(SKKN HAY NHẤT) using driving questions adapted from the requirements of some speaking tasks in the new textbook tieng anh 10” to encourage students active participation in speaking activitie

USING DRIVING QUESTIONS ADAPTED FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF SOME SPEAKING TASKS IN THE NEW TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS’ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES Subject:

USING DRIVING QUESTIONS ADAPTED FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF SOME SPEAKING TASKS IN THE NEW TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS’

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

Subject: English

Vinh, 2021

USING DRIVING QUESTIONS ADAPTED FROM THE REQUIREMENTS OF SOME SPEAKING TASKS IN THE NEW TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” TO ENCOURAGE STUDENTS’

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

Subject: English Researcher: Vo Thi Thuy Linh Group: Literature – Foreign languages

Vinh, 2021

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CONTENTS PAGE

2 Driving questions as a key feature of project-based learning 3

2.3 Common types of driving questions 4

4.2 Principles and techniques for adapting textbooks 5

1 An overview of the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” 7

2 Situation of teaching and learning speaking skills at high school 7

1.2 Instrumentation 8

3.1 Suggested adaptations for the requirements of some speaking tasks

in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

9

REFERENCESAPPENDICES

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Of the four skills, speaking, in general, is considered a relatively difficultone for students to master Students of low-proficiency level consider speaking

as a challenging skill to fulfill effectively When practising speaking skills, thestudents tend to translate the ideas from their mother tongue into English, whichmakes them confused in using words, grammatical structures and organizing theideas Moreover, because of limited background knowledge as well as essentialskills, they often feel bored when carrying out speaking tasks, especially whenlacking support and motivation from teachers Due to students’ low level ofproficiency, time constraints and low motivation, speaking skills still remainneglected in upper-secondary schools and teaching speaking skills is achallenging job for many teachers

In addition, most speaking activities in the upper-secondary syllabus ingeneral, and in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” in particular, are designed in acontrolled speaking format All the students have to do is following the activitiesgiven in the book under the instructions of teachers This, to some extent,demotivates students because they cannot use their own experiences to expressthemselves and hinders teachers from applying new approaches in teachingspeaking

Besides, from the experience in teaching speaking skills to the 10th formstudents who have a rather low level of proficiency in learning English, theauthor realizes that some of the students do not have so much interest inspeaking classes as in classes of other skills They have certain difficulties inperforming the required speaking tasks in the textbook by themselves

Related to these problems, this study was carried out, entitling: Using

driving questions adapted from the requirements of some speaking tasks in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10” to encourage students’ active participation in speaking activities.

2 Aims of the Study

The study aims at suggesting adaptations of driving questions designed

from some speaking task requirements given in the new textbook “Tieng Anh10” to motivate 10th graders to participate actively in speaking activities in class

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PART II: CONTENT

I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1 Project-based learning

Projects are defined as complex tasks, based on challenging questions orproblems, that involve students in design, problem-solving, decision making, orinvestigative activities; give students the opportunity to work relativelyautonomously over extended periods of time; and culminate in realistic products

or presentations Students in a project-based classroom take part in differentactivities, namely investigating questions, proposing hypotheses andexplanations, discussing their ideas, challenging the ideas of others, and tryingout new ideas

Definitions of project-based learning include features relating to the use

of an authentic ("driving") question, a community of inquiry, and the use ofcognitive (technology-based) tools (Krajcik et al, 1994)

2 Driving questions as a key feature of project-based learning

2.1 Function of driving questions

The driving question in project-based learning serves to organize anddrive activities of the project, provides a context in which students can use andexplore learning goals and scientific practices, and provides continuity andcoherence to the full range of project activities

Learning environments that are project-based have five key features(Blumenfeld et al., 1991; Krajcik, et al., 1994):

1 They start with a driving question, a problem to be solved

2 Students explore the driving question by participating in authentic, situatedinquiry – processes of problem solving that are central to expert performance inthe discipline As students explore the driving question, they learn and applyimportant ideas in the discipline

3 Students, teachers, and community members engage in collaborative activities

to find solutions to the driving question This mirrors the complex socialsituation of expert problem solving

4 While engaged in the inquiry process, students are scaffolding with learningtechnologies that help them participate in activities normally beyond theirability

5 Students create a set of tangible products that address the driving question

These are shared artifacts, publicly accessible external representations of theclass’s learning

2.2 What makes a good driving question?

Some factors that should be considered in writing driving questions include:

- Make the question engaging The best questions are easily understood and

interesting They ignite curiosity, making students eager to explore answers

- Craft open-ended questions Driving questions go beyond fact-finding and

reporting They require students to compile information and use application,analysis, evaluation and synthesis to arrive at answers Yes-no questions do notrequire critical thinking

- Support student learning goals Projects are based on the content and skills

students must learn The driving questions align with these goals and incorporateacademic vocabulary

2.3 Common types of driving questions

Following are some common types of driving questions that are suitable for highschool students

- Solve a Problem: There’s a real-world predicament with multiple solutions.

- Educate: The purpose of the project is to teach others.

- Convince Others: Students persuade a specified audience to do something or

change their opinions

- Discuss Broad Theme: The project tackles big ideas.

- Give Opinion: Students need to consider all sides of an issue in order to form

and justify their opinions

3 Speaking skills 3.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is a basic skill that language learners should master with theother language skills It is defined as a complex process of sending and receivingmessages through the use of verbal expressions, but it also involves non-verbalsymbols such as gestures and facial expressions Hedge (2000: 261) definesspeaking as “a skill by which people are judged while first impressions are beingformed.”

3.2 The elements of speaking

In order to speak a foreign language fluently and accurately, learners need

to be able to know some elements which are very important to develop this skill

According to Harmer (2001:89), these elements include knowledge of

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vocabulary, grammar, fluency and also attitude These are the main cores ofspeaking that have to be learned by the learner who are willing to learn foreignlanguage.

4 Adapting Textbooks 4.1 What is textbook adaptation?

Adapting textbook activities is not just something teachers should do asthe need arises but also for appealing to the lower, middle and strong studentlevels Textbook adaptation is performed to make textbook lessons morecommunicative and incorporate authentic textbook into the lessons Adapting isthe ability to create the textbook that introduces and integrates skills in a lively,enjoyable and productive format

4.2 Principles and techniques for adapting textbooks

Despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs ofthe intended users, textbooks are subject to adaptation when they are actuallyused in the classroom McDonough and Shaw (1993:83) propose that textbooksare internally coherent although they may be, they may not be entirelyapplicable Although most classroom teachers will not be involved in theproduction of textbooks, all teachers have the responsibility for textbookevaluation, selection and adaptation It is undeniable that adapting textbookallows teachers to achieve more compatibility and fitness between the textbookand the teaching environment, and therefore maximize the value of the book forthe benefit of their particular learners and for the most effective teachingoutcomes to achieve Maley (1998:281) suggested the following techniques toadapt textbook:

• Omission: the teacher leaves out things seemed inappropriate, offensive,

unproductive, etc., for the particular group

• Addition: where there seems to be inadequate coverage, teachers may

decide to add to textbooks, either in the form of texts or exercise material

• Reduction: where the teacher shortens an activity to give it less weight or

emphasis

• Extension: where an activity is lengthened in order to give it an additional

dimension (For example, a vocabulary activity is extended to draw attention tosome syntactic patterning.)

• Rewriting/modification: teacher may occasionally decide to rewrite

material, especially exercise material, to make it more appropriate, more

“communicative”, more demanding, more accessible to their students, etc

• Replacement: text or exercise material which is considered inadequate, for

whatever reason, may be replaced by more suitable material This is often culledfrom other resource textbook

• Re-ordering: teachers may decide that the order in which the textbooks are

presented is not suitable for their students They can then decide to plot adifferent course through the textbooks from the one the writer has laid down

• Branching: teachers may decide to add options to the existing activity or to

suggest alternative pathways through the activities

Textbook adaptation can be done at three levels The first level is macroadaptation, which is ideally done before the language program begins Aftercomparing what is covered in a textbook and what is required by the syllabus orexamination, the teacher may find that certain areas or even whole units of thebook can be omitted, and certain contents need to be supplemented

The second level of adaptation is adapting a unit This could be done byreordering the activities, combining activities, omitting activities, rewriting orsupplementing exercise material, etc Unit adaptation helps to make theclassroom teaching more smooth and cohesive It also helps the teacher to betterfulfill the aims of a unit

The third level is adaptation of specific activities in a unit Occasionally

an activity is regarded as valuable, but it is not well-designed or it is not suitable

in a particular class If the teacher does not want to give up the activity, he orshe needs to adapt it

4.3 Instructions for adapting textbooks

When adapting the textbooks, teachers should follow the following steps:

1 Decide what content or which topics need adapting in light of the readingtexts and activities Activities can relate to any one of the four basic skills:

reading, listening, writing and speaking Can the text be exploited because of itthematic, lexical and structural elements in order to appeal and engage all threelevels of students? If not, you will need to adapt your textbook activities to suitthe levels This may appear as a ton of work, but the key is to think better, not towork harder

2 Before you go ahead and change some of the activities particularly thereading activities, consider rewriting parts or all of the texts The reason fordoing this is to simplify some of the vocabulary items and other concepts thatmight be difficult for some of your low-performing ESL students to understand

You might also consider glossing the difficult vocabulary items or writing themeanings in another language if you are teaching in a bilingual context

3 Take a look at those textbook activities in your textbooks and redesignthem in light of the amount of the activity itself Redesigning the activity in light

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of "amount" is about the obligatory and optional tasks ESL students can berequired to complete a specific amount of questions For example, low-performing ESL students can list four answers, while the stronger students canlist more than four answers.

4 Cater to the level of difficulty of the task The teacher can adapt the task

to suit all three levels: lower, middle and stronger This gives the student achoice of activities Most ESL students will want to choose first the activity thatthey feel they can comfortably do before deciding if the topic is motivatingenough Again, adapt the language of the activity and the instructions of theactivity itself to suit the level of the student's linguistic ability

5 Decide how you want to engage your students If you are working withgroups, then maybe you should adapt a few textbook activities to engagestudents in group or pair work Once you have decided how you want to activelyengage your students, you will need to make sure students understand theprocedures of group and pair work you intend to use Leave enough time in thelesson to do both or you will find yourself struggling with time

(retrieved from esl-class.html)

http://www.ehow.com/how_4481192_adapt-textbook-activities-II PRACTICAL BACKGROUND

1 An overview of the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

Each unit in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”, which refers to a particulartheme, is divided into 6 sections: Getting started, Language, Skills,Communication and Culture, Looking back and Project Each section isdesigned with different kinds of activities with a view to helping students followthe lessons easily and attain basic knowledge related to the theme of the unit aswell as improve their skills in terms of Reading, Speaking, Listening andWriting Normally, each skill lesson is taught and learnt in a 45-minute period

Like other skill lessons presented in the textbook, speaking lessonconsists of many activities from the easier to more complicated ones for students

to fulfill

2 Situation of teaching and learning speaking skills at high school

Under the instructions of Ministry of education and training, all schoolsnow have had their own syllables for teaching and learning English As far as Iknow, most high schools in Nghe An province allot 45 minutes for each skilllesson However, many of the activities in Reading, Listening and Writinglessons in general and in Speaking lesson in particular are not fully carried outdue to the lack of time as well as students’ uneven levels of proficiency Many

of the students are not able to actively take part in pair or group discussions due

III THE STUDY

1 Methodology 1.1 Participants

The participants of the research consist of 90 students of 10th form fromclasses 10A and 10D at Le Viet Thuat high school In this study, no studentswere identified by their names All of the informants have the same time oflearning English of five years; and they have already completed the syllabus ofEnglish with the new series of English textbook from grade 6 to grade 9 at

secondary school

1.2 Instrumentation

In order to get information to fulfill the aims of the study, a survey

questionnaire (given in Appendix 1) was designed and delivered to the student

respondents The survey questionnaire included two parts: Part 1 was somepersonal information and Part 2 comprised 5 questions relating to researchedissue Questions in the questionnaire contained both closed-ended questions andopened-ended questions The questionnaire was written in a logical order so thatthey could gradually lead the respondents into the theme of the study andstimulate the respondents to the questions

In addition, students’ presentation results in speaking classes were used to

evaluate the effectiveness of the application of the study

1.3 Data collection procedures

The quantitative method was mainly used in the study A survey throughquestionnaire was conducted among the participants with a view to gatheringstudents’ opinions on learning speaking in class The participants were asked toanswer all of them honestly and frankly All of these answers would be used asimportant data of the study

The participants, then, were divided into two groups, one was taught withthe application of the intended driving questions while the other was not

After the two groups had completed their study with different teachingmethods (with and without using driving questions), they were asked to make a

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presentation on the same topic to get marks The data gained from thequestionnaire along with the results of students’ presentations in class were used

to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of adapted driving questions

2 Findings of the study

The results from the survey show that a majority of the participants

(72,2% ) regard speaking as the most important skill in learning English The

second position is listening skill, which accounts for 14,4% of the informants

Reading skill holds the third most important place with 9% Meanwhile, only4,4% of students evaluate writing skill important

However, despite this evaluation most of the students do not like speakingskills 77 out of 90 respondents reveal that they are not interested in speakinglessons they have in class This is explained through their comments on thefactors that affect their interest in learning speaking skills 52% of the studentswho do not like speaking claim that their disinterest in learning speaking skillslie in the requirements of the textbook and the teacher These students think thatthe instructions of the tasks are not motivating and they do not want to be asked

to follow exactly the activities presented in the textbook Another factor whichhas bad influence on students’ preference for learning speaking skills is theirpersonal problems like shyness 28,6% of students in this group admit that theirlack of confidence and shyness prevent them from taking part in speakingactivities Approximately 19,4% of the students complain about vocabulary andgrammar structures in speaking activities, which proves that students to someextent are able to master basic things of a speaking activity It is also surprising

to discover that none of the students dislikes English as well as speaking topics

in the textbook One more significant finding related to students of this group isthat nearly all of them feel embarrassed, nervous, uncomfortable and even boredwhen taking part in speaking activities

On the contrary, the rest of the respondents (13 students) find theirspeaking lessons interesting All of them agree that the factors encouraging them

to learn speaking include teacher’s teaching method, chances of speakingEnglish more and improving speaking skills, no new structures, and fascinatingactivities given in the textbook Students of this group also feel confident andmotivated with speaking activities in class

From these findings, I would like to make some suggestions on changingthe requirements of some speaking tasks in the new textbook in order tofacilitate students’ process of actively taking part in speaking activities, henceenhance their speaking skills

3 Finding solutions 3.1 Suggested adaptations for the requirements of some speaking tasks in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”

Unit 1: Family Life Speaking lesson objective: exchanging opinions about household chores

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as their reasons can be repeated Therefore, personally I believe that therequirements of the given activities should be modified so that students can getinvolved in more speaking activities.

Question 1: Which household chores

do you like and dislike doing? Give reasons for your answer.

Question 2: How can students arrange time to do the housework?

Present your discussion.

- work arrangement: individual work,pair work or group work

Unit 2: Your body and You Speaking lesson objectives: talking about how to get rid of bad habits

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a Comments:

There are 4 activities in the speaking lesson, which is difficult for bothteachers and students to complete them in 45 minutes In addition, basing on thelesson objectives, there are overlaps among these activities Activities 1 and 2can be combined by having students explain their answers at the same time theychoose the habits so as to save time for other activities According to the lessonobjectives, it is also unnecessary for students to answer the given questions inactivity 3 This activity should be a reference for students to carry out thefollowing one

b Suggestions:

From the above analysis, I would like to suggest following drivingquestions to make it more suitable for large classes with students at differentlevels of proficiency

Question 1 (for activities 1 and 2):

Which of the following habits do you have and how do they affect you?

Question 2 (for activities 3 and 4):

Choose one bad habit and suggest some ways to kick it Use information

in activity 3 as a reference if necessary.

- work arrangement: individual work,pair work or group work

- possible outcomes:

+ students think of their own habits

+ students can identify which habitsare good or bad for them (as required

in activity 1)

+ students talk about the effects ofthese habits on them

+ students explain their identification

of good and bad habits (as required inactivity 2)

- work arrangement: pair work orgroup work

+ students share their own experience

to complete their talk

In brief, driving questions in this case ensures the lesson objectives aswell as suitable time for a speaking lesson in 45 minutes, especially in largeclasses

Unit 3: Music Speaking lesson objectives: talking about TV shows

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a Comments:

There are only two activities for this lesson, which seems appropriate forthe time within a speaking lesson However, their requirements do not createmany opportunities for students to practise speaking skills As a result, theactivities to some extent are unappealing to students If students follow exactlythe requirement of activity 1, all they have to do is completing the table withgiven information Although they are asked to compare and contrast theinformation with a partner, some do not need to speak English to do this Theymay exchange their writings and write feedback on their partners’ Similarly,students can create a new show like the example in activity 2a by themselveswithout any difficulties and with no discussion if they follow the givenrequirements

b Suggestions:

In order to solve these problems, the requirements of the activities should

be modified into more stimulating ones for students to carry out With thislesson, I would like to make some changes by raising another question foractivity 1

Driving question 1: Read the TV blurbs in the textbook, then make a similar one to introduce about your favourite TV show and present it to the class.

Driving question 2: Create a new TV show and describe it in details to the class.

- Work arrangement: individual work

+ students talk about the TV show theylike

- Work arrangement: pair work orgroup work

- Possible outcomes:

+ students can use their imaginativeideas to create a TV show and share itwith their friends

+ students can improve theirpresentation skill by talking about theshow they have created

In one word, changing the requirements in this lesson helps students havemore opportunities to practise speaking skills

a Comments:

There are three activities for students to carry out in this part The firstactivity provides students with useful expressions of showing agreement ordisagreement However, because of its requirement, the second activity isseparated from the main one (activity 3) in terms of cohesion and idea relationwhile some statements in activity 2 (statements 1,3,4,6) can be helpful forstudents to fulfill the requirements of the next activity Moreover, there is arepeat of ideas between activities 2 and 3 The second and the third statements

of activity 2 to are equivalent to the first and the third statements of activity 3respectively

b Suggestions:

To make full use of the ideas provided in activities 2 and 3, I would like

to combine them into one with an expansion of the given requirements Bydoing this students who have difficulty in brainstorming ideas for theirdiscussion will find it easier to carry out the speaking task Besides, anotherdriving question is designed not only to encourage students to speak using theirown understanding and experience but to raise their awareness of genderequality in job opportunities in modern society

Driving question 1: Discuss if you agree or disagree with the following statement “Married women should not pursue a career”, using sentences

in 2 and 3 and your own ideas for your agreement or disagreement.

Report the results of your discussion

to the class.

Driving question 2: What should the husband in modern society do to help his wife if she wants to pursue a career?

- Work arrangement: pair work orgroup work

- Possible outcome:

+ students use sentences in the book(activities 2 and 3)

+ students use their own ideas

+ students use expressions ofagreement or disagreement in activity1

- Work arrangement: individual work,pair work or group work

+ students can be aware of the equality

in job opportunities and householdresponsibilities between men andwomen

a Comments:

There are four activities in the speaking lesson Activities 1 and 4 aresuitable for different students to carry out According to the requirements ofactivities 2 and 3, each student only has to get information about either the UK

or Russia Therefore, it may causes difficulties for students of lower proficiency

to have a complete understanding about the content of two passages when theypractice speaking with different partners as required in activity 3 They may not

be able to exchange their ideas with other students due to their limitedvocabulary unless they have read the passages beforehand As a result, it maytake a lot of time to complete these two activities

b Suggestions:

In order to have all students involve in these activities in an active andeffective way, and to save time for other activities, I propose that requirementsshould be changed to make them more suitable for students’ capabilities

My suggested driving question is: Read about the traditions and customs

in the UK and Russia, then compare these things in two countries Report your findings to the class.

- Work arrangement: pair work or group work

- Possible outcomes:

+ students know about some traditions and customs in the UK and Russia

+ students discuss and find out the similarities and differences in these traditionsand customs

+ students can improve their speaking skills through presenting their discussionresults

3.2 Sample teaching plans

The following are sample teaching plans that I have used in my teachingfor one group of the respondents While applying them into the lesson, I amhappy to realize that most of the students are much eager to get involved incarrying out all the activities required

Sample teaching plan for Unit 1: Family life- part B: Speaking

- exchange opinions about household chores

2 Skills:

- speak to exchange opinions about household chores

3 Attitude:

- willingly acquire and exercise the tasks

- actively, creatively and cooperatively participate in and fulfill assigned tasks

- positively, confidently take part in discussing and presenting the result of the tasks during lessons

- build up and develop love and responsibility for family

- be ready to do take actions to do the duties in the family

4 Competences need to develop:

- pair work and group work skill

- Ask Ss to make a list of household chores

Individualwork +

T < > Sswashing up

cooking

Household chores

doing the laundrysweeping

+ Who likes doing household chores?

+ Who dislikes doing household chores?

- Give comments and lead in the new lesson:

exchange your opinions on doing household chores

- Ask Ss work in pairs to match Mai’s answers with Anna’s questions about household chores

- Ask for Ss’ answers

- Elicit feedback from the whole class

- Provide final feedback and suggested answers for Ss: 1 c 2 a 3 d 4 b

- Call on some pairs of Ss to practice reading the conversation

- Provide corrections on Ss’ pronunciation if necessary

2 Activity 2: Answering question

Which household chores do you like and dislike doing? Give reasons for your answer.

The purpose of this activity is develop Ss’ skills of exchanging ideas, working in pairs by asking Ss to explain the reasons why they like or dislike doing some household chores

- Ask Ss to use the information above to make the similar conversation about themselves

- Have Ss work in pairs to carry out the activity, reminding Ss to provide reasons for their likes and