (Richard and Roger, 2001: 207):

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a. People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a

means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself.

b. CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language.

Vyas and Patel (2009: 120) state that CBI is important to produce students who comprehend English without translating into their native language, choosing meaningful content is essential. Through communication-based instruction focused on content, students are able to pick up not only the communicative skills that are necessary for effective language, but also learning new subject matter.

Based on the definitions and descriptions above, it can be concluded that CBI is an approach to second language teaching in which teaching is organized around the content or information, and students learn the second language with little or no direct or explicate effort as the content or information is interpreted as the use of meaningful authentic materials (including text, pictures, newspapers, etc.,) as the vehicle to motivate the students to get involved in the language teaching and learning process.

2. Theoretical Support

According to Richard (2006: 28) the contemporary views of language learning is seen as resulting from processes such as following, and the best way to do so is by using content as the driving force of classroom activities and to link all the different dimensions of communicative competence, including grammatical competence, with content.

a. Interaction between the learner and users of the language.

b. Collaborative creation of meaning

c. Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language

d. Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor arrive at

understanding

e. Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language

f. Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and try to incorporate new

forms into one’s developing communicative competence

g. Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things.

Eskey (1997: 133) states that the rationale for employing CBI is that “people do not learn language and then use it; (rather) people learn language by using them.” He

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argues that content is “not merely something to practice language with: rather, language is something to explore content with”.

Furthermore, Richard (2006: 25) states that CBI is based on the following assumptions about language learning:

a) People learn a language more successfully when they use the language as a means of

acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself.

b) CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language.

According to Krashe (in Huifang, 2006 in

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Shang-CBI.html), in content-based instruction, students can acquire the content area of the subject matter with comprehensible input, and

simultaneously increase their language skills. To achieve the goal of language skills improvement, Huifang states that the focus of the teaching is on the authentic and meaningful input, not on the grammatical form.

Keeping students motivated and interested are two important factors underlying content-based instruction. When the students are interested with the content/materials, they will be motivated to learn the second language successfully. There are many theories supporting this:

O’ Dowd in Hale (2008: 4) reported that students in content course exhibited greater interest than usual in the courses and engaged in the classes with enthusiasm. Johnson and Higgins in Hale’ work (2008: 4) also found that students performed at a higher level when they believed the content they were learning was relevant to their present and/or future needs.

CBI material is believed to motivate students to acquire not only a target language but also content. Brinton (in Vyas and Patel, 2009: 130) mentions: “The use of

information content which is perceived as relevant by learner is assumed by many to increase motivation in the language course and, thus, to promote effective learning.”

Moreover, according to Stoller (in Vyas and Patel, 2009: 130): “There is a relationship between student motivation and student interest—common outcomes of content-based class and student ability to process challenging materials, recall information, and elaborate.”

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CBI has a strong correlation with student motivation which is a vital element in English education. Motivation allows students to pursue learning English, not to be afraid of making errors and to use it as a means of communication with a number of people. Motivation makes students understand the actual purpose of saying English. In other words motivated students realize that English is not just or a way to pass an entrance examination.

Pamenter in Hale (2008: 3) also links affective aspects to content-based learning such as enjoyment, confidence and increased motivation. In terms of content, she exposed her students to a wide range of topics, including international business, foreign travel, and the environment. She found that the focus on content rather than language helped her students began to form opinions about society and express their opinions confidently. Research has showed that content-based course increased student motivation for studying English and raised students’ confidence when using English.

3. The Advantages of Content-based Instruction

CBI is believed to have many advantages. These advantages are listed as follows;

a. It can make learning a language more interesting and motivating. Students can use

the language to fulfill a real purpose, which can make students both more independent and confident.

b. Students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through CBI which

can feed back into improving and supporting their general educational needs.

c. CBI is very popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as it

helps students to develop valuable study skills such as note taking, summarizing and extracting key information from texts.

d. Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring that

information can help students to develop very valuable thinking skills that can then be transferred to other subjects.

e. The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given above can also

help students to develop their collaborative skills, which can have great social value (Peachey, 2003. In http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles).

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Moreover, Chamot and O’Malley (1994: 26) said that there are at least four reasons for incorporating content into the English as a Second Language (ESL) class as follows:

a. Content provides students with an opportunity to develop important knowledge in

different subject areas.

b. Students are able to practice the language functions and skills needed to understand,

discuss, read about, and write about the concepts developed.

c. Students exhibit greater motivation when they are learning content than when they

are learning language only.

d. Content provides a context for teaching students learning strategies

(http://revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr/articulos/2-2005/archivos/oral.pdf). 4. Content/Material Selection

According to Krashen (1982) the principal feature of CBI is that content is the point of departure or organizing principle of the course. To this end, content plays the central role. In content selection, Vyas and Patel (2009: 131-132) cited many suggestions for content selection in CBI as follows:

Met asserts, “Careful planning for language development can be useful in ensuring that students gain language competence that will be useful in settings beyond the school itself.” It is necessary that students can employ what they learn in real life. Snow (2001) suggests:

“In order to develop communicative competence, learners must have extended opportunities to use the second/ foreign language productivity. Thus, in addition to receiving comprehensible input, they must produce comprehensible output; in other words, explicit attention must be paid to the productive language skills of speaking and writing.”

According to Heo (2006) “the students must go through a real-world process instead of using independent, creative, or unrealistic thoughts”. Brinton asserts: “First and most important, the materials chosen should be a range of language functions and structures available, and these should map neatly onto the language syllabus.”

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Valuable and realistic lessons foster students’ language development. For students to effectively communicate with others, materials used in class need to train them to become successful communicators.

Furthermore, materials need to motivate students to pursue the target language, as Vyas and Patel cited from Brinton (2009: 131-132):

“Every attempt should be made to select materials which reflect the needs and interests of the students and to choose content areas in which the language teacher has some interest or expertise.”

According to Met:

“Materials also should be enhancing language learning by providing motivating topics to communicate about, and enhancing language learning by providing meaningful, purposeful language practice opportunities drawn from a variety of topics”.

Varying the choice of topics and themes is essential in order to engage students in learning the content through English; appealing topics and themes encourage them to actively participate in class. Active participation in class, moreover, enhances students’ relationships with one another, creating a positive influence on classroom atmosphere.

There are several key points required in material-making, Short (1991) state: “In order to make English language input as comprehensible as

possible, the teachers should present information through diverse media: realia, graphs, demonstrations, pre-reading, and pre-wring strategies. The focus of the instruction should be motivated by the content to be learned which will help identify the language skills required to learn that content and the reasoning abilities needed to manipulate it”.

Hernandez mentions, “It is essential to familiarize English language learners with clear content vocabulary related to the unit of study.” He also suggests:

“Students should be guided to see that these thinking processes are common in everyday life situation; lessons can then be adapted to demonstrate how critical thinking used in their personal lives can be transferred to academic thought”.

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The instructors need to carefully choose the way they present the planned content in their materials. It is particularly important to structure activities in an appropriate order. In addition, visual aids are instrumental in supplementing students’ understanding. Vocabulary-building is strongly believed to be one of the key elements in English

education. Thus, materials must include relevant vocabulary exercises at the right time. Most importantly, materials need to be built with the goal of fostering critical thinking, and forcing students to utilize a combination of prior knowledge and skills.

5. The Implementation of Content-based Instruction

Stryker and Leaver (in Herrero, 2005: 4-5) state that in order to successfully implement a CBI curriculum, the following characteristics must be presented (http://revista.inie.ucr.ac.cr/articulos/2-2005/archivos/oral.pdf ):

a. Subject Matter Core

In CBI, content is the point of departure or organizing principle of the course – a feature that grows out of the common underlying assumption that successful language learning occurs when students are presented with target language materials in a meaningful, contextualized form with the primary focus on acquiring information.

b. The use of authentic language and texts

The learning activities in CBI should focus on understanding and conveying meaningful messages and accomplishing realistic tasks using authentic language. The content can be fun, academic, local, or school-based. It may include texts, videotapes, audio recordings, mini-lectures, field trips, community resources, student knowledge, web resources and visual aids (posters, maps, bulletin boards) selected mostly from those produced for native speakers of the language (Stoller 2004, Stryker and Leaver (1997: 8).

c. Appropriate to the needs of specific students

In CBI, the content and learning activities correspond to the linguistic, cognitive, and affective needs of the students and are appropriate to their professional needs and personal interests. Since students have different learning styles, teachers should provide a variety of task types, develop a wide range of learning strategies, and use different grouping techniques to make the materials accessible to all the students in the classroom. Students should also be given participation in choosing topics and activities to better meet their needs and interests. “Student-generated themes and activities create an

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atmosphere in which the students take responsibility for their own learning and the teacher becomes more of a ‘manager of student learning’” (Maly, 1993: 41 in Stryker and Leaver, 1997: 11)

Moreover, Richard and Rodger (2001: 219) said:

“Since Content-Based Instruction refers to an approach rather than a method, no specific techniques or activities are associated with it. At the level of procedure, teaching materials and activities are selected according to the extent to which they match the type of program it is.”

Richard and Rodger (2001: 28) suggest that CBI is the extension of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), theoretically, the techniques or activities used in CLT can also be applied in the CBI as they share the same goals that are to develop learners’ communicative competence.

According to Richard and Rodger (2001: 13-19), there are many different types of activity used in CLT:

a. Activities focusing on fluency

1) Reflect natural use of language

2) Focus on achieving communication

3) Require meaningful use of language

4) Require the use of communication strategies

5) Produce language that may not be predictable

6) Seek to link language use to context

b. Activities focusing on accuracy

1) Reflect classroom use of language

2) Focus on the formation of correct examples of language

3) Practice language out of context

4) Practice small samples of language

5) Do not require meaningful communication

6) Choice of language is controlled

c. Information-gap activities

This refers to the fact that in real communication people normally communicate in order to get information they do not possess. This is known as an information-gap. More

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authentic communication is likely to occur in the classroom if students go beyond

practice of language forms for their own sake and use their linguistic and communicative resources in order to obtain information.

d. Jig-saw activities

These are also based on the information-gap principle. Typically the class is divided into groups and each group has part of the information needed to complete an activity. The class must fit the pieces together to complete the whole. In so doing they must use their language resources to communicate meaningfully and so take part in meaningful communication practice.

e. Other activity types in CLT

Many other activity types have been used in CLT, among which are the following:

1) Task-completion activities: puzzles, games, map-reading and other kinds of

classroom tasks in which the focus was on using one’s language resources to complete a task.

2) Information gathering activities: student conducted surveys, interviews and searches

in which students were required to use their linguistic resources to collect information.

3) Opinion-sharing activities: activities where students compare values, opinions,

beliefs.

4) Information-transfer activities: these require learners to take information that is

presented in one form, and represent it in a different form.

5) Reasoning gap-activities: these involve deriving some new information from given

information through the process of inference, practical reasoning etc.

6) Role-plays: activities in which students are assigned roles and improvise a scene or

exchange based on given information or clues.

C. Rationale

The review of related theories functions as the base to make rationale. Rationale represents the relationship between variables stated in the review of related theories.

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Among the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), speaking is often regarded by people as the most important skill. People, who can listen, read and write, but cannot speak will not be thought as mastering the English language. This case especially occurred during the working filed.

However, the researcher observed and recognized that the speaking ability of students in class 0902 in the Business English Department of CsV&TC, China was still low and unsatisfying. The students’ difficulties in speaking are caused by: the lack of related vocabularies, low ability in constructing sentences and utterances, poor and unsatisfying understanding about transactional and interpersonal expressions in English, and low motivation in participating in speaking activity caused by the shyness and embarrassment in making mistakes.

The situation was getting worse by the teacher’s wrongly chosen teaching material and unsuitable teaching method which made the students felt very bored and lost interest in the speaking class. In the class, the teacher often conducted the speaking activity by asking the students to read or translate the story or novel that the students didn’t like and had already read in their dormitory. Moreover, the teacher didn’t explore students’ potential for speaking as she didn’t provide many chances to the students to speak. The class was teacher-centered, it was the teacher who talked a lot and dominated the class.

As the problems mentioned above, approach or method need to be used to improve the situation urgently. Content-based Instruction is considered and recommended as a useful and practical approach to improve the students’ speaking skill based on the following rationale:

To begin with, Content-based Instruction provides a natural context for using the target language in the classroom; it provides the students to acquire the language while using the context of any subject matter so that students learn the language by using it within the specific context. In other words, the students will not only learn the particular context of a subject matter by using the English, but also learn the particular language terms and skills through the specific context. As we know that different contents in different texts can be used for different purposes. Communicative content-based texts will be used to train students’ communicative or speaking skills. In this study, the writer will use communicative content-based teaching materials to improve the student’s

In the teaching and learning process, especially in teaching speaking, it is necessary to implement an appropriate approach. The approach used by the English teacher is based on the purpose of the related course, the feature of the students, the characteristics of the class, and the reason of the language learning. The findings and results of the study imply that CBI is one of the effective approaches which can be applied in teaching speaking. The detailed implications of the CBI implemented are as follows:

1) CBI can motivate students to speak English and improve their self-confidence in answering the teacher’s questions or expressing their ideas in different speaking activities. As the content selected falls under the scope of the students’ interest, they have great motivation to learn and to practice the language with their friends.

2) CBI can create conducive atmosphere in the classroom. As there are many different

activities or techniques which can be applied in CBI, in the class, the students could work in pairs and in groups. The whole classroom is full of joy, and the students feel relaxed in the classroom.

3) CBI provides many speaking opportunities to the students to practice their English. In order to finish their group works, every student in each group has to make contribution to complete their group task.

4) CBI improves the students’ participation in the class. There were many pair or group tasks which need the students to join to complete. As in a role-play activity, each student has a role; without the participation, the activity cannot be achieved.

5) CBI makes the class as a student-centered class. Students can learn by themselves or can learn from each other, the role of the teacher in the class is a monitor and facilitator. The teacher helps students when the students face difficulties in conducting their activities.

6) CBI can help the students to build a good relationship among each other. In the speaking activities, students need to work in pairs or in groups to complete the tasks or activities. By finishing the task, the students need to interact with each other and to help each other to complete the task.

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This research indicates that the implementation of CBI in teaching speaking showed many positive effects in the students’ progress. Based on the result of the study, there are some suggestions put forward to the English teachers, the students, and other researchers.

1. The teacher

The teacher should try to select the content or different topics based on the school’s requirements and also should meet the students’ needs. Practical and interesting content can motivate students to actively engage in the speaking activities. Besides, the teacher should pay attention to that the content or topics given to the students should not be very difficult; otherwise, the students may lose interest and get frustrated in the speaking activity. Instead, the content should be a little bit above the average level, so that the students feel it is challenging and would love to do it.

Furthermore, the teacher should remember that it is not good to conduct

momentous or individual activities in the speaking class; instead, it is good if the teacher can apply different activities or pair and group task to help the students to improve their speaking skill. Teacher should not measure the students’ competence from their ability in finishing the task or performance; instead, the teacher should focus on the students’ skill in using the language to communicate with their friends or other people.

Moreover, the teacher should help and facilitate to learn the language. When the students need help in the language, the teacher should give immediately facilitation and help. The teacher using pair works lets the student help each other in a good way to facilitate the students’ language learning.

2. The students

The students of English Department of CsVTC should change their attitude towards learning speaking skill. They should be more confident and braver to speak English rather than be afraid of making mistakes or be humiliated by their friends. They should know that mistakes are parts of learning process. Without making mistakes we cannot find our progress. Students should practice English everyday in the daily life. As practice makes perfect, by practicing every day, their speaking skill will be improved day by day.

Moreover, they should not focus too much on the grammatical accuracy which could prevent them from practicing English and make them afraid of making mistakes; instead, they should focus more on their vocabulary mastery and fluency. They should realize that mastering sufficient vocabularies is important in supporting their speaking skill. Without sufficient vocabulary mastery, they could not speak fluently.

3. To other researchers

CBI is one of interesting and joyful approach that can be applied in the classroom to improve the students’ speaking skill. Although the researcher has tried to do the best in implementing the CBI approach to improve the students’ speaking skill, the result of this study is not very perfect; therefore, the researcher hopes that the other researchers could help to eliminate the weaknesses which were found in this study.

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