DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis is based on my original work except for
quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. I declare that this
thesis has not been previously or concurrently submitted for any other Bachelor of
Arts degree at School of Foreign Languages or other university.
 ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I : Nguy Thuy Tien, English Bachelor – course 34, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (SFL), accept the requirements of the
School of Foreign Languages relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s
Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian by care, loan or reproduction
of the paper.
Signature,

Date: April, 27th, 2015

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Working on this research has been an extremely invaluable and rewarding

experience. This was made possible by the support, encouragement and guidance
from many people. This paper would not have been completed without the support
from all of whom I am profoundly indebted.
First of all, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs. Le
Thi Hang (M.A.) for her valuable comments, constant support and encouragement.
My sincere thanks also go to my teachers at the School of Foreign Languages to
whom I owe an enormous intellectual debt.
Secondly, I am also deeply indebted to the subject teacher, Mrs. Nguyen Thi
Thiet, who allowed me to use her students as my respondents. I have also received
the encouragement and support from teacher of the English Department, Ms. Ngo
Thi Minh. I would like to extend my special gratitude to her for guiding me how to
caculate and analyze the data.
Thirdly, my sincere thanks are due to fourty- two fourth year Bilingual majors of
the School of Foreign Languages for their responses to my survey questionnaires,
observation and acceptance for being samples in my tests. I am also thankful to my
classmates from English Bachelor Class, course 34 for their supportiveness,
especially my beloved roommates for their constructive comments on my paper and
their encouragement all the time when I encountered difficulties in completing the
study.
Last but not least, I am truly grateful to my family for their wholehearted care
and support during the time I conducted the study. Particularly, I want to give my
sincere thanks to my close friend, Le Thi Thuy Van – a fourth year student at the
School of Foreign Languages for her help in the process of implementing the paper
including recording video clips, observation as proofs for careful plans and serious
execution of the paper.
 ABSTRACT
This research aimed at investigating students’ speaking skill of the fourth year
bilingual students at School of Foreign Languages through English Excursion
Project (EEP). More specially, it focused on finding out how EEP can help to
develop students’ speaking skill. In this study, speaking skill was evaluated through
students’ presentation skills. Participants were fourty-two students from English-
Chinese Education class. Among them, twenty studentsm took part in one
experimental group pretest and posttest design. Data reported were mainly collected
through pre/post test, classroom observation and questionnaire. The results
indicated that using topics involving to EEP to make presentations can help to
improve students’ presentation skills as well as their speaking skill. Besides,
practicing regularly and giving feedback are the useful way to promote students in
learning. By that way, students’ speaking skill can improve and be better. In this
study, the researcher relized that EEP was very effective to improve students’ non-
linguistic techniques, students’ pronunciation and fluency. Furthermore, lacking of
feefback is a big reason causing problem in making presentations. Students need
more feedback to improve themselve. Based on the problems found above, some
recommendations for students, teachers, and institute were suggested to help
students improve their presentation as well as their speaking skill.
 LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES
List of tables
Table 1: The Model of Curriculum Development Using PBL
Table 2: Critical values t-table
Table 3: Hypotheses
Table 4: Decision Rules
Table 5: The distribution of subjects
Table 6: The distribution of respondents’ speaking marks
Table 7: The distribution of respondents’ presenting frequency
Table 8: The distribution of students paticipating in three sessions of this research
Table 9: Students’ pretest result
Table 10: Students’ posttest result
Table 11: deviation of pretest and posttest
Table 12: Students’ causes of problem
List of charts
Chart 1: Students’ pronunciation
Chart 2: Students’ fluency
Chart 3: Using non-linguistic techniques
Chart 4: Students’ score
 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EEP: English Excursion Project
No.: Number
PBL: Project Based Learning
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Learning a second language namely English is a good condition for us to
catch many opportunities to succeed. Only by having a thorough grasp of skills in
using English can we apply it in a effective way. Those include 4 main skills like
reading, writing, listening and speaking. Among them, speaking and listening are
two skills which are quite important to evaluate the using English’s ability. In
communication, the key to success is speaking nicely, effcient and articulately, as
well as using effective voice projection, speaking is linked to success in life, as it
occupies an important position both individually and socially (Ulas, 2008).
Howerver, many students as well as students at School of Foreign Languages got a
low mark or even failed in speaking test, espeacially bilingual students although
they have had the basic knowledge in English from secondary school to unversity.
They cope with the similar problem in speaking such as lacking of confidence,
mispronunciation, etc.
Morever, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom had many
challenges, such the lack of motivation getting students to speak and intersting
learning process. According to Johnson (2009: 198), some students show that they are
not interesting to learn and too busy to be disturbed with the school business. In
addition, large classes are often norm in limiting students’ opportunities to talk and
teacher to feedback. How to get students more interested in learning English in
general and speaking English all time in specific has been a big question. For a long
time, teaching and learning English are approached by many different methods.
Among them, Project based Learning (PBL) is a quite new and effective method for
teacher and learner in some countries. It might be one alternative strategy that can be
used by teachers to get the students’ interest. Many investigations on the advantages
or benefits of PBL have been conducted over the world for a few last decades. The
idea had proposed by Johnson (2009: 3), a teaching and learning process is able to
serve a condition where the students having important role is that of individual
explorer, interaction with the physical world and with other people allows them to
discover concepts and apply the skills. According to Penny (1998: 40), a student is
interesed in learning process if he/she is involved in it, so he/she will enjoy the
teaching and learning process and easier to understand the material given. Project
work gets all of them in it, in other words, it provides a large amount of
opportunities for teaching and learning. Students will have more chances to improve
their four English skills namely listening, reading, writing and especially speaking.
Moreover, a special feature of project based subject is that teachers or instructors
base on the last products to assess what students did. The last products or the last
assesssment may be a brochure, a presentation, a drama, etc. In this respect,
presentations are considered a tool to evaluate the process of subject’s learning. In
other words, presentations are the best way to show what students have done and
how they have done. For that reason, we can considered that presentation skills are
a tool to evaluate students’ speaking skill.
Furthermore, it is the fact that in recent years, most of universities including
School of Foreign Languages -Thai Nguyen University have a trend to change from
the passive learning method into the initiative one in order to raise students’
creativity and self-study. Though project-based learning has been applied for a long
time in English as Second Language (ESL) class over the world, it seems to be quite
new in Vietnam. Thai Nguyen School of Foreign Languages is one of leading
institutions in Vietnam who has been implemented studying projects in the
curriculum, such as excursion project, culture project, magazine project and drama
project. Each of them can help students enhance their English in different ways.
Among them, English Excursion Project (EEP) is an interesting subject which is
quite effective to improve students’ language in general and speaking skill in
particular. However, what effect of the learning project on students’ speaking ability
seems not to be evaluated carefully.
With all the reasons above, this paper is necessary and important for student
in our school and the fourth year bilingal students. We strongly recommend this
topic to have the general and exact view about the effectiveness of EEP for School
of Foreign Languages’ students.
1.2. Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the speaking skill of the fourth year
bilingual majors (Chinese and English). Especially, it is aimed at 3 purposes as
follows:

1. Evaluating speaking skill in reality of the fourth year bilingual students.

2. Investigating the effectiveness of EEP on students’ speaking skill.

3. Surveying the students’ attitude towards EEP.

Particularly, the study is conducted to answering the question: “How can EEP
help to develop students’speaking skill?”
1.3. Significance of the study
This study is an attempt to develop the second language acquisition of learners
in general and to improve the speaking skill of fourth- year bilingual students in
particular. With the findings of this study, two parties benefited most will be the
students and the lecturers.
For students, the study helps them see how they can perform in the subject
namely EEP. From that, students will see many chances to practice their speaking
skill and attain better in EEP and other project based subjects.
For teachers, the study is very useful in their language teaching. In addition,
teachers can see clearly the factors that influence students’ presentations. Hence,
teachers can plan on how to help or encourage students as well as have some
changes in curriculum if necessary to suit so that students can get the best result in
the subject and making an presentation. Furthermore, it may be useful to have more
experiences in their specialty.
1.4. Scope of the study

Because of the time limitation and the confines of the research, in all aspects of
language skills development, the study only focuses on evaluating the effectiveness
of EEP to increase the fourth year bilingal students’ oral skill. So after the research,
students may know good points and weak points of this project. Hence, they may
need to make a little adjustment to keep good points well and improve weak points
so that students can get as much achievement in the subject as expected.
1.5. Organization of the study
The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the
background to the study, states the aims of the study and lists the research questions
that intend to guide the investigation. The significance and scope of the study are
also discussed. Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides the theoretical basis.
Besides, the related ideas in previous researches are included in this chapter. This
chapter contains 3 sections: Project based Learning, English Excursion Project and
speaking skill. Chapter 3, Methodology, focuses on the methods used to gather and
analyze data. First, research questions are addressed. Then, instruments for data
collection, subjects, procedures are described. The chapter ends with analysing data.
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, reports the results about evaluating speaking
skill through EEP, then, discusses major findings and students’ attitude to the
subject named EEP. Chapter 5, Conclusion, give the comment and some suggestion
to develop EEP.
 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides the theory and research to support and make the study more
clearly. The first section gives an overview of PBL including definitions and its
benefit to teaching and learing the second language. The second section is about
EEP description. The third section discusses speaking skill and gives a discussion of
the oral presentation assessment. The chapter ends with a review of previous studies
on project based learning and its effectiveness to students’ speaking skill.
2.1.Project based learning (PBL)

This section discusses issues relating to PBL in terms of definition and its benefits.
2.1.1.Definitions
PBL is defined by many different authors in many ways. PBL is defined as “an
instructional technique in which meaningful tasks, often in the form of problems,
serve as the context and stimulus for knowledge building and critical thinking”
(Howard, 2002). PBL also changes the role of teacher to a cognitive coach who
models, coaches, guides and encourages independence in goal setting and decision
making and promotes reflection (Howard, 2002).

According to Collins, Brown and Newman (1989) PBL as a project which allows
learners to identify and formulate their own problems. The goals they set as well as
the unexpected discoveries they will make during interaction with the environment
serve as guides.

To accomplish the definition of PBL, Blumenfield (1994:1) describes project-based

learning as “activities…conducted…as a way for students to learn subject matter
concepts in depth as well as promote other life skill objectives”.

Chard (1995:2) explains that “the model for project-based learning is to shift away
from the classroom practices of short, isolated, teacher-centered lessons and
instead emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, student-
centered, and hands-on”.
Similar to the above definition,Thomas (1999) PBL is a teaching and learning
model (curriculum development and instructional approach) that emphasizes
student-centered instruction by assigning projects. It allows students to work more
autonomously to construct their own learning, and culminates in realistic, student-
generated products. More specifically, PBL can be defined as follows :

 The first, it focuses on the central concepts of a discipline.

 The second, it engages learning experiences that involve students in

complex, real-world projects through which they develop and apply skills
and knowledge.

 The third, it requires students to draw from many information sources and
disciplines in order to solve problems.

 The fourth, curricular outcomes can be identified up-front, but in which the
outcomes of the student's learning process are neither predetermined nor
fully predictable.

 The last, students get experiences through which students learn to manage
and allocate resources such as time and materials.

(Moursund, 2002; J. W. Thomas et al., 1999)

Furthermore, according to Moss & Van Duzer, 1998, p.1, PBL seems to match this
English teaching and learning need. It is simply defined as “ an instructional
approach that contextualizer learning by presenting learners with problems to solve
or products to develop”. PBL is different from traditional instruction because it
emphasizes learning through student-centered, interdisciplinary, and intergrate
activities in real world situations (Solomon, 2003; Willie, 2001).

Stoller, written his work on 1997, PBL is both process and product orientated.
Students have opportunities to use several skills (e.g., problem solving, creativity,
teamwork, as well as language) at different work stages, so the work and language
skills are develop ( Brunetti, Petrell, Sawada, 2003; Solomon, 2003). At the same
thinking, some other authors also asert that “since PBL is potentially motivating,
empowering and challenging to language learners, it usually results in building
learners’ confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy as well as improving students”
language skills, content learning, and cognitive abilities (Fried-Booth, 1997;
Simpson, 2001; Solomon, 2003; Srikrai, 2008; Stoller, 1997; Willie, 2001).

To get a clearer picture of the above definition, PBL is to engage learning

experiences that involve students in complex, real-world projects through which
they develop and apply skills and knowledge. The learning requires students to
draw from many information sources and disciplines in order to solve problems.
The outcomes are the experiences through which students would learn to manage
and to allocate resources such as time and materials.

2.1.2. Project-Based vs. Traditional Instruction

Both traditional and project-based instruction may have the same course goals,
objective, and outcomes. Both have the same dilemma of getting students to learn
the “need to know material” in a restricted time frame. Yet, there are several ways
to distinguish between the difference between Traditional Instruction and PBL.

( Chart information by Ziegenfuss, D.)

Traditional Instruction Project based learning

Teacher-Centered and teacher Student-centered, students help each

responsible for the learning other and teacher just facilitates the
learning

Transmitting knowledge to a group Constructing of individual knowledge

Focuses on memorization of material Focuses on understanding of content

Surface learning (a little about a lot of Deep learning (through understanding of

concepts) concepts)
Learning out of context Authentic learning in context

Individual learning, group learning Group Learning

Traditional assessment Performance-based assessment

In summary, although two instructions have the same goal, the two effectiveness
are complete different. PBL is one of the models which are different from
traditional teaching since the focus is put on the learners. Learners have the
opportunity to work more autonomously and build their knowledge as they
personally construct meaningful facts that are representations of their learning. PBL
provides learners the opportunity in depth investigations of worthy knowledge.
2.2.Benefits of Project based Learning
PBL offers a wide range of benefits to both students and teachers. Students become
more engages in learning when they have a chance to dig into complex, challenging
and sometimes even messy problems that closely resemble real life. PBL goes
beyond generating students interest. A growing body of academic research supports
the use of PBL in school to engage students, cut absenteeism, boost cooperative
learning skills, and improve academic performance( George Lucas Educational
Foundation, 2001). Besides, well designed projects encourage active inquiry and
higher level thinking ( Thomas, 1998). In specific, for students, benefits of projects
based learning include as follow:

 Firstly, PBL increased attendance, growth in self reliance, and improved

attitudes toward learning (Thomas, 2000).

 Secondly, academic gains equal to or better than those general by other

models, with students involved in projects taking greater responsibility for
their own learning than during more traditional classroom activities ( Boaler,
1997; SRI, 2000).

 Thirdly, PBL bring to students opportunities to develop complex skills, such

as higher- oder thinking, problem- solving, collaborating, and
communicating (SRI, 2002).
  Forthly, PBL assesses to a broader range of learing opportunities in the
classroom, providing a strategy for engaging culturally diverse learners (
Railsback, 2002).
Fragoulis (2009) and Bell (2010) stated that there are many benefits of
implementing PBL in teaching English as Foreign Language:

 The first, PBL gives contextual and meaningful learning for students.

 The second, PBL can create optimal environment to practice speaking

English.

 The third, PBL can also make students actively engage in project learning.

 The fourth, PBL enhances the students’ interest, motivation, engagement,

and enjoyment.

 The fifth, PBL promotes social learning that can enhance collaborative skills.

 The last, PBL can give an opportunity to improve students’ language skill.
For teachers, PBL helps to enhanced professionalism and collaboration among
colleagues, and opportunities to build relationships with students (Thomas, 2000).
Additionally, many teachers are pleased to find a model that accommodates diverse
learners by introducing a wider range of learning opportunities into the classroom.
Teachers find that students who benefit the most from PBL tend to be those for
whom traditional instructional methods and approaches are not effective (SRI,
2000).
Furthermore, a project allows students and teachers alike to focus and to study a
central idea in depth. Content is more meaningful to students because it is real
world learning and students can look at their work in a way that is interesting to
them. Students can collaborate together to explore ideas. The process of working on
a project will help students display independence and construct their own
knowledge through questions that they have or developed with the class.

In addition, PBL is a teaching strategy that emphasizes on the students. This model
could be implemented on the learning strategy by assigning projects. It gives
opportunities to students to work more independently and realistically to generate
products. The activities enable students to synthesize knowledge and to individually
solve problems in a curricular context. Newberry and Hughes (2006) rigorously
explain that PBL will:

 help students develop skills for living in a knowledge-based world and

society. Solving highly complex problems requires that students to have
skills on reading, writing and also foundation skills (teamwork, problem
solving, research, time management, information synthesizing, and using
technology tools).

 Add relevance to the learning. By bringing real-life context and technology

to the curriculum through project problems, teachers encourage students to
become independent workers, critical thinkers, and lifelong learner. Students
learn to take responsibility for their own learning. They will form the basis
for working cooperatively and effectively with others in their adult life.

 Challenge students to high rigor. When working toward a solution to a

problem, students often find themselves acquiring higher levels of academic
skills and knowledge than if they were taught such skills in isolation.
 Promote lifelong learning. Exposure to activities, projects and problems
teaches students to take control of learning, their first step as lifelong
learners. PBL promotes metacognition and self-knowledge. Student generate
strategies for solving problems by gathering, analyzing, and testing their
data, sharing their findings with determining solutions. Thus, students
develop the abilities to work with peers, work in teams, and develop group
skills.
Table 1: the Model of Curriculum Development Using PBL
To sum up, there are many ideas about benefits of PBL. However, all of them
commits that PBL is a good strategy to develop students’ abilities including English
learning and other important skills.
2.3.English Excursion Project( EEP)at School of Foreign Languages
According to EEP course outline belonging to English Department, School of
Foreign Languages, EEP is one of special subjects which is a project based learning.
Projects require a goal where students must search for a method, acquire skills and
knowledge, accept failure and bounce back from it, and keep trying until the goal is
achieved. They learn through experiences, more important, they learn how to
research and apply knowledge. Success is measured by the complexity of the
project and the ability to finish it. This type of education motivates one to learn
more about the world we live in while creating a lifetime love to learn. The laws' of
nature is the motivator and instructor.
In this hands-on project, students are expected to demonstrate their basic skills of
the target language by preparing a travel brochure to describe their favorite
destination. students are going to do a mini-research of a place of interest by
collecting, processing and organizing information about the place. At the end of the
semester, they are supposed to deliver a brochure and to produce a virtual tour
through a PowerPoint presentation in which students will work as a tour guide to
provide assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage
interpretation to English-speaking visitors.
To get achivement, students are required to work in groups of 4 or 5 people on 15
weeks of the semester. They will work basing on a clear action plan. Each group
choose a destination, then, each member of group must find their destination’s
information from the articles, TV program, internet or going to travel by
themselves. After that, students will collect and classify them to complete their
writing. During the semester, students will have 2 persentations to introduce their
destination’s feature. By this way, at the end of the course, students can develop
totally their 4 language skill including speaking in general and presentation skills in
particular.
Two presentations are an important part of the subject. Basing on this part, students
will improve their speaking skill more and more. They also can evaluate by
themselves. There are some criteria to evaluate each presentation including
organization, non-linguistic techniques, visual aids, vocabulary, grammar,
pronunciation, and fluency.
2.4 speaking skill
In general, there are four skills required in English teaching and learning namely
reading, listening, writing and speaking. Among them, speaking is one of the most
important skill. Speaking is a skill which is used by someone in communication at
college or outside. Speaking is an ability to express voice articulation or words and
to extend idea and emotions and in general people consider that speaking is the
most human tools as a social control. In addition, a large percentage of the world’s
language learners study English in order to be able to communicate fluently. It is
stated by British Council’s report (1998) that more than two billion people use
English to communicate (British council report in Syakir 2006). Martin Bygate
thinks that “ speaking in a second language involves the development of a particular
type of commnication skill”. Hence, it makes speaking become the most important
skill if people want to communicate effectively. Teaching speaking is one of the
most improtant strategy which is focused in the curriculum of foreign learner.
2.4.1 definition
According to Thursan Hakim : “one of main criteria to decisive succes or not
someone in learning english can saw from how far ability of student in speaking
english”. Therefore, if the students can not speak english after learned it for long
time enough, the students can be said that they have failuare in learning that
language. Speaking skill of a second or foreign language is regarded as a very
complicated task.There are many authors who had studied about speaking skill and
all problems around it. In line with that, there are many definitions, also factor
taxonomies in speaking.
 Bygate defines " Oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds
in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and
inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning". (cited in Mackey,
1965:266).
According to Brown and Yule’s (1983: 127), speaking skill consists of short,
fragmentary utterance, in a range of pronunciation. There is often a great deal of
repetition and overlap between one speaker and another and speakers usually use
non-specific references. Furthermore, speaking is known with two main types of
conversation called dialogue and monologue.
In addion, speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 199; Burns &
Joyce, 1997 as stated in Florez (1999)). It means that speaking enables people to
receive information from the other through their conversation, after which they
should understand the information and respond to it or communicate their
understanding about the information. On the other side, when participating in a
communicative activity, speaker should choose the correct vocabulary to describe
the things they want to say about, and avoid the missunderstanding.
Fisk (1990:1) written on his work, oral communication (speaking skill) is one
of those human activities that everyone recognize but few can define satisfactorily.
In short, speaking skill is one of the key tools of human communication. Looking
through the literature of study, we can easily see that there have been many different
definitions of speaking skill proposed by linguists, but no one is satisfactory.
2.4.2 The position of speaking in learning foreign language
Language as an element of communications among nations or societies is
used to submit an idea, and someone is feelings. The world without language like
silent world. Speaking is the skill making the world more active. This skill is very
important in learning second language. Speaking plays an very important role
among the four language skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not
know a language. Pattison (1992) points out that when people mention knowing or
learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language.
 Furthemore, many students consider oral communcation the measurement of
knowing a language. In other words, speaking skill is very important in both
teaching and learning. If the learner does not learn how to speak or not to get
opportunity to speak, they may lose their interest in learning. Nunan (1991: 279)
states that success in an oral conversation is measured in terms of the ability to carry
out a conversation in the (target) language.
Sharing the same ideas, Richard, A. (1991: 165) cited that it is the speaking
skill that helps learners to have communication which is the proper aim of language
teaching.
Brown, G and Yule, G (1992: 256) point out that speaking plays an ever important
role in a very transactional intention, that is, to make clear what they want to say.
Similarly, Byrne (1991: 45), while listening and reading are regarded as receptive
skills, speaking and writing are productive skill. Speaking not only helps students to
communicate well and exchange information and culture with others but also
promote the integration of speaking, listening, reading and writing in the ways that
reflect natural language use.
To summarize, speaking is a necessary skill to perfect in a foreign language. In
reality, most students can not speak English influently although they have learnt for
a long time. Hence, teaching English should focus on improving speaking skill as
much as the others to get the best rusult.
2.4.3. Speaking assessment
Proper testing is necessary in skills development because without testing, the
process of achieving competence remains incomplete. According to Hartley and
Sporing (1999), test oral proficiency has become one of the most important issues in
language testing since the role of speaking ability has become more central in
language teaching. Testing makes students sincere enough to learn things properly.
Speaking assessment is equally important like the other skills. Most teachers would
accept that “if you want to encourage oral ability, then test oral ability” (Hughes:
44). If students know they have to present or give an oral test at the exam anf their
success in language use will depend on their performance, they will be serious
enough to develop their speaking skills.
According to website http://www.speaking.pitt.edu, speaking assessment brings 5
meaningful advantages such as allows direct, diologic feedback; encourages in-
depth prepareration; demands different skill; valueable practice for future
professional activity; and redudes grading stress.
Basing on the basic types of speaking we have 5 types of speaking assessment
including Imitative Speaking Assessment, Intensive Speaking Assessment,
Responsive Speaking Assessment, Interactive Speaking Assessment, and Extensive
Speaking Assessment in which each type includes some small task as follows:

 Imitative Speaking Assessment - nword repetition task, phonepass test.

 Intensive Speaking Assessment - direct response tasks, read- aloud task,

sentence/dialogue completion task and oral questionnaires, picture-cued task,
and translation.

 Responsive Speaking Assessment - question and answer, giving instructions

and directions, paraphrasing( story, phone message, etc).

 Interactive Speaking Assessment - interview, oral proficiency interview, role

play, discussion and conversations, games.

 Extensive Speaking Assessment - oral presentation, pictured-cued story-

telling, retelling a story or news event, translation (of extended prose).
(A Breif Summary of Speaking Assessment- HD Brown, cited by Edwin Clemenz)
As I talked in the first part of the study( chapter I, background of the study),
presentations are considered as a tool to assess students’ speaking skill. Moreover,
because of the special feature of EEP, in this study the researcher focuses on
evaluating students’ speaking skill through evaluating students’ presntation skills.
2.4.4. presentation skill
This part gives a brief discussion about presentation in term of definition and
presentations’ meaning to improve speaking skill.
2.4.4.1. definitions of presentation
There are various types of presentation definitions. According to Daria Price
Bowman, the author stated in book “Presentations”- 1998, there are many ways to
define a presentation. A presentation is the process of offering for consideration or
display. Another thinking is that a presentation is a social introduction, as of a
person at court. There is a thinking that it is a demonstration, lecture, or welcoming
speech. Also in this book, the author mentioned that presentation is a manner or
style of speaking, instructing, or putting oneself forward. Presentation is the formal
introduction of a person, as into society or at court; debut. In general, Daria Price
Bowman defined “Presentation is the practice of showing and explaining the
content of a topic to an audience or learner”.
Besides, we can find other definition about presentation as a means of
communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to
a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team
(http://www.skillsyouneed.com/present/what-is-a-presentation.html).
According to the mention of Steve Mandel in “Effective Presentation Skills”,
the author defined “a presentation is a type of speech… presentations are speeches
that are usually give in a business, technical, professional, or scientific
environment”.
In the 7th edition of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (200:1190), a
presentation is defined as “an act of showing or explaining something or of giving
something to somebody” or “a meeting at which something especially a new
product or ideas is shown to group of people”.
Byrne (1989), defined presentation as “an activity organized by a teacher to
ask students to demonstrate their communication skills better”.
Another definition states by Deborah Carter Peoples (2001), in which
“presentations are brief discussions of a focused topic delivered to a group of
listeners in order to impart knowledge or to stimulate discussion. They are similar
to the short paper with an introduction, main body and conclusion.”
T. Khadeejah Al-Harbi believed that presentation is seen as “a formal talk to
one or more people that ‘presents’ ideas or information in a clear, structured way”.
 In summary, the word “presentation” is defined in many difficult ways,
however, in the scope of this paper, “presentation” in class setting will be dealt with
formal talk to one person or a group of people, which presents ideas or delivers
information in a clear and structured way.

2.4.4.2. oral presentation rubric

According to website http://edglossary.org, A rubric is typically an

evaluation tool or set of guidelines used to promote the consistent application of
learning expectations, learning objectives, or learning standards in the classroom, or
to measure their attainment against a consistent set of criteria. In instructional
settings, rubrics clearly define academic expectations for students and help to
ensure consistency in the evaluation of academic work from student to student,
assignment to assignment, or course to course. Rubrics are also used as scoring
instruments to determine grades or the degree to which learning standards have
been demonstrated or attained by students.

An oral presentation rubric may look like the table below. Each criteria is
evaluated at excellent, good, fair, or poor level for each item by the subject teacher
according to four-point scale:
 4 points= excellent
 3 points= good
 2 points= fair
 1 point= poor

Excellent Good Fair Poor

The The ideas are The ideas are The
presentation is logically quite presentation
so logical and arranged but it logically is a mess
well designed. is not arranged. But and I cannot
1 Organization It is easy to outstandingly the speakers follow it. I
follow the attractive. should have cannot
speaker right at been able to figure out
the beginning. make it what it is
better. about.
 The speakers The speakers It’s OK but They don’t
master the show a good they still know how
techniques of command of forget to use to exploit
using gestures, non-linguistic these these
Non-linguistic
2 eye-contacts, techniques but techniques techniques.
techniques
etc. I have they are still sometimes.
nothing to not
complain about professional.
that.
They know The visual They don’t Visual aids
how to exploit aids or facts use many or facts are
visual aids and support their visual aids or not seen in
examples and ideas but they examples and their
3 Visual aids
the still don’t notes but it’s presentation.
presentation know how to OK.
shows careful use it
preparation. sometimes.
The speakers The speakers They seem to They have a
show a wide show a wide have made poor
range of range of effort to vocabulary
vocabulary and vocabulary prepare and they
I learn a lot but there are proper make
4 Vocabulary
from them. still very few vocabulary numerous
minor but they mistakes.
mistakes. mostly use
routine
words.
Speakers make Their It’s OK but There are
no grammatical grammar is there are still too many
mistake and correct and some mistakes
they use structures are grammatical and the
5 Grammar
various and various. mistakes. structures
stunning They could are too
structures. have done simple.
better.
They are really Their They should I can hardly
excellent at pronunciation improve their get what
pronunciation, is good. Only pronunciation they say as
nearly like a few as mistakes their
6 Pronunciation
native mistakes are are pronunciatio
speakers. No found. sometimes n is too bad.
mistakes are found.
found.
7 Fluency They speak in They speak It’s They speak
 a natural, vivid fluently most acceptable like a-b-c
and striking of the time. but they need learners. I
way. The level to improve can’t
of fluency they their speaking imagine this
show is higher skill more. is tertiary
to what I level.
expect.

2.5. previous studies

This section will provide an overview of previous studies on the

effectiveness of PBL on speaking skill in general, and presentation skills in
particular in terms of subject selection, data collection methods and results with the
aims to choose the most appropriate method for gathering data, and compare and
contrast the results of this study with those in prior research.

The early, there have been many studies as well as books and magazines
mentioning the effectiveness of PBL on students’ language learning.

As the research “improving reading and speaking skills through PBL for EFL
students in the form of student-made magazine” by Lia Agustina on March 13th,
2012, students of the Accountancy Department of the State Polytechnic of Malang
were invited in the research for one semester of 14 meetings. Data were collected by
means of observation and pre/post test. As the result, project-based learning in the
form of students-made newsmagazine was done successfully; the model could
improve the students’ reading and speaking ability because of some reasons as
follow:

a) The students’ involvement on their own learning. Since the students function as
the actor of the project who had responsible on generating products in this case
producing students-made newsmagazine.

b) The result of the products were very attractive, it might be caused by the
students’ responsibility and the students’ great enthusiasm.
c) The students great enthusiasm might be caused by the atmosphere conducted
since the teacher-researcher function as a facilitator not a teacher who had a big
power in the class.

d) The product trained the students became independent students, critical thinkers
and promote students to become life-long learner.

As can be seen from the study by Mrs. Vu Thi Quyen(MA), an English teacher at
School of Foreign Languages-Thai Nguyen University, the participants of the study
were 32 second year students who are studying both French and English at TNSFL as
their majors. She collected the data by using pre/post test, self- peer assessment and
observation. After five weeks of experiment, she went to conclude by say that “The
findings clearly show that EDP makes good impacts on students’ fluency,
pronunciation, grammar and emotional expression as well as provides students with
chances to show their responsibility in their teamwork. Moreover, EDP also provides
students with chances to improve their creative ability and empower them chances to
be autonomous in learning English”.

According to Darini Bilqis Maulany, in the research “the use of PBL in improving the
students’ speaking skill”, the research showed that PBL could improve the students’
speaking skill. The researcher focused on the young learners’ speaking skill in 5
aspects including comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, fluency, pronuciation. To
collect the data, participatory observation was done for eight meetings and speaking
assessment was conducted three time in the first, fifth and eighth meetings(pre-test,
post-test 1, post-test 2). After researching, the author stated that “of all the 5 aspects,
comprehension and vocabulary were improve most significantly.”.
Despire of the fact that PBL have applied widely in over the world, it seems
to be quite new and unpopular in Vietnam.In fact, there are many studies in the
world that studied about PBL and speaking skill in general. However, there are not
so many researches in Vietnam. The researcher could find only one master thesis
named “Using a drama project to give students opportunities to be communicative”
by Vu Thi Thanh Nha from College of Social and Humanities- VNU in 2005. In the
research paper, she made an experiment to investigate the way that students are
encourage to orally communicate. The result shows that EDP can motivate students
to speak before the public.
In summary, a detailed literature review on PBL has been provided. The following
comments centre on issues relating to the selection of subjects, data collection
methods and results.
Regarding the subject selection, some generalizations can be made. First, they
were all young adult learners. Second, they are at multi levels of English
proficiency.
With respect to data collection methods, the true experimental pretest – posttest
research design was the most prevailingly used instrument to obtain necessary data.
The reasons for its overwhelming popularity are that it had been adopted by various
researchers. According to Behrooz (2008), test was a leading choice of researchers
when conducting studies because of some advantages such as (1) it provides
objective information on what the test takers know and can do; (2) it also can be
constructed to match a given curriculum or set of skills; (3) test can be scored in a
straightforward manner. Besides, questionnaire and interview are also useful
methods that previous researchers employed in their studies.
In terms of findings, all of the previous studies mentioned particularly indicated
that PBL had a positive influence on students’ speaking achievement. The similarity
of the previous studies with this study is the same independent variables. Those
studies helped the writer a lot in building up the reviewed literature on using PBL to
develop students’ speaking skill.
After carefully considering the major drawbacks of a number of data collection
methods in the use of PBl studies and especially the advantages of the test method,
the researcher has decided to make a choice of test as a main instrument so as to
collect data in this study.
2.6. Literature gaps
From the look back on previous studies related to the research problems, the
writer realized that there are not many references on the topic of using PBL to
improve students’ speaking skill in general and using EEP in particular. Also, the
researcher could hardly find any studies relating to this subject carried out in Viet
Nam. To address this gap, the writer made a decision to implement this study on the
first year students majoring in English as the target population.
Summary
To sum up, two sections as the background of the study have been gone over.
Through each section, the most basic concepts and factors relating the purpose of
this study were given aiming to assist the researcher to have the best approaches to
the study as well as assist readers to appreciate its values. More importantly, the
researcher desires to be able to successfully this study to help the fourth year
students at School of Foreign Languages -Thai Nguyen University improve better
their speaking skills through EEP.
 CHAPTER 3

Methodology

This chapter consists of five sections. Section 3.1 presents research

questions. Section 3.2 describes the data collection instruments. Section 3.3 gives
the information about the subjects of this study. Section 3.4 is a report of the data
collection procedure. Section 3.5 is finished with the data analysis.
3.1. Research questions
The aim of the current study is to evaluate the fourth year bilingual students’
speaking skill through EEP. Particularly, it is aimed at answering the question: How
can EEP help to develop students’ speaking skill??
3.2. Data collection instruments

There are many way to get the data. However, each instrument has the different
function. Using the suitable instrument will bring the best and the most correct date.
In this study, the reasearcher uses some instuments as below.
3.2.1. Pre/Post test
According to Campbell & Stanley (1963: pp.171-246), they stated two advantages of
pre-test and post-test. First, it provides tight scientific control over threats to internal
validity, thus allowing it to be classified as a "true experimental design." Second, it is a
versatile design. In this study, the research uses Pre/Post test to evaluate the level of
development in speaking skill after finishing EEP course for several reasons, one of
which is that “test is an reliable method for checking and evaluating of the
knowledge, the skills and the habits of students” (Halova & Kobilarov, 2009).
Another reason is that test is considered one of suitable instruments to not only
collect data but also evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment used in the research
because it supports broader scope. Because, in this term, there is only one group of
bilingual students particitating in EEP course. Hence, the researcher uses the test to
compare the speaking ability of students before and after the treatment with Giving
Feedback.
In conducting this research, the researcher applied true experimental one group
pretest – posttest design. This group was given treatment as seen in the formula by
Arikunto (2010: 124) as follows:
O1 X O2
Where:
O1: Pre-test
X : Treatment
O2: Post-test
In this tudy, 20 students of bilingual class were chosen as sample and they were
given pre and post test. They were in form of speaking tests. The pre-test was
conducted to identify the level of English Proficiency and their weakness in making
a presatation. The post-test was implemented after the treatment to assess whether
topics in EEP can help students to develop speaking skill or not.
3.2.2. Observation
in oder to collect the data, the writer also uses observation. the Oxford Dictionary
states that “observation” is the action or process of closely observing or monitoring
something or some one. According to Lofland & Lofland (1994), and Atkinson &
Hammersly (2003), classroom observation is an important tool for researchers in the
field of social sciences. Although Burns affirms that “observation allows us to see in
a relatively unobtrusive way what it is that people actually do compared with what
they say they do”, the students may not behave naturally if there were other observers
(Burns, 1999: pp.81-82). However, observation is still necessary because without
other observers, the data collected might tend to be partial (Agar, 1996). For that
reason, the researcher attends to two presentation to see students’ performance and
evaluate their speaking basing on some criteria namely organization, non-linguistic
techniques, visual aids, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and fluency.
A series of observation was done on 7 weeks to observe the presentation of 20
students who were chosen before. In the observation, the researcher used an oral
presentation rubric which was designed by teacher of English Department, School
of Foreign Languages- Thai Nguyen University. During the observation, the
researcher joined in nothing and did not interrupt students when they made
presentations. She just kept listening and taking note the mistake or students’
weakness after that giving feedback.
3.2.3. Questionnaires
Questionnaires or social surveys are a method used to collect standardised data from
large numbers of people. It is a widely and useful instrument for collecting survey
information (Cohen, Manion & Morrison 2002). Moreover, Hornby (1988) states a
good questionnaire can be a powerful tool to inform your evaluation. According to
Salkind (2003), questionnaire is a useful tool in educational research since
“individuals can complete them without any direct assistance or intervention from
the researchers”. Besides, questionnaire is not only good for gathering descriptive
data but also analyzed easily using a variety of existing software (Brahrooz, 2008)
as questionnaires save time, expense and efforts for both researchers and
participants, in this research, questionnaires for students were employed as one of
the primary instruments for data collection. To encourage the subjects to answer the
questions in an honest manner, their names were not required.
The researcher is going to give a list of questions. 42 students were given
questionnaires. The questionnaires in this study was designed to find out the
students’ background information and the students’ awareness about EEP.

3.3. Subject
The study is conducted with the help of 42 the fourth year students are
invited to do the research. They are all Vietnamese native speakers who ranged
from 22 to 23 years old. Their major is bilingual education (Chinese and English).
By the time of the study, all of them had had at least five years of English learning
experience at secondary and high school where they mainly had been taught
grammar and vovabulary. Besides, they have had three years of English learning
experience at university where their English learning is perfected through many
subject on their curriculum. Moreover, they also have studied the same subjects
belonging to PBL namely Culture Project, magazine project and drama project.
When this research was carried out, they had finished the first term of their fourth
year.
3.4. Data Collection Procedures
The data of the study was collected through three main phase. The first phase is
meeting the participants. The second phase is getting data by using pre/post test,
observation and questionnaire. The last phase is to collect and classify the data to
analyze in chapter 4.
3.4.1. Phase 1
This phase lasted during the first week. At this phase, the necessary materials were
prepared, consisting of questionnaires, notes and topics to present. The subjects of
the study were also chosen at this phase to implement the next phases.
Firstly, 20 students were gathered at the room after school. Then, the research spent
10 minutes to introduce briefly the purpose of the study and activities they had to do
during the process of the research. Next, the questionnaires was used to get the
students’ background information. The researcher also explained about the
requirement of pretest and gave topics to students for Pre-test.
3.4.2. phase 2
This phase occurred in 6 weeks, from the second to the seventh week. At this phase,
the researcher used two instruments: test, and observation to gather all necessary
data for the study.
The data collecting procedure was carried out in a room of the School of Foreign
Languages’ dormitory. 20 students were chosen before and devided into 6 groups.
Weekly, each group had a presentation involving to the topic which the researcher
had given. The topic was landscape, customs and cuisine. There were 6 groups to
prensent in each week. Students had 15-20 minutes to perform. While each group
presented, other groups just kelp listening and after that they gave feedback for their
friends. The researcher observed all groups and listened students’ feedback for their
friends. At last, the researcher gave comment and pointed out which is their
weakness in each presentations. The research evaluated each presentation basing on
7 criteria such as organization, non-linguistic techniques, visual aids, vocabulary,
grammar, pronunciation and fluency.
At the seventh week, the students were given a post-test. The researcher base on the
result of the fist test and the last test to evaluate the students’ development in
speaking using treatment with giving feedback.
3.4.3. phase 3
Phase 3 happened at the eighth week of the procedure, all data gathered through
pre-test-post-test, questionnaire and observation were analyzed.
3.5. Data analysis
This section described in details what tool were used to analyze data and how
data were analyzed.
3.5.1. Questionnaire analysis
This was the very first step in data analysis procedure. The response of students
to the questions were counted, rated in percentage then synthesized and presented in
form of charts and tables to illustrate. The researcher employed Excel Microsoft
application to analyzed data collected by questionnaire.
3.5.2. Test result analysis
The researcher and her partner would join to grade students’ speaking test. Basing
on the results collecting from the oral presentation rubric, the researcher will
calulate and analyze to compare the students’ speaking skill development.
To know the ability of the students in pre-test and post-test, the researcher firstly
computed the individual score by using formula recommended by Arikunto (2006:
276):
𝑥
Σ= 𝑥 100
𝑛

Where:
Σ = Standard Score
x = Sum of correct answer
n = Maximum score
100 = Fixed score
 The researcher calculated the mean score of students in each test. Then the
researcher computed mean deviation between pre-test and post-test, she employed
the formula recommended by Arikunto (2006: 307) as follows:

Where:
Md = Mean score
Σ𝑑 = The total score of deviation
n = Number of students
Next, the researcher computed the square deviation by using formula recommended
by Arikunto (2006:308) as follows:
(∑ 𝑑)2
∑ 𝑥 2 𝑑 = ∑ 𝑑2 −
𝑛

Where: ∑ 𝑥 2 𝑑 = the sum of squared deviation

∑ 𝑑 2 = the sum of deviation

In order to know whether the students’ score of pre-test and post-test has
significant difference or not, the researcher used the formula recommended by
Arikunto (2010:349) as follows:

Where:
t = t-test score
Md = mean from pre-test and post-test
Σ𝑥 2 𝑑 = sum of squared deviation
n = Number of students
 To test the significance, it is necessary to set a risk level (called the alpha level).
In most social research, the “rule of thumb” is to set the alpha (α) level at 0.05.
This means that five times out of a hundred you would find a statistically significant
difference between the means even there was none
Degree of freedom (df) also needs to be determined. Degree of freedom
is the sum of the person in both groups. In the type of Dependent Group Design, we
have df = n – 1 (with n is the number of students). In this study, there were 20
students, so df = 20 -1 = 19.
The standard table of significance with given alpha level and the degree of
freedom (df) shows us the t-table. It is the critical value that helps us determine
whether the matched t-test (or the t-obtained).According to the table of critical
value, t-table of this study is 2,093.
CRITICAL VALUES t-table
Df 1 … 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

𝛼 12.706 … 2,110 2,101 2,093 2,086 2,080 2,074 2,069

= 0.05

Table 2: Critical Values t-table

(According to Psychological Statistics accessed on April 21, 2011 from
http://www4.uwsp.edu/psych/stat/t.htm)
There are two hypotheses in this study. They are Null Hypo thesis and
Alternative Hypothesis. What each hypothesis means can be showed in this table.

Symbols In words
Null Hypothesis (H0) The treatment is not effective

Alternative Hypothesis The treatment is effective

(HA)

Table 3: Hypotheses
 The two hypotheses are for the second research question ( how can EEP help to
develop students’ speaking skill). And here is the Decision Rule:

Conditions Results
t-counted > t-table Reject Ho -> giving feedback is effective
Do not reject H0 -> giving feedback is not effective
t-counted < t-table

Table 4: Decision Rules

Conclusion
This chapter provided a detailed description of the methodology employed in this
study. Firstly, 42 fourth year bilingual students were sellected to participate in this
research. Secondly, two evaluating test were done correctly and objectively.
Thirdly, the data was caculated carefully and correctly to ensure the accuracy. The
results from analyzing the 42 students’ ideas will be reported in Chapter 4.
To sum up, a suitable research methodology is very important and necessary. To get
achievement in the study, participants, date collect instruments, data collecting
procedure, and data analysis procedure are the main elements of a successful
research. The investor must be very careful in each step from collecting to analyzing
the data.
 CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the writer presents the main findings of the study. All the
collected data from the test papers, observation and questionnaires will be analyzed
and discussed to provide answers to the three research questions. A conclusion will
end this chapter.
A. Findings
4.1. The discription of the subjects

Out of 42 students, 1 males ( 2.38%) and 41 females ( 97.62%) took part in

this study. Table 3.3.1 below describes the distribution of subjects.

Gender No. %

Male 1 2.38

Female 41 97.62

Total 42 100

Table 5. The distribution of subjects

All of subjects were ranged from 22 to 23 years old. The number of years they
studied English ranged from 7 to 15 years. So it can be said that English is highly
familiar subject for all students.
The students had four semesters for studying speaking subject. Besides, most of
them had learnt the subject named English Presentation, particularly, 16 students
(37.93%) had not yet learnt and 26 (62.07%) students had done before taking part
in subject named EEP. So their average speaking marks in the previous semester
varied from 5 to 9, but just concentrated on between mark 7 and 8 (51.72%).
Speacially, 22 students (51.72%) had mark between 7 to 8; 13 students (31.04%)
had mark between 5 to 7; 6 students (13.79%) had mark between 8 to 9 and just
only 1 student had mark under 5 (3.45%); no one had mark between 9 to 10 this
well. This shows that English ability of the fourth year bilingual students is
comparatively good and they are supposed to be at intermediate level. Table 6
indicates their average speaking marks through four semesters:

Marks No. %

Under 5 1 3.45

5-7 13 31.04

7-8 22 51.72

8-9 6 13.79

9-10 0 0

Total 42 100

Table 6. The distribution of respondents' speaking marks

In term of presenting frequency, most of students had twice a week for their
presentation (21 students- 50 %). 19 students ( 45.24%) did not often make any
presentation . only 2 of them (4.76 %) had more than twice a week to present as
they attended some English clubs and meetings, so they had more chance to make
their presentations. The reason for this situation is that all of them are in bilingual
class (English and Chinese Education), hence, some students choose Chinese as
their main major. So they focus on practice Chinese instead of English. Howerver,
this shows that making an oral presentation is not a strange task to most of the
fourth-year bilingual students. We can see more clearly in table 7 below.
Times/ Week No. %

1 0 0

2 21 50

More than twice 2 4.76

Not often 19 45.24

Total 42 100

Table 7. The distribution of respondents' presenting frequency

The researcher chose these students because they were taking the course of
EEP which required them deliver oral presentation as one of the subject
requirements. However, not all of 42 students were involved in all sessions of this
study. For observation session, the researcher asked for help of 20 students chosen
from the class mentioned above. For the pre/post test session, the researcher had
made two test in those 20 students chosen before. For the questionnaire session, all
42 students participated. Table 8 shows the distribution of students participating in
three sessions of this research.

Session No.

Pre/post test 20

Observation 20

Questionaires 42

Table 8: The distribution of students participating in three sessions of this research.

4.2. students’ pre/post-test results

 Results from the observation were giving the answer to the research question
how EEP can help to develop students’ speaking skill. Through the oral presentation
evaluation sheet, the researcher found that the students have not made an effective
presentation as the expectation. Majority of the presenters were evaluated at good
and fair level in delivering their presentation. The following table and chart will
show more specifically the presenting ability of the students according to seven
criteria of a presentation: organization, non-linguistic techniques, visual aids,
vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and fluency.

Criteria Excellent Good Fair Poor

No. % No. % No. % No. %

Organization 4 20 11 55 5 25 0 0

Non-linguistic 0 0 6 30 10 50 4 20
techniques

Visual aids 6 30 11 55 2 10 1 5

Vocabulary 5 25 14 70 1 5 0 0

Grammar 0 0 18 90 2 10 0 0
Pronunciation 0 0 5 25 15 75 0 0

Fluency 0 0 5 25 13 65 2 10

Table 9. students’ pretest result

Look at the table 9, it can be clearly seen that most of the students did not
have skills in using non-linguistic techniques and pronunciation and fluency. In
other words, they didn’t know how to use effective hand gestures, eye contact and
body movements. Also, they could not control their volume and pace as well as
pronunciation and intonation. Therefore, no one was evaluated at excellent level for
these criteria, primary at fair level in which 75% for pronunciation and 65% for
fluency. Even there were some students evaluated at poor level, specifically, 20%
poor in using non-linguistic techniques, 10 % poor in fluency, 5% poor in using
visual aids. The number of students evaluated at excellent and good level for these
criteria were very few. However, it seems that students is quite good at criteria of
grammar and vocabulary. The researcher relized that 70% good in vocabulary and
90% good in grammar. From the analysis of the observation, it can be concluded
that the students have not been evaluated highly in delivering their oral
presentations. This is an unexpected finding from the questionnaire showed that
51.72% of the students had between mark 7 and 8 in speaking subjects in previous
semesters.
In contrast, the table 10 shows the results collecting from students’ posttest. As the
result, there was a little progress in students’ presentation skill. In other words,
students’ speaking skill also had a small change (because in this study, presentation
skills are considered as a tool to evaluate students’ speaking skill). The students’
progress in presentation is the rular to measure students’ progress in speaking.

Criteria Excellent Good Fair Poor

No. % No. % No. % No. %

Organization 10 50 9 45 1 5 0 0

Non-linguistic 0 0 11 55 7 35 2 10
techniques

Visual aids 6 30 11 55 3 15 0 0
Vocabulary 7 35 13 65 0 0 0 0

Grammar 0 0 19 95 1 5 0 0

Pronunciation 2 10 13 65 5 25 0 0

Fluency 2 10 13 65 4 20 1 5

Table 10. students’ posttest result

Look at the table 10, there was a change in each crierial. Although noone
was evaluated excellently in using non-linguistic techniques, it still increased 25%
of students in good level. For criteria of pronunciation and fluency, the percentage
of students in good level was also higher than before. Particularly, it increased 40%
in both criteria. The charts below will present more clearly.
 Chart 1: students’ pronunciation.

80% 75%
70% 65%
60%

50%
before
40%
after
30% 25% 25%
20%
10%
10%

0%
excellent good fair poor

70% 65% 65%

60%

50%

40% before

30% 25% after

20%
20%
10% 10%
10%
5%

0%
excellent good fair poor

Chart 2: students’ fluency

4.2.1. Students’ pretest result
Based on the table of the Students’ Pre-test Score (see Appendix 2), the highest
score was 75 and the lowest score was 53.57. After getting the total, score of the
students, the researcher computed the students’ mean score by using the formula
below:
∑𝑥
M=
𝑛

1346.44
=
20

= 67.32
From the result, it can be concluded that the students’ mean score in pre-test was
67.32.
4.2.2. students’ posttest result
After conducting the treatment, the students’ post-test results are shown in table
of The Students’ Post-test (see Appendix 3)
After doing the computation, the researcher found that the highest score was
85.71 and the lowest score was 60.71. The writer then calculated the mean score by
using the formula below:
∑𝑥
M=
𝑛

1510.7
=
20

= 75.53
The students’ mean score of post-test was 75.53
By comparing the result of pre-test and post-test, the researcher concluded that
practicing feedback in presentation was effective because there was a progress in
students’ score. There was also a significant progress by comparing the result of t-
counted to t-table.
From the calculation, it showed that there were different results in speaking
between the students’ mean score in pre-test and post-test. The students’ mean score
in post-test (75.53) was higher than students mean score in pre-test (67.32). Those
showed that students’ achievement was greatly increased after the treatment.
4.2.3. Students’ progress after treatment
After getting the mean score of pre-test and post-test, the researcher continued to
count the mean deviation and the square deviation. The result is presented in the
following table:
Deviation
No. Students score D2
D = (X2 – X1)
Pre- test Post- test
(X1) (X2)
1 75 82.14 7.14 50.98
2 67.86 78.57 10.71 114.70
3 64.29 71.43 7.14 50.98
4 57.14 60.71 3.57 12.74
5 53.57 64.29 10.72 114.92
6 64.29 78.57 14.28 203.92
7 60.71 82.14 21.43 459.24
8 64.29 71.43 7.14 50.98
9 75 75 00.00 00.0
10 60.71 67.86 7.15 51.12
11 75 82.14 7.14 50.98
12 75 82.14 7.14 50.98
13 60.71 71.43 10.72 114.92
14 75 82.14 7.14 50.98
15 67.86 71.43 3.57 12.74
16 64.29 67.86 3.57 12.74
17 75 75 00.00 00.00
18 67.86 85.71 17.85 318.62
19 75 75 00.00 00.00
20 67.86 85.71 17.85 318.62
Total 1346.44 1510.7 164.26 2040.16
 Table 11: Deviation of the Pre-test and Post-test
After computing the deviation score between pre-test and post-test, the
researcher computed the mean deviation of the students’ score that presented below:
∑𝑑
𝑀𝑑 =
𝑛
164.26
=
20

= 8.21
After getting the mean deviation, the researcher computed the sum of square
deviation as shown below:
2
2
(∑ 𝑑)
2
∑𝑥 𝑑 = ∑𝑑 –
𝑛
164.262
= 2040.16 –
20

26981.35
= 2040.16 –
20

= 2040.16 – 1349.07
= 691.09
After having the sum of square deviation, the researcher needed to analyze the
data statistically in order to know the significant difference of the pre-test and the
post-test by using t-test formula as shown below:

8.21
=
691.09
20  20  1

8.21
=
691.09
380
 8.21
= = 6.08
1.35

From the computation, the researcher found that the significant difference
between the result of students’ pre-test and post-test was 6.08.
After conducting the treatment for six meetings, the researcher found that the use
of presentation in EEP can boost students’ speaking skill. It is proven by the result
of t-counted (6.08) was greater than t-table (2.093). It means that the treatment is
effective.
In summary, by comparing the results of students in the pretest – posttest, the
researcher concluded about the research question as follows. Firstly, we can see
from the results that there is a significant difference before and after treatment on
the speaking performance of students and the t-counted > t-table (6.08 > 2.093), so
giving feefback is an effective way in improve students’ speaking skill. Secondly,
considering the scores in the pre-test and post-test, they all make progress. Hence,
feedback strategy helps students to raise their achievements. Finally, in terms of
aspects of a presentation, it can be easily seen that the treatment has a great
influence on the students’ pronunciation and fluency. Most students have a
considerable increase in scores for two criteria.
4.3. Influence of English Excursion Project to Students’ Speaking Skill
4.3.1. impacts of EEP on organization’s presentation
In term of organization, 555.17% of the students believed that they are good
at organizing a presentation including how to divide a presentation into main parts,
how to develop and signpost it. It also means that they seem to have no difficulties
in well-organizing a presentation. 41.38 % of students confused that it was not easy
for them to make a logical and clear content. Only 1 students (3.45%) said that she
was really bad at making a clear organization for her presentations. The reason
why most of the students know how to organize an oral presentation was that there
were available sentences and structures for them to learn by heart or only apply in
their presentations. For example, to divide a presentation into main parts, there are
some available structures such as “I will divide my presentation into three main
parts. Firstly…Secondly…and Thirdly…./ I’m going to develop my presentation
into two main parts… As the result of researcher;s observation, most students were
really good at organizing a presentation. And it also is improved more after they
received friends’ feedback.
4.3.2. impacts of EEP on using visual aids in presentations
Similarity as organization, the use of visual aids was not a difficult task for
almost students. The research showed that all students’ presentation used the
PowerPoint program. 91.65 % of the students asserted they can use PowerPoint to
present and make it combine exactly with their presentations because they had
learned this program in the syllabus of faculty and most of their presentations used
PowerPoint this well, so they can do it quite well. Only 8.35% of the responses
cannot do this.
4.3.3. impacts of EEP on using non-linguistic techniques
in term of body language, just 51.72 % of the respondents showed that they
were in excellent and good level of using body languages. It means that they
believed that they could use this kind of language, specifically; they know how to
use effective hand gestures and appropriate body movements, or keep eye contact
with all the audiences. Meanwhile, 48.28 % of them admitted that they could not
use hand gestures, body movements or eye contact effectively and naturally
because when making presentation, they usually stared at notes, screen, or the
ceiling that made them have no communication with the audiences. However, as
the result of observation, only 6 students in 20 students chosen as sample were
active in using non-linguistic techniques. The researcher saw them in good level.
Most of them forgot showing their non-linguistic techniques when presenting.
After 6 meetings, there was a big change in this criterial. Although noone
was in excellent level, the number of students, who were in good level, was higher
(11 students). The chart below will show more clearly about the development.
 60% 55%
50%
50%

40% 35%
30% before
30%
after
20%
20%
10%
10%

0%
excellent good fair poor

Chart 3. Using non-linguistic techniques

4.3.3. impacts of EEP on grammar and vocabulary
language use is one of the most difficult areas for them when making an oral
presentation in English. However, in this study, the researcher saw that most
students were very good at grammar as well as using vocabulary. With all topics
involving to EEP, they showed a wide range of vocabulary. Although they still had
some grammar mistakes and using wrong words sometimes, in general the
presentation was quite good. The fact does not make many people surprised because
grammar is said to be the strength of Vietnamese students.
4.3.4. impacts of EEP on students’ pronunciation and fluency
According to part 4.2, chart 1 and chart 2 showed a very clear view about students’
development in term of pronunciation and fluency. The number of students in good
level is the most clear evidence for this improvement.
To sum up, with all the above proofs, it cannot be denied that EDP can foster
students’ presentation skills as well as speaking skill. The increase in students’ score
as each criterion is a great demonstration for the effectiveness of EEP to students’
speaking skill. Chart 4 shows the change in students’ score after 7 weeks of
observation.
 8

number of students
7
6
5 pretest
4
posttest
3
2
1
0
band 5 band 5-7 band 7-8 band 8-9

Chart 4. Students’ score

4.4. reasons why students hesitate to practice speaking

Causes of difficulties True False Unknown

No. % No. % No. %

1. I don’t have enough English 7 16.67 35 83.33 0 0

proficiency.

2. I lack of the confidence. 38 90.48 4 9.2 0 0

3. I don’t have enough background 33 78.57 9 21.43 0 0

about the topic I present.

4. I am afraid of mispronunciation. 18 42.86 24 57.14 0 0

5. I lack of feedback. 22 52.38 20 47.62 0 0

Table 12. students’ causes of problem

The results of the questionnaire including five statements designed to
investigate the reasons causing the students’ problems showed that most of the
fourth year bilingual students at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen
Uniersity, failed to make an oral presentation effectively and successfully because
of lacking of topic background, lacking of confidence, being afraid of
mispronunciation and facing to derision(see table 12). The results for each reason
are analyzed in details as follow:
Firstly, the majority of students believed that they don’t have enough
background about the topic. It is the real reason which made students hesitated to
practice speaking. Because nearly all students did not often make a presentation, so
they had much time for searching information from different sources especially
from the Internet for their topic they will present, they also had much time to
prepare and practice as the teacher gave the topic before. The specific statistics as
follow: 38 students (90.48%) showed that they don’t have enough background
about the topic they present.
Secondly, there were also a high number of students (22 students- 52.38%)
blamed that they lack of feedback after their presentation. They wanted the teachers
to be commented and corrected after they made presentations so that they could
learn from experience for the next time, but the teachers did not do that so much. It
means that giving feedback after students presentation showed a high role in
students’ language deelopment in term of speaking skill. Most students hoped that
they could receive more comments from their teacher as well as their friends, so that
they could know clearly which one is their weakness and strength.
Another factor that makes most of the students fail in delivering their
presentation was the confidence. 38 out of 42 students (90.48%) admitted they did
not have enough confidence when standing before the class. That is the reason why
they were unable to remember all what they want to say in their presentation, and
they could not deliver presentations effectively and naturally. It can be said that this
is one of the most serious problems for these students.
4.5. Major findings
This sub-section will summarize three major findings of the research as follows:
Firstly, using topics involving to EEP to make presentations can help to improve
students’ presentation skills as well as their speaking skill.
Secondly, practicing regularly and giving feedback are the useful way to promote
students in learning. By that way, students’ speaking skill can improve and be
better. However, it is not useful for all sides of speaking skill. In this study, the
researcher relized that it is effective to using non-linguistic techniques, students’
pronunciation and fluency.
Lastly, lacking of feefback is a big reason causing problem in making presentations.
Students need more feedback to improve themselve.
B. Discussion
This section presents a discussion of the key findings. They have similarities and
differences with the findings of the previous studies.
Firstly, this study shared this finding with all of the previous research introduced in
literature review. It can not deny that the finding have the same result to the
previous study. This research is another answer for the effectiveness of PBL in term
of language skills development as well as students’ speaking skill. PBL is a great
meaningful way to motivate students and help to develop students’ speaking skill.
Secondly, there is a small difference from the research of Darini Bilqis Maulany, the
author stated that “of all the 5 aspects, comprehension and vocabulary were
improved most significantly.”. as the results of this research, researcher saw that body
language, pronunciation and fluency are 3 factors that were improved most. However,
because of the different subject as well as study’ scope, this conclusion may true in
this study.
Summary
This chapter presents the findings of the study and an analysis of those findings.
From the analysis of the data collected, the writer has discovered that EEP has the
high motivation to students in speaking. Besides, using topics involving EEP to
practice regularly brings the great effectieness to students’ speaking skill.
Moreover, the results of the pretest and posttest were presented and compared to
find out the difference before and after the treatment in the experimental group.
Students’ achievement in speaking was better when using feedback. Most of the
students also expressed their preference to EEP. To sum up, EEP is really effective
to motivate students’ language learning.
 CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The researcher has attempted to present the findings and an explanation of the
results in the preceding chapter. In this chapter, the implications will be first given.
Then, the limitations of the study will be pointed out, followed by the
recommendations for future research. The study will end with conclusion.
5.1. Implications
The study indicates that EEP brings to students lots of advantages even though the
advantages in some aspects were not so much. However, in studying languages, a
small benefit is also worth being applied for a bigger achievement. Consequently,
EEP should continue to be applied to students of Chinese and English classes.
As the writer described in Chapter II, the aims of EEP is to develop total four English
skill for students. When taking part in this subject, making presntations is a
compusory requirement. However, in reallity, during this course, it only has 2
presentations to require. Hence, the effectiveness in develop students’ speaking skill
is not really done. Therefore, to get the most effectively in develop speaking skill,
teacher should require more presentations. That gives big chances for students to
work in group more regularly. By giving feedback to their friends, they could change
and self- improve. The weakness as well as their strength will show out completely. It
is easier to promote their language skill development, particularly their speaking skill.
Moreover, while teaching this subject, teacher can give some strategies or some tips
to help students improve their skill, not only speaking but also other language skills.
In order to take advantages of the Project, teachers should pay attention to foster
speaking for students. To help students improve their speaking skills, it is not more
necessary than help them to promote their fluency and accuracy. In the process of
doing the Project, the researcher realized that students usually got pauses and they
always had a trend of adding sounds that are similar to “/a: /” and “/ ə:/” in their
speech. They also made a lot of mispronunciation. To deal with the problems,
teachers may have many solutions. For instance, teacher can get students to practice
in their groups or in front of class many times before they have a real presentation.
This way helps students to remember the content of their presentation more clearly.
When they deeply remember the content before making a presentation, it will limit
pauses. Besides, teacher can require students to check their pronunciation from
dictionary and practice carefully before making any presentation. By this way,
students can improve their pronunciation and limit the mispronunciation.
Beside, lacking of confidence and non-linguistic techniques are 2 factors making
students’ presentation become boring. For the weakness, teacher may give in this
subject some strategies which students can apply easily. For example, how to use
eye contact to get the audience’s attention. A small tip will motivate students in
learning English.
5.2. Limitation of the study
Despite the effort of the researcher to take various precautions, like triangulation of
sources of data and data analysis, to avoid possible problems and bias in the study,
several limitations of the study were still inevitable.
First of all, this study only focused on investigating the fourth year bilingual
students’ speaking skill through EEP and oral presentation skills are considered as a
tool to ealuate. The scope of the study was narrowed and only applied to the fourth
year bilingual students at School of Roreign Languages, Thai Nguyen Uniersity.
The researcher believes if more group of students participated, there would be more
application.
Secondly, due to time constrains, there were a limited number of students as
sample, so the response collected were not too diversified. The researcher believes
if there were more participants involved, more views would be obtained.
In addition, one of the methods employed in this study was observation. During the
observation, there were some variables and factors which were beyond the
researchers' control might affect the students' presentation performance at class.
These factors are topics presented, objectives of presentation, facilities for
presentation, presenting activities.
Last but not least, the students sometimes did not answer the questionnaire
objectively, honestly so the researcher cannot assess the students’ foreign language
competence and degree accurately. This may lead the less significance of the study.
5.3. Recommendations for future research

In view of the major findings of the present study, the researcher finds some
issues arising from this study, and then recommends several avenues for future
research.

First, since this study was conducted with a small number of students, the
results of this study cannot be generalized to a larger population. Further research
needs to be replicated with bigger samples on different proficiency levels of
students to explore their presentation skills.

Second, the finding of this study was mainly based on the data collected
from the students. It is recommenced that the lectures' points of view should be
included to provide a better understanding on the issues discussed.

Thirdly, EEP may be applied in other universities in which there are more
Chinese- English students so that the results may be more correct and persuasive.

Fourthly, other researchers may investigate the impacts of EDP on students’

other language skills namely listening, reading and writing.

Lastly, the similar study should make in other majors to get the exact results
on the effectiveness of EEP.

5.4. Conclusion
This experimental research represents the researcher’s effort to investigate more
possible ways to enhance student’s speaking. The main focus for action is the
teaching and learning in classrooms. Though there is still much room for further
improvement and modifications of the action implemented, it has offered a valuable
opportunity for the researcher to gain insights and reflections on the teaching of
speaking. it is hoped that students, as well as this researcher, would benefit from the
investigation and would devote more time and effort to improving the learning and
the teaching of speaking.
Furthermore, EEP is an interesting and effective subject for all students. EEP
creates more chances for students to learn and practice to develop their basic skills
in general and speaking skill in particular. Hence, EEP should be keep in curriculum
and get more change to make this subject become more complete.
 APPENDIX 1
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS
Which is your gender? Male Female
How old are you? ………………………………
You are the ….. year students?
First second third fourth fifth
How long have you learnt English? …………..year(s).
How often do you practice speaking English?
Never sometimes often very often not sure
How often do you make a presentation?
One time a week twice a week not often
How many subjects relating to project- based learning have you studied?
1 2 3 4 none
How do you feel when learning English Excursion Project(EEP)?
Very exciting normal boring
Do you think that speaking is the most important skill in EEP?
Yes No
Have you learnt subject “English Presentation”?
Yes No
Fill out the following questionaire by putting (X). Please read each of the following
statements carefully and then tell us how strongly you agree or disagree with each
of them. This is for yourself not for anyone else, so answer as honestly as you can.

True False Unknown

Causes of difficulties

1. I don’t have enough English

proficiency.

2. I lack of the confidence.

3. I don’t have enough background

about the topic I present.
 4. I am afraid of mispronunciation.

5. I lack of feedback.

There are 7 factors to evaluate each presentation as below. Which level do you get
in each factor? Please complete the table below:

Excellent Good Fair Poor

1 Organization
Non-linguistic
2
techniques
3 Visual aids
4 Vocabulary
5 Grammar

6 Pronunciation

7 Fluency
 APPENDIX 2
THE STUDENTS’ PRETEST SCORE
Total Ss’
No. Org. Non. Vis. Voc. Gram. Pron. Flu.
scrore score
1 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 21 75
2 3 2 3 4 2 3 2 19 67.86
3 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 18 64.29
4 3 2 3 2 3 2 1 16 57.14
5 3 1 1 3 3 2 2 15 53.57
6 3 1 3 3 3 2 3 18 64.29
7 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 17 60.71
8 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 18 64.29
9 3 3 3 4 3 2 2 21 75
10 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 17 60.71
11 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 21 75
12 4 2 4 4 3 2 2 21 75
13 3 2 2 4 3 2 1 17 60.71
14 4 3 3 3 2 3 3 21 75
15 3 2 4 3 3 2 2 19 67.86
16 3 1 4 3 3 2 2 18 64.29
17 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 21 75
18 2 1 4 4 3 3 2 19 67.86
19 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 21 75
20 3 2 4 3 3 2 2 19 67.86
Total 62 40 62 64 59 46 44 377 1346.44
 APPENDIX 3
THE STUDENTS’ POSTTEST SCORE
Total Ss’
No. O rg. Non. Vis. Voc. Gram. Pron. Flu.
scrore score
1 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 23 82.14
2 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 22 78.57
3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 20 71.43
4 3 2 3 3 3 2 1 17 60.71
5 3 1 2 3 3 3 3 18 64.29
6 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 22 78.57
7 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 23 82.14
8 2 3 3 4 3 2 3 20 71.43
9 3 3 3 4 3 2 3 21 75
10 4 2 3 3 3 2 2 19 67.86
11 4 3 3 4 3 3 3 23 82.14
12 4 2 4 4 3 3 3 23 82.14
13 4 2 2 4 3 3 2 20 71.43
14 4 3 3 3 2 4 4 23 82.14
15 3 2 4 4 3 2 2 20 71.43
16 3 1 4 3 3 3 2 19 67.86
17 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 21 75
18 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 24 85.71
19 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 21 75
20 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 24 85.71
Total 69 48 62 67 59 57 56 423 1510.7