1. Rationale of the study Today, English is the language of globalization, international communication, commerce, the media and pop culture, and thus, affects motivations for learning English. English is no longer seen as the property of the English-speaking world but as an international commodity sometimes referred to as World English or An International Language. In Vietnam, foreign languages, with English as the most studied, have become a compulsory subject at schools and colleges. Many students begin their learning English when they are ten years old. City children even have their first lessons of English as early as they attend primary school. As for MA students of laws, economy, technology, education and business administration at VNUH, the minimum time of dealing with English before their MA course is 420 class contacts (approximately 315 hours). They are supposed to be of pre-intermediate level of English before having another 150 class contacts as a compulsory part of their MA course at VNUH. However, it is surprising to learn that many of these students are incapable of using their English to talk, even in class. What is more, the same situation exists in many other colleges and universities in Vietnam. There have been numerous studies on this situation and various solutions, recommendations and suggestions have been given, including changing teaching methods, changing syllabus or textbooks, upgrading teachers’ qualifications, changing formats of speaking tests and so on. At SGS – VNUH, which is in charge of teaching English for MA students at VNUH, no such a research has been done before. The author, as a full-time teacher at SGS, is more than aware of the situation and she herself has encountered a number of difficulties in helping her students improve their speaking skill. This actually drives her to this research, namely “Teaching speaking skill for non-major MA students at VNUH”. 2. Scope of the study To improve speaking skill for non-major MA students of English at VNUH, various methods can be made used of. However, within the framework of a minor thesis, the author only intends to give an overview of the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill at SGS – VNUH and to suggest activities to help teachers improve their students’ speaking skill and achieve the objectives of each unit of the course book as well. The suggested activities will serve as a reference for teachers to teach effectively speaking topics in the course book English for Graduate Students only. 3. Aim and objectives of the study Within the framework of a minor MA thesis, the study aims at suggesting classroom activities with the hope that they would be helpful, in one way or another, for teachers in their teaching English speaking skill to non-major MA students of English at VNUH. To achieve this aim, the objectives are to investigate the current situations of learning and teaching of speaking skill to non-major MA students of English at VNUH in order to find out the reasons for students’ unwillingness to speak English as well as teachers’ problems in teaching speaking skill. 4. Research questions of the study The researcher wish to raise the questions as follows: – What are the factors affecting willingness of non-major MA students of English to speak in class? – What difficulties do teachers encounter in teaching English speaking skill for these students? 5. Methods of the study To complete the study, quantitative method was used. Two survey questionnaires and some short interviews were given to non-major MA students of English at SGS – VNUH and their teachers to collect information for the study. All comments, remarks, suggestions and conclusion provided in the study based on the analysis of the data collected from these surveys. 6. Organization of the study The study consists of three parts. Part one, INTRODUCTION, presents the rationale and the scope of the thesis, defines the aim and objectives of the study. The research questions, methods and organization are also mentioned in this part.