Luận văn a study on using storytelling to improve english speaking for students at a primary school in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIGNAL LNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDEES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES PHAM THI HAN ASTUDY ON USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEA

VIETNAM NATIGNAL LNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDEES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

PHAM THI HAN

ASTUDY ON USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH

SPEAKING FOR STUDENTS AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN HANG

(Nghiên cứu về việc sử đụng phương pháp kế chuyén dé nang cao kha

năng nói Tiếng Ánh cho học sinh ở một trường tiểu học ở Hã Nội)

MLA MINOR THESIS

Ficld: English Teavhing Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

HANOI- 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIYERSITY, HANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND ENTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRATHUATE STUDIES:

PHAM THI HAN

ASTUDY ON USING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING FOR STUDENTS AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL IN HANOI

(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dung phương pháp ké chuyén dé ning cao khả

hoc ¢ Ha Nod)

năng nói Tiếng Anh cho hoc sinh ử một trường

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoang Van Van

HANOI- 2020

DECLARATION

T, Pham Thi Han, hereby certify thal the thesis “A study on using storytelling to improve English speaking ability for students at a primary school in Hanoi” is

submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the

Faculty of Posl-Graduale Studies, Universily of Languages and Tnternational Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Although when doing my research, I have consulted various books, articles, and webpages for my

veferences, T exacled some ideas relaling to my study from their work T

declare that this assignment is my own work and does not involve plagiarism

or collusion

Hanoi, 2020

Pham Thi Han

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

FirsL and foremost, T would like to give my cordial thanks lo my supervisor Prof Dr, Hoang Van Van for his enlightening support, invaluable

feedback and recommendations during my fulfillment of this minor thesis

My sinvere thanks go to all of the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty

of Post Graduate Stuches at University of Languages and International Studies for

their valuable lectures on which help me to orient the research

I would like to convey my warmest appreciation and thanks to invaluable assistance lo teachers at Ly Nam De Primary School J truly wish to thank all the students in grade 3 at Ly Nam De Primary School who have actively

participated in the research

1am deeply grateful to my family for their great encouragement Without

their support, J could not have completed this thesis

ABSTRACT

Young leamers have spent more từng in learning Hnglish at primary schools

in Ianoi recent years As a result, students have more chances to learn English However, a wide mge off young learners face lacking speaking proficiency which their grammar, content, vocabulary, and fluency are limited Moreover, students have low motivation and lack confidence in learning speaking There are different

techniques of teaching speaking skills which are employed to be successful One of

the concemed techniques is storytelling ‘his research is an mvestigation into the effectiveness of teaching speaking to yaung learners through storytelling The primary aim of the study is to determine whether storytelling has an extended impact on young learners’ speaking It also studies students’ attitude to this

technique The data were collected through observation questionnaire, and tests and

then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively The resulis of the data analysis indicate that most of the students achieved considerable progress in their speaking

afler using storytelling Students alsa participated in the tesson achvely and excitedly, In addition, storytelling can motivate students to communicate,

TABLE OF CONTE DECLARATION

3 Aims and objectives of the study

A, Research q06s[ÏOn nhưng nhe

5 Scope uf the stuily aoe

6 Significance of the stud: seveneres - -

7 Organization of the thesis

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Speaking

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skill ssesscssusessscsecnecsennseesses

2.1 2 Techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners

2.1.3 Assessing speaking skill

2.1 4 Criteria levels for evaluatizys speaking skill

2.2.1 Definition of storytelling c.cscsssssssssesssseneseesesseeesseeseneeaes

2.2.2 The advantage of storytelling scceeceees

2.2.3 Storytelling, teclibiqUE8 cv vn TH nen re

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting starVbOOlks cọ tre

2.3 Studenfs” aLfÏLnde à «‹ cán n1 KỲ nh mm như

2.3.1 Students' atitHde€ cccc chen re

2.3.2 Characteristics of primary stUẲenES, cuc nen

2.4 Previons stndies in the world and ín Vieinam «co 12

4.12 Analysis of questionnaires eee

4.13 Analysis of observation .ssssesessersssesvessesreareeeeseereeneeees 37

4.2 Findings and discussion

42.1 To what extent can storytelling technique affect children’s 39

5.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further study 43

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 2A: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH

APPENDIX 2B: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX 3A: PRK-TEST OE SPEAKING SKLLL X APPENDIX 3B: POST-TEST OF SPEAKING SKILL 4H

APPENDIX 5: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

%: Porcenlage

OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: T ourse procedures

‘Table 2.1: ‘The students’ content of speaking

Table 2.2: The students’ fluency of speaking

Table 2.3: The students’ grammar of speaking

‘Table 2.4: ‘The students’ vocabulary of speaking

Table 2.5: Record of students’ test scores

Table 2.6: Comparison of mean, standard devialion, mode, minimum and

smaximum between the pre-test and post-test

Table 3: Students’ attitude toward storytelling

31 32

CHAPTER 1: INFTRODUCTTION

1 Rationale for the research

Rnglish is considered as an inlernational language which is uscd wider and

wider, As a result, English has been taught in almost every school and mostly become a compulsory subject in Vietnam, At school, teachers teach all the 4 skills

of speaking, reading, lisloning and but nol all students can develop all skills equally

Brown and Lee (2015) state that learning to speak a foreign language is often

regarded as one of the most difficult for students From the researcher's observation, sturdeuts seemed to have difficulties in speaking up during speaking

lessons ‘They faced lacking speaking proficiency As a result, their grammar, content, vocabulary, and fluency are limited Therefore, they rarely answered the

questions given by the (cachers orally or they spcke with pauses and gol trouble in

finding appropriate words to express their ideas Besides, students had low

motivation in learning speaking They rarely had opportunities to practice the

foreign Tonguage in their daily He and speaking activities for students were net

attracted them That routine activities in learning can make students bored that decrease ther motivalion and parlctpation in learomg Brown ard Tee (2015)

Another problem is that students often lack confidence in speaking They

tended to be passive in speaking lessons ‘Lhey were afraid of making mistakes and

being laughed by their friends and teachers Therefore, they preferred using the

native language or keeping quite when teachers or friends raised the questions Many researchers revealed that psychological factors such as anxiety or shyness,

lack of confidence, motivation of fear of mistakes commonly prevented students

from speaking (Nunan, 1999, Sato, 2003, ‘Thornbury, 2011)

With these problems in mind, teaching English for communication to young

learners is an important topic to study Ulas (2008) recommends that successful

school because speaking performs students’ thought and it is the oral output of learning, Nunan (1991) said that success of language is measured considering the

abitity to cary oul a conversation in the target language Therclore, teachers of English should make more effort to teach children more effectively and help students feel competent and confident by providing them with safe, entertaining,

and cducalional environment (Schindler, 2006, Sealt & Ytreberg, 2001) Hence,

teachers try to find the methods that can bring the better results and attract students

to the speaking lessons

This lead the author to the choice of the study “A study on using storytelling

to improve Linglish speaking ability for students at a primary school in Lanoi” to gain some insights into speaking strategies and find cut the good ways to help the

students imprave their speaking akill

2 Statement of the problem

The researcher studied a number of studies investigating the effectiveness of

storytelling, bul most of them locus on developing vocabulary, Hslening, or

presentation on the teenagers and adults, ‘Therefore, the specific problem addressed

in this study was to investigate the effechiveness of storylelling on primary students” speaking skill and the attitudes to this technique

3 Aims of the study

This rescarch aims 10 inveatigale the elfectivericas of slorylellmg on speaking

skill and their attitudes to this technique in speaking at Ly Nam De Primary School This aim is specified into the following objectives:

1 To examine the impact of applying storytelling in teaching speaking for

the young leamers at a primary school in Hanoi

2 To determine the students’ attitudes in learning speaking through storytelling,

2 What are the students’ attitudes towards using storytelling in developing speaking

skill?

5, Scope of the research

‘The study was conducted at Ly Nam De Primary School in Hanoi The

research concentrates on the young leamers of eight years old The participants

involved in the research are 14 students at Ly Nam De Primary School This slady

investigated the effects of storytelling and students’ attitude towards using storytelling in learning speaking Therefore, the teaching of other speaking

stralegies Lo other grades would be beyond the scope

6 Significance of the study

In terms of theory, the study is expected to contribute the effective ways to

develop speaking skill Tn lerms of practice, the ndings of this sludy can be used as

a reference for teachers of English in general and teachers at the Ly Nam De school

in particular to improve teaching speaking skills and attract students in learning

speaking

7 Organization of the thesis

The study consists of thres main paris: the tntraduclion, the development and the conclusion,

CHAPTER L

introduction” presents rationale, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study, rescarch question, the scope of the sludy, significance

of the study, and the design of the study

CHAPTER 2: “Literature” provides a literature review on theoretical issues

related to speaking, storytelling, students’ attitude and previous studies

CHAPTER 3: “Methodology” describes an overview on context of the study,

research design, instrument used in the study

CHAPTER 4:“Data analysis and discussion” presenis details in the methadolagy, the data analysis, findings and discussion

CHAPTER 5: “Conclusion” gives a brief review of the whole study and some

lintilations of (he study and suggestions for (urther study

ChapEer 2 - LTTERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Speaking

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skill

Speaking, is an important skill in daily life as emphasized by many educators and researchers Bailey and Savage (1994) emphasize that speaking is a basic skill which is the oulput of reading and listening and il is used to communicate every day Similarly, Hayriye (2006) states that speaking is considered as a vital part of language leaming because the ability to communicate plays an important part in

students’ school life and in olhter fields throughout life

Nunan suggests that speaking is considered as the same an oral interaction which are conventional ways of speaking information, expressing the idea, and thought in mind (Nunan, 1991) According to this view, il is clear thal speaking is the activity of giving speeches and talks to give speakers’ opinion, Moreover,

Chaney's definition gives the opinion that speaking is the process of building and

sharing meaning Ihrough the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney, 1988) From this point of view, speakers can clearly demonstrate

feeling and opinion through body language only in speaking

In suminary, most of these show some common characteristics which speaking,

uses the words and produces the sound to express their ideas, feeling, thought through ordinary voice Moreover, speaking necds verbal and non-verbal symbols

to express speakers’ knowledge, opinion in communication As result, speakers

need to combine various skills in speaking

2.1.2 Techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners

Numan (1991) recommends that leamers would be better if they are given the maximum sumber of chanecs to practice (he targel language in meaningful

situations Moreover, Nunan (2003) has provided some suggestions for teaching speaking as below:

Virstly, teachers need to prepare the lessou carefully to get the differences in

context between two languages and two culturcs He cxplains that students meet

difficulties in leaming foreign language with different contexts because they have

few opportunit

3 to use Lhe target Taryguage outside the classroom Therefore, some foreign language learners can neither understand native speakers nor communicate

with them in the real life

Secondly, it is necessary to develop fluency and accuracy at the beginning and

intermediate levels ‘Teachers should provide students with fluency building

‘practice It is also true to realize that making mistakes 1s a natural part of learning a

new language bul accuracy is the also the purpose of the process

Thirdly, using group or pair work promotes the speaking lesson Pair work and group work activities can increase the amount of time that leamers get to speak in the targol language Bosides, students have more chances to exctumge the speaking topios, nowledge which is useful in speaking

Next, teachers should plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning

by asking [or clarification, repetition or explanation Teachers got students’ ability, teacher should prepare the speaking tasks which are useful for all levels of students

in the class

Finally, teachers should design classruom aclivities thal involve guidance and

practice in both transactional speaking (communicating to get something done, including the exchange of goods or services) and interactional speaking

(communicatmg with someone (or sucial purposes)

2.1.3 Assessing speaking skill

Assessment refers io collect information and judge leamer’s knowledge

(Brindley, 2003) A teacher must set clear mstruclional goals lo ass

goals which

students can meet

‘A teacher needs to spare time for a students” response Meanwhile, learners should be given a couple of mimites to make the transition into Tnglish before

giving them an English language assessment Moreover, the test needs tn have

clear instruction More seriously, students need tn he shown that the

examiners assessing them can he trusted (J.inse, 2005)

Many forms of speaking test are used to measure students’ ability Johnson (2001) recommends the Lechniques of lesting speaking such as oral interview, role- play, simulation, and imitation Kach technique has its own advantages An oral interview is a traditional technique which an examiner asks the learners’ personal questions and perhaps also about a passage or picture scquence Heaton (1990) strongly supports that an excellent way of testing speaking is the oral interview That is the reason why the researcher decides this study includes two parts in the

test which are personal introduction and tell the story basing on picture sequences 2.1.4 Criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill

A wide range of authors set standards for English speaking evaluation, Oller

(1979) founses on language use in daily life so he sets five standards for English

speaking cvakuation Heaton (1990) prosents a system with six bands with many

characteristics including fluency, accuracy, vocabulary, grammar and

commurication, He advises usiry a scale for grading students’ performance on

speaking tests rather than a marking scheme It is better to use a rating scale

containing short descriptions of each grade Basing on the characteristics of storytelling and speaking, this research is based on the rubric adapted from SaeOng (2010) and Ileaton (2009) including content, fluency, grammar and vocabulary to evaluale speaking ability Fluency criteria examines how Quenuy, smoothly, speed of speech students can speak Content criteria evaluale students’ ability to arrange the content of the slary and connect content Grammar criteria cvaluates students word- orders and grammar of the sentences The vocabulary critcria cxamincs students appropriate words and meaning in the stories

2.2 Storytelling

In the past, without the invention of television, computer or internet, most

children liked listening to the folklores from grandparents or parents before

sleeping That is one kind of storylellimg which is delined by Rubin (1990)

storytelling is the “oral interpretation of literature and folklore”, which means that components of storytelling are the story, the storyteller, space, and listeners [larari

declares thal stories with full of imagination as well as experience differed humans

from amimals (Harari, 2014) It is the traditional and natural method for humans to

impart their information from generations to generations

Tn the modem comext, slorylelling is defined by differenl authors in a variely

of ways Safdarian (2013) defines storytelling as students retell stories in their own language after listening, to the stories by the teacher In another way, storytelling

that involves improvisation in iclling story, facial gestures, amd body movement is

an oral activity to grab audiences’ attention by using multi-sensory stirring emotion

of an event in a story (Stanley and Dillingham, 2009) Besides, Champion as cited

in Trawati (2003) clarifies thal storytelling is an oral activity where language and

gestures can be used in a colorful way to create scenes in a sequence

TLcan be inferred from all above thal slorytelling is oral activities with creative scenes in sequences which promote children’s imagination, language Ieaming and

motivation

2.2.2 The advantages of storytelling

Many researchers state that using stories brings various advantages including language learning, imaginational and motivational benefits, Ellis and Brewster

(2002) emphasize storytelling develops the imagination When children identify

characters and illustrations, they get personally involved in a story ‘The imaginative experience develops their creative skill Storytelling is also a useful tool to link

fantasy and imagination with a childs real world, Hayriye (2006) declares tliat

storytelling encourages students to share ideas with plenty of imagination without

worrying about the right or wrong conclusion.

Stories contain natural repetition of key vocabularies aud sentences which

support children understand the details and remember what happened in the stories

Therefore, the uses of stories can develop language learning in the context (Fllis &

Brewster, 2002) Moreover, Ellis and Brewster also emphasize that “stories may

bridge the gap between language study and language use and also link classroom learning with the world nutside Some of the activities do not always have a very language element but are nevertheless important in creating a feeling among the pupils that leaming English means fim, activity, creativity and enjoyment” (Bilis

arid Brewster, 1991-1)

Stockdale (1995) proposes that storytelling enhances motivation because learners can be completely attracted to stories by the combination of instruction and

cnfcnainment Krashen (1981) slales thal leamers with greal motivation, scl

confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are easy to successful in

second language acquisition Based on these benefits, storytelling develops

students’ speaking skills by providing a means of transmitting images, ideas, and emotions that motivate them to learn the language

2.2.3 Storytelling techniques

Teachers are an unportant factor m teaching and promoting the lcaming

process, ‘They have great responsibility to transfer their knowledge and skills to the students, to guide leamers in developing their mind, and to educate (hem on how to absorb, to analyze, and to expand their individual knowledge and skill

Virst of all, teachers need to prepare themselves before telling stories to

students Teachers as storytellers should familiarize themselves with the books and

illustrations by deciding which illustrations or details they will focus on ‘fo help teachers boost their confidence, they should listen to recording of the story

carefully Teachers should read a story several tines until they feel confident, and

Jmow how tell the story well enough (Lillis & Brewster, 2002),

Moreover, to get these targets, it is important to have techniques in teaching

speaking through storytelling Zaro and Salaberri (1995: 5) suggested some of these

techniques

i, Firstly, teachers should notice that storytelling can provokes curiosity

‘because it evokes students’ imagination and interest in language skill

ii Secondly, when presenting storyictling, icacher should allow Jeamers to

experience with the target language and encourage their cooperation

iii, Next, teachers can use mother tongue, use the voice, facial expressions, hand taotions Lo emphasize the story to express if necessary Ellis and Rrewsler (2002)

also have the same opinion that teachers create an atmosphere for storytelling that

children can see the teacher’s face and the illustrations Teachers use gesture, mime,

facial expression, varied pace and ione to convey meaning and kaep students’

attention Richard-Amato (2003) adds that stories may be meaningless if told

without expression, feeling or physical involvement on the part of the student

Finally, storytclling should be relaxed, funny and informal

Besides, Brewster, Kilis, and Giard (2004) recommend some techniques in

using storytelling in the classroom:

a) If students are not familiar with storytelling, teachers should begin with a

short session which has simple requirements

b) Teachers should Lell story slowly and clearly in order to give students time

to recognize sounds, words, relate what they hear to what they see in the pictures, to think, ask questions or give some comments

c) Teachers should make comments about the illustration and point learners to

focus their students’ attention

d) Teachers should encourage students to get involve in telling the story by

asking them Lo repeal some key vocabularies items and phases

e) Teachers should use gestures, mimes, facial expressions, voice projection and pausing variably to convey meaning and encourage students to tell the

stories.

f) Teachers should ask students questions while telling the story to gain interaction between leamers and that story

g) By repeating the story, teachers creale opporlunities for students 1o expose

to language and have chances to work out the meaning and have it remembered (Brewster et al 2004: 21)

Tn conclusion, teacher will play @ vital role as a storyteller with matural and attracting voice Teacher expresses the story in the simple ways with great

facial expression to get students’ attention

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting starybveks

To teach Lnglish speaking through storytelling, criteria for choosing storybooks necd to be highly appropriat According to Changer and Harrison (1992), the following criteria for choosing textbooks are noticed

Firstly, the level of language such as the vocabulary, structures and functions should

be suitable for students” ability

Secondly, storybooks should contain features which students can imitate such as

thyme, onomatopocia, rhythm or intonation te improve their pronunciation,

‘Thirdly, the story can lead students to predict what is coming next in the story Storybooks should arouse curiosity and make students want to find out more about the target language, culture and language leaming,

Last but not least, the storybooks should also enable students to respond positively

to the storyline, develop posilive altitudes towards the target language, cullure and

language Icarning, Finally, storybooks should give information concerning life in

the target culture

Based on the above criteria, teachers should not only be aware of students’ language

level, repetition and language features, bul they also must choose storybooks which

can motivate and develop students’ memory skills and arouse curiosity

2.3.1 Students’ attitude

Gardner (1985) states thal “attitude is an evaluated reaction to some referent or

attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual’s beliefs or opinions about the referent” In general, if students have positive attitudes, their experiences are likely

to be perceived favorably On the ofher hand, if they have nagative attitudes, their

experiences are likely to be perceived unfavorably

Based on the above criteria, the researcher comes ta the conclusion that

attitudes refers to students’ feeling and shapes their behavior towards language leaming Atutudes also influence the leamers’ success or failure in their learning

With the advantages of stories, this method is hoped ta motivate students to the

speaking lesson and inspire them in learning language Ibe stories “Little Red Riding Ilood” and “The happy and unhappy family” are suitable for level and

characteristics of students in this study

2.3.2 Characteristics of primary students

Students have their different characteristics that affect learning Teachers should be aware of students’ characteristics to find the suitable methods for your learners

In this study, young learners are defined as students in the primary According

to Piaget's theory ol cognitive development, at the age of 6-12, children starl to

develop their logical and operational thinking In general, young learners have the

characteristics of “enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the world around

them” (Harmer, 2007: 82) Therefore, childrerr’s world is full of imagination,

Harmer shared the opinion that young leamers leam by examples (Harmer, 2007: 82-83) Ilence, the stories have the precious lesson with the detail or special behaviors will help students remember well However, children arc easy to act bored, they only pay attention in the short time The study discovers that “it is not surprising to note that a child’s concentrate span increases as he/she grows older

Children cannoi concentrale on one thing for a long period” (Brumfit, Moon and

Tongue, 1991: 7)

11

Children also are very sensitive and dislike critieism They look for guidanee and support Therefore, they require individual attention and approval from their

teachers They scom to respond well 1o praisos, and it is very important Lo praise

them for what they do It is common sense that if children are praised, they are motivated and feel successful (Scott and Yireberg, 1990: 3) Children getting

posilive encouragement will be more cxciied and motivated Therelore, Harmer

highlights that teachers try to understand “how their students think aud operate”

(Ilarmer, 2007: 83)

The following list shows general characteristics and language development of a

‘young learner according to Scott and Ytreberg (1990)

- They can tell the difference between fact and fiction

- Their basic concopls are formed They have very devided views of [he world

- They ask questions all the times They rely on the spoken words as well as the

physical warld to convey and understand meaning

- They are able to make some decisions aboul their own learning

- ‘They have definite views about what they like and do not like doing

- They have a developed sense of faimess aboul what happens in the classroom and

‘begin to question the teacher’s decisions

- They are able to work with others and learn from others

Ta conclusion, children can learn better when they interact with the real things

or learn in situation which motivates them in the good ways They do not like leaming in a directive way, they enjoy active involvement which take them

curiosity Understanding the young learners’ characteristic will help the teachers get

the objectives of the lessons efficiently Based on the above-mentioned theory, using storytelling as a suitable resource for teaching and leaming a foreign

language

2.4 Previous studies in the world and Vietnam

Mulminatus (2017) used the observation and questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of slorylelling in developing speaking skill This research yeilds the

rosult that sioryielling could improve sudonts” speaking skill in the Hasymim Asy’san University Students could retell the content of the reading text in the

module, even they were highly motivaled lo their discussion and showed their

interest in the topic given

Ampha (2013) conducted a study for the effectiveness of storytelling-based

instruction to onhance English listening and speaking skills of the sixth grade

students ‘his study aimed to measure the effectiveness of the storytelling based instruction and examine learners’ attitudes toward this skill The participants were

220 students in the secondary school who experienced five storytelling-lased

instruction in five weeks ‘Lhe research found that storytelling-based instruction successfully enhanced the students’ English speaking and listening ability

Storytelting-based instruction was shown to be effective TL also showed that

students’ satisfaction of leaming English through storytelling-based instruction was

highly positive

Tn summary, using storytelling as a leclmique in teaching spoaking is admitled

to motivate students’ to speak naturally with accuracy, fluency and good gestures

Moreover, storytelling also provides students with chances to be more confident in

front of the crowd,

Although many researchers approved that storytelling is an effective method

to improve language in the world, storytelling soơms lo be quite unpopular in

Vietnam since it is highly likely that not many researchers apply storytelling in teaching speaking The researcher finds only some master thesis named “Using

short stories to improve the efficiency of teaching speaking and listening skills to

students at Hai Phong foreign language centre” by Nhan (2010) in the University of Language and Intemational Studies In the research , it attempted to find out the

effects of shorl stories on teaching speaking and lislering Resides, it also

investigated students’ attitude towards using short stories in language teaching As

the result, using short story in teaching enhance students’ listening and speaking

13

skäils Moreovor, ít reduees studonis” anxicty by ercating a fiendly and relaxing, classroom atmosphere that helps them get involved in the class activities

Besidos, in the thesis named “Teaching vocabularies to primary children by using storytelling method” by Trang (2012) proved the effect of storytelling in teaching vocabularies This study aims to emphasize the effective ways to teach vocabulary through slorytolling Participants were 153 students in the primary schools who answer the questions about the usefulness and importance of vocabularies ‘To

measure the effectiveness, questionnaires were used once more time As the result, using this techwique approved thal il is practical, useful and interesting to teach vocabularies

Given the ieaching and learning situation, the researchers improve the importance and the effectiveness of storylelling in teaching language The fact that there has been little research in implementing storytelling to improve speaking skill,

especially for primary school students Thus, the researcher made the decision to

condue!, an action research to examine the sludends’ allitude of sloryiclling in

leaming speaking skills and measure the effect of this method in improving

speaking skill

2.8 Summary

‘the chapter has presented the relevant titerature, which can form the theoretical and concepiual framework for the sludy Tlis firsily concerned with the storytelling and speaking, including some definitions, students’ attitude, characteristic of primary students, criteria for selecting storybooks, storytelling

techniques, the advantage of storytelling, criteria levels for evaluating speaking

skill, techniques to teach speaking skill to young leamers, criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill The final part focused on presenting a review of the main

storylelling slrategy employed in this study All of these serve as a basis for an

action research on using storytelling to improve speaking skill for students in the primary which is implemented and presented in the next chapter

CHATTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Context of the study

3.1.1 Setting of the study

This study is an aclion research io apply slorylelling to leach speaking Tn

particular, the purpose of this study is to identify the effect storytelling on improving students’ speaking skill and students’ attitude toward this technique

The study was conducted al Ly Nam De Primary School in Hanoi The school was

established in 2016 and up to now it has 30 classes with 10 teachers of different subjects and more than a thousand students The school is located in Mieu Nha

Village, Nam Tu Tacm District, Many clubs aller school which 1s really useful to

develop students’ life skills Like other normal primary schools in Vietnam, this

school has five grades From grade ? Lo grade 5

The teaching staff consists of 6 teachers of Euglish who are both Vietnamese

and foreign language teachers Vhey graduated from different college and

university The rescarcher has worked as an English leacher who teach Math and

Science through Lnglish in this school and attended the MA course at University of

Language and Intemational Studies, Viemam National University, [lanci To

complete the course, the research has approved by the principal's permission

In this school, apart from the English periods of Ministry of Hducating and Training, children have more chances to attend transforming program at school such

as Binh Minh and Tsimart transforming education Furlhermore, many exira-

curricular activities such as Linglish speaking Contest, Uinglish festival, Science Swat have actively developed in the school to motivate students and create an

edueational environment for both English teachers and students As a resull, the

15

English movements of teaching and learning have become much more cheerful and the quality has been gradually improved

3.1.2 Participants

‘The research concentrates on the young learners of eight years old According

to the pretest, they had basic words so they had difficulties in expressing the full

sentences or whole ideas, their grammar using was also limiled They wore afraid of

staking incorect answers so they were reserved

The participants involved in the research are 14 students at Ly Nam De

Primary School Almost all of them have been learning English for more than two

years Moreover in the teaching process, the researcher realized that they have good attitude in leaming language but most of the students have little interest and

amutivalion in learning speaking This [acl gives the rescarcher a slimulalion to carry

out this research with the hope to change this problem Lach lesson lasts 40

minutes, All of the participants would be willing to join the course

3.1.3 Materials

‘There are two stories used during the research which is “The happy family and

unhappy fauily” and “Little Red Riding Hood” First of all, the language with the

curiows details is suitable for children These stories provide children with a lot of precious lessons about how to behave with members in the family lor these above

reasons, (he researcher decided to choose these two stories to teach im experimerital Broups

3.2 Research design

3.2.1 Research approach

‘This study used action research to search the teaching for improvement According to Cohen and Manion (2002), the aim of action research was to

improve the current slate of affairs im educational context in the

research, Therefore, action research fits the purposes of this study which finds out the effect of using storytelling in teaching speaking and suidents’ attitudes to this tevhnique Thorcfore, the action research is as art approach to this study

3.2.2 Research procedures

14 students took part in the study ‘The action research was conducted using the cycle suggested by Nunan (1992) The rescarch cycle includes seven phases initiation’ problem identification, preliminary, investigation, _ hypothesis;

intervention; evaluation, dissemination and follow-up

Step 1: Initiatiom/Problem identification:

During teaching speaking lessons to young students, the researcher found that students were so reserved to speak that they kept silent when being required

to respond, Some preferred using Vietnamese Lo answer the teacher's questions

Some were not confident enough to perform in front of the crowd Liven the

speaking lessons are too difficult for the teachers to attract students because the

inpuls are wot curious and myslerious cough Moreover, they had difficullies

in pronunciation Some students had limited vocabulary which led to impossible

conservations Moreover, they did not know how to solve the problem in the

lessons Thorefore, sludcnls’ speaking proficiency was limited Day by day, students had low motivation to learn speaking,

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

From teaching experience, Lo identify the actual speaking ability of the

14 chosen younger students at Ly Nam De Primary School, the researcher

conducted a pre-test The students took the test in which they had to take the

basic uulroduction about themselves, familics and then answer the questions

selated to the chosen topics ‘Ihe score of the pre-test showed students’ speaking

needed to be improved

Tn order lo specily the current silualions, the researcher had informal

chats with the students in the break time to discover their problems Ihe

students themselves recognized that they never told the whole stories, they were

only familiar with speaking only the words The others said, they knew lo tell the

story in Vietnamese but they did not know how to express in Linglish because of

their lack of vocabularies Some shared that they were not confident enough

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because they had little chance to stand in front of the crowd before Other

causes were mentioned namely their lack of motivation and low competences

Step 3: Hypothesis

Students’ limited speaking skill could be hypothesized due Lo their lack of vocabulary, grammar, motivation and appropriate speaking strategies which

motivated the researcher to read the literature on developing speaking skill and

increased the molivalim for primary students While studying the Hieralure through teaching, methodology books, journal articles, the researcher came across

the idea of using sloryteling slrategy im teaching speaking, and hypothesized that

the usc of strategy might help to improve the situation

Step 4: intervention

In this phase, the researcher designed speaking courses for the participants

to lear speaking through storytelling he pre-test was conducted to both 14

students in these classes The test was designed with two parts which last from 3

to 5 minutes for each students Part 1 is the general conservation in which students are required to answer Lhe questions aboul personal details and their

family In part 2, students described the pictures and told the story basing on the

piclures, Then students gave oul the lessons to their real life The tester gave

them scores based on the students’ answers The scores would be used in the

data analysis of the research

Seven mectings later, the posi-iesL was implemented to measure sludents*

achievement in speaking as well as the effect of storytelling in teaching speaking The post- tests kept the same format and criteria as the pre-test, and

the examiner was the same According to Crow] (1996: 114), “the test has beer

designed so that the procedures for administering the test, the materials used in

the test, and the way in which the test is scored are constant” The students’

amarks on this test wore applied to data analysis of the rescarch The course of learning speaking through storytelling was applied in 8 weeks All the course

procedures are shown below

[Time

Table 1: The course procedures

Topics

Week | = Teacher explained the purpose of the study to students

- Students were asked to introduce themselves and family, then! they made up the story based on the picture and told it ‘Then they| got the experience or the lesson in their daily life

Week 2

“The happy and unhappy family (period 1)

- Introduce the topic “the family” and the story “The happy and|

unhappy family”

- Take students curiosity by letting them guess what happened inl

the pictures, discuss the topics

- Provide the new words and granunar

= Use story outline including the identifications of main characters,

sellings, problems of the slo

story events, and how the problem]

was solved in the story

Week 3

The happy and unhappy [amily (period 2)

Ask some questions to remind the students of the story

Check students’ mistakes in the writing story Ask students to work in|

groups lo solve the problem in the story and the real life

lixplain how to apply storytelling by using tip forms and gave an

example of tips in retelling story Let the students retell the story in

pairs, Ask students to practice telling slory in parrs,

Call some students to rehearse in front of the class Remind students|

to use intonation, eye contact, fluency and body language whe

telling siory.Remind students to prepare to tell the story carefully Lor

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The happy and unhappy lamily (perod 3) Week 4 - Ask students to retell the story in front of the class

- Ask students to give their friends’ evaluation

- Give sludents commer Give out the siluation im the real hfe and

require students to solve

Little Red Riding Ilood (period 1)

Week 5 — Introduce the topic “the family” and the story “The happy and unhappy]

Family”

- Take students curiosity by letting them guess what happened in|

the pictures, discuss the topics

- Provide the new words and grammar

- Use story outline including the identifications of main characters,

seltings, problems of the slory, story events, and how the problem

was solved in the story

- ‘Tell the story then let students read the story in groups by role play

- Require students to rewrite the short story at home

Meek6 -

The Lillle Red Ridding Hood ( period 2)

Ask some questions to remind the students of the story

Check students’ mistakes in the writing story

Ask studanta to group in groups to solve Lhe problem in the story an¢

the real life

Ask students to practice telling story in pairs

Call some students to rehearse im (ron of the class Remind students}

using intonation, eye contact, fluency and body language when telling|

The Little Red Ridding (poriod 3)

Inform the next oral test Ask sludents Lo retell the story im front of the class Ask students to give their triends’ evaluation

Give students comment

Give out the situation m the real life and require students to solve

Week 8 -

Students toak the oral tes!

Students filled the questionnaire shect

In the 1" week, students took the pre-test (see Appendix 3 for the content

of pre-test) The oral test was implemented without any comments after the pre-test, The plan and framework in $ weeks were informed, Besides, the time and

rules in the class were also set

Trom the 2” to the 6” week, the teacher applied the storytelling technique

in teaching speaking [rom the first to the sixth lesson to the students, The stories

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wore caricd out strictly based on the stages: pro-storytelling, while-storytelling and post-storytelling (see Appendix 1 for a sample lessơn plan)

Tre-storytelling stage is the introduction and oriented stage The students made predictions which let students have some expectations about the topic, it is necessary to activate their background knowledge related to the topic through

pre-speaking activities Instead of introducing new words or grammar structures

researcher asked students to look at the title or the given pictures in the story first, then asked them to describe the pictures and led them predict the topic and

content of the slory Then, siudenls got chances (o familiarize themselves with the

content of the story and learnt more language proficiency in the story The key vocabularies were introduced by using visual aids, miming, brainstorming, or

showing the real objects Teachers ean start telling the story when participants can

identify the new words

In the while-stage, teacher introduced the story in the interesting voice

Tnstead of asking sludents to translate the story, the teacher made iL mare

interesting by different activities such as stopping the sentences then students

guessed the next, children chose different pictures basing on teachers’ narration,

using flashcards of characters To check whether students comprehend the story or

not, the teacher carried out some different activities like discussing in pairs or groups, comparing/contrasting what students predicted about the text before listening, or answering comprehension questions were some useful activities for the stage

In the last stage, students were required to retell the story, read the dialogue

Aller thal, children can take part in rote-playing, recording, drawiry and modeling

activities These activities also created chances for students to develop critical thinksng, creativity as well as integrative skills wilh others subjects

In the 8" woek, the post-test was given to the students Both tests were observed

strictly to avoid cheating

The rcscarcher observcd studcnts to realizc studcnt” atlitudc towards

learning in the storytelling lesson and the effect of the story technique Lesides,

students’ attitude and effect of learning were also observed carefully im the

tests

At the last meeting, the researcher collected students’ responses by asking

them to fl m the questionnaire sheet in 10 wimutes

Step 5: Fvahuation

In order to clarify to what extent storytelling would affect the students’

speaking skill and find out students’ attitude fo this strategy, resulls of the students’ tests and questionnaires as well as the teacher’s observation were

collected, analyzed and interpreted

Step 6: Dissemination

‘The xesearcher discussed the effect of storytelling in speaking skill and

the students’ attitude in this thesis

tests, and questionnaire as instruments in order to answer the research questions,

The combination of various data collection instruments would provide an overview

of students’ attitude in learning speaking before and after the treatment as well as

the ways to apply this stratogy effectively The (ollowing part discusses cach dala

collection instrament used in this study in detail

2.3.1 Questionnaire

In the study, the researcher used questionnaire to gather more uniform and

accurate dala, According la Harry (2009), questionnaire is a sel of systematically

23

structured questions used by a researcher to get necded information from respondents Through questions, the researcher gets information to know the

learners’ opitrion on whether the technique is interesting or nol By the

questiounaire the researcher would know the students opinion related to the speaking learning process The questionnaires were given for students in the last

aaveling and they had 10 minutes to answer all questions The resull af this test

would be analyzed and discussed

The questionnaire of this study (see Appendix 2A and Appendix 2B)

was designed by the researcher to collect the dala Tt has 10 questions which

are designed to seek the data to answer both research questions They concerned about the students’ attitude about the impact of storytelling and their self-

evaluation of their improvernerd afler the treatment The questionnaires: were

translated into Vietnamese so that the students could understand the questions well enough

3.3.2 Test

‘Tests are considered as an useful tool in the assessment of the research According to Overton (2008) (est is a method to determine a sludent’s ability Lo complete certain tasks or demoustrate mastery of a skill or knowledge of content

‘The test was given to the students to assess their speaking’s ability before the

{reatmenl and their achievement, after treatment Speaking iesL cam measure

students” proficiency and test scores can be marked objectively Therefore, the test xesult can be concise and objective enough for the study In this research, tests are

divided into two categories’ pre-test and post-test The aim of the pretest is to find

out the students’ ability in speaking skill before treatment, The post-test is to find out whether their speaking skill improves or not after treatment

‘The pre-test and post-test had the sane format and level of difficulty which

made the tests have reliability, Part 1 is the general conservation in which students are required to answer the questions about personal details and their family Part 2 is more complex, students arranged piclures of stories into the

suitable sequence then told the story basing on that sequence The test is also designed with one opened question which refers to the situation or context that

students are going lo use in the future

‘The post-speaking test tasks were designed to match with the course The course provided two stories relating to the family topic and helped students developing speaking through the storytelling Thorefore, all testing conionts are

relevant to what students have learnt

Speaking tests and speaking rubrics were included in Appendix 3 and 4 In

tens of speaking rubric, the test follows the tesi’s assessmenl of Heaton

(1990) and SaeOng (2010) ‘The researcher made use of the software Microsoft

Excel to analyze the data which were analyzed quantitatively by means of

descriptive slalislies focusing on the pe

Wages

However, using test cores to assess students’ language proficiency also has potential drawbacks that they do not always reflect students’ real ability as

some students may not perform well in tests due to some psychological factors

such as nervousness or anxiety or other reasons such as lack of reliability and

validity in some available tests Therefore, other instruments, questionnaire and

observation were employed to gather more information

3.3.3 Observation

In order to reduce the drawbacks of the test and the questionnaires and make

sure the rosull of the study more persuasive, tho observation was made in the sesearch Observation allows seeing in a relatively unobtrusive way what it is that

naturally do compared with what they say they do (Burns, 1999: 81)

Tw this research, observation will he used sinee (he researcher parlicipales in teaching and assessing process This observation is implemented to know the students’ participation, records students’ attitude, the tasks during lesson, and the axtent of storytelling’s cffect on students in cach lesson, cven it remarks the process

of completing the homework checking section ‘Ihe observation form will be used eight times from the first meeting to the eighth one

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3.4 Data analysis methods

‘The data was collected from the instruments: pre-test, post-test,

questionnaire for students and observation The researcher took advantage of the software Microsoft Excel lo calculate the mean, median and standard deviation of students’ scores in the two speaking tests Data from the questionnaire responses was analyzed quantitatively by means of descriptive statistics focusing on the percentages By contrast, data from observation in the questionnaire were analyzed qualitatively to identify the main themes and

patierns

3.5 Summary

‘This chapter presents the procedures followed throughout the study, It introduces a complete description of the methodology of the study in terms of the participants, setting of the study, and the rescarch design including rescarch approach, research procedures, data collection instruments (tests, a questionnaire for students and observation) and data analysis methods The researcher would like to have valuable results so research methodology will be scl icd carefully

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Analysis of test results

The purpose of the speaking test was to answer the first research question to what extent storytelling affected students” speaking ability The pre-lesl was complemented in the first week and the post- test was taken in the eighth week ‘The scores of the tests in this study were divided into four criteria including content, Quency, grammar, and vocabulary The test results are shown below

a Content

The table above shows the findings on the content of speaking which cover the

students’ ability in conmecting content of the story:

Table 2.1: The students’ content of speaking

student (7%) gelling poid 1 because he was unable lo iell the story through ihe

27

pictures and arranged the content incorreetly No one got point 4 and 5 in the pre-

test

Aller performing the treatrncnl, the posi-lesL resnH showed the sigmiicsnl changing 7 students (50%) got point 5 because they were able to arranged The content correctly and told the story interestingly and excitedly 5 students (36%) were at (he level of point 4 because they arranged the suitable content and told the whole story interestingly but they also made almost umoticeable mistakes Stndents getting 5 points increase from 0% to 50%, and students getting 4 increase

from 0% 10 36% The number of students gelling 3 points decreased in comparison

with the pre-test In the post-test, there were only 2 students (14%) getting point 3

in the post test which is less than the pre-test No one got I and 2 in the post- test

Hone, tris could assume thal there is an incredible improvement in content through learning storytelling,

‘The pre-lesl regarding fluency showed that there was no student (0%) gelling

5 points and 3 students (21%) getting point 4, While in the post-test, there were 2 students (14%) getting point 5 because they spoke smoothly and spontaneously, 8

students (57%) got point 4 The rest got point 1, 2,or 3 in the pre-test but the rest got 3 in the post- test l'rom that result, students made a great progress in fluency in speaking aller learning storytelling

In the pre-test, students’ ability of using grammar was classified from point 1

10 5 but m the post-test, sludents’ marks were from 3 1o 5 Te could be assumed hat

xno student whose result was at 5 points but 7 students (50%) got pomt 5 Before

treatment, 8 students (57%) got point 4 and the rest got point 1, 2 or 3 After

treatment, 4 students (29%) got point 4 and the rest got point 3

‘This leads to the conclusion that students’ grammar in speaking is really improved

Table 2.4: The students’ speaking vocabulary

Number of students % | Number of students

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wore 7 students (50%) gol point 4 , 3 students (22%) point 3, and the rest_ got 1 or

point 2 It could be seen in the table that the number of students who got point 5

were 7 students (50%), point 4 were 5 students (36%) and the rest got 3 points No

one got point 1 or 2 in the post-test It could be conchided that students’ vocabulary

in speaking was better

¢ Students’ speaking competence

The following is score of sludents’ speaking achievement in the Lests: