(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) A study on the effect of teachers'' oral feedback on students'' interesr in English speaking lessons at An Lao High School

vietnam national university, hanoi UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY of post - graduate studies HOÀNG THỊ NGỌC MAI A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF TEACHERS' ORAL FEEDB

vietnam national university, hanoi UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY of post - graduate studies

HOÀNG THỊ NGỌC MAI

A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF TEACHERS' ORAL FEEDBACK

ON STUDENTS' INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS

AT AN LAO HIGH SCHOOL

NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG TỪ NHỮNG NHẬN XÉT NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI VỚI HỨNG THÚ CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT AN LÃO

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

HANOI - 2012

PART A – INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The world is presently witnessing a rapid increase in the use of English as a language of wider communication Using English frequently is an important requirement in all aspects of life At schools, teachers and students have paid much attention to all four major language skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing Among these skills, speaking is considered as the most important one Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words After learning speaking skill, it is easier to develop reading and writing skill But how can we speak English fluently? The first factor we have to mention is the interest in speaking because “We

just do well when we like it.”

In the process of teaching and learning English, there are many factors affecting the success of language learners such as aptitude, age, personality, interest and so on, among which interest plays an important role With 4 years of experience in teaching English at high school, I have realized that there are many factors affecting students in

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

HOÀNG THỊ NGỌC MAI

A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF TEACHERS' ORAL FEEDBACK ON STUDENTS' INTEREST IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS

AT AN LAO HIGH SCHOOL

NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG TỪ NHỮNG NHẬN XÉT NÓI CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI VỚI HỨNG THÚ CỦA HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT AN LÃO

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Dương Thị Nụ, Ph.D

HANOI - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate's statement ………

Acknowledgements ………

Abstract………

Table of contents………

List of charts and tables………

PART A: INTRODUCTION………

1 Rationale of the research………

2 Aims of the research ………

3 Research questions………

4 Methods of the research………

5 Scope of the research ………

6 Design of the research………

PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………

Chapter 1: Theoretical back ground………

1.1 Teaching English speaking skill ………

1.1.1 Definition of speaking skill ………

1.1.2 Typical features of speaking skill ………

1.2.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking …………

1.2 Feedback ………

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback ………

1.2.2 Types of oral feedback ………

1.2.3 The importance of teachers' feedback in teaching and learning a language Chapter 2: The study………

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2.1 Justification for data collection instruments ………

2.2 Description of the subjects ………

2.3 Instruments of the study………

2.4 Description of the procedures………

2.5 Preliminary results ………

CHAPTER 3: Findings, discussion and recommendations………

3.1 Findings and discussion ………

3.1.1 Results from interview with teachers………

3.1.2 Results from questionnaires for students ………

3.1.3 Students‟ opinions on the oral feedback………

3.1.4 The types of oral feedback that teachers gave to students in speaking lessons………

3.1.5 The effect of teachers‟ oral feedback on students‟ interest in speaking lessons………

3.2 Recommendations………

PART C: CONCLUSIONS………

1 Recapitutation………

2 Conclusions………

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study………

REFERENCES………

APPENDIXES ………

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LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Table 1: Purposes of learning English………

Chart 1: Students‟ perceived importance of English………

Chart 2: Students‟ attitude to learn English speaking………

Chart 3: Students‟ desire to learn English speaking………

Chart 4: Students‟ interest in learning speaking………

Chart 5: Students‟ frequency of speaking English in class time……

Chart 6: Students‟ reluctance of speaking English………

Chart 7: Students‟ Beliefs on the Importance of Feedback…………

Chart 8: Students‟ Opinions on Teachers‟ Feedback Frequency ……

Chart 9: Students‟ comprehension of teacher feedback………

Table 2: The types of feedback used in classroom in four different classrooms

Chart 10: Students' preferences for kinds of feedback………

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PART A – INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The world is presently witnessing a rapid increase in the use of English as a language of wider communication Using English frequently is an important requirement in all aspects of life At schools, teachers and students have paid much attention to all four major language skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing Among these skills, speaking is considered as the most important one Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words After learning speaking skill, it is easier to develop reading and writing skill But how can we speak English fluently? The first factor we have to mention is the interest in

speaking because “We just do well when we like it.”

In the process of teaching and learning English, there are many factors affecting the success of language learners such as aptitude, age, personality, interest and so

on, among which interest plays an important role With 4 years of experience in teaching English at high school, I have realized that there are many factors affecting students in speaking English, one of which is teachers‟ oral feedback This is the reason why I choose to study the effect of teachers‟ oral feedback on students‟ interest in speaking lessons at An Lao High School This study will examine types

of oral feedback that teachers at An Lao High School often use in speaking lessons and their effect on students‟ interest The researcher hopes that this study will figure out some useful ways to help teachers and students enhance their interest in

speaking lessons

2 Aims of the research

The research is conducted to identify the ways teachers at An Lao High School often give oral feedback in speaking lessons Basing on this fact, the researcher tries

to find out the fact of teachers' oral feedback at An Lao High School and the effect

of this feedback on students‟ interest in speaking lessons Specifically, this research tries to explore the potential sources causing the lack of confidence of students when speaking English in class Furthermore, the researcher tries to find out some effective ways to give oral feedback with the anticipation of helping teachers of English at An Lao High School improve the quality of their teaching the speaking

4 Methods of the research

The research is to explore the effects regarding oral feedback in speaking lessons The data was collected through interviews and classroom observations The data collected was then analyzed to gain the insights and implications of the study After the data is collected, analyzed and discussed, some conclusions will be drawn, and some suggestions will be made in the study

5 Scope of the research

Feedback in speaking skill is such a broad topic that the researcher cannot discuss all the aspects related Therefore, within the framework of a minor thesis, this research focuses only on the teachers‟ oral feedback in responding to the

students‟ speaking tasks at An Lao High School

To improve interest in speaking skills for the students at An Lao High School, various activities can be used, and a number of things should be done However, the researcher only intends to overview a brief of the current situations of teaching and learning English speaking skills at An Lao High School, and to analyze the effects

of teachers‟ oral feedback on students‟ interest and to make some recommendations

to motivate students to speak English more The research was carried out with the participation of 7 school teachers of English and 120 students at 11th grade from 11B1 to 11B5 of An Lao High School

6 Design of the research

The research is divided into three main parts as follows:

Part A Introduction, presents an overview of the study in which the rationale

for the research, the research problem, the purposes, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method, as well as the design of the study were briefly presented

Part B Development, consists of three chapters

Chapter one is the theoretical background including the definition of feedback,

as well as an overview on the ways that teachers at An Lao High School give oral feedback in speaking lessons These lay the foundation for the choice of the medium for the research More specifically, it presents a number of research in which feedback has been used to help students make improvement in their language study

Chapter two is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study This chapter presents a thorough justification for the use of continuous feedback and action research It also gives a thorough description of the research‟s components,

as well as the research program

Chapter three discusses the findings of the research and provides pedagogical implications, as well as presents limitations of the research It also suggests direction for further research in the same field

Part C Conclusion, summarizes the main issues of the study

PART B – DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Teaching English speaking skill

1.1.1 Definition of speaking skill

Florez (1999) defined speaking was „an interactive process of constructing

meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information‟ (Balley, 2005: 2) It is „often spontaneous, open- ended and evolving‟, but it is not completely unpredictable In other words, „speaking consists of producing

systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning‟ (Balley, 2005:2)

Bygate (1997) stated that speaking was a skill which deserved attention every

bit as much as literacy skill It is often thought of as a „popular‟ form of expression that uses the unprestigious „colloquial‟ register Speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill Perhaps this is because we can almost all speak, and so take the skill too much for granted In his own view, Mackey (1965) shows that „oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words and inflections in the right order

to convey the right meaning‟(Bygate,1997: 5) According to Mackey, for the student who wants to be good at speaking, he/she has to choose the right forms, put them in correct order, sound it like native speaker and even produce the right

meanings

1.1.2 Typical features of speaking skill

Communicative and whole language instructional approaches promote integration of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in ways that reflect natural language use But opportunities for speaking and listening require structure and planning if they are to support language development Outside the classroom,

listening is used twice as often as speaking, which in turn is used twice as much as reading and writing (Rivers, 1981:428) Inside the classroom, speaking and listening are the most often used skills (Brown, 1994:75) They are recognized as critical for functioning in an English language context, both by teachers and by learners These skills are also logical instructional starting points when learners have low literacy levels (in English or their native language) or limited formal education, or when they come from language backgrounds with a non-Roman script or a predominantly oral tradition Nowadays, speaking is considered to be the top priority as it is probably the most important aspect of the language for communication and students enjoy it Furthermore, speaking activities improve the atmosphere in the classroom, group dynamics and help build a rapport exchange with the salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such an interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses For example, the learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the following:

• Producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language;

• Using grammar structures accurately;

• Assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge

or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives;

• Selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;

• Applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension;

• Using gestures or body language;

• Paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994:75)

Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation,

practice, evaluation, and extension The teacher can use the preparation step to

establish a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, and with whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be targeted (asking for

clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words) In presentation,

the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use

Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner Evaluation involves directing attention to

the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and assess their own

progress Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to use the

strategy or skill in a different context or authentic communicative situation, or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (Brown, 1994:75)

Example of a speaking lesson (Carter & McCarthy,1995:141-158)

Choosing appropriate topics for small talk

1 Preparation Show the learners a picture of two people conversing in a familiar

casual setting (The setting will be determined by a prior needs assessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., what topics, vocabulary, typical phrases)

2 Presentation Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations Have

learners complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topics discussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem to typify small talk Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that are appropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topic selection (e.g.,

relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrases used in small talk Chart this information

3 Practice Give learners specific information about the participants and the setting

of a scenario where small talk will take place In pairs, have them list topics that might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use Learners then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases

4 Evaluation Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue Ask them to compare their

improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both

5 Extension Have learners go individually or in small groups into various contexts

in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record the conversations they hear Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and then have the class discuss these findings

1.1.3 The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking

Byrne (1986) stated three stages of teaching speaking: the presentation stage, the practice stage and the production one In each stage, the role of the teacher is different

At the presentation stage, the teacher is considered an informant role The teacher introduces something new to be learned and present it in such a way that the meaning of the new language is as clear and memorable as possible The students listen and try to understand It means that the teacher is at the centre of the stage Therefore, teacher‟s time spending should be sensible so that the students get enough time to practise themselves

At the practice stage, it is the students‟ turn to do most of the talking while teacher‟s main task is to devise and provide the maximum amount of practice, which must the same time be both meaningful and memorable The teacher‟s role, then, is completely different from that at the presentation one The teacher is like

the skillful conductor of an orchestra, giving each of the performers a chance to participate, observing and monitoring their performance to see that it is satisfactory

At the final stage, the production one, the teacher takes on the role of manager and guide Students are given opportunities to use language freely Sometimes students can make mistakes at this stage, but mistakes are unimportant What is more important is that students have chance to use language as they wish, to try to express their own ideas Moreover, they become aware that they have learnt something useful to them personally, and are encouraged to go on learning It will not be so easy for the teacher to measure students‟ performance as it was at the practice stage, nor is there any easy recipe for success So, what is needed is flexibility, tolerance, patience on teacher‟s part- and, above all, an understanding of the learners‟ difficulties

To sum up, the teacher through speaking lesson should work as an instructor His/ her roles closely relate to the three stages of learning Whatever the teacher is doing in the classroom, his/ her ability to enhance the students‟ interest, to create motivation and involve them in what they are doing, will be crucial

1.2 Feedback

1.2.1 Definitions of feedback

Ur (1996:242) says that “in the context of teaching in general, feedback is

information that is given to the learner about his or her performance of a learning task, usually with the objective of improving this performance” He also distinctly pointed out two main distinguishable components of feedback: assessment and correction This significant definition mentions feedback as an essential step in teaching with an obvious aim at helping students to have better achievement in

learning

As Littlewood (1981) and Lewis (2002) also point out, feedback means telling learners about their progress and showing them their errors in order to guide them to areas for improvement Feedback can be oral or written

Dreham (1995:160) also had the same point of view in the case that feedback is

interestingly likened to a two-bullock cart His definition is based on a famous saying that “in order for the cart to move in the right direction, its two bullocks need

to understand not only the purpose of their efforts but also each other” In other words, there should be a collaborative approach to the monitoring and processing of feedback between the teacher and the students so that the teacher feedback becomes

an effective tool for student revision

1.2.2 Types of oral feedback

Gattullo (2000) and Harmer (2001) divide feedback into corrective, evaluative

and strategic Corrective feedback focuses on helping learners notice and correct errors This type of feedback explains why correct responses are right and incorrect ones are wrong In language learning, corrective feedback will be primarily concerned with accuracy Evaluative feedback aims to provide a judgement on the learners‟ performance Gattullo (2000) suggests that evaluative feedback is dominant in second and foreign language classrooms In giving evaluative feedback, teachers use words or phrases to indicate the extent to which learners‟ performance is good or not Finally, strategic feedback usually aims to offer learners advice on what to do to improve their performance In other words teachers try to suggest ways of helping learners to overcome their mistake by themselves Tsui (1995) suggests that using strategic feedback may enhance learning as it can help learners to become self-reliant

In addition, writers such as McNamara (1999) and Ayoun (2001) have pointed out that teachers‟ oral feedback might affect learners‟ attitudes to their learning positively or negatively and so feedback can also be categorized as either positive or negative Positive feedback shows learners that the teacher is interested in what they say and at the same time encourages them Negative feedback expresses the teacher‟s displeasure, frustration or involves some kind of punishment

Richards and Lockhart (1996:188) lists different types in giving oral feedback

to respond students‟ performance in language classrooms, the data will be analyzed based on the following framework:

- Acknowledge a correct answer: The teacher acknowledges that a student‟s

performance is correct, for example by saying “Good,” “Yes, that’s right”or

“Fine” However, Richards and Lockhart (1996) explains that acknowledging

students‟ correct answer as a feedback on students‟ perfromance is useful in order to make the students recognize that they have performed correctly

- Indicating an incorrect answer: The teacher indicates that a student‟s performance is incorrect by saying, for example, “No, that’s not quite right,” or

“Mmmmmm” Moreover, Richards and Lockhart (1996) explains that the

indicating students‟ incorrect answer as an oral feedabck on students‟ performance

is important in order to make the students recognize that they have performed incorrectly XieNan (2007) adds that errors of students‟ performance should be located and identified

- Praising: The teacher respects a student for correct answer, for example, by saying “Good,” “Yes, an excellent answer" In addition, Irons (2008) and

Richards and Lockhart (1996) argue that praising is one type of feedback which can encourages students to learn and participate more in classroom

- Expanding or modifying a students’ answer: The teacher responds to

incomplete student‟s answer or performance by providing more information or rephrasing the student‟s answer in the teacher‟s own words For example:

Teacher: Does anyone know the capital city of the United States?

Students: Washington

Teacher: Yes, Washington, D C That’s located on the east coast

However, Richards and Lockhart (1996) suggests that the teacher should expand students‟ performance as an oral feedback in order to broaden students‟ knowledge related to what students already performed

- Repeating: The teacher repeats the student‟s answer In addition, (Richards &

Lockhart, 1996:182) adds that repeating students‟ answer as an oral feedback can be used as the way to clarify and check students‟ knowledge

- Summarizing: The teacher gives a summary of what a student has said

Richards and Lockhart (1996:182) explains that it is necessary to give explanation

as an oral feedback by having summary of what students performed

- Criticizing: The teacher criticizes a student for the kind of response provided

For example:

Teacher: A, can you point out the topic sentence in this paragraph?

Student: The first sentence

Teacher: How can it be the first sentence? Remember, I said the first sentence

is not always the topic sentence in every paragraph Look again!

Krashen (1982) and also Cathcart and Olsen (1976) argue that the teacher should criticize students‟ performance in order to correct students‟ errors

1.2.3 The importance of teachers’ feedback in teaching and learning a language

According to Irons (2008) teacher has to provide appropriate feedback to have

significant impact on students‟ perspective both intrinsic (wanting to learn) and

extrinsic (needing to learn), because students‟ perspective is “good starting points”

(Brown, 1998) In providing a good oral feedback, teacher needs to consider the clarity of feedback, especially how to indicate the ways in which students can improve and develop for the future (feed forward) so that the students get the point

what actually teacher says and get the positive impact of feedback (Irons, 2008 : 65) Every student can make mistakes sometimes; students do not always flow smoothly while they are learning English, especially speaking English When students make some mistakes or even do something correctly; it is important for teachers to provide feedback as praise or evaluate the students appropriately when they make some mistake (Irons, 2008) In addition, students in the classroom have different levels of ability in understanding the materials (high achiever – low achiever students), so teachers should have a suitable feedback to students In language classroom, teacher must provide feedback to evaluate students‟ performance accuracy According to Richards and Lockhart (1996:189) these include decision about:

(1) whether students‟ error should be corrected

(2) which kind of error should be corrected

(3) how students‟ error should be corrected

On the other hand, perception will settle what oral feedback that the teacher uses to respond students‟ performance Moreover, Robins (1997) explains that perception is some process by individual which they organize and interpret sensory experiences then it will bring sense or view toward a certain object Levy & Shiraeve (2004) adds that perception will influence teacher to provide what type of oral feedback on students‟ performance It will then vary teacher to give certain type of oral feedback on students‟ performance

Teacher has to consider the students‟ feeling while providing some feedback Tsui (1995) adds that students‟ feeling is closely related to certain psychological characteristic of the students Therefore, teacher has to provide oral feedback to respond students‟ performance in order to maintain the students to feel free in expressing their idea, so that the students do not afraid of making some mistakes

and learn from the mistake which has been made Moreover, Tsui (1995) argues that students‟ mistake in a classroom is a source of learning

Teacher‟s feedback is usually associated with evaluating and providing information related to the students‟ responses, but these are not the only functions Teachers‟ feedback can also acknowledge the information that teacher offers or provides personal comments on students‟ performance In feedback, teacher makes evaluations and gives comments on students‟ performance Through feedback, students know that there is something wrong or unsatisfactory about their performance As Krashen (1982) points out that students must be favorable disposed toward language learning before language acquisition takes place

Many teachers still do not consider the students‟ feeling in providing feedback

and cause “wrong way” feedback (Irons, 2008) such as saying the words “stupid”

for student who makes some mistakes; therefore it will offend the students and discourage them in learning Hedge (2003) states that teacher must be aware of

“When to push and when to stop” students‟ performance Furthermore, Cathcart and Olsen (1976) conduct a survey which shows 149 learners have preference for correction of all errors that they made, however the students feel irritated when the teacher correct the errors intensively Tsui (1995) adds that students in the junior high school (12-15 years old) have certain psychological characteristic, they are sensitive to criticism; therefore they will easily get offended

Providing feedback for students‟ performance is one of the important aspects of teaching Positive feedback is also useful to increase students‟ interest in learning and build a supportive classroom situation, thus it will promote students to have more participation in every classroom activity (Irons, 2008), especially in speaking lessons Moreover Chaudron (1988:132) adds that feedback from teacher as a

correction is a kind of interaction between students-students and/ or

teacher-students Tsui (1995:43) argues that teacher who values every contribution and

provides encouraging feedback is much easier to get students‟ interest to learn and more participation in classroom activities, and it really helps to create a warm classroom atmosphere in learning-teaching process Therefore, this study will examine the teacher‟s contribution on providing oral feedback on students‟ performance

CHAPTER 2 : THE STUDY

Chapter two has provided information about students‟ interest in learning speaking English, students‟ opinions on teachers‟ oral feedback and also the types

of oral feedback the teacher used in classroom In this chapter, the justification for data collection instruments is presented The subjects and the procedure of the study are also paid a lot of attention And the preliminary results about the effect of teachers‟ oral feedback on students' interest at An Lao High School are reported After that, the researcher will give some suggestions about the ways to give oral feedback in speaking lessons

2.1 Justification for data collection instruments

In this study, three main data collection instruments were used: questionnaire, class observation and interview They were the effective tools to help the author gather the information for the study

A questionnaire was employed in this study because of the following reasons

According to Saphier (Saphier,1993:411), there are a lot of advantages for using

a questionnaire If carefully planned, it is a useful method for gathering a large

number of general data and opinions from a large number of people relatively quickly Questionnaires are easy to analyze Data entry and tabulation for nearly all

surveys can be easily done with many computer software packages

Another good point is that questionnaires are familiar to most people Nearly everyone has had some experience completing questionnaires and they generally do not make people apprehensive As a result, it will be easier to carry out an investigation using questionnaires In addition, questionnaires can reduce bias There is uniform question presentation and no middle-man bias The researcher's own opinions will not influence the respondent to answer questions in a certain manner There are no verbal or visual clues to influence the respondent And one more advantage of using questionnaire method is that questionnaires are less intrusive than telephone or face-to-face surveys When a respondent receives a questionnaire, he or she is free to complete the questionnaire on his/her own time-

table Unlike other data collection instruments, questionnaires can help the respondents to avoid being interrupted by the research instrument

The other data collection instrument used in this study is observation Observation is a way of gathering data by watching behavior, events, or noting

physical characteristics in their natural setting Observations can be overt (everyone

knows they are being observed) or covert (no one knows they are being observed and the observer is concealed) The benefit of covert observation is that people are more likely to behave naturally if they do not know they are being observed However, you will typically need to conduct overt observations because of ethical

problems related to concealing your observation

Observation can also be either direct or indirect Direct observation is when you watch interactions, processes, or behaviors as they occur For example, observing a teacher teaching a lesson from a written curriculum to determine whether they are delivering it with fidelity Indirect observation is when you watch the results of interactions, processes, or behaviors For example, in this study, the researcher used both direct and indirect observations The researcher attended 5 periods of teaching speaking skills, observing the change in students' interest before and after the teachers applied a new method in giving an oral feedback

But why was the observation used? The answer involves psychological field In this study, the main subject is students As we know, students at high school are sometimes spontaneous, sometimes reserved; joyful now, sad later; friendly and reserved; competent and naive; talkative and quiet Students are unique and complex and thus often difficult to comprehend And they do not readily engage us

in dialogue in order to explain the reasons for their caprice as they explore the world that surrounds them Yet, it is important for us to know our students deeply, to flow with their currents, and to extend their nascent theories about how the world works

So using observation is necessary when we want to study about them Furthermore, observation is a really effective data collection instrument When using it, the ability to record and report all findings that are true to the topic is at hand A key

advantage of observation research is that often the respondent or consumer is unaware that they are being observed, allowing the behavior to be observed

naturally It helps in overcoming issues of validity and is useful when the subject

cannot provide information or when the subject is feared to provide inaccurate information With this data collection instrument, the author can observe something that may not come out in a questionnaire, survey or interview The author can observe things that may not be easily explained by the participants using another data collection instruments

Interviewing is a basic research tool in social science In this study, interview is used for teachers to obtain information about teachers' beliefs of the ways of giving oral feedback In this type of interviewing, most of the questions are open-ended designed to elicit the participants‟ perspectives without sensitizing the participants

to any hypotheses of the researcher The answers of the participant then become the structuring mechanisms for the next phase in the interview

The interview questions were designed to elicit information about the teacher‟s beliefs regarding oral feedback to their students‟ performance Other questions were aimed at obtaining information about the effective way to give oral feedback to enhance students‟ interest in speaking lessons

In short, although every data collection instrument has both good points and drawbacks, questionnaire, observation and interview seem to be the best choice for this study And the combination of all these instruments can ensure reliable data

2 2 Description of the subjects

In this study, two groups of subjects were involved: the first group consists of

120 students at 11th grade of An Lao High School and the other group consists of 7 teachers of English of An Lao High School The researcher will observe some speaking lessons of two teachers to have a comprehensive observation

The questionnaires were distributed to 120 students at five different classes and taken back afterwards.110 correspondents returned their answers Incompletely filled surveys were rejected, thus there were 110 surveys for analyzing

The author also observed the speaking lessons of two teachers of English They have taught English for over 5 years All of them provided the author with necessary information about the speaking lessons and their teaching methods

And the interview was carried out among 7 teachers of English All the answers were recorded as the evidence for the analysis

2.3 Instruments of the study

To gather the data, three kinds of data collection were used: observation,

questionnaire and interview However, the data analysis focused more on the result

of questionnaires from students The classroom observations were done in the first semester of the 2011-2012 academic year Classroom situation were also observed

to gain a better picture of teacher‟s feedback and wrote field-notes for teacher feedback on students‟ performances which received the teacher feedback as well The writer would be a non-participant observer who sits on the back of the class in order not to disturb the naturalness of the class as well as the students‟ attention to the teacher The classroom observation lasted for four weeks Four sessions interview were also conducted after each classroom observation to gain the data about the teacher‟s reason for giving oral feedback to respond students‟

performance

2.4 Description of the procedures

To get the data, classroom situation and specifically the teachers‟ reaction toward students‟ performance during the teaching process were observed The sixty minutes classroom observations were conducted in four different classes on the same grade with different ability (high achiever- lower achiever group) on the same material and the same teacher This school classified the students for each group based on their ability Four sessions interview after each observation were also conducted to gain the data about the reason of the teacher in giving certain type of

feedback for students‟ performance in the classroom

2 5 Preliminary results

These following steps were conducted to analyze the data of teacher‟s oral feedback The first one was transcribing the recorded data by writing everything which had been recorded on the tape recorder without any changes on language The second, the transcript were coded This coding was done by highlighting the teacher feedback The third step was classifying teacher oral feedback existed in four different classroom observation into several types based on Richards and

Lockhart (1996:188)

The teacher‟s reason for giving oral feedback on students‟ performance was analyzed through the interview Then, the interview was transcribed into written form The researcher tried to find out the reason why the teacher provided certain type of oral feedback on students‟ performance Finally, the conclusions are made

about how and why the teacher reacts toward students‟ performance

The results of questionnaires were collected then analyzed The author showed the detail results of each questions through tables, charts…

CHAPTER 3 : FINDINGS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Chapter three will provide the detailed description of the study and the preliminary results This chapter presents the findings from interviews with teachers and the surveys for students about the teachers' oral feedback and its effect on students' interest in speaking lessons A discussion on the findings is also given to find out the effect of teachers' oral feedback on students' interest At the end of this chapter, there are some suggested solutions which are considered to be the effective way for teachers in giving oral feedback in speaking lessons

3.1 Findings and discussion

3 1.1 Results from interview with teachers

Firstly, all teachers were asked about their beliefs on the importance of feedback to teaching and learning speaking skill Most of them agreed that feedback

played a very important role in speaking lesson when stating that “We cannot ignore

feedback when teaching speaking because it is necessary to show out students’ errors so that they can correct it” However, one teacher had a neutral view to the

importance of feedback She said, “It is not necessary to give feedback to students

quite often They will be demotivated Let students speak freely without feedback or correction”

When being asked about purpose of giving feedback, all teachers said that they

wanted to help the students to improve their speaking “I want my students to have a

positive attitude towards speaking and that is why I try to give feedback as clearly

as possible so that they will not make the same mistake again”, one of them said

In terms of feedback types, the teachers seemed to have different choices for different types of feedback Most of the teachers tended to indicate the mistake made by the students and ask them to correct immediately, especially in pronunciation or the usage of structures The same number of teachers sometimes gave general comments at the end of the lesson Moreover, teachers tended to use more negative feedback than positive one What they said are as follows: