Second language learning

Aims and objectives The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the use of folktales in speaking class to motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior tea

Table of content

Acknowledgements………I

Chapter 1 ……… 1

Introduction……….1

Background information……… 1

The problem……… 2

Reasons for the study………3

Aims and objectives……… 5

Significance of the study……… 6

Research questions………6

Chapter 2……….7

Literature review………….……… 7

Defining motivation……… 7

The importance of motivation in second language learning………….9

Types of motivation in second language learning……… 10

Literature in language teaching……… 12

Literature in teaching language skills……….15

Folktales in teaching speaking……….16

Chapter 3……… 19

Methodology……… 19

The sample and sampling…… ……… 19

Instrumentation………… ……….20

Data collection and analysis………20

Chapter 4………22

Presentation and discussions of results………22

Chapter 5……….39

Conclusion and recommendation……… 39 References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter presents the background information, states the problem and reasons for the study It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study , describe the significance of the study , poses the research questions to be answered and provides an overview of the research design

Background information

Nghe An junior teacher training college is located in the north centre of Vietnam It was established in 1960 and its main function is to train teachers for primary and secondary schools in the province of Nghe An Although established in 1960, it has had

a department of English only for seven years Students in this department have a three year course of English for six terms One of main purposes of this course is to develop four language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking For first year students, to improve these skills, the "Head way pre-intermediate" was chosen as their main book and now the "New headway pre-intermediate" They have speaking English lesson one time a week with four periods for each time The topics for their speaking lessons are also

basically on the "New headway pre-intermediate" textbook They are lifestyle, your town, plans and ambitions, money, childhood, environment, generation gap and the biggest cities in the world.

With the aim to develop students' ability about presenting opinions on certain topics and to improve their communicative ability A speaking lesson is usually taught with the following procedure: first half of the lesson the teacher has students discuss about the

topic by asking them to work in groups, pairs or individuals; second half of the lesson , the teacher gives some situations which are related to the topic and ask students to do role-play Each topic is discussed during two weeks However, topics are discussed in a quite general way because they are broad; for instance, with the topic Lifestyle, the teacher asks students to find out the differences between the Vietnamese people style and the English.

Being young and enthusiastic teachers, we pay much attention to how to motivate students to engage in classroom activities However, they always find the speaking lesson hard , challenging and sometimes boring One of the reasons for this difficulty is that the majority of them come from the countryside and remote areas where English is not an important subject and pupils are not taught carefully, especially, they have never practiced speaking English before

The Problem Most first year students have not been satisfied with their placement in our college They consider the time here to be one gap year because passing the entrance university examination is still their desire Therefore, to get high mark of this examination, they have to study hard on reading, writing, and grammar and this affect their attitude toward how they involve in the speaking lessons

In addition, they have not practiced speaking English before, from many of my lessons, I realize that they find it very difficult to express their ideas in English and they even do not know how to keep the conversation going on They are usually stressed and passive when being asked to participate in speaking activities More importantly, the topics chosen are quite broad and the way teachers develop them is not very interesting

Some topics are beyond students’ enjoyment such as money and generation gap and some require a deep common knowledge which students usually lack If students have no idea what to say, they may lose confidence and feel uncomfortable and make mistakes As a

result, learning in the speaking lessons is boring and ineffective The question “ How to create an interesting English learning environment to motive students to participate in speaking activities” puzzled me a lot because the active language environment will

stimulate thought and feeling while cultivating speaking skill

Reasons for the study

In the article “Nurturing emotional intelligence through literature” of Irma K Ghosn (2001), the author demonstrates that literature can provide a motivating and low anxiety context for language learning because literary text brings students the “genuine feel” when touching on themes to which they may respond personally from their own experience Particularly, due to the multiple levels of meaning, the use of literary text is often a successful way of promoting activities where students need to share their feeling and opinions such as discussions and group work( G Laza,1993)

According to Ibsen’s view (1990), literary text appeal to students in terms of emotion and personal experience because “each student will meet the text in his/her own way based on past experiences and knowledge about literature and life” This creates meaningful and interesting discussions among students, which provide a good learning climate in a relaxing atmosphere Especially, when students “enter imaginary situation” through drama or improvisation, they “explore a theme, a person, or a conflict from within Emotion and intellect go together at this stage” (Ibsen, 1990) Through the cover

of another person, they can see and present themselves More importantly, they are intrinsically motivated and this improves their speaking respectively.

However, the criteria of choosing works and genres which meet students’ need, interest and language level should be taken into consideration Obviously, linguistic difficulty comes first If a literary is too difficult in terms of vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax, students would lose their patience soon because they would not be

“ able to draw upon that common pool of instinctive language recognition”(Povey,1967: 44) Second is the cultural problem Povey maintain that “the whole area of cultural comprehension is more likely than language problems to cause difficulty”(1967: 45) Indeed, students may be unfamiliar with some of the cultural assumptions in the literary text and this causes cultural shock which inhibits their active response to the text In this case, the teacher should help them to overcome difficulties of the text to raise their tolerance for cultural differences According to Mc Kay’s view, “an interaction with a literary text depends on a reader’s familiarity with the cultural assumptions in it” (1982: 101) Third, important factors which engross students in the text are pleasure and enjoyment “The teacher should try to see literary works through the eyes of their students to ensure that the works chosen will be of interest to students (Nga,2003: 23)

From above reasons, a question in my mind is “Should folktales be adapted as extra material in the speaking course to motivate first year students at Nghe An junior teacher training college?” Upon the criteria of choosing a literary text, with the

simplicity of language, folktales are not very difficult in terms of linguistic level Moreover, they are universal Although it is interesting to compare culturally specific details in folklore from different times and places, one of the most intriguing phenomena

in human experience is the similarity in stories with universal themes from all over the

world In addition, they are short, fun, memorable and also meaningful They present human experience through symbols and archetypes so that there is room for endless debate and students can live in funny, fairy world with their imagination which breaks the boundary between students to create comfortable atmosphere in their class That is why I desire to carry out an experiment on the use of folktales in speaking class to motivate students with the hope that I could find out a more effective way in creating interesting learning environment in the speaking class

The stories chosen for my study are “Mullah and the party”, “The little Snow White”, “Tam and Cam” “Mullah and the party” is a short and funny story and the language used is simple Moreover, humour is a very potent factor to improve the classroom atmosphere because the use of humour helps students feel at ease without tension in the air “The Little Snow White” and “Tam and Cam” are two famous folktales

in Viet Nam, they are considered the “mirror” reflecting the good and the bad The speaking activities exploited from folktales which are applied in my piloted lessons are drama, role-play, improvisation, discussion and storytelling

Aims and objectives

The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the use of folktales in speaking class

to motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college Specifically, this study will:

 Identify the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking lessons

 Examine how language activities based on folktales motivate first year students in their speaking class at Nghe An junior teacher training college

Significance of the study

Many researches have shown that literature has many benefits in language teaching skills In particular, folktales has been adapted in speaking class for young lower level learners However, this is completely a new field at Nghe An junior teacher training college This study investigates the use of folktales in speaking class to motivate first year students at Nghe An junior teacher training college, using quantative research to analyse the students’ attitude toward the use of folktales in their speaking class and qualitative research to analyse how speaking activities based on folktales create interesting learning environment to motivate students Teachers who teach speaking at Nghe An junior teacher training college will be the direct beneficiary of the data and analysis from the study The study should contribute to the better speaking lessons in terms of active learning climate for first year students at Nghe An junior teacher training college

Research questions

In order to achieve the aims of the study the research questions below will be addressed:

1 What is the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking lessons?

2 How do speaking activities based on folktales create interesting environment to motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college?

Chapter 2

Literature review

The chapter reviews a range of literature review related to the study The literature review is organized into six parts : (1) Definition of motivation, (2) The importance of motivation in second language learning, (3) Types of motivation in second language learning, (4) Literature in language teaching, (5) Literature in teaching language skills , (6) Folktales in teaching speaking In particular, the first part will review the development of definitions of motivation in second language learning through time from different theories The second part will discuss the importance of motivation in second language learning As substantial literature shows that motivation in second language learning has a crucial role in the learners' success The third part will mention some major types of motivation Besides two basic types of motivation, integrative and instrumental , extrinsic and intrinsic are also discussed The fourth part attempts to introduce briefly the historical development of the role of literature in language teaching The fifth part will explore the importance of adapting literary texts in second language class room to improve language skills The final part will discuss how folktales are used

in second language class room to teach speaking skill

Defining motivation

There have been many definitions provided for the word ''motivation'' and they vary according to the context in which they are presented From general perspective, motivation is related to satisfaction of needs and desire whether it is internal or external

to the person As Zoltan Dornyei states that "motivation explain why people decide to do

something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities" (2001:7) In the context of second language learning, the definition of motivation has, over the last few decades, been viewed slight differently by different theories.

In the middle of the 20th century, the earliest theory to address motivation perhaps

is behaviourism In the view of behaviourism , motivation is identified as the role of praise and punishment or practice and drill in learning Therefore, motivation is related to external stimuli and reinforcement In the 1960s, humanistic theory emphasizes the ' the natural desire' of everyone to learn They maintain that learners come into the learning process with their own set of basic needs to be gratified In the 1970s, the social cognition theory proposes reciprocal determination as a primary factor in both learning and motivation In this view, the environment, an individual's behaviour and the individual's characteristics both influence and are influenced mutually Currently, the dominant view of the cognitive theory focuses on "how individual's conscious attitudes, beliefs, and interpretation of events influence their behaviour" ( Dornyei, 2001:21) In other words, they attribute motivation to a person's active search for meaning and satisfaction of life Thus, motivation is internal to the person In short, different theories have provided us varied views of motivation but they treat motivation as either internal or external drive of human behaviours Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic, and they both explain for man's action

From the complex nature of motivation, it is unwise to seek the unique definition but when educators discuss learners' motivation, the same concept is usually mentioned: motivation is something which gives an individual the desire to perform some activities Among definitions for motivation in second language learning, the fullest definition is

perhaps as what Gardner presents "motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language"( 1985:10) According to him, learners with positive attitudes toward the subject and high motivation are likely to be successful in second language learning.

The importance of motivation in second language learning

Language learning is remarkably different from other kinds of learning because of its social nature Learning a foreign language means living in a new world of knowledge, culture and values and learners have to learn to be another social person This requires a long and difficult process In order to be successful, a language learner needs motivation

to continue his/her learning Obviously, meaningful involvement in language learning happens only when learners find their needs to be met Thus it is assumed that motivation contributes a lot to one's success in learning a second or foreign language

Findings of a great deal of research on the role of motivation in second language learning have been revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to one's success in learning a second language Gardner (1995) stated that greater motivation and attitude lead to better learning In other words, learners who achieve success tend to persevere motivation and those who do not get success become discouraged and gain less success To explore the relationship between motivation, Labonde (1982) claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to determine the level of proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful learners will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation for learning With regard to Caroll (1962), if learners have more motivation, they will spend more time and energy on learning an aspect of a second language More importantly,

students' motivation also promotes their choice of learning strategies and research has shown that the use of specific learning strategies and techniques while studying a second

or foreign language leads to success

Types of motivation in second language learning

* Integrative motivation:

The concept of integrative motivation was first introduced by Gardner ( 1959) to refer to the desire of assimilating oneself to the target culture while learning the language This kind of motivation is considered a key component in assisting learners to develop some level of proficiency in second language when they become residents in the community in which the target language is used in social interactions

In 1974, Gardner and Lambert modified the definition that " an integrative motivation involves an interest in learning a second language because of a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other language groups” In other words, with integrative motivation, language learners view language as a key to social and cultural enrichment through the opportunities it provides for association with members of a different culture According to them, integrative motivation was a key factor for success in language learning Unless learners have a positive attitude toward the target culture and want to integrate into it, it is unlikely that they will succeed with the language

* Instrumental motivation:

In contrast with integrative motivation was instrumental motivation In the view of Gardner(1959), instrumentally motivated learners are more likely to see language

learning as enabling them to do other useful things, but as having no special significance

in itself Such learners will be motivated if they see language learning as having beneficial career prospects or something that will enable them to use transactional language with speakers of the foreign language In other words, with instrumental motivation, language learners may learn a second language for an immediate short term goal, e.g.: future career, job promotion, good grades or rewards With this kind of motivation, the purpose of second language acquisition is more utilitarian

Replicating Gardner and Lambert , Littewood concluded " a learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the second language can be a useful instrument towards furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospects" (1998: 57) From the author's point of view, with an instrumental motivation, learners can be successful in learning a second language

* Extrinsic motivation:

According to Vallerand (1997), extrinsic motivation occurs when people have reason to do an activity or have to do an activity or feel obligated to an activity and fully agree with the value of doing it In learning second language context, learners are self-determined and extrinsically motivated when they value learning because of its importance to them They are self extrinsically motivated but less self-determined when learning what they feel they ought to and are not self-determined when learning what they have to They are not extrinsically at all when they have no reason to learn Therefore, learning is most likely to take place when it is meaningful and relevant to the learner

Deci and Ryan (1985) differentiated extrinsic motivation into four types dependent

on the degree of self-determination that learners have in it These range from external regulation, extrinsic motivation for a task over which one has no control, to integrated regulation, extrinsic motivation for a task that one wholeheartedly accepts and adopts From their understanding, extrinsic motivation refers to motivation to engage in an activity for achieving some instrumental end, such as earning a reward or avoiding punishment

* Intrinsic motivation:

According to Ellis (1994), intrinsic motivation "involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result of such factors as learners' particular interest and the extent to which they feel personally involved in learning activities" Intrinsic motivation plays by far the larger part in most students' success or failure as language learners It thus is better for students to take learning as being intrinsically motivated and learning environment and tasks should be designed in such a way that students find satisfaction and joy in doing the task itself

In my study, I investigate the pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom which belongs to the intrinsic motivation type There are a number of various components which contribute to make up the ideal classroom climate However, I focus

on the adapted material and language activities

Literature in language teaching

With the view that literary knowledge of second language enhanced students process

of acquiring their target language, accessing to literary works was assumed a part of the

purpose of language learning Therefore, the matter of applying literature in language teaching had been considered from early years of this century According to Short and Cadlin, “if the students were continually exposed to the best uses of the English language, it would in some sense “rub off” on their own performance in the language” (quoted in Nelly Zafeiriadou, 2001) However, on the one hand, the concentration on the literary development with “teacher-orator” method and passive students, on the other, the complication of many literary tests in vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax brought students ineffective and boring lessons As a result, literature was inaccessible to non native English speaking students and the disappearances of teaching literature from language classes was not beyond the expectation.

After long interruption, with the change of pedagogical approach, in early 1980s, the interest in literature in language teaching was awaken strongly again because of the exploration of potential language development, cultural development and personal development as well In terms of language development, Povey (1967) points out that:

“literature will increase all language skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge by giving evidence of extensive and subtle vocabulary usage, complex and exact syntax” In order to make any interpretation of the literary text, “the reader is forced

to pay more than usual attention to the kind of language used” (G Lazaz,1994:116) and this enriches learner’s vocabulary and model new language structures With regard to the promotion of linguistic exposure, Eagleson and Lramer state that literature furnishes “us with abundant data on the operation of language: grammatical structure both regular and irregular patterns and meaning, the extension and the structure of vocabulary, the process

of word formation, changing attitude to language forms and the relation between the written and spoken word” (quoted in Nga,2003: 21)

In addition, the target culture will be opened up to students when they enter the world

of literature because literary texts all reflect a particular cultural perspective As B Ibsen points out “the best way to learn about a country’s culture is to stay in that country The second best way to find our how other people live and think is through literature”(1990:144) moreover, examining the cultural assumptions of a literary text may promote students’ tolerance for cultural differences which help them to participate vicariously in time and students’ cultural awareness He believes that “reading literature means learning about other human beings, their behaviour, their values, norms, problems and although they may be utterly unfamiliar, they do convey the feeling that there is a common basic for human experiences, and this means an extension of one’s horizons It does not simply mean information about a foreign culture or the accumulation of factual knowledge but the possibility of human experience, an ongoing process of understanding” (cited in Rani Rubdy,2003)

In the light of personal development through literature, Frye puts that “it is clear that the end of literature teaching is not simply the admiration of literature, it is something more like the transfer of imaginative energy from literature to the students” (quoted in

Mc Kay,1982: 101) More importantly, literature also develops students’ critical abilities and increase their emotional awareness (G.Laza,1994) when it engages them in their feeling and emotion Meeting a literary text in the right way will provide students room for reflection and give them opportunities to discover important things about themselves and make the literary text be their own Northrop Frye summarizes this benefit of literature in the following manner “so you may ask what is the use of studying the world

of imagination where anything is possible and anything can be assumed, where are no

rights or wrongs and all arguments are equally good One of the most obvious uses, I think, is it encouragement of tolerance” (Cited in Mc Kay,1982:104).

Literature in teaching language skills.

Due to its distinctive features, the important advantage of incorporating literature into second language teaching is the development of linguistic skills Since literature is authentic material, learners into second language teaching is the development of linguistic skills Since literature is authentic material, learners are thus exposed to language that is as genuine and undistorted as can be managed in the classroom context Particularly, the use of a literary text in the language classroom is a successful way of creating language activities from which students develop their language skill As Widdowson (1983) states that literature “contributes significantly to both the process and the purpose of language learning”

According to Mc Kay (1982), literature can foster man overall increase in reading proficiency When engrossing the literary text, it is really true pleasure reading and this creates opportunities for students to read fast and much More importantly, while unravelling the plot of a literary work, the students are expected to expand the words on the pages to retrieve meanings This will aid important skill such as deduction of meaning from linguistic and situational context, prediction, and reading creatively By this way, “they are able to absorb new vocabulary and idioms, and new grammatical structures will more or less unconsciously become part of their linguistic competence” ( Ibsen,1990:144)

Literature also is a stimulating source for teaching writing because it provides many corridors through which the students can enter the story-theme, point of view, setting and

plot for instance Dealing with these, the creative writing ability of student will be improved Moreover, “literature as a content area can be used to enrich students’ awareness of the linguistic and rhetorical structure of literary discourse” ( Akyel and Yalcin,1990: 178) especially the extra grammatical exllences that make for good writing Summarizing the benefits of studying literary works on writing skill, Norman indicates that “the students tend to produce better compositions they write on topics commonly found in current books on teaching writing They use more complex structures and sophisticated vocabulary They pay more attention to organization They are willing to relate to the experience provided by literature” (cited in Nga,2003: 24).

In the view of Ibsen (1990), the nature of literary texts with its ambiguity can provide

a stimulus for active discussions among students because they have different opinions Furthermore, in literature, there is no “correct” solution to how the students experience a text so that a class discussion will be genuine communication, especially, when they enjoy the themes or deeper meanings of the literary text By offering and generating a variety of interesting activities, according to Stern, drama is wonderful for teaching speaking Using drama helps students feel more confident in their use of second language and their ability of discussing, debating, suggesting interpretation, offering opinions, agreeing and disagreeing also become more naturally In addition, poetry has prove an exllent means of teaching speaking in terms of intonation and pronunciation due to the rhythm when reading the poem aloud With regard to listening skill, B Deacon and T Murphey (2001) believes that storytelling provides students opportunities to listen to language in context rather in bits and pieces and this develops listening skill in a unique way because the listener benefits observing non- polished speech created on the spot

Folktales in teaching speaking Folktale is a popular story passed on in spoken form from generation to the next The same story may also appear in different culture Most folktales from one culture have equivalents in another, this make them universal Because of their universality, the power and simplicity of their language, folktales are ideal for teaching language skills In

“Using folktales” of E Taylor (2000), the author demonstrates that” folktales have many special characteristic that make them exceptionally good for language teaching” By the frequent repetition, students reinforce their vocabulary, grammar and the natural rhythmic qualities help them work on stress, intonation and pronunciation As a rich source of authentic material, folktales are widely used in English language teaching and highly motivate students They can engage students in a variety of ways from drama to creative writing M Zdybiewka addresses “folktales especially those known from childhood can play a valuable cultural as well as language role in the classroom Popular folktales usually generate genuine interest and enthusiasm both among young and adult students alike” (Quoted in Tamara Randolph: 2001)

In the view of Randolph (2001), using folktales in the second language classroom can serve as a means of prompting class talk and interaction that engages the interest and intellect as students and teacher discuss meanings, comparisons and applications Obviously, folktales are from oral tradition using pattern of language and plot that make them easy to retell and dear to heart of tellers and listeners In addition, folktales provide

a source of topics such as jealousy, power, generosity, sorrow, forgiveness or happiness… which meet students’ enjoyment and the varieties of potential activities exploited from folktales make them explants for teaching speaking Furthermore, we usually do not know its author so that when discussing a folktales, students can break

their habit of referring to the writer, the original source or the “real” or “correct” version which always inhibit their imagination.

According to Goh (1996), the use of folktales in language class promotes speaking skill by allowing the learners to ask and ponder open ended questions, leading students to sharing of individual experiences and helping students learn to imagine themselves in the role of another character in another culture Especially, open-ended question permits a wide divergence of answer, moderated self-playing, invitation to retell the story and all were important in helping the students take the risk of “opening their mouth” as they put it” Truly, folktales are good for motivation in learning English because a folktale is a wonderful phenomenon of national culture and it helps to develop our mind and our heart It teaches us to distinguish between lie and truth , real beauty and folk wisdom from foolishness…

Randolph’s finding from his research (2001) “using illustrated Chinese folktales with adult language learners in China” shows that a majority of students preferred to hear stories, talk about them and do follow-up communicative activities in their speaking class rather than speaking on students’ questions One student states that it helped them

“produce things of their own by teasing their imagination” and another said of the folktales “if you talk of something … very familiar, we can say English … better”

Chapter 3

Methodology

This chapter describes the methodology conducted in this study Specially, the chapter presents the sample , sampling and instrumentation It also explains how the data was collected and analysed

All four classes chosen to be observed by two co-researchers

Two main instruments which are used to obtain the information for the study will be mentioned as follows:

Instrument one: Questionnaires completed by the students

A post questionnaire completed by the students The questionnaire was designed with three main parts, part one is about students’ involvement in pre-speaking stage, part two was designed to elicit students’ attitude toward the use of folktales in speaking class and part three was designed to get information about students’ attitude toward activities exploited from folktales

Instrument two: Observation

It is a participant observation in which the two co-researchers (two colleagues are invited to be co-researchers) watched and recorded activities as they are performed in the real classroom setting by the researcher The observation is carried out for three weeks in the first semester of the school year 2005-2006 to collect the information about students’ participation in activities exploited from folktales in their speaking lessons

Data collection procedure

During three weeks, the classroom performance by the researcher are observe red The stories chosen for lessons are “Mullah and the party”, “Little Snow White”, and

“Tam and Cam” The observation is recorded in narrative form, in which detailed notes are kept and interpreted and then the conclusion are drawn from them After three piloted weeks, the questionnaires are administered in a collective way for all students of four classes However, only 50 answers are selected randomly for analysis

Data analysis procedure

In order to obtain a sense of the overall data, all collected information was read through at first

In the second place, the information of questionnaires was displayed in the forms of table The statements of the open-ended questions were analytically categorized and the discussive notes were made by the researcher And, the observational notes were jotted down The findings from sorting out process were presented in the forms of reflective notes

With the purpose of avoiding inconsistency and possible bias, all collected data were analysed by the researcher alone

Chapter 4

Presentation and discussion of results

This chapter presents the specific results and the analysis of the data The results and the analysis are presented in order of the research questions to be investigated The attitude of students toward the use of folktales in speaking lessons will be discussed in research question one "What is the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking lessons?" The data was elicited from the questionnaires And, in order to find out the answers to research question two "How do speaking activities based on folktales create interesting learning environment to motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training college ?" The necessary information was elicited from co-researchers' observational protocols

Research question one

What is the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe

An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking lessons?

In order to get information about students' opinion on the use of folktales in their speaking lessons Three questions are addressed

* How do students involve in while reading folktales at the pre-speaking stage?

While reading folktales,

which factor do you

of 50) claimed that while reading folktales, they focused much on the language in use of

the story Only 10% (5 out of 50) answered that the factor they concentrated most was the structure of language of the story.

In our mind, folktales are often written for children However, from the analysis of the data , it is evident that folktales written in English also work well with young adults

in second language classroom From the data, it shows that they like reading them In my opinion, one of reasons that they are interested in reading folktales is achievement feeling which means that they can access original literary texts with no difficulty When reading folktales they are not “got out of the track” of the story or being stuck by new words Threrefore, they keep reading from first line to the last one because the plot of folktales is simple and the content is very easily guessed This makes them feel satisfied because reading original literary texts in English was far beyond their reading proficiency before And when reading a folktale, most of students concentrated on the content of the story as reading other type of literature They keep themselves going along with the story even though they already knew the content However, some others also pay attention to the use or the structure of language in the story while reading This is a good chance for them to foster their vocabulary as well as grammar which are major factors in providing good and correct speaking

* What is students’ attitude toward the speaking lessons using folktales?

Table 3.

How often did your

According to the information from table 3, 100% students stated that the teachers

who taught them speaking before never used folktales in their speaking lessons As I mentioned above in the introduction part, the speaking lessons for first year students in our college are topic-based and the topics are from the “New head way” text book So, adapting folktales in speaking lessons did not appear in their teachers' thought

Table 4.