The study was limited to teach English language textbook Tieng Anh 11 which is now in use in the hig...

The study was limited to teach English language textbook Tieng Anh 11 which is now in use in the high schools 1 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study In Viet Nam[.]

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study.

In Viet Nam , since the development of market economy, English is not only a great interest but also an increasing demand for most people English now is therefore a compulsory school subject in many schools and universities

In all the four skills of learning English, speaking obviously plays the most vital part in communication However, most Vietnamese learners find it hard to be able to use English in the real life The reasons may come from the fact that traditional language teaching method like the Grammar- Translation one which has been applied to teach English in our country for ages In many English classes, teacher and student exchanges have little communicative value because there is no real information being exchanged Teachers often spend a large of proportion of class time asking “display” questions for which they and their students already know the answers Here are three examples of typical display questions:

1 When presenting the new word “book” , the teacher holds up a book and says: this is a book What is it?”

2 When teaching the sentence pattern for habitual actions, the teacher asks

a student,” Do you go to school everyday?”

3 When demonstrating the present continuous tense, the teacher performs the activity, such as walking to the door, and while doing so says “ I am walking

to the door What am I doing now?”

These display questions serve only to elicit inauthentic language practice to: present a new word( example 1), elicit a sentence pattern( example 2) or practice a grammatical structure (example 3) They are not communicative They demonstrate usage rather than use of the target language

In contrast, by using information gap activities, the teacher will motivate students to speak English and will create like-real situations where one of them has some information and other does not; thus, they must use the target language

to share that information The students must speak in order to be able to finish the task In other words, information gap activities give students opportunities to manipulate English appropriately not only inside but also outside the classroom There have been a number of previous studies on how to exploit information gap activities in the speaking class Nevertheless, no researchers have examined the practice of using information gap activities to improve speaking skill for the grader 11th in Chu Van An high school This has given the researcher desire to carry out a research study on this issue

1.2.Objectives of the study

Doing this research , the researcher expected that the results are useful for the English teacher of Chu Van An high school in teaching speaking, so that the English teacher can create more communicative and active activities for the students by using information gap activities The researcher also hope to help students have a better atmosphere in an English speaking class in which they are

encouraged to speak or to state their ideas, thoughts orally in English Furthermore, using information gap activities can motivate them to speak English as often as possible, so that they can improve their ability in speaking skills

1.3 The scope of the study

Due to limited time and experience, this study focuses on how the students’ speaking skills can be improved by using information gap activities

The study was limited to teach English language textbook Tieng Anh 11 which is now in use in the high schools

The study was applied in the school year 2017/2018, 2018-2019, by implementing information gap activities

1.4 Research Methodology.

This research is a classroom action research which is intended to make a contribution to the improvement of teaching and learning process by using information gap activities

2 CONTENTS OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

2.1.THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1.1 Information Gap Activities

An information gap activity, in class terms, means that one student must be

in a position to tell another something that the second student does not already know

The two following examples offered by Brown and Yule (1983) will distinguish information gap activity with other ones

Activity 1: The teacher gives the student an object to describe

Activity 2: The student A is provided with a simple drawing of a line, a square and a triangle with a pen and a sheet of blank paper The student A’s task

is to instruct the student B to produce, as accurately as possible, the drawing which the student A can see but the student B can not

In activity 1, the student has to create, for himself, an artificial information gap between his knowledge and the teacher’s He has to behave as if the teacher does not know what the object looks like This behavior is regarded as being additional and highly artificial There is no information gap because both the teacher and the student can see the object clearly and then this is not genuinely communicative

Differently, activity 2 is more interesting partly because it creates a reasonable purpose for the students to perform the task In other words, one person has the information that the other does not know, so there is a need to communicate

This definition reflects the nature of information gap activities In information gap activities, there is always an information gap among participants which causes a need to communicate This characteristic of information gap activities is similar to the nature of a conversation in real life In fact, the need to communicate is created when one of the participants want to

find out something they don’t know Therefore, Information gap activities can

be considered as a bridge to bring features of real life communication into classroom context

2.1.2 Factors affecting the choice of information gap activities

In order to select the most effective and appropriate information gap activities, teachers must take many factors affecting their choice into consideration Among them, the four following criteria need to be paid most attention to: students’ language level, topics and objectives of each lesson, time allowance, and teaching aids

First and foremost, students’ language level is the most significant factor

affecting the choice of an information gap activity The reason is that the activity

is under or above the students’ language level; the students may lose their interest when they find out that the activity is too easy or too difficult to be accomplished The activity then is just a waste of time and effort

Secondly, the information gap activity which is chosen must suit the

particular objectives of each lesson The teacher should not let his students

perform an information gap activity which is claimed to develop students’ ability of using common expression in making small talks whereas the topic of the lesson is about technology and the lesson is targeted at developing students’ capacity of talking about the uses of mordent invention in daily life Therefore,

in order to pick out suitable information gap activities, the topic and objectives

of each lesson need to be clarified right from the start

Another important factor must be considered carefully is time allowance for

the activity For instance, an information gap activity set for warming up the class should be spent just below ten minutes while fifteen to twenty minutes can be spent on an information gap activity used in order to practice newly presented language items

Last but not least, teaching aids (cards, pictures, flashcards, etc.) for the

information gap activities should also take a great deal of attention Sketchy or illegible cards or pictures surely depress students’ interest for the activity An information gap activity that is interesting but hard to find the materials to be carried out also should be eliminated That is why, during the preparation, the teacher should assure that the aids are available, visible and attractively presented so he can motive his students to learn best

2.1.3 Strategies of implementing information gap activities

Information gap activities should be implemented via some strategies The following are some techniques used to implement information gap activities

2.1.3.1 Pair work or group work: In order to elicit information and opinions, the

learners need to interact among themselves They should spend most of their time working in pairs or groups, finding out their peers’ points of view, transmitting their own conceptions, exchanging ideas, and questing for clues for solutions Thus, dividing the learners into pairs and groups is an inevitable and important strategy to implement information gap activities This ensures the

successful function of the information gap activities in teaching speaking in which group work can help achieve the goals of anxiety reduction and meaningful communication (Sato,2003) However, effective group work in the classroom does not occur automatically and thus the teacher’s careful involvement is required as in the following steps:

Firstly, the teacher should plan and prepare for the group work activities ahead of the speaking lesson ( Sato,2003) because the good designs of the activities will result in “ more negotiation of meaning, more feedback and faster acquisition” ( Skehan,2007,p.291)

Secondly, the engagement of the teacher in the group work is important (Ellis,2003.p.70)

Thirdly, the teacher should allot roles to each member within group reasonably (Sato,2003) As, Ellis(2003,p.271) suggests that mixed groups including different proficient members can work better than “ homogeneous group” Additionally, Jacobs( 1998, as cited in Ellis,2003) suggests that “ the students ate seated in a way that they can talk together easily, keep eye contact , share materials and talk in a lower voice”

In fact, information gap activities assist students to achieve their goals of meaningful communication Through pair and group work they can get more opportunities to speak and feel more confident about speaking after cooperating

to practice Furthermore, they get enjoyment from learning language, which motivates them to reach a higher level But teachers should take into consideration that group work in speaking also has its negative effects For instance, students may overuse the first language or “ engage in off task talk”( Ellis,2003,p.168)

2.1.3.2 Personalization and individualization: according to Zhang (2004) as

quoted in Defrioka (2009,p.40) information gap activities collect views not only from others but also from one’s own contributions as well It is both speakers’ conceptions that close the gap between them

2.1.3.3 Interest: interest is particular important for the implementation of

information gap activities To stimulate learners’ involvement, interest requires that the activities be designed with some essential characteristics, such as those

in games, role playing, curiosity arousing activities, imagination involving activities, real life touching experiencing activities, visual or auditory attracting activities, in addition to a clear goal and a meaningful problem solving process Making the information gap activities interesting will ensure a high involvement

of learners and keeps the motivation on going

2.1.3.4 Variety: a variety of information gap activities and techniques are

always essential in all teaching and learning They will accommodate varieties

of learning styles and individuals

2.1.3.5 Open ending: this means “ the provision of cues or learning tasks which

do not have single predetermine “right” answers, but a prospectively unlimited number of acceptable responses” ( Ur,1996,p.309) Open ended cues in

information gap activities supply possibilities at various levels and dimensions Thus activate an increase in number of learners’ responses from elementary to advanced, from simple to sophisticated, and from textbooks to personal experiences Open ended strategy allow learners opportunities for choosing appropriate languages, topics and paces, which promotes a significant rise in the proportion of learners’ participation

2.2.THE REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING PART.

2.2.1 An overview of Chu Van An high school

Teacher

Most of the English teachers think the aims of teaching speaking English is how to make students communicate effectively and naturally in real life However they found some problems in getting students’ attention and participations in speaking class Furthermore, the students are so active and noisy They are hesitant and unconfident when they speak in front of class Thus, when asking English teacher about what causes these problem most of them thought that the cause may be because of the teacher’s teaching method Students are not motivated enough in learning English The English teacher often use the same method in every speaking lesson They often give a sample dialogue to students, ask them to read and practice with their partner After that, the teachers ask students to make a similar dialogue with the teacher’s help by providing words, structures Whenever students do not understand their instruction, the teacher uses Vietnamese to explain Then, teachers asks them to memorize and perform in front of the class

In addition, English teachers see that most of their students speaking ability

is low They are shy and hesitant when they speak English even inside or outside classroom They can not express idea or give opinion in real communication well

The English teacher teaching method is boring, unmotivated and uncreative They rarely facilitate the students in communicative activities

Students

Most of students want to learn English well, they like it but they are not motivated in learning because English is very boring and difficult The students meet some problems in speaking English They do not understand what their teacher explains There are so many new words and structures They do not brave to speak English The causes for these problem may be because they are lack of confidence , lack of motivation and lack of vocabulary, etc

From the above fact, the researcher see that He should use an active and creative activity to motivate students’ speaking skills Information gap is very useful for organizing these such activities The teacher is able to improve the students’ speaking ability because information gap activities increase student talk and promote interaction among students for communicative purposes rather than the students become comfortable to speak everything

2.2.2 The English Language syllabus

Our school’s 11th Grade English Language textbook “ Tieng Anh 11” It is

a traditional textbook structured with a priority towards theme-based or topic-based learning models The textbook has desirable aims of providing students with a foundational knowledge of numerous fields, a favorable attitude towards the English Language, and the four skills generally recognized as building proficiency in language study: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing

For each topic, related vocabulary and word studies are presented communicatively The book contains sixteen units, with each unit presenting five lessons with four different skills and a language focus Speaking is the second unit in each lesson.Some tasks in the text book are difficult while some others are not really challenging This disparity requires teachers to creatively motivate students by adapting exercises to their interest levels Being effective at this adaptive skill is what sets teachers apart (average from excellent) worldwide

2.3 METHODOLOGY

2.3.1 Research design.

This research is a Classroom Action Research (CAR) Action research is

an action that is done by the teachers to improve the teaching and learning process in their classes This research consisted of 2 cycles and each cycles consisted of 4 elements The researcher used the scheme of action research designed by Kemmis and McTaggart as follow:

Figure Action research cycles by Kemmis and McTaggart

Based on the model above, the first step is planning In this step, the researcher found some problems in classes Then, after planning the actions, the researcher took actions to solve the problems While taking actions, the researcher also observed the teaching learning process to know the effect of the actions This is also the stage where the researcher collected information as much as possible related to the implementation of the actions The last step was reflection where the researcher evaluated and reflected on what he had done In this research , the researcher used information gap activities to improve the speaking skills of grade 11 students in Chu Van An high school

2.3.2 The implementation of information gap activities in teaching

speaking

In this implementation, the researcher arranged the pre-test and post-test orally The pre-test was administered to the students under study before the treatment was given to know the students’ pre-existing ability in speaking Besides, the post-test were administered to know the students’ progress after the treatments were given

In the pre-test, the students under study were asked to construct and

perform the descriptive monologue The students could choose the topics which were provided by the researcher They could describe their best friend, daily activity, family or school in front of the class within 2 until 3 minutes The researcher scored the students’ performance by using the rubric which had three categories The categories were grammar , fluencies and comprehension ( see appendix 3)

After knowing that the students’ speaking ability is low, that can be seen in the result of pre-test score, the researcher prepared 2 cycles Each cycle consists

of four steps They were planning, action, observation and reflection After each cycle was done, the researcher conducted post-test to know the improvement of speaking ability The description of each cycle can be explained as follow

2.3.2.1 Cycle 1

a Planning

Planning was focused on preparing the lesson plan , teaching aids for doing an action in the classroom The lesson plans were suitable with the 11th grade and the information gap activities that is sharing information with unrestricted cooperation It was divided into two meeting, 45 minute for the first meeting and 45 minute for the second meeting The researcher prepared some pictures and the activities related to the topic This cycle was carried out to solve the problem in the pre-test, which was students still low in speaking ability To avoid the students’ boredom, the researcher designed different activities in each meeting

b Action

Action means the activities that the researcher really did in the classroom There were two meetings in this cycle In this phase, the researcher taught and

the teacher sat down, observed and monitored all the activities that happened in the classroom

First meeting.

Date: March, 25 th , 2018

Topic: Sources of energy.

The researcher began the lesson with a warm up activity by watching a video of sources of energy and answer questions about it The researcher also supplied new words and structures Then, the researcher gave a student one picture of sources of energy while he had six ones His duty was to ask and describe about the advantage and disadvantage of these sources of energy in order to find out which one is student’s energy picture This activity was a sample activity to help student practice later

After giving the sample activity, the researcher asked students to work in pairs with their partner This time, the partner given 6 pictures of sources of energy and the other was given a picture The student had to practice with their partner the activity which had been performed before The teacher called the students to go in front of the class with their partner The teacher gave six pictures to the other They performed what they had practiced, but a picture held

by a partner was selected by the teacher At this time, there are some students practice and the teacher motivated them by giving additional score for the person who was volunteer to perform in front of the class

Second meeting.

Date: April, 4 th , 2018

Topic: Hobbies

The researcher began the lesson by giving an interesting warm up activity (miming game to guess what the student would like to do) to lead into the new lesson Furthermore, the researcher may ask students some questions about their hobbies before the lesson

The researcher asked students to work in pairs Each student had 5 pieces

of paper on that the researcher wrote 5 hobbies that people often like to do Student A arranged the pieces of paper in his/her way and the student B had to rearranged his/her paper the same sequences as student A but he/she may not see student A’ papers Student A’s duty is to instruct and direct student B by describing, asking questions so that student B can arrange the same sequence as student A’s If they finished , they could change the turn to each other

After practicing with partner, the researcher asked two students went in front of the class to perform but at this time the papers are different from the papers given to them before and the researcher was the person to arrange the paper

c Observation

The researcher observed the teaching learning process in order to get the data from students’ progresses From the result of the pre test, the researcher found that before using information gap activities, students were not running

well They were hesitant and unconfident when they perform in front of the class They had difficulties in expressing ideals and thought orally However , the researcher found that in the first cycle , after using information gap activities, the student may speak English more confidently They are initiative in speaking by using grammar and vocabulary correctly They could make questions and answer them fluently Especially, they are motivated by the teacher Most of them were ready to perform in front of the class Although there were some students still have difficulties in using vocabulary and grammar but they understood how to use them They only need more activities to apply them

d Reflection.

After analyzing the data and evaluating the result of observation of teaching learning process in cycle 1, the researcher should pay attention to the students who were shy and not confident enough to speak English Furthermore,

he should recognize the student who got difficult to understand and often produce incorrect speaking

When the researcher categorized these kinds of students, first the researcher could ask them to speak English with him so that the researcher can correct the errors that they made, second the researcher could put them in pairs or groups who have a good ability in speaking English They can give peer correction

To sum up, after using information gap activities in cycle 1, the researcher found that the students’ speaking English is more fluently and correctly

2.3.2.2 Cycle 2

a Planning

After cycle 1, the researcher found that using information gap activities helped students improve their speaking English better However, the researcher didn’t satisfy with this result because there were some students who still have difficulties in using grammar structures and vocabularies correctly Thus, the researcher decided to continue the next cycle to improve the students’ speaking ability The second cycle was carried out to improve the problem in cycle 1

b Action

The researcher continued applying information gap activities in this cycle

to improve students’ speaking ability There were three meeting in this cycle , including post - test They are described as follow

Fist meeting

Date: April, 14 th , 2018.

Topic: Space conquest

To motivate students in the new lesson, the researcher warm up them with

a small game ( quiz game) The questions in the game were related in the topic Then , the researcher divided students into groups, each group had four members The researcher prepared 10 important events in space exploration However, each event was cut up into pieces of paper The students worked in groups Each member in group handed one or two pieces of the event Without

seeing each other ‘s paper, the student in the group must decide the original sequence of the event

After that they discussed about the event and created a story without writing it The researcher helped students if necessary After discussing, the researcher called two member of each group to perform their story in front of the class The researcher chose the students to perform randomly This activity helped students to improve their description and narration language

The second meeting.

Date: April, 25 th ,2018.

Topic: The wonders of the world

The researcher warmed up students with a suitable activity that was related

to the topic ( such as brainstorming the wonders of the world) She also prepared two kinds of paper The first paper is the list of wonders of the world The second paper is the list of the characteristics of these wonders ( construction, special features, attraction….) Then the researcher asked students to work in pairs , one student had a paper consists of the names of wonders, one had a paper consists of their characteristics The students may not see the other’s paper Students worked in pairs to decide which characteristics belongs to which wonder by describing and asking questions Students took turn in this activity In order to help students to understand how to do this activity, the researcher asked a student who has a good ability in English to come forward and perform this activity with the researcher in front of the class After students practiced with their partners, the researcher called students to perform in front of the class

Third meeting ( post - test).

Date: May, 2 rd ,2018.

Topic: The beauty of Vietnam

The researcher gave warm up activity related to the topic The activity used

in this test was the same activity with the second meeting but the topic was different The researcher asked students to work in pairs Then , he gave a student in each partner a paper consists of 10 provinces, while the other was given a paper consists of 20 things that may be found in these provinces Then, the researcher asked them to work with their partner to decide things that might

be found in each province by discussing and arguing After practicing, the researcher called students’ name two by two She selected the name randomly Then she gave them two papers as the papers that had been given to them before The researcher also invited the English teacher to assess students’ performances The test run for 45 minutes

c Observation

After observation the second cycles, the researcher found that by using information gap activities students’ speaking English become better They were very enthusiastic to follow the teaching learning process Most of the students