TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

USING EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE

STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY AT
A GIFTED SCHOOL IN THE NORTH OF VIETNAM
Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy1, Hoang Huong Ly2*
1
Cao Bang Gifted High School
2
TNU - University of Technology

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Received: 11/4/2023 This action research was carried out at a Gifted High School in the
North of Vietnam in order to improve the students’ speaking fluency
Revised: 27/4/2023 after participating in extracurricular activities and find out suitable
Published: 27/4/2023 extracurricular activities for them. The research process was divided
into seven key steps including selecting a focus, taking action,
KEYWORDS collecting data, analyzing and interpreting the data, modifying action
reflection and reporting action research. Speaking tests, observation
Extracurricular activities checklists, and questionnaires were employed as parts of both
Action research qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study's findings showed
English speaking fluency that there was noticeable improvement in the students' speaking
fluency, and extracurricular activities assisted them become more fluent
Improvement speakers. Moreover, they became more enthusiastic and active in doing
Students in 10th grade speaking activities, and they were excited about carrying out their
speaking tasks through extracurricular activities. In conclusion, the
objective of this research was successfully achieved through the
implementation of extracurricular activities.

CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH TRÔI CHẢY CỦA HỌC SINH
THÔNG QUA HOẠT ĐỘNG NGOẠI KHÓA Ở
MỘT TRƯỜNG PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN Ở PHÍA BẮC VIỆT NAM
Hoàng Thị Thanh Thủy1, Hoàng Hương Ly2*
1
Trường THPT chuyên Cao Bằng
2
Trường Đại học Kỹ thuật Công nghiệp – ĐH Thái Nguyên

THÔNG TIN BÀI BÁO TÓM TẮT

Ngày nhận bài: 11/4/2023 Nghiên cứu hành động này được tiến hành tại một trường Trung học
Phổ thông Chuyên ở miền Bắc Việt Nam nhằm cải thiện khả năng nói
Ngày hoàn thiện: 27/4/2023 lưu loát của học sinh sau khi tham gia các hoạt động ngoại khóa và tìm
Ngày đăng: 27/4/2023 ra các hoạt động ngoại khóa phù hợp với các em. Quá trình nghiên cứu
được chia thành bảy bước chính bao gồm chọn trọng tâm, thực hiện
TỪ KHÓA hành động, thu thập dữ liệu, phân tích và giải thích dữ liệu, sửa đổi
phản ánh hành động và báo cáo nghiên cứu hành động. Các bài kiểm
Hoạt động ngoại khóa tra nói, danh sách kiểm tra quan sát và bảng câu hỏi được sử dụng như
Nghiên cứu hành động một phần của cả phương pháp định tính và định lượng. Kết quả của
Sự lưu loát khi nói tiếng Anh nghiên cứu cho thấy có sự cải thiện rõ rệt về khả năng nói lưu loát của
học sinh và hoạt động ngoại khóa đã giúp các em trở thành những
Sự cải thiện người nói tiếng Anh lưu loát hơn. Hơn nữa, các em trở nên nhiệt tình
Học sinh lớp 10 và tích cực hơn trong các hoạt động nói, và các em hào hứng thực hiện
các nhiệm vụ nói của mình thông qua các hoạt động ngoại khóa. Tóm
lại, mục tiêu của nghiên cứu đã đạt được thành công thông qua việc
thực hiện các hoạt động ngoại khóa.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.7716

*
Corresponding author. Email: lyhoanghuong1982@gmail.com

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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

1. Introduction
In Vietnam, English becomes a compulsory subject in a high school graduation exam as well as
a certificate needed for higher education. Therefore, each learner must be equipped with a certain
level of English to prepare for exams and graduation and to communicate in their English class or
their working environment. To supplement the deficiency needs of the society and the learners in
Vietnam, in the general education curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education and Training,
English is taught with the aim at communication. Consequently, forming communication skills,
especially speaking skill, is one of the goals of the teaching process, and the learning environment
in general and the English practice environment in particular play a vital role.
1.1. English speaking skills
Speaking can be defined in a variety of ways. Bailey and Lance Savage [1] state that “speaking
is the productive oral skill”. Brown and Burns [2], [3] claim that speaking is an interactive process
of meaning construction that includes producing, receiving, and processing information. Its form
and meaning are determined by the context, which includes the participants, their collective
experiences, the physical environment, and the reasons for speaking. It is frequently impromptu,
open-ended, and evolving. According to Goh [4, p. 105], as an important aspect of language skills,
English speaking should not be diminished but be “developed in its own right”.
1.2. Speaking fluency
Fluency is the area of language competence that refers to the speed and ease with which a
language learner performs in one of these four core language skills. Fluency is a term that applies to
all four language skills; however, it is most frequently connected to speaking. Hughes [5] identifies
fluency as the learners’ ability to speak understandably and not break down communication
because listeners may lose interest. Hedge [6] defines speaking fluency as "the capacity to connect
speech units with ease, without strain, improper slowness, or excessive hesitation".
Speaking fluency is "the features which give the speech the qualities of being natural and
normal, including the native-like use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, the rate of speaking,
and use of interjections and interruptions” [6]. Speaker conveys the messages in a natural way
that the listener can understand. Fluency, according to Skehan [7], is the capacity to continue
speaking at a regular pace without pausing.
1.3. Extra-curricular activities
Extracurricular activities are those that are organized by the school and held at the school but are
not part of the academic curriculum. Extracurricular activities can include a wide range of activities,
including sports that are not organized or supervised, as long as they involve a social community
[8]. Extracurricular activities, on the other hand, are separate from unstructured and unsupervised
social activities such as chatting or playing sports with friends, according to [9]. Extracurricular
activities could emphasize community, communication, leadership, and other social skill-building
and positive development for students if they are structured and supervised by educators.
Holt, Sehn, and Spence [10] state that extracurricular activities assist children to develop
competence and confidence by guiding them toward proper behaviors and activities while
challenging them. These learning settings provide pupils with a safe environment as well as
numerous (social) learning opportunities [11]. Thus, extracurricular activities may reduce
harmful behaviors in students' development and instead provide good influences on students such
as discipline, intelligence, confidence, and character.
1.4. Previous studies related to using extracurricular activities to improve students’ speaking skill
In an investigation into how extracurricular activities can help students improve their speech
and communication abilities, Bahdi [12] conducted a study. His efforts were primarily directed
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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

toward fostering a warm atmosphere that allowed students to utilize language extensively and to
maximize oral performances. The data collected from third-year students at Kasdi Merbah
University have been evaluated through a self-established questionnaire, and there have been
significant associations between extracurricular activities participation and the language and
academic maturity of the students. The students who participated in extracurricular activities
could improve oral skills and adopted a very descriptive approach to explaining extracurricular
activities as an independent variable and its role as a dependent variable in developing oral skill.
Coskun [13] examined the advantages of extracurricular speaking activities for EFL students.
A state institution in Turkey gave twenty-one first-year students the option to participate in any
extracurricular activities for six weeks in order to improve their speaking abilities. After six
weeks, they received a survey with open-ended questions asking them about the activities they
picked and their opinions on their advantages.
In order to determine the impact of extracurricular activities on students' speaking skills at the
tertiary level, Kardiansyah [14] conducted research that examined inside and outside of the
classroom activities. The students in this study were from the second-year discussion class at
Teknokrat Indonesia's English department of universities. The goal of the study was to help
students improve their English communication skills by identifying a problem and finding a
workable solution. It also looked at how English extracurricular activities could promote students'
success in English-speaking conversation. However, there are few opportunities to practice
speaking during school hours in Indonesia. The greatest way to develop your speaking skills is to
join the English Club extracurricular activities.
All the studies mentioned above investigated the positive impact of extracurricular on students’
speaking skill in general but no study focused on the effect of extracurricular activities on a
particular aspect of speaking skill fluency. Therefore, this research was conducted to fill the gap.
The study sought answers to the following questions:
1. How is the respondents' speaking skills performance in terms of fluency before and after
taking extracurricular activities?
2. What extracurricular activities concerning English may be proposed to be suitable for
students in Cao Bang Gifted High School?
2. Methods
2.1. Research design
The study was conducted in the direction of an action research [15]. With this research
direction, the research was carried out according to the following steps: Step 1 - selecting a focus,
step 2 - taking action, step 3 - collecting data, step 4 - analyzing and interpreting the data, step 5 -
modifying action, step 6 – reflection, and step 7 - reporting action research.
2.2. Participants
Respondents of the study comprised of 35 students from grade 10C whose specialized subject is
physics. These students had learned English as a compulsory subject in school settings for at least 7
years. However, students’ psychology in mountainous areas towards learning a foreign language
may prevent them being comfortable and confident in general and in this study in particular.
2.3. Data collection instrument
In this study, questionnaires were selected as one of the important data collection instruments
because it not only provides information gathered from a large number of participants but also
helps to obtain information about different kinds of issues. The questionnaire was delivered to 35
non English-majored students in 10th grade at Cao Bang Gifted High School. Specifically, the
questionnaire put more focus on the effects of extracurricular activities. As most of the
participants have low English proficiency, the questionnaire was conducted in Vietnamese so that
they could understand all needed information.
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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

Pre-test and post-test were taken to see if extracurricular activities have effects on students’
speaking fluency and the researcher used the rubric adapted from Brown [16] to assess and score
students’ speaking tests.
The observation was conducted mainly in extra-curricular activities in 8 periods of the first
semester of this year. Each group, which consits of five members, participated in the extracurricular
activities. Teacher observed not only the attitude of the students in the lesson but also the progress
in their speaking skill as well as evaluate their improvement in English speaking fluency.
2.4. Data analysis
The data were arranged into different categories to analyze: the data from the questionnaires,
the results of the pre-test and post-test, and the data from classroom observations, all of which
were gathered to analyze both descriptively and interpretively.
Based on the results of returned questionnaires from the students, the researcher began to
classify the data to give answers to the first research question. The results of this analysis were
converted into statistics, numbers and percentage in the form of tables and charts for the purpose
of comparing and analyzing.
The content analysis became helpful when the researcher made a thorough analysis from pre-
test and post- test. The speaking rubric which is adapted from Brown [16] to assess the students’
speaking fluency was used. Then the researcher analyzed the scores to find the mean score of
fluency through Microsoft Excels. After that a comparison between the mean of pre-test and
post-test was made to find out the significance of the mean score of the pre-test and post-test.
Observation was also carried out to help the teacher give feedback for the students’
presentation and to see the changes in their level of fluency.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. The respondents' speaking skills performance in terms of fluency before and after taking
extracurricular activities
To find out the students’ speaking skills performance in terms of fluency, the teacher used the
results of the questionnaire shown in the figure 1:
Students' level of speaking fluency
Fluently
Not very 11%
fluently 15%

Not
Moderately
fluently
fluently
31%
43%

Figure 1. Students' shelf- assessment of their level of speaking fluency

The provided pie chart describes students’ level of speaking fluency. It can be clearly seen
that most students are in the range of speaking English moderately fluently, while none of them
can speak very fluently. Moreover, the primary reason for students unable to speak English
fluently is due to issues in pronunciation.

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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

According to the pie chart, 43% of the students can speak English moderately fluently,
whereas 31% cannot speak English fluently. While the proportion of students who speak English
not very fluently is half that of not fluently, 11% can speak fluently. Interestingly, no student is a
very fluent speaker of the language.
70.00%
60.00% Lack of confidence
50.00% Lack of vocab
40.00%
Unfamiliar topic
30.00%
20.00% Problems of pronunciation

10.00% Others
0.00%

Figure 2. Student’s difficulties in oral fluency

The figure 2 gives information on the difficulties preventing the students from speaking
English fluently. The students find problems in pronunciation being the major impediment to
achieve fluency in English, at over 60%, while the lack of confidence being the runner-up at
under 60%. 50% of the students have an insufficient vocabulary, and 40% experiences unfamiliar
topics which prevent them from speaking fluently. Over 20% of them have other problems.
To find out the impact of extracurricular activities on the improvement of students’ oral fluency,
a pre-test and post-test were taken by thirty- five 10th grade students whose names were coded in
numbers. The pre-test had been taken before the teacher applied extracurricular activities to
teaching speaking while the post-test was done after extracurricular activities used in teaching
speaking. In this research, the researcher focused on the significance of extracurricular activities to
students’ oral fluency. Therefore, the fluency aspect was chosen to be tested. The comparison of the
mean test score for the students' pre- and post-test in terms of fluency is shown in the table 1.
Table 1. The result of the pre-test and post-test
No Pre- test score Post -test score No Pre- test score Post -test score
1 3 3.5 19 4 4.5
2 2 2.5 20 1.5 2.5
3 2 3 21 3.5 4
4 2 2.5 22 3 3.5
5 2 2.5 23 1.5 2
6 3 3.5 24 2.5 3
7 3 3.5 25 1.5 1.5
8 2 2.5 26 3 3
9 3 3.5 27 2.5 3.5
10 1 2 28 2 3
11 3.5 4 29 1 1.5
12 2.5 3.5 30 4 4.5
13 4 4.5 31 3 3.5
14 2.5 3 32 3.5 4
15 3 3.5 33 3.5 4
16 3.5 4 34 3 3.5
17 1.5 3 35 1 1.5
18 3.5 4
Table 2. Results of speaking fluency from Pre-test and post- test
Aspects Number of students Pre-test Post-test
Mean score of fluency 35 2.600 3.214

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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

The speaking rubric modified from Brown [16] was used to assess the students’ speaking
fluency in the pre-test and post-test. The chart above depicts the mean score of the pre-test and
post- test. It can be clearly seen from the chart that the mean score of the post- test (3.214) was
higher than that of the pre-test (2.600) (Table 2). In other words, the students’ achievement in
speaking fluency level got better. This proves that the adaptation of extracurricular activities to
teaching speaking had positive effect on students’ fluency improvement.
Table 3. Speaking rubric adapted from Brown (2001)
Score Aspects
Grammar Fluency Pronunciation Vocabulary Comprehension
Speak fluently
Grammatical and Very clear, stress and Understand everyday
without hesitation Effective
5 lexical accuracy are intonation help to conversation at
or searching for words choice
extremely high make meaning clear normal speech
words
Understand nearly
Some hesitations
Quite accurate; some Generally clear; Mostly everything at normal
and sometimes
4 errors, but meaning is reasonable control of effective speech. Although
has to search for
always clear stress and intonation words choice occasional repetition
words
may be necessary
Quite hesitant,
Frequent errors; Frequent errors; not Frequently Understand most of
limited range of
3 meaning is not always clear enough errors in what is said at slower
vocabulary and
always clear to understand words choice speed with repetition
structure
Difficult to understand
what is said. Able to
Extremely hesitant; Very frequent
Very frequent errors; comprehend only
very limited range errors; often very Ineffective
2 difficulty in making social conversation
of language difficult to words choice
meaning clear spoken slowly and
available understand
with frequent
Repetition
Almost Almost unable to
Almost unable to Almost unable to Almost unable to
1 unable to understand even
communicate communicate communicate
communicate simple conversation
3.2. English extracurricular activities concerning English proposed for students in Cao Bang
Gifted High School
There are a lot of extracurricular activities which can be implemented with view to help the
students improve their oral fluency, but the matter is to find out extracurricular activities that are
both suitable for the students and the topics in the text book. To meet these requirements, the
teacher ask the students to participate in some particular extracurricular activities, including
volunteer work, learning projects, and real trips.
Before participating in these extra-curricular activities, the students' oral fluency was still
poor, they were still hesitant to speak. However, when these activities were applied to teaching
speaking skills, practical experiences and the obligation of practicing speaking a lot before
presenting made them speak more fluently.
In summary, through monitoring the students' speeches, the researcher can confirm that the
application of extracurricular activities such as volunteer work, real trips and learning projects in
teaching speaking help the students' speaking ability improve dramatically and they are suitable
for high school students.
4. Conclusion
The findings of the study demonstrated that before implementing extracurricular activities,
there were a few issues with how English speaking skill was taught and learned. Due to their still-
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 TNU Journal of Science and Technology 228(04): 247 - 253

poor speaking abilities, the majority of students found it challenging to participate in speaking
activities. They not only lacked of confidence when speaking English because of their constant
concerning with making mistakes but they were also passive in participating in speaking
activities. Besides, when they were asked to speak, they stuttered a lot and were not confident
enough to speak. Additionally, there was no speaking environment for the students to practice
speaking which made them bored with the speaking lessons and then easily lost enthusiasm.
Amazingly, these problems have been overcome when the students were involved in
extracurricular activities. With more practice speaking, more interaction and more practical
experience from extracurricular activities, the students became more confident when presenting
their speech, and what is more, their speaking fluency has improved dramatically.
By carrying out this research, the researcher also found out extracurricular activities like
volunteer work, real trips and learning projects which were suitable for students in Cao Bang
Gifted High School. These extracurricular activities supplied the students with real-world
experiences and assisted them in expanding their vocabulary during the process of preparing for
presentations. Furthermore, while preparing for the small talks, they had to spend much time
practising speaking which helped them speak more fluently and confidently. Consequently, the
researcher suggested using these extracurricular activities as the primary medium for enhancing
the students’ speaking fluency ability.
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