[FONT=Times New Roman]Introduction

1. Rationale

It is undeniable that English is a means of international communication in the fields of science, technology, culture, education, economy and so on. It is not only the native language of about 300 million of speakers around the world but also the official language in many countries as well as second / foreign language in many nations in the world. In Vietnam, English has taken on a special significance when people are carrying out the modernization and industrialization. The number of people who are learning English in Vietnam also has been increasing quickly. English has even become a compulsory subject in the curriculum of almost all universities in Vietnam. Traditionally, English teaching in HaUI has been dominated by teacher-centered mode. In the classroom, the teacher who is considered as the leading factor puts on a one-man show. He seldom asks his students any questions or makes any communication with them. He tries to seize every minute and as many opportunities as possible to impact the students with knowledge. Therefore, this approach, in a certain degree, is called the cramming of forced feeding method of teaching. The teacher teaches actively while the students listen to him passively. As a result, it brings the students poor abilities and skills of listening and speaking. After studying English for several years, students still remain at a loss when they have to express themselves in English. They may remember a great number of words and structures, but they can not use them appropriately in communication. Moreover, today’s world requires that the goal of teaching oral skills 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 competence.

In order to change this situation, English teachers have been trying to improve their teaching. Distinguishing from the traditional language-teaching approach which focuses on grammar and structure, a new approach called Communicative Language Teaching has been very much in vogue at present. It gives students more opportunities to communicate in English in the classroom. But unfortunately, some phenomena indicate that the effect of CLT is not so satisfactory as people expected. There are some difficulties in applying CLT in universities. This paper attempts to clarify certain issues from the perspective of applying the Communicative Language Teaching to the teaching of oral English in HaUI, analyze the factors which impede the effects. Then according to the theories of CLT, some suggestions are put forward, which are relevant to the application of CLT.

2. Aims of the study

This research investigates the reality of the teaching oral skills to the first year students in HaUI when the teachers are considered to be applying CLT approach in their teaching. The main goal of the research is to identify factors which will facilitate or inhibit the implementation of communicative language teaching approach in teaching oral skills to the first years students in Hanoi University of Industry and to make some recommendations which can help teachers to reduce difficulties.

3. Research questions of the study

The basic research questions for the study are:

1. What are the perceptions of the participating HaUI teachers and students about the principles of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)?

2. What do these teachers believe are the practices that explain communicative activities?

3. What do these teachers think are the main barriers in implementing CLT approach in teaching oral skills to the first year students in HaUI?

4. What do they identify as needs for the successful implementation of CLT Approach?

4. Scope of the study

In this study, the investigator intended to focus on the barriers that teachers encounter when teaching oral skills to the first years students in the Communicative Approach. The investigator chooses to focus on oral skills because CLT is considered to be easily and thoroughly implemented in teaching speaking skills

5. Methodology

To fulfill the above aims, qualitative and quantitative methods have been chosen for the study. Comments, remarks, comparison, suggestions and conclusions are based on factual research, observation, experience and discussion. Data for analysis in this study are gained through the following sources:

- Survey questionnaire

- Interviews and discussion.

6. Design of the study

This minor thesis consists of three parts:

Part A is the “INTRODUCTION” which presents the rationales, aims, research questions, scope, methodology and design of the study.

Part B, “DEVELOPMENT”, includes three chapters:

Chapter 1 sets up theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study.

Chapter 2 deals with date analysis of two questionnaires administered to teachers and students to find out their attitudes towards CLT and main difficulties in teaching speaking skills using CLT to freshmen and EFL teachers’ solutions to these problems. Also, in this chapter the author would like to provide some information about the findings of the study.

Chapter 3 emphasizes the implications of the study in which recommendations for the application of CLT approach are proposed.

Part C, “CONCLUSION”, summarizes the key issues in the study, points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for further study.