Applying speaking games effectively to students of the eleventh form

Playing language games like speaking activities is a good way to encourage students to learn English speaking in high schools inparticular and learn English in general.. A mini-test was

high schools teachers and students However because of many different reasons,

it is not popular Vietnamese teachers still tend to teach English by traditional

way One of the important skills when learning English is speaking, but it doesnot receive much consideration from teachers and students Therefore, students

do not have opportunities to improve their speaking skill

The aim of this study is to make clear the important role of speakinggames in teaching English and suggest some effective way~to design these gamesfor eleventh-form students Playing language games like speaking activities is a

good way to encourage students to learn English speaking in high schools inparticular and learn English in general A mini-test was done on a real eleventh-

form class which consists of fifty-one students at Trung Vuong High school tocheck their abilities before applying games An experimental game for unit 7 wascarried out in this class In order to know high school teachers' and students'

opinions about using speaking games in teaching and learning English, twoquestionnaires were designed, one for teachers and another for eleventh-form

students of four classes

The most important result indicates that all students like to speak English

through playing games than they are pointed to do so Most of teachers show that

they really want to use language games in their classes by this way because ofmany positive influences The study ends up with some comparisons and

I

-discussions of the experiment and the results of two questionnaires on teachers'

and students' attitudes towards teaching and learning English by applying gameslike speaking games

It is hoped that this paper would be useful for high school teachers and

their students, especially for students who will be teachers of English in thefuture

Besides some limitations of my research, I am sure that it is hard to avoid

some mistakes All the comments and advice!;, from the teaching staff andeveryone will be welcomed I would like to appreciate them with all my respects

I

chapter 1: NTROOLCfI(}.J

an foreign countries, many people are seen doing the crosswords in

~ newspapers everywhere such as on a bus, in a coffee shop, at a subway

station or even in the park with all their interest People told me that it was an

interesting and relaxing way to make their brain work and learn something new

Truly, people all like to learn things inan enjoyable way because there is a belief

that people can do best what they enjoy doing It is particularly true concerning

language learning Among the activities that encourage students to learn andenable them to acquire the language easily and quickly, language games seem to

be the most popular and effective because they have been proved to stimulate

students to work, help to gain confidence, bring about a healthy competitive

environment, etc.; and most of all make it great to learn

Playing language games is, however, not popular in most schools inVietnam It is because of the wrong conception that games are nothing but

rewards for students being working hard, or even worse, a choice to occupy freetime Other reasons include the size of classes, time allocation, material, etc It is

not easy to change the way of thinking and overcome the obstacles

Recently, however, there have been many changes and experimentsmade in the education system, in general, and in language teaching and learning,

in particular It has been realized that learning a language is to communicate not

to do grammar work and take examinations There have been changes in the

1

Chapter I : Introduction

syllabus and new course books have been written and put into practice By which

I mean the prospect is great and so it is high time to think of ways to get

over difficulties and improve the situations The purpose of this study is to

analyze the important role of language games in teaching speaking

Suggestions are also given, hopefully to encourage Vietnamese high school

teachers to apply games in classes

Within the limit of a graduation paper, however, I just focus on analyzing

teachers' and students' attitude towards the issues An experimental game is done

on the eleventh form students at Trung Vuong high school where I spent my

one-month internship The data are collected randomly from the mentioned

population in order to increase the reliability of the research

Though being limited by the small involved population, tested time and

my little experience, it is my hope that this paper can make a humble contribution

to the English teaching and learning in high schools

The paper consists of six chapters The first chapter is the Introduction

which includes the background, objective, scope and organization of theresearch The second chapter is the Literature Review, an over view of the

Communicative Approach and language games The next chapter shows the

Methodology as well as the results of the investigation by questionnaires and

doing the experiment It also covers the description of the subjects and thematerial of this study Chapter Discussion presents the findings, explanation and

discussion from the results Some suggestions for playing speaking gameseffectively are introduced in chapter five The last chapter is the Conclusion

2

~ 2: LlfERATURE REVIEW

6'T- here is no doubt t~t English has been the most popular language in the

U world In Vietnam, particularly,-Englishjs c.onsidered the key to success

It guarantees young people good jQQ.sd~romotion, and opportunities to develop

- : :' -:_-themselves._Accordingly, teaching English has become an important and

\.

promising job Teachers of English in Vietnam, due to the many difficulties

related to the country's political and economic situations, have not been able to

apply the modem method in teaching English

Joanna Baker and Heather Westrup (2000, 3) state that there is no single

way to learn English, there are many effective methods of learning and teaching

languages Till now, Communicative Approach is considered better than any

others such as Grammar Translation or Direct Method

2.1 Definition of Communicative Approach

2.1.1 Communicative Approach - A brief definition

Communicative Approach was first known in the mid 1970s It is a way ofmaking sure that students learn language for many different purposes beyond the

classroom (Marilyn Levis, Nov 1995) In classrooms, this method is known as a

way of teaching with various activities, which focus on the role of students

According to Marilyn Lewis, (1995) students learn how to use language tocommunicate with other people rather than speaking and writing just forpracticing the language She also agrees that learning to use the language form

appropriately is an important part of the communicative competence Students

have chances to practice, to use them freely because in the Communicative

3

• Chapter 2 : Literature review

Approach, each student has a choice of what he or she will say and how he or she

will say (Diane Larsen_ Freeman, 1986)

that teachers can use in their own classes" such as "guessing games,"

"information gaps' exercise," "activities in which students exchange personal

information," "discussion" or "role play," and communicative games I wouldlike to tell more about each kind of activities to prove that they do focus on the

interaction among learners

Guessing games:

Teachers demonstrate a guessmg game by using a picture The rule of these

games is very simple Students' duty is to guess what the picture that their

-teacher has is In order to get some information about the picture, -students willask their teacher "Yes-No questions", and they will try to draw it The picture isfinally showed to the class

'Information' exercises:

This kind of communicative activity is designed for pair work The two students

in each pair are given different information They take tum to find out theirfriend's information by asking questions

4

Chapter 2 : Literature review

Exchanging personal information:

Students will tell each other about their lives, their hobbies, their experiences,etc This activity is like a free talk which encourages students to say what they

think

Discussion:

Students are asked to work in pairs or groups on given topics Students, then,

discuss briefly with their teacher what answers they gave and show the reasons of

their choices

Role-plav:

Adrian Doff (1988) indicates:

Role-play is always of bringing situations from real life into the classroom When we do role-play, we ask students to imagine.

( Adrian Doff, 1988)

A role or a situation or both a role and a situation are imagined

2.1.3 Roles o/teachers

Although in the Communicative Approach, teachers are not the center, they play

remarkable roles in making things work well Teachers are less dominant in theclassroom does not mean teachers work freely or do no teaching In a

communicative class, many roles of teachers are fulfilled A teacher is not only

an actor/actress but also an organizer, an advisor, a facilitator and a

co-communicator of his or her students' learning (Freeman, 1986)

First, a teacher_ an orgamzer_ creates or chooses the right types of

activities for students The teacher, then, reasonably divide the class into pairs or

5

• Chapter 2 : Literature review

groups to exploit students' abilities (Diane Larsen- Freeman, 1985) If the class is

in good organization, students' learning will be easier and better

Second, as a facilitator, a teacher manages the activities of the class He or

she takes the responsibility to establish and control the situations Incommunicative activities, like playing games, a teacher is needed as a person

who controls the playing of the games, explain the games' rules George P

McCallum mentions:

How much teachers actually participates in the game, he or she always remain

on charge and keep the situation under control This is especially true when playing some of the physical active games and certainly when working with

younger people.

(George P McCallum, 1980, xi)

Third, Littlewood (1981) points out that during the classroom activities, ateacher has to move from pairs to pairs or from groups to groups to observe the

students' performance When a teacher acts as an advisor, he helps his students

by answering their questions, offering advice, etc

Last but not least, when being a co-communicator, a teacher engages in

the communicative activities along with the students (Littlewood, 1981) Thatmeans he or she sometimes takes part in the activities to encourage students to

work

2.1.4 Roles of students

In Communicative Approach, students are the center In other words, students'

role is dominant in class According to Freeman, (1986) all of the students arecommunicators They communicate with their friends, their teachers so they, in

fact, learn to communicate by communicating (Diane Laser- Freeman, 1985)

6

Chapter 2 : Literature review

These authors also show that students are actively engaged in negotiating the

meaning while trying to make themselves understand even when their knowledge

of the target language is incomplete Students' roles are emphasized: "All of the

class should be involved in one way or another." (George P McCallum, 1980, xi)Students' involvement plays an important part in the success of the activities in

the class

2.2 The necessity of Communicative Approach in teaching languages

Professor Lewis Wobert (1995) emphasizes: "If you know how something works,

you can begin to work out how to interfere with it" It means you can do anythingthat you are instructed how to do and given opportunities to try Communicative

Approach will help you do this In communicative classes, teachers aim to getstudents to practice, to get accustomed to the language by communicative

activities Teachers want their students to learn how to use the language

communicatively through communicative activities (Diane Larsen- Free, 1986)

The importance of these activities is indicated: "Communicative activities wouldmake the teaching of listening, speaking, reading, writing more effective." (Tran

Nguyen Song Khanh, 2002)

Once again, William Littlewood agrees that communicative activities is an

important part of the learning process Some contributions of communicative

activities are emphasized

Firstly, they provide "whole_task practice." In Communicative activities,students have chances to practice all skills such as speaking, listening, writing or

reading Because teachers do not dominate the class much and cannot control all

students' language, students have time to use the language functions in anyway

to express their ideas William Littlewood (1981) points out that those

7

Chapter 2 : Literature review

communicative activities provide "whole_task practice" III considering howpeople learn to carry out various kinds of skill performance

Secondly, Communicative Activities improve motivation (William

Littlewood, 1981) Learning motivation is very necessary It makes students feelinterested in studying If students have more activities to do with the language

they study, they will acquire the language faster and easier Tony Lynch (1996)

states that the way that learner feel is something they are interested in William

Littlewood also indicates the learners' ultimate objective is to do communication

with others, their motivation to learn is more likely to be sustained

Next, Communicative Activities allow natural learning They make

students feel pleasant when learning because they work in pairs or in groups

Students have time to practice speaking naturally, independently without much of

teachers' control, "language learning takes place inside the learners and, in fact,many aspects of language learning can take place only through natural

processes "

Another point is that Communicative Activities create the contexts which

support the learning Working in a communicative class, building positiverelationships with and among students is very important In a trustworthy

relationship the threat that students feel is reduced and therefore, their learning is

promoted Students can learn from their interaction with each other as well astheir interaction with the teacher (Diane Larsen- Freeman, 1986) There is a point

•

Chapter 2 : Literature review

To sum up, the importance of Communicative Activities is thatcommunicative language teaching makes use of real life situations that

necessitate communication (Tran Nguyen Song Khanh, 2002)

2.3 The importance of speaking skill?

We all communicate everyday In fact, communication is what we spend most

of our time doing.

(Curt Simmons)

There are many_ways to_communicate, but speaking is the most effective wa{Inour modem life, what can students do if they just learn English by writing or

listening? We speak to make ourselves derstood to give orders, to ask for

favors, to persuade people, or just simply to make friends, etc There is no doubt,

~hus, being able to sReak English well is a 'must' to successful learners of

English That is why teachers should offer more opportunities for students to

practice speaking

Once agam, we talk about the Communicative Approach This new

teaching method focuses on the speaking skill In other words, it suggests the

way in which students perform some kind of oral tasks by using the target

language (R Douglas Brown, 1994) Only by that way can students clearly show

their roles as the center of language classes

The next reason is that oral communication skill helps to provide someperspective to the more practice considerations: pronunciation, accuracy and

fluency (R Douglas Brown, 1994) While speaking, students can gam many

things not only from their teachers but also from their friends

Another reason which raises the question of why speaking should be cared

m teaching English is that speaking activities can give students enormous

9

•

Chapter 2 : Literature review

confidence and satisfaction With sensitive guidance, teachers can encourage

them into further study (Jeremy Harmer, 1998)

We all know that there is very little time, if not none at all saved for

speaking in the programme of English teaching in high schools It is

understandable why students are so shy to use English to communicate or whythey feel hard when using English to express their ideas How can teachers help

students to overcome these problems? There is no other choice than to train the

students' speaking skill

By what I mean, teaching speaking should be encouraged in teaching

English by many ways My research paper focuses on speaking games which

help both teachers and students with an interesting and effective way of teaching

and learning English

2.4 The reasons of using language games in language classes?

Language games should be highly appreciated among communicative activities

for getting students to communicate with each others in English (Adrian Doff,1988.) The emphasis in games is on successful communication or fluency rather

than on accuracy By playing games, many opportunities are offered to

encourage learners to use the language to express what they want, what they

think or even show their feeling without the worry of making mistakes "Gamesthat are truly communicative." (Morrow, 1981)

Next, games are introduced as one of the highest motivating technique

(George P Mc Callum, 1980) That is true Playing language games will changethe traditional atmosphere of the class The class is made more alive when both

teachers and students join the game With games, students find them enjoyable(Johnson and Morrow, 1981) They will work without any pressure, thinking that

10

Chapter 2 : Literature review

they are playing in stead of learning Jill Hadfield also points out that one of the

most important reasons for using games in teaching is that they are immensely

enjoyable for both teachers and students Moreover, games make the lessoneasier to learn and to remember because some specific points of the lesson are

focused to draw students' attention (George P Me Callum) Specially talking

about speaking time, which is considered a little hard to get students'

involvement, the excitement is very essential

In addition, language games bring about an atmosphere of healthycompetition (George P Me Callum) Every student has equal participation, equal

chance in the game Language games offer a good working environment, in

which slow students and fast students can work together

Furthermore, language games help students to gain confidence This iseasy to understand Playing games is usually designed for group work No longer

do students think that they have to work alone They cooperate with all themembers in their group to reach their goal Working without the thought of

getting bad or good mark, perhaps they can be willing to play without hesitancy,simply because of their roles in their group

Another important reason for applying games in teaching is that by games

students are trained many positive qualities Students not only learn the way tohelp their friends, to be patient, to have quicker reactions in learning the

language, but also have highly teamwork spirit Diane Larsen and Freeman show

it:

They take turns so that each person has a chance to make prediction how a

classmate will spend time.

(Diane Larsen & Freeman)

11

/

Chapter 2 : Literature review

For all these reasons, teachers are encouraged to overcome difficulties and

put language games in use I find it a great pleasure to share my little knowledge

and experience on the problems we are discussing

2.5 Problems

Despite all the advantages and good things games bring to teaching and learning

language, they are not used widely enough, especially in Vietnam I would like to

mention here some common problems for us all to think about

The first problems is the size of the class _ a typical problem of schools in

Vietnam The number of students in a class can be up to forty or fifty, or even

more at colleges and universities The overcrowding obviously causes bigdifficulty in instructing, managing and controlling students; particularly when

they get involved in exciting and noisy activities like games Games, then, tumout to be ineffective and a waste of time So the truth is when students work in

group, group size is also a problem (Harmer, 1983)

The second concern is time It is known that in high school, teachersconstantly work under the pressure of time Time is saved for training skills

considered more important and necessary for students like reading and writing.Games are, to most high school teachers, a complete impossibility Ironically,

using games in classes is only a choice when there is nothing else to do

The third thing that causes trouble is the source of games We all knowhow busy teachers in Vietnam are They work hard but earn very little It iscommon for a teacher to teach six to eight hours or even more per day whichleaves them very little time to do preparation for lesson Designing games is,

therefore, too hard and time-consuming work There have been more and more

12

Chapter 2 : Literature review

game books available in the bookstores, recently They are, however, incredibly

expensive, not to mention the fact that they should be redesigned to fit the topics

and circumstances of high school students

The next problem is not less problem that is the noise that comes along the

excitement Noise is, in fact, considered as the positive result of game activities

It breaks the traditional atmosphere which is sometimes boring or even sleepy.~

But when it turns to be out of control, it is a trouble That is not to mentionpossible quarrels on the result which may leave bad impression on students

towards playing games Things like noise, quarrels are certainly not appreciated

by the school management

All the above factors contribute to the last problem_the students' attitude

towards language games Due to the fact that games are hardly a choice of mostteachers, students are not familiar with working on games They, consequently,

don't support and cooperate well Even when they have a chance to playa game,

they think it is just for fun and are not serious in practicing They also jump into

using the mother tongue very often

In short, there have been difficulties language games bring about Istrongly believe, however, we can deal with them all, thinking of the positive

factors language games own There are suggestions and recommendation to be

considered in the next parts of my paper

13

I spent my four-week internship at Trung Vuong high school which is located in

District one, Ho Chi Minh City This is a big school of over fifty-five classes,

twenty of which are of the eleventh grade

The subjects of the questionnaire were chosen at random from classes

IIA2, IIA3, IlA6 and IIA13 They all have been studying English for five

years and, are, thus, supposed to be at the intermediate level of English language

competence Besides, the school they are going to, Trung Vuong, is among the

best in the city Teachers and students are well equipped with cassette playersand a laboratory They work forty-five-minute periods every week on English;

one of which is in the lab to train listening and speaking skill On the whole, theyare still focus on reading, grammar and exercises, though

3.1.2 Teachers and trainee teachers

Two groups of teachers are chosen to deliver the questionnaires The first group

consists of ten teachers teaching English in Trung Vuong high school Their ages

varied from twenty-seven to fifty three Many of them have taught English inhigh schools for more than twenty years With the hope of making English a

more interesting subject to learn, the younger teachers sometimes try to adoptnew method of teaching But working under the constant pressure of time, beingurged to help students to gain the best scores in the final writing exams; they

finally tum back to the old grammar translation method

14

Chapter 3 : Methodology

The second group contains fourteen semors of Huflit They work as

trainee teachers in Trung Vuong High school They have learnt many newmethodologies at university and are, so, very eager put them into practice during

their internship They are young, dynamic and creative who offered some very

great ideas to my paper

3.1.3 Description of the textbook

The book "English 11" written by Tu Anh, Phan Ha and May Vi Phuong consists

of ten units including one consolidation unit

* Structure of a lesson unit

Reading text

It contains pictures and a reading text of about four to seven paragraphs Topics

covered are of various areas like: motion picture, advertising, jogging,

mathematics, artificial intelligence, pharmacist, women's liberation and

steamboat There is a note followed to introduce key language items

Comprehension

This part is used to check students' comprehension and help students to get the

main ideas of the reading Tasks provided include True-False checking, questionanswering and blank filling

Practice

This part is where the grammar focus is presented Each point consists of therules, examples and tasks

15

Chapter 3 : Methodology

Word study

The focus is on the word formation and vocabulary enrichment to form and use

complex words and phrases Examples and short exercises are given

Further practice

This is an extended practice Activities included are pair work conversations The

test is of various kinds designed to consolidate the target vocabulary, grammarpoints of the unit Tasks include blank filling, sentence making, translating, etc

More exercises

This part is placed in some units The aim is to reinforce and develop various

skills These additional exercises are, to some extent, challenging and thereforeoptional

Fun comer

It can be a riddle, a game or a song offered to cheer up the class

More reading

Some intensive readings are provided in place of fun comer to develop students'

reading skill and expand their knowledge

Chapter 3 : Methodology

In Trung Vuong High school, teachers are supposed to use not only thecourse book but also the additional material which is in fact a selection of

exercises suggested by the teaching staff The focus is on vocabulary and

grammar practice and reinforcement The additional material is considered very

important in training and familiarizing students with solving tasks in their exams

3.1.4 Description of classes in Trung Vuong High school

As mentioned above, there are ten units to be covered within the time allocated

This means each unit should be finished within eighteen periods Students at

Trung Vuong High school are offered five periods per week for English, in which

one is spent at the laboratory

Most teachers spend about five to ten minutes to check the previous lessonorally or by giving mini-tests The procedure of the main lesson is performed

differently Teachers, however, tend to follow these steps:

READING

In this section, the reading text is exploited At first, teachers briefly introduce

the topic of the lesson Teachers explain the difficult words from the text.Students are asked to read the reading text and then, answer the teachers'

questions

GRAMMAR

The main grammar points of the reading text are taught to students Teachers

give the rules, structures and examples to illustrate Then students have to dosome exercises to practice

17

Chapter 3 : Methodology

PRACTICE

Students are asked to finish exercises, mostly grammatical ones, related to what

they have learnt in the textbook They also have to do some more exercises in the

additional material called 'Extra English Course Semester 11.'

WORD STUDY

Teachers explain the rules of word formation as well as the examples in textbook

Students are required to finish some exercises They usually combine "Word

study" with other parts or with exercises

EXERCISE

The test which is after each lesson is done to reinforce the students' knowledge

Teachers often request their students to work individually Besides, additional

exercises in the Extra English Course Semester 11 are finished

Attention is paid on the vocabulary and grammar due to the old-fashioned way of

studying: learning a language means learning how to write it and do grammaticalexercises Students are still trained to be competent in doing tests not in

communicating

Besides, for many reasons, teaching aids are not available and not used

very often Students can hardly ever see charts, pictures, real objects or anythingthat encourage language learning and using

18

Chapter 3 : Methodology

3.2 Description of the questionnaires

Aiming at collecting information and learning teachers'

towards practicing-~ speaking and using language games in high schools, two,questionnaires are designed in the form of multiple choice One is for teachers

and the other for students

Q e appendix I) c~Esists of ten questions handed out totwenty-four eachers ten of which are teaching English at Trung Vuong high

school and fourteen trainee teachers doing their four-week internship there They

[ are asked to show their opinions by making a cross in the box in front of the

~swer they choose They are also invited to give further opinions and ideas on

the provided lines Twenty-four copies are given directly to teachers andcollected quickly after that

Questionnaire 2 (see appendix 2) is for students of four eleventh-fOlTI1

classes in Trung Vuong high school~A;)IIA3, IlA6 and IIAl3 The /

questionnaire contains of eight qUestion~ed directly to them One hundred

and seventy questionnaires are handed out b'!t there are only one hundred and

sixty-nine of them finished and returned

19

Chapter 3 : Methodology

considered closely related to real life so that for students will find it easy and

interesting to talk within the field

Before and after the experiment, there are a pre-game and a post-game

activity given They are, in fact, mini oral tests done on a same group of students

in order to point out the difference in the students' ability to produce the target

-.-language The fluency, the accuracy and the attitude in speaking English/before.;

'-Qnd a~:ElaYing the game are also observed and compared

The whole procedure is recorded secretly The recording is, then, listened

and carefully analyzed The data collected is believed to truly describe the

situation and be good evidence for the conclusion followed

as done to check how much students can

remember and use the grammar point learnt: "No longer" and "not any

longer/any more." Because of the time limit, this activity was quickly given tostudents in clas tllA. 2 ithin three minutes

A group of four students was chosen to join the activity Four picturesrelated to the topic of the lesson (Unit 7: Women's liberation) were showed one

-by one (See in the Appendix 3) The students involved were required to talk in

turns about these pictures by producing the grammar structures they have learnt

They had to work individually

20

Chapter 3 : Methodology

3.3.2 Description o/the game

MY TAM - YESTERDAY and NOW (-)

with fluency and accuracy

NO LONGERNOT ANY LONGER/ ANYMORE

Women's liberation (English 11 - Unit 7)

Make a set of pictures for each group of four

10 to 15 minutes

1 Divide the class into groups of four and give each

group a set of pictures

2 Ask the students to shuffle and spread out the pictures,

face down

3 Tell them that each student takes tum to pick up two

pictures each time and see if they match

- If they do, produce a sentence using the structureslearnt and keep the pictures, and pan the tum to the

one on the right

- If they don't, put them back where they were and

try to memorize their positions so that he or she canchoose the right one next time And the one on the

right takes the tum

4 Demonstrate the activity

5 Now they are ready to play When they have finished, thewinner will be the one with most pictures

21

* Set of pictures used:

Chapter 3 : Methodology

22

Chapter 3 : Methodology

23

Chapter 3 : Methodology

* Note:

While they are playing, teacher goes round and helps with correcting mistakes

(.) The game is named after a popular singer's live show The aim is to arouse

interest and attention

3.3.3 The post-game activity

The post-game activity is designed as another quick game of about three minutes

This is, in fact, the follow-up of the main game The purpose is to find :Jutwhether students make any progress in using the language

*Activity:

*Aim:

SpeakingChecking the students' use of the language after playing

games

24

Women's liberation (English 11_ Unit 7)

1 The class is divided into two groups: group A and group

B Tell them that each group takes tum to make a

statement within the topic area _ Women's liberation

They can use the ideas from the previous game or fromthe lesson They are also welcomed to give personal

0pllllOns

2 The first group who is unable to give the next statement

within five seconds will lose the game

So far I have mentioned how I collected the data and the methods I used to carry

out some experiments The results of the two questionnaires as well as thefindings from the experimental games will be explained thoroughly in the next

chapter, DISCUSSION

25