AN APPLICATION OF PROJECTBASED TEACHING METHOD TO DEVELOP THE GRADE 10, 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS (BASIC BRANCH)ng kiến kinh nghiệm 2021

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA TRƯỜNG THPT LƯƠNG ĐẮC BẰNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM TÊN ĐỀ TÀI AN APPLICATION OF PROJECT BASED TEACHING METHOD TO DEVELOP THE GRADE 10, 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS (BASI.

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT LƯƠNG ĐẮC BẰNG

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

TÊN ĐỀ TÀI

AN APPLICATION OF PROJECT-BASED TEACHING METHOD

TO DEVELOP THE GRADE 10, 11 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS

(BASIC BRANCH)

(Áp dụng phương pháp dạy học theo dự án phát triển kỹ năng nói của

học sinh lớp 10, 11 – Chương trình cơ bản)

Người thực hiện: Hồ Thị Minh Thái Chức vụ: Tổ trưởng chuyên môn Tiếng Anh Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Lương Đắc Bằng SKKN thuộc môn : Tiếng Anh

THANH HÓA - NĂM 2021

TABLE CONTENT

Page

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

1.2 Research purpose and objectives

1.3 Research questions

1.4 Research Methodology

2 CONTENTS

2.1 Solutions to the problems

2.2 Theoretical background

2.3 Practical background

2.4 Scope of the application

2.5 Effectiveness of project-based learning

2.6 Sample lessons

3 CONCLUSION AND PETITION

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

English has become more and more important nowadays Owing to this point,teaching English faces the challenge of finding out the effective methods to satisfystudy and communication

One of the most updated types of approaches is Project - Based which seems tosatisfy at least three requirements of teaching language It promotes the eventual uses

of the target language by emphasizing the real-world projects And the project derivedfrom the analysis of the learners’ needs increases learners’ interest and motivation,(Brophy, 2004, as cited in Tsiplakides, 2009) Moreover, its result comes from thelearners’ experience during their performance of the projects

1.2 Research purpose and objectives

This study is carried out to meet the following aims:

1 To experiment the applicability of project- based learning in developing grade 10,11students’ speaking skills

2 To measure the impact of project- based learning on grade 10, 11 students’ speakingskills

1.3 Research questions

1 To what extent does project- based learning help grade 10, 11 students to developtheir speaking skill?

2 How applicable is project- based learning in the high school context?

3 What adaptations are needed to make project- based learning more practical in thehigh school context?

1.4 Research Methodology

This section presents the research design as well as research method, datacollection and data analysis The research context with an overview of Luong DacBang high school, the syllabus, the current teaching and learning situation arementioned The research approach and method of data analysis are presented later on

to provide how to deal with the research questions and reach the solutions

Questionnaires were administered to collect the data about the students’preferred techniques and methods and teachers’ opinions of the situation These datawere used as the basis for proposing effective techniques and activities for teachingspeaking to the students at the school

To carry out the study, quantitative and qualitative methods were mainly used.The data collected for the study come from two sources: the grade10,11 students andthe teachers of English from Luong Dac Bang high school

The quantitative method with survey questionnaires, two for students (pre- andpost-questionnaire) and one for the teachers, were used to gather information andevidence for the study The participants in the survey questionnaires were 120 students

of 3 classes which were selected randomly from the classes of grade 10 ,11from LuongDac Bang high school and 5 teachers were selected to get the objective data Theseteachers have had many years of teaching All the participants took part in the survey

by responding to the three kinds of questionnaires, two for the students and one for theteachers.

Questionnaires and class observation as the main tools for collectinginformation are used The instruments used in this study consist of threequestionnaires: two questionnaires for students and one for teachers Thequestionnaires were designed in both closed and open-ended questions Thequestionnaires for the students were checked to make sure that they could understandall questionnaire items

Questionnaires for students

1 Pre-task questionnaire

This pre - task questionnaire was designed with three parts with 9 questions

Part 1 was about the students’ personal information

Part 2 was designed to elicit the students’ opinions of their motivation and attitude inlearning speaking English

Part 3 collected some information relating to factors affecting their working time inEnglish speaking class

Questionnaires for teachers

The survey to the teachers with nine questions was designed with two parts:

Part 1 was the demographic information which contains the teacher’s gender, age, andthe number of years they have been teaching English

Part 2 was about what problems teachers are often faced with in teaching speakingEnglish, what they had done to increase the students’ motivation in English speakingclassroom, their beliefs in using project - based learning in teaching English speaking

Class observation

The researcher carried out the classroom by visiting 3 classes and recording allactivities taking place in each class: the teacher’s questions and explanations, thestudents’ presentation, the presentation of the teachers in the class The observationchecklists for communicative groups were made and after the class, the elements in thechecklist were given assessment The checklist includes six criteria:

The assessment is divided into 2 scales: applicable and not applicable (not using PBL).

2 CONTENTS

2.1 SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS

In this assignment, I have reviewed the definition of project and project- basedlearning I also have had a close look at the characteristics of project-based learning.Besides, the advantages and disadvantages of project-based learning are also analyzed.The project-based learning is relevant to my English teaching since it helps preparestudents for the way how to solve the problems they will do in the future, “studentslearn by doing, not just by listening to the teacher.” (Kolb, 2009 cited in Tsiplakides,2002) That is also the basis and the purpose of learning English

2.1.1 Promoting the students’ internal factors

The main reason for the majority of the students to learn English speaking wasthat they could pass the final exam Studying speaking English for the future job waswhat many students were concerned Some other students expressed their wishes tostudy abroad, but this number was not too high A necessity for communicating withEnglish speaking people was not regarded as their main reason However, the lowestpercentage of them stated that they learnt speaking English for their interest orenjoyment Therefore, it was undeniable that the major kind of motivation for thestudents to learn English speaking is instrumental not integrative Nonetheless, many

of the students have the combination of the two types, instrumental and integrative Ingeneral, students who possessed extrinsic motivation often felt unwilling and forced tolearn English while students with instrumental and integrative orientation were quiteeager to learn English Therefore, in order to help students increase their motivation inlearning English speaking, the teachers should know their students’ interest andexpectation in learning English Teachers should investigate what students want to seethat whether their teaching methods and knowledge they applied are suitable for thestudents or not Secondly, most of the students learn English because it is acompulsory skill at school, therefore the teachers had better maintain the extrinsic andinstrumental motivation and enhance the intrinsic one For the extrinsically motivatedstudents, teachers should give them more tasks; require them to do more exercises inorder that they can get good results in their test and examination Besides, teachers canenhance their intrinsic motivation by inserting English culture and custom in speakinglessons; arouse their love for English by conducting the lesson projects following thetopics that they enjoy For intrinsically motivated students, teachers can motivate them

by varying activities, tasks and materials to increase their interest level Providingthem with reference materials and some websites in English on the Internet is a goodway to encourage their love for English One more thing is that self-confidencedetermines the amount of effort and time the students will spend and the persistencethey will display in the process of learning, so it is important for the teachers toincrease the students’ self-confidence in learning English speaking Teachers shouldmake students believe that speaking English competence is changeable andcontrollable as long as they exert enough effort in learning

2.2.2 Varying speaking activities

The teachers should stimulate the students to speak English by providing themwith a variety of ways to present Firstly, pair work and group work in project-based

learning (PBL) are thought to be very useful in speaking lessons Using pair work and

group work helps teachers reduce boredom and tiredness among students In the largeclasses, establishing routines of pair work and group work activities will make theteachers easily control and motivate the students Each student has an opportunity totake part in the PBL lesson and their mistakes can be corrected by other groupmembers or partners Besides, the teachers can help some students get out of silence inclass by assigning roles to help them choose their management responsibilities whenthey work in groups Secondly, making full use of computer aids is what the teachersshould concern Computers help students overcome the difficulties to finish theirprojects The teachers can use computers connected to the internet in any stage of thelesson; however, it is thought that computers bring the most beneficial if it is used inPBL Visual aids such as music, pictures, and maps are believed to create enjoyableand motivating learning atmosphere when the students are taught with PBL Also,other activities such as discussions, interviews, and picture description should beintroduced to the students so that they can perform their presentation in front of theclass in an attractive way

2.2.3 Combining the textbook with relevant materials

Textbook is considered suitable, reasonable and authentic in the content and dated in information and added materials for teaching and learning are necessary Theteachers should deliver handouts or some photocopied papers besides the textbook tohelp the students have more sources of information The teachers can also ask thestudents to find out the information related to the lesson through other sources such asnewspapers, the Internet

up-2.2.4 Setting up co-operative atmosphere in class

A tense class atmosphere arouses the students’ anxiety that hinders thestudents’ motivation and effectiveness in learning speaking English while a co-operative classroom atmosphere facilitates the students to express their opinions andmake the students no longer feel embarrassed when they make mistakes Teachers,thus, should build a warm environment in which teachers can have a close relationshipwith the students

2.2.5 Being enthusiastic, tolerant, helpful, creative and active

Teachers’ characteristics are decisive factors to help increase motivation It isteachers’ helpfulness; friendliness and enthusiasm that cause students to grow fond oflearning Besides, teacher’s tolerance also makes students feel warm in their heart,which help reduce stress Moreover, teacher’s creativeness and activeness are onefactor that can help the students succeed in the speaking project Creative and activeteachers always have vivid and impressive knowledge that aids all students in speakinglessons

2.2.6 Aware of and satisfy students’ interest and desires

Although the teachers had made a great effort to create the students’ motivation,many students were de-motivated to speak because of differences between theteaching methods and students’ expectations Thus, an investigation of students’interest and expectations should be carried out at the beginning of the term to see iftheir teaching methods and attitude are preferable to their students or not This serves

as the basis for the teachers to select interesting, especially suitable teaching methodsfor their students

2.2.7 Helping the students improve their knowledge of grammar and enrich their vocabulary

From the findings we know that the majority of the students found it hard tocarry on their speaking tasks because of their poor vocabulary and structures Thus, theteachers should create a competitive atmosphere for the students to memorize newwords and structures in a logical way A careful and regular check on them should beconducted in a variety of ways such as in both oral and written forms, through gamesand puzzles Equally important, added and extra materials are sometimes beneficial Inaddition to the exercises in the textbooks, the teachers should provide students withphotocopied papers to practise and check vocabulary and grammar, which arousestheir interest and excitement

2.2.8 Recognizing the potential value of available facilities of the school and the Internet

Most teachers and students are facing the poor facilities in both teaching andlearning The lessons taught with PBL without assistance from facilities sometimeslead to boringness Because of this, teachers and students should take full advantage ofthe available facilities of the school and overcome obstacles and difficulties withspeaking in poor facility environment For example, through a cassette player, studentscan express their ideas with some songs or pieces of news or through a projector,teachers and students can make the lesson more interesting and attractive with livelypictures and video clips in their presentation Because the school does not havelanguage labs and cannot provide students with the Internet at the school library,teachers can help the students with guiding them how to use the Internet in their freetime and provide them with useful Website addresses for their study First, teachers letstudents find interesting authentic materials on the Internet, in the form of news,weather reports, songs in English, sport reports and so on These texts consist of variedgrammatical structures and wide-ranging vocabulary which students can read or hear

in the context Teachers, then, can check up again by giving students tasks based onfinding particular information on the Internet Besides, there are now many Websitesthat teach students speaking and especially pronunciation

2.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND:

2.2.1 What is Project-Based Learning?

It should be noted that most good studies starting by defining their terms and astudy on “Project-Based Learning” seem to require a definition of “Project” as apriority

Many definitions of project have been offered in the literature by the researchersfrom different research perspectives The concept has been associated with real worldactivities, focusing on meaning and form, coming to the comprehensive definitions In thefollowing, the definitions are selected to indicate the changes in people’s conception aboutprojects or project-based language teaching.

Bruner (1973) noted that the basic ideas of project-based learning are based onvarious socio-constructivist schools of thoughts and other modern instructionaltheories Thomas, Mergendoller, and Michaelson (1999) assumed that project-basedlearning was considered a set of pedagogies through social activities

A project goes beyond language, researching "the complex variables thatconstitute an online learning, playing, and socially conscious experience" according to

a broadside of the Center for Research on Learning & Technology

As stated by David (2008, as cited in Tsiplakides (2009), the Project -Basedlearning is a process in which the students integrated language and other articulatedskills in specific settings of language use beyond the subjects in classrooms Whilethese definitions vary somewhat, they all emphasize the fact that projects involvecommunicative language use in which the user's attention is focused on the learner’sexperiences through performing the project rather than gaining knowledge in a passiveway according to the traditional school methods

To have an overall of the above definition, project-based learning is a process inwhich the students’ knowledge and understandings through learning activities require

a high level of involvement with meaningful activities

2.2.2 Characteristics of Project-Based Learning

A project - based lesson is based on project-based learning, an approach wherelearners carry out project such as solving a problem or planning an activity In theclassroom, various elements of the project -based approach are applicable to activities

in other methodologies For example, learners can see a model of the activity they are

to do first, prepare a report on how they complete a project, and the teacher can recordthis report and analyze it for further work The followings are the characteristics ofproject- based lesson that are emphasized by Tsiplakides (2009)

1 Project-based learning is potentially powerful and widely applicable

2 Suitable for learners of all ages and backgrounds

3 Addressing the crucial problem-directly by using active and real project aslearning activities

4 Ability to perform the instructional project is equivalent to the ability to usethe language, so a functional ability should be a natural outcome of the instructionalexperience

5 Project-based learning can be very effective when the learners are engaged inrelatively similar out-of-class activities (social or academic)

6 Project-based learning can be especially useful for learners who are notaccustomed to a more traditional type of classroom learning or who need to learncognitive, cultural, and life skills along with the language

2.2.3 Project-based learning in foreign language education

Learning a language requires a student to communicate with the other peopleusing the same language Thus, they take part in various real situations such asdesigning investigations, making explanations, modeling, and presenting their ideas toothers when they conduct a project One of the benefits of project-based learning isthat students can more easily see the value and the meaning of the tasks and activitiesthey perform

Either way, it’s hard for them to see the meaning in what they’re doing Butwhen they are involved in a investigation designed to answer a question that isimportant to them because they have a chance to practise language naturally, they cansee how a language can be spoken to solve important problems Clearly, Project-Basedlearning can meet this need when it is applied to a speaking lesson (Krajcik, 1998)

2.2.4 How is a project-based lesson designed?

As mentioned in Tsiplakides (2009) cited Kriwas (1999) as finding thatconducting projects is involved in many activities following the stages that have beenraised in his literature If a project is conveyed in organism and a structuralism, it must

be easy to conduct For this reason, the teacher should practise the stages as a guide toplan a better lesson plan following the project-based approach:

1 Stage 1: Speculation (Choosing the topic and sensation about it)

2 Stage 2: Designing the project activities (formatting of groups, assignment of roles,methodology, sources of information, activities)

3 Stage 3: Conducting the project activities (performing the group’s activities relating

to cooperation If necessary, the teacher’s or the others’ assistance will be provided)

4 Stage 4: Evaluation (assessing the activities from the students includes the teacher’sevaluation and the student’s self-evaluation)

2.3 PRACTICAL BACKGROUND

Following is the treatment of all data collected from the survey questionnairesfrom 120 students and 5 teachers of English at Luong Dac Bang high school Theanalysis of the data is presented in four parts: The first and the second parts are theresults of the pre-treatment and post-treatment questionnaire for students The third isfrom the questionnaire for teachers Along with the information via surveyquestionnaires and information gained through some small talks, class observationswere added to these main parts to assist the results

2.3.1 Results from students’ pre-task questionnaire

2.3.1.1 Students’ motivation and opinions of learning to speak English

Question 1: Could you give me the reason why you want to learn to speak English?

Table 2.3.1: Types of motivation

It is a compulsory skill in learning English at high school 64/120 53,3%You think it is necessary for your future job 105/120 87,5%

To know more about the world 43/120 35,8%

To communicate with foreigners 90/120 75%

To be able to study abroad 24/120 20%Table 3.1 reveals that English is necessary for the students’ future jobs and themain reason for students’ studying English speaking The highest percentage (87,5%)

of the students wanted to learn English because they thought that they would need it tofind a job and it would help them much in their future jobs To communicate withforeigners was also the thing that most students (75%) are concerned About 53,3% ofthe respondents answered that it is a compulsory skill in learning English at highschool The others (35,8%) wanted to learn English because they would like to knowmore about the world Clearly, most of the students knew the role of English inmodern life when foreign language was considered the main means of communicationand work in most of the countries in the world The lowest percentage of the studentsaffirmed they wanted to study abroad in the future though so far they had not knownwhether they could achieve their wishes or not; and that was the reason they tried tolearn English

Question 2: How necessary is speaking skill to you?

Figure 2.3.1: Students’ perceived necessity of English

As can be seen from Figure 3.1, the highest percentage of the respondents(35%) considered speaking skill very necessary to them while 27% stated it was rathernecessary 21% of the respondents mentioned speaking as normal In general, thenecessity of English speaking was highly evaluated by a majority of the students Most

of them were aware of the necessity of English in their study 12% of the studentsthought English speaking skill was a little necessary and the rest of 5% consideredEnglish speaking not necessary at all It was, thus, the teacher’s role to find ways tostimulate the students to take part in the learning in the class

Question 3: How much are you fascinated in learning to speak English?

Figure 3.2 reveals that the majority of the students (26%) were quite fascinated

in learning speaking 30 out of 120 students (25%) answered that their fascination wasnormal This figure was a little higher than those with the high one (20%) For them,

they learnt English because of the pressure from outside such as requirement of theteachers and parents, the need for the exam not because of their willingness 18% ofthe students was very fascinated The lowest percentage of the respondents (11%)affirmed their fascination was very low They were the students who had no passion inlearning to speak English

Figure 2.3.2: Students’ interest in learning English

Question 4: How often do you speak English in English class time?

The frequency of speaking English in class time also shows how much effortstudents wanted to master it Figure 3.3 represents that only 17% of the respondentsspoke English willingly, only 22 out of 120 students were always willing to speakEnglish and 11% of the participants said that they usually spoke English in class;whereas 33% rarely spoke it and 9% never spoke English in class except for theteacher’s requests Also, 30% of the students affirmed they liked speaking butsometimes, they were not accustomed to speaking in class because of their shyness orworry about making mistakes In some small talks, some students stated that theywanted to speak English in class because it was the class time that they could trainthemselves and expressed their opinions in English Except that, no environment wasavailable for them In general, the time to speak English in class was unequal amongthe students Therefore, what the teachers should do was how to use suitable methods

to stimulate learners’ interest, how to create a communicative environment for thestudents to participate in speaking lesson

very fasci- nated 18%

rather fasci- nated 20%

normal 25%

little

26%

not at all 11%

Chart Title

always 17%

usually 11%

sometimes 30%

rarely 34%

never 9%

Chart Title

Figure 2.3.3: Students’ frequency of speaking English in class time

2.3.1.2 Factors making students unwilling to speak English in class

Question 5: What factors make you unwilling to speak in class?

Table 2.3.2: Factors making students unwilling to speak English in class

Limitation of communicative environment 58 48,3%

Lack of vocabulary and structures 84 70%There are learners’ factors, teachers’ factors, teaching, and learning conditionsthat make learners unwilling to speak For students in the survey, the most influentialfactor was the lack of vocabulary and structures 84 out of 120 students (70%) blamedtheir fear of speaking for lack of vocabulary and structures The second factor wasbeing afraid of losing faces 57,5% of the respondents affirmed that they wanted tospeak in class, but they were always afraid of making mistakes and losing faces Thenext one (55,8%) was boring teaching ways In fact, some of the teaching waysapplied by the teachers at high schools were thought to be too boring and lessinteresting to the students In this case, the role of the teachers is to modify and bring

to the class some other more interesting teaching methods and help bring inspiration tothe students In addition, unfamiliar topics were an important factor 54,2% of thestudents showed that unfamiliar topics in the text book made it impossible for them tofeel interested in taking part in the speaking lessons The smaller number of thestudents (48,3%) mentioned had the limitation of communicative environment in theclass rooms Clearly, students sometimes did not speak up in class not because theylacked new vocabulary, expressions and structures but they had the habit of preferringlistening to speaking Some others thought they had better master the grammaticalrules, remember as many structures as possible and have richer vocabulary Therefore,they could do well in the exam and get good marks

always 17%

usually 11%

sometimes 30%

rarely 34%

never 9%

In short, there are a variety of factors that the students had to face These factorscame from students as well as teachers In order to be better in English speaking activities

in class, the changes need to be done between both teachers and students Teacherschange teaching methods and students change the way they learn

2.3.1.3 Factors increasing students’ motivation in speaking English

Question 6: Which of the following factors stimulates you in speaking English in the classroom?

Table 2.3.3: Factors stimulating students to speak English Factors Students Percentage (%)

Opportunity for all students to speak out 37/120 30,8

Interesting topics in the textbook 59/120 49,2

Various speaking activities 47/120 39,2

It was interesting that the most influential factors in the students’ motivationwere the teachers’ teaching methods, which occupied 50,8% of the respondents Thekeys to a successful speaking lesson were that all students participated in the activities

of the lesson; they could give their ideas to discuss with their classmates, ask andanswer their own questions with the help from the teacher and better students.Teachers, as the guide, should avoid adopting a teacher-centered authoritarian posture.She/he should keep asking questions, having students enthusiastically find out theanswers and take part in the task completion Ranking second was interesting topics inthe textbook that held 49,2% of the respondents’ ideas If the teachers appointed thestudents to talk about a boring topic, it would lead to boredom among students.Teachers, therefore, should select interesting topics in the textbook according to howwell they engage the students in meaningful and effective lessons rather than in thereluctant speaking practice Next, 39,2% perceived that various speaking activitieshighly affected their motivation and related to the inside and outside activities of theclass such as pair work, group work, games, interviews, role play and so on Equallyimportant, a good-natured classroom also highly motivated students (38,3%) Theclass in which classmates helped each other; both weaker and better students sharedideas, vocabulary and structures; both teacher and students together discussed andsolved the problems was the best environment for the students to practise speaking

2.3.1.4 Activities used by teachers and students’ preference

Question 7: What do you think the teachers should do to motivate you to take part in speaking activities?

Table 2.3.4: What teachers do to motivate students to take part

in speaking activities Teachers’ techniques Students Percentage (%)

Be enthusiastic, friendly and helpful 54/120 45

Encourage you with nice compliments and a good

In general, most students hoped the teachers should be more flexible, tolerant,sensitive to make students confident in speaking lessons 46,7% students liked theteacher to give interesting topics, games and activities in speaking skill Games andvarious activities could help students reduce stress, feel funny and become more active

in learning.46,7% of them complained about teachers’ complicated questions; lengthyinstructions and unsatisfactory explanations could confuse and sometimes made itimpossible for them to understand the lesson 45% were concerned with how teacherswere in the class The teachers should be enthusiastic, friendly and helpful

In conclusion, what the students wanted the teachers to do for them was tocreate a communicative environment, guide them clearly, behave in a friendly andhelpful way, give nice compliments on their speaking and a useful feedback

Question 8: Which activities do you enjoy in speaking lessons?

Table 2.3.5: Activities applied by the teachers and students’ preference Speaking activities

The activities applied by the teachers (responded

handouts, computers) 53/120 44,2 86/120 71,6

As can be seen from the table 3.5, the activities preferred by most students werepair work and group work and problem solving (76,7%), and Visual aids (pictures,maps, music, handouts, computers) (71,6%); Interviews (60%) The explanation forthese could be that such activities were easy to prepare, speak up, and participated bymany students and good ways for students to speak correctly based on structures Also,from table 5, most students (76,7%, 71,6%, and 60% respectively) stated that their

teachers also often provided them with these activities in speaking lessons Next, picturedescriptions were enjoyed by many students (54,2% respectively) Nevertheless, 50%claimed picture description was often given to them Role-play was sometimes preferred

by the teachers (41,7% respectively) In fact, this activity could provide the studentswith good chances to express their own ideas, make them more self- confident andrequire them to think deeply Yet these activities were rarely enjoyed by the students(29,1%) because most of them lacked vocabulary of English and social knowledge.Games were enjoyed by the students (40%) Students answered that they really enjoyedgames in speaking lessons because taking part in games helped them reduce stress andmotivate them to get involved in the tasks However, 48,3% of the students claimedtheir teachers used games in speaking lessons The reasons why teachers rarely usedgames in speaking lessons were that games needed much time and were not beneficial

In short, there were some speaking activities that were preferred by mostteachers and students such as question and answer exchange, interviews, picturedescription However, there was a quite big gap between the ways the teachers haddone to motivate the students and how the students enjoyed as mentioned above.Teachers, thus, should realize and analyze students’ needs in order to guide and teachthem in the suitable way

Question 9: How do you enjoy these following activities?

(On each row tick a, b, c, d or e for your choice)

Table 2.3.6: Activities enjoyed most by students Really enjoy Enjoy Don’t care Don’t enjoy Don’t really enjoy Students % Students % Students % Students % Students %

Individual

work 8/120 6,7 9/120 7,5 5/120 4,2 92/120 76,7 6/120 5Pair work 18/120 15 84/120 70 7/120 5,8 11/120 9,2 0/120 0Group

work 57/120 47,5 54/120 45 6/120 5 3/120 2,5 0/120 0

The table 3.6 shows that group work was preferred by most students 92,5% of thestudents enjoyed working in groups 47,5% of them felt really fond of doing this, and 45%said that they enjoyed group work activities in speaking lessons While only 5% did notcare and 2,5% were not fond of this activity Ranking the second was pair work, whichwas preferred by 85% of the students, of which 15% really enjoyed it 5,8% and 9,2%were figures that showed the numbers of students did not care or enjoy the activity, a littlehigher than those of group work When students work in pairs, they seem to reduceanxiety and reluctance in speaking Only 6,7% of the students showed their high interest

in working individually 7,5% felt enjoyable, while 76,7% of them did not enjoy and 5%really don’t enjoy it As from what the researcher observed in class observations, itseemed that only good students enjoyed working individually because they could talk

more and discuss more with the teachers In fact, individual work sometimes led toboredom or even tiredness among students, thus it decreased motivation

2.3.2 Results from students’ post-task questionnaire

2.3.2.1 The changes of students’ motivation and attitude towards English speaking skill.

Question 1: Could you give me the reason why you want to learn to speak English?

Table 2.3.7: The changes of students’ motivation Reasons Pre-taskStudentsPost-task Pre-task Post-taskPercentage (%)

It is a compulsory skill in learning

You think it is necessary for your

To know more about the world 43 55 35,8 45,8

To communicate with foreigners 90 101 75 84,2

The majority of the students still confirmed that they learnt English speakingbecause it was necessary for their future job and there was also an increase in thenumber of students who wanted to communicate with foreigners (84,2% respectively)because of its necessity for their future job The number of the respondents who werequite interested in knowing more about the world increased from 35,8% to 45,8%.They felt like learning English speaking because of their interest in exploring theworld The students who wanted to learn to speak English for studying abroadconsiderably increased with 33,3% This shows that the motivation of the students haschanged in a positive trend after the treatment

Question 2: How necessary is speaking skill to you?

After the treatment, the motivation of the students in speaking skill wasincreased to some extent The number of students considering speaking very necessaryincreased from 35% to 40% while the number of students who thought of speaking asnormal reduced to 16% All of the students confirmed the crucial role of speaking totheir present study at high school as well as to their future jobs

Question 3: How much are you fascinated by learning to speak English?

There was no doubt that students’ fascination in learning English speaking waschanged considerably They were highly motivated in taking part in speaking activities

in class The number of students with very high fascination went up from 18% to 30%.Contrary to this, the number of the respondents with no passion was down to 6%, adecrease of 5% The students with quite high fascination were of 20% up to 32%, andfrom 26% down to 17% were of the students who had little fascination Theresearcher’ observation pointed out that students’ passion in English speaking hadbeen changed Most of the students were more eager to speak

Question 4: How often do you speak English in English class time?

It was clear that the frequency of the participation in speaking English in classwas changed much because of the increase in students’ interest The students whowere always willing to speak increased from 20 to 38 people, an increase of 19%(from 17% to 32%) The students who never spoke except when being asked byteachers at that time reduced to 6% while the students who usually spoke increasedfrom 11% to 25% The changes also happened to the number of students whosometimes rarely spoke in class with a decrease of 12% (from 33% down to 21%) Therest ones (45%) were of the students who sometimes took part in the tasks Theyseemed to be more frequent in speaking English They became the students who were

of quite high interest and more willing to speak English

Question 5: What factors make you unwilling to speak in class?

Table 2.3.8: The changes of the factors making students unwilling to speak

Factors Pre-task Post-task Pre-task (%) Post-task (%)Students Percentage

Limitation of communicative

Being afraid of losing faces 69 42 57,5 35

Lack of vocabulary and

As we know there are many factors that affect students’ motivation in speakingEnglish Factually, both teachers and students did their best to solve the problems.They made much of their effort to co-operate with one another in English speakingclass A new method with various techniques and activities were applied by theteachers in order to make the students more motivated and active in English speakingclass But there was still one thing we could not deny that how hard teachers andstudents tried, there were still students unable to join in conducting the project lesson.However, the figures shown in table 8 reveal that the number of reluctant speakersdramatically reduced after the treatment Before the treatment, 57,5% of the studentsfelt afraid of losing faces when speaking out Only 42 out of 120 students thought thatafter the treatment And only a few students felt reluctant because of unfamiliar topics

or teachers’ teaching methods

2.3.2.2 Factors increasing students’ motivation in English speaking skill.

As illustrated in Figure chart 3.4 below, the majority of the students (64%)affirmed their English-speaking skill improved much after the treatment Clearly, whenteacher applied PBL to teaching speaking, teachers created various speaking activities,used many useful techniques and behaved towards students in friendly and co-operativeways, making pleasant class atmosphere, emphasizing on fluency more than accuracy andgiving students opportunities to communicate with other students, therefore, if weakerstudents had more chances to speak up, they would exchange information with the betterones, and the practising time for each student would increase This was why more

students felt interested and self-confident to speak English in class (49%) They no longerfind English so difficult and boring to learn (35%) And the figure of 24% of the studentsstated that their English knowledge was widened a lot That was why 35% of the studentsalways felt willing to express their opinion in English speaking class

In conclusion, the more properly activities and techniques were applied, themore motivated and active students became in speaking class lessons

Figure 2.3.4: Students’ result after the treatment

A More self-confident and fascinated in speaking English

B English speaking skill has been improved

C English knowledge has been widened

D Learning to speak English well is not too difficult

E Willing to speak English in class

2.3.3 Results from teachers’ survey questionnaire

2.3.3.1 Problems teachers are often faced with in teaching speaking English

Question 1: What problems are you facing when adopting PBL in teaching speaking English?

Table 2.3.9: Problems teacher faced in teaching English speaking

Problems Teachers Percentage (%)

Students’ low proficiency of English 5/5 100

Students use Vietnamese in pair work and group work 4/5 80

Lack of authentic teaching materials 5/5 100

From the Table 3.9, it is clear that problems teachers often face in teaching speakingEnglish are large-size classes, students’ low proficiency, lack of time, students’ usingVietnamese and lack of authentic materials All of the teachers complained that too manystudents in a speaking class caused many problems such as: noise, students’ laziness,teachers’ uncontrolled managements, lack of time for all groups of students to practise etc.Each class at Luong Dac Bang high school consists of 40 students Next, all teachers

responded that students’ low proficiency and limited time were also problems Most of thestudents were not good at or interested in English speaking That was because of theirbehavior in studying in the lower grades They only paid much attention to the mainsubjects which required much of their effort for their exam Factually, 40 students with lowproficiency in 45-minute speaking class project brought a lot of challenges to teachers.Teachers, therefore, were very difficult to apply PBL to speaking lessons As we learnt fromthe result of students’ survey questionnaire, some of the activities applied by teachers didnot interest students at all That was because they were thought to be too difficult for thestudents with poor vocabulary and bad knowledge of the language There was no better waythan that the teachers should try their best to help the students solve their own problems It isteachers’ role to increase students’ motivation, enrich their vocabulary and enlarge theirknowledge of English language One more problem that teachers found in teachingspeaking was students’ using Vietnamese Whenever teachers assigned speaking projects,students immediately found ideas and showed opinions in their mother tongue The lastthing that the teacher had to face was the school facilities Some facilities of the schoolseemed out of date, the others did not have enough for all the teachers and students in theschool to use at the time The teachers sometimes did their best to design some authenticmaterials instead But not all of the teachers could do that frequently

2.3.3.2 Teachers’ opinion towards students' motivation in speaking English

Question 2: What do you think of the necessity of speaking to your students?

Table 2.3.10: Teachers’ opinions towards students’ motivation

in speaking English Teachers’ opinions Teachers Percentage (%)

Speaking helps students improve other language

skills and linguistic knowledge 5/5 100

Speaking can bring students enjoyment and pleasure 3/5 60

Speaking can help students build up other life skills 5/5 100

Students can communicate much through speaking 5/5 100

Others (please specify): ………

Table 3.10 revealed that all the teachers (100%) were aware of the importance ofspeaking to the students in language learning All of them agreed that speaking helpedstudents to improve other language skills and language linguistic knowledge as well ascould help them to communicate a lot And last but not least the next in the thought of 5teachers who affirmed the importance of speaking to students’ broadening knowledge As

a matter of fact, 3 out of 5 teachers thought that speaking could bring students enjoymentand pleasure

2.3.3.3 Techniques and activities of PBL applied by teachers

Question 3: How often do you consider division of the classroom (pair-works, works…)

group-On being asked this question, most of the teachers smiled and complained that

it was too difficult to do The class was quite big, so many students in the classroom

are in the difference of levels Three of them confirmed they never thought of this.Only one teacher usually considered level of students when arranging group work.And another teacher sometimes paid attention to this 4 out of 5 teachers rarely tookcare of that issue However, if teacher applies real communicative project to speakinglessons in the classroom, the students must be seated in groups to work together in aneffective way As we know, if the students are seated in randomly layout, the onlyresult you are going to get is finishing the speaking project in time Rearranging thestudents in groups is not always easy, but it is worth the effort The students will helpyou

Question 4: What do you often do to create close relationship with your students to help them speak English better? (You can have one more choice)

Table 2.3.11: Teachers’ opinions in creating good relationship with students

Teachers’ opinions Teachers Percentage (%)

Sitting at the teacher’s desk to watch the whole class 2/5 40

Standing at the front of the class near the black board 3/5 60

Standing close to the students who tend to speak much 0/5 0

Walking around the class to give help 4/5 80

Talking to them in friendly ways 5/5 100

All of the teachers expressed that they always behaved students in a friendly way.For them, letting students have close relationship with teachers would motivate theirstudents in speaking projects 80% of the teachers said that they often walked around theclassroom to give the students some help when necessary Besides, two of the teachersaffirmed that they could control the class better if they were at teachers’ desk or in front ofthe class near the blackboard When they were at these places, they could see all thestudents clearly and know what they were doing, even talking or doing private things.And it was not surprising that the last thing, namely, standing near the students who spoke

a lot, was not chosen by any teacher

In short, to create good relationship with the students to make studentsinterested in speaking, different ways were exploited by different teachers Thefrequency of using these depended much on teachers’ characteristics Moreover, theteachers who should be instructors during the students’ speaking projects aid them alot if they may need any help

Question 5: How tolerant are you when your students keep making mistakes?

a Very tolerant (silent until they finish their task, smile and help them realizeand correct the mistakes)- (22%)

b Tolerant (silent but not willing enough to smile and supportive) - (22%)

c A bit tolerant- (35,3%)

d Impatient - (11%)

e Pay no attention to their mistakes -0

From the above list, the largest number of the teachers (35,3%) was a bittolerant when their students kept making mistakes They simply stopped them andcorrected students’ mistakes when the speech was in progress 11% were not patient

enough and got angry with their students about mistakes Being very tolerant andtolerant occupied 44% (22% for each) Paying no attention to students’ mistakes wasnot chosen by any teacher

In summary, accuracy, not fluency was still the focus of most teachers inteaching speaking English Therefore, their teaching methods used in class seemed not

to be appropriate to create student motivation As a result, they did not get success inimproving students’ communicative ability

Question 6: Which of the following techniques do you use to help your students to be more active and interested in speaking lessons? (You can have one more choice)

Table 2.3.12: Techniques used by teachers to make students more active and interested in speaking lessons

Techniques used by teachers Teachers %

Combining textbook with relevant materials 2/5 40Giving feedback regularly by checklists and rubrics and giving

comments on students’ presentation 4/5 80Creating the co-operative atmosphere 4/5 80

Encourage them to speak by clear instructions 4/5 80

In order to make students more active and interested in speaking English inclass, most teachers chose to give feedback regularly by checklists, rubrics and givecomments on students’ speaking The next one was the co-operative atmosphere thatwould happen between teachers and students and among students It was clear thatteachers’ modifying the topics of speaking lessons would make students feel lessbored and tense, so the co-operative atmosphere played an important role in speakinglesson

Of the three, reward and punish policy was not preferred Many teachers statedthat increasing students’ intrinsic motivation would never happen if they rewarded andpunished students because this technique could cause tension to them The most highlyappreciated thing was encouraging students to speak by clear instructions Followingthis way could make students more involved in the lessons and improve their speakingwith unpopular topics Combining textbooks with relevant materials, and applyingreward and punishment policy were at the following last rank (40% and 60% for each)

Question 7: What would you do to prevent your students from using Vietnamese in pair work or group work?

Table 2.3.13: Teachers’ techniques to prevent students from using Vietnamese

Teachers’ techniques Teachers Percentage (%)

Encourage them to speak English 3/5 60

From the survey result, 3 out of the 5 teachers (60%) often reminded theirstudents to speak English when they were put in pairs or groups doing speakingEnglish tasks 60% of the teachers thought that they had better encourage theirstudents to use the target language in class Only one teacher gave students some help

so that the students themselves could try their best to solve the problems

Question 8: How often do you encourage your students to use the following communicative teaching activities?

(On each row tick a, b, c, d or e for your choice)

Table 2.3.14: The frequency of teachers’ using communicative activities Speaking activities Always Often Sometim es Seldom Never

Visual aids (pictures, maps,

A good range of activities is essential to any teacher, and a variety increasesinterest and motivation Individual students will always get more from certain types ofexercises than the others Students need a lot of practice if they are to learn to speakfrom part-time language classes and we need a variety too: a boring teacher isprobably not much fun to learn with As a matter of fact, all of the teachers used asmany activities as possible in their speaking teaching lessons However, some of theactivities were used more frequently than the others such as: Pair work/Group workand problem solving, Games, Visual aids (pictures, maps, music, handouts,computers) Some of the activities that were considered time-consuming and a little bitmore difficult to the students were sometimes or rarely put in utilization There is onething teacher should remember is to explain and demonstrate them herself clearly firstbefore asking students to do any task

Question 9: How often do you use the following techniques to motivate your students?

(On each row tick a, b, c, d or e for your choice)

Table 2.3.15: The frequency of teachers’ techniques to motivate students

Activities Always Often Sometim es Seldom Never

Guide students to use visual aids

As we know, the best way to help the students to lose any feeling of consciousness and become comfortable when speaking English together is to use pairwork and group work as often as possible It is the most efficient way to maximize theopportunities for them to speak English From the table 3.15 we can see that most ofthe teachers took advantage of this technique Half of the teachers always used pairwork or group work to control their speaking tasks The rest either often or sometimesdid this Besides, teachers should create more interesting and appropriate topics tosatisfy as many students as possible Boring and inappropriate topics would makestudents feel bored and stressed, games and using visual aids may help the teachersmotivate the students to speak English in class From the implication to teachspeaking skills, we can modify and apply suitably with PBL based on the content ofthe textbook It is advisable to choose the lesson with familiar and interestingtopics, prepare the important factors to conduct the projects Teachers should teachstudents how to perform their products by presenting in front of the class

self-2.3.4 Results from class observation

Table 2.3.16: Result from class observation

Note: A: Applicable NA: not applicable

I Preparation

1 Well-prepared and well-organized in class 80 20

2 Apparently and appropriately prepared objectives of the lesson 80 20

II Presentation

3 Language of instructions is clear and concise and the students are

4 The lesson is smooth, sequenced and logical 80 20

6 Materials are presented at the students’ level of comprehension 80 20

7 The teacher shows an interest in, enthusiasm for the subject taught 80 20

III Implementation/methods

8 The teacher moves around the class and is ready to help the students

9 There are balance jand a variety of activities during the lesson 80 20

10 Examples and illustrations are used effectively 80 20

11 Instructional aids or resource materials are used effectively 80 20

12 Drills are used and presented effectively 80 20

13 Teachers explores genuine situations in the class 80 20

14 Structures and vocabulary are taken out of students’ presentation 80 20