Appropriate classroom activities for effective teaching of business English speaking skill necessary for Vietnamese businessmen

Abstract

Abstract. The accession into the World Trade Organization assistingVietnam in integrating further into the global trading system since 2006 has required Vietnamese learners who major in Business English to acquire effective language skills in this area to succeed in either the increasingly demanding domestic market or the international commerce. Hence, the study aims at investigating necessary BE speaking sub skills for Vietnamese businessmen through a survey questionnaire answered by selected sales personnel in import-export companies inHanoi. Another questionnaire was conducted to explore the perceptions of the teachers in universities majoring in BE of appropriate classroom speaking activities for teaching of the necessary sub skills. Finally, teacher’s journal, students’ interview and questionnaire were used in an action research that is applied to a sample of students to explore the effectiveness of the classroom activities. The quantitative and qualitative data in this final phase revealed that all the activities the teacher practised with the students developed different areas of speaking as a language skill. This study hopes to be useful for improving BE programs, so that these programs will be able to provide lessons’ match to the real situations and can serve students’ career objectives in the most possibly effective way.

Keywords: Classroom activities, Business English, BE, speaking skill, sub skills, businessmen.