Enhancing Speaking Ability of Vocational Students by Using Communicative Language Teaching

Abstract

The purposes of this study were twofold: (1) to investigate the participants’ speaking ability using communicative language teaching activities, and (2) to explore the participants’ attitudes toward CLT activities in enhancing their speaking ability. Selected by purposive sampling, the participants of the study were 25 vocational students with mixed ability who enrolled in the course entitled English Listening and Speaking 2 in the first semester of 2019 academic year at a vocational college in the Northeast of Thailand. Two lesson plans were designed based on the principles of CLT together with two cycles of action research. The instruments for data collection consisted of a pretest and a posttest, a semi-structured interview and an attitudes questionnaire. The data were analyzed using mean scores, standard deviation, dependent t-tests, and content analysis. The findings indicated that after the implementation of CLT activities, the participants’ speaking ability improved significantly determined by the pretest and posttest scores. Moreover, the participants had positive attitudes towards the implementation of CLT activities in enhancing their speaking ability.

Keyword: Speaking Ability, Communicative Language Teaching, Attitude

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