APPLYING DEBATE TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS FOR 10TH GRADERS

Abstract

The ability to communicate in English, an international language, is of great concern due to globalization and integration. Therefore, teaching English speaking has been increasingly important. In addition, debates have been proven to be an effective method to improve students’ speaking skills, which inspired the researcher to conduct formal research to see whether debates could be used in the context of a high school in Thai Binh province. The research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of applying debate techniques to improve English speaking skills for 10th graders at a high school in Thai Binh province. The quasi-experimental method was applied to find out the current situation of teaching English speaking skills and to what extent debate technique can improve English speaking skills for 10th graders. The data collection instruments consist of questionnaires and tests. Sixty students were divided into experimental and control groups. The treatment (using debate techniques in speaking lessons) was applied to students in the experimental group only. The higher results of the experimental group helped the researcher identify the effectiveness of using debate techniques to improve students' speaking skills.