Luận văn teachers' use of elicitation techniques to teach speaking skill to first year students of university of engineering and technology vietnam national university hanoi

vi LIST OF FICURES AND TABLES Figure 1; Frequency of clicitation teaching Figure 2: Shortcomings of etivitation teaching Figure 3: Krequency of using elicitation techniques Figure 4; D

VIEFNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

CHU THI HUYEN MI

TEACHERS’ USE OF ELICITATION TECHNIQUES TO

TEACTI SPEAKING SKILI TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS OF

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIỆC SỬ DUNG CAC THU THUAT GOIMO CUA GIÁO VIEN DE DAY

KĨ NẴNG NÓI CHỦ SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẬT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

CONG NGHE, BAT HOC QUOC GIA HA NOT

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: Enplish Teaching Methodulopy

Code: 60 14 10

TIANOT, 2012

‘TEACHERS’ USE OF ELICITATION TECHNIQUES TO

TEACH SPEAKING SKILL TO FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS oF

DNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL

VIEC SU DUNG CAC THU THUAT GOI MG CUA GIAO VIE DAY

KI NANG NOT CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẬT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC

CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIÁ HÀ NỘI

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyén Minh ‘Tudn, M.A

TIANOIL, 2012

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 2: Lifcrature FCYÌcW coi od

2.1.1, Communicative Language Tcaching àoccecceeceoee Š

2.1.2.2 Types of đieitation 16 2.1.2.3, Advantages of alioitation techniques my 2.1.2.4, Disadvantages of elicitation techniques - aL

3.2.3, Classroom obscrvafi0ii coi TĐ,

3.3 Data collection proeedtwe -19

5.3 Limitations of the raseareh e se nreere „37

vi

LIST OF FICURES AND TABLES

Figure 1; Frequency of clicitation teaching

Figure 2: Shortcomings of etivitation teaching

Figure 3: Krequency of using elicitation techniques

Figure 4; Degree of students’ confidence to talk

Ligure 5: Activation of students’ background knowledge

Figure 6; Increasing students’ talk tame

Figure 7: Students’ embarrassment to listen to their pects? talk

Figure 8: Students’ memorization of the lesson

Table 1: Categorization of selected students

Table

Rat

cfits of vlicitation Izaching

‘lable 3: Teachers’ elicitation manners

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims at stating the rationale, objectives, scope and significance of the

research An overview of the rest of the study is also provided in this chapter

1.1, Rationale

According to an article posted on www vietbao.vn on 9 December 2009, a large

number of Vietnamese fresh graduates are complained about their limited English

proficiency at workplace settings, especially their weaknesses in English communication

despite their acceptable ability in their own specializations This problem may stem from

some deficiency in English teaching and learning at university and lower academic levels

Therefore, it is about time to take a closer look at the current use of teaching methods which are designed to develop students’ speaking competence

For the last few years, communicative language teaching (CLT) has remarkably emerged as an innovative teaching approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages throughout the world According to Nunan (1991), CLT features interaction as

both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language This emphasis involves that

students are required to construct a habit of enthusiastically participating in classroom exchanges and real communication to enhance their speaking skill The new learning strategy can only be enabled when there is a shift between teachers’ and students’ roles Learner-centered learning has reigned in moder classrooms where students are given

more autonomy while teachers take the roles of controllers, assessors, organizers,

prompters, participants and so forth (Harmer, 2001) who facilitate students’ participation

ina variety of interactive activities In an attempt to reverse that dominant status between

the two parties, elicitation teaching has been spread into English classrooms on an international scale

On the way of educational integration, the communicative approach has been

adapted to Vietnam’s national curriculums of almost every academic level, ranging from elementary, middle, secondary to post-secondary levels Although the interest in and

development of communicative-style teaching developed statistically worldwide, the

adoption in Vietnam has been obstructed by the inherent dominance of grammar-

translation approach It is commonly seen that Vietnamese students are typically passive

and shy in language classrooms while teachers tend to embrace the role of "expert" who

would impart his or her knowledge or "expertise" to unknowing students, who in tum

would be assessed by evaluation instruments intended to measure the amount of

(Rudder, 2000) Similarly, wh

essential tool to teach speaking skill in modem classrooms worldwide, the usc of it in

Vietnam has tumed out not to be as effective as expected, therefore, the present study saw

a need to team about teachers’ perception of elicitation teaching and their actual

employment to better understand the matter

In addition, the issue of using elicitation techniques in teaching speaking skill has

not beon extensively studicd in Vietnam The three studies thal should be highlighted so

far are Phams (2006) which is using elicitation to leach vocabulary ta LY” form students in

Hanoi, Tran (2007) which is eficiting techniques to teach speaking skill to grade-10

studenis in Hanoi Horeign Languages Specializing School (1FLSS) and Nguyen (2011)

the exploitation of eliciting techniques by fourth-year students in their teaching practicum

at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University Despite their thorough investigation into the same issue, there is still room for the current

study to bridge To bz more specific, the two first rescarchers worked on the issuc of

applying elicitation techniques to teach high school students whose learning behaviors and goals are remarkably different from university sindents’ The most recenl one worked on

the use of eliciting techniques by student-teachers among students who major in English,

which is totally different from the context of this study In addition, Pham (2000)’s study zoomed into the context of vocabulary teaching, thereby excluding other language components and skills With a desire lo both fill these gaps lo a carlain cxient and follow a different research implementation approach, the present researcher investigated the employment of elicitation in teaching speaking skill to first year non-Linglish-major sundents, In sum, filting the gaps made by the two carlier studies is another iampelus for the researcher to conduct the present one

Lastly, the subject of the current study is really worth taking into consideration In

the status of newcomers to university, first-year students had notable difficullies im

adapting to a new academic environment and getting accustomed to new leaming strategies Also, as English is not their major, these obstacles tend to affect them much worse If these problems are nol completely sulved, they may leave Tong-term bad effects

on students’ academic achievements Meanwhile, for the past few years, University of

Enginsering and ‘Technology (UE'N) has tremendonsly enforced a number of policies to

enhance the quality of graduates, one of which is the fulfillment of Lnglish proficiency standard as a prerequisite for graduation, Therefore, an ir

igation into tcachers” eustent

cumployment of clicitation in teaching English speaking skill to this population plays a more significant role than ever

1.2 Aims and objectives

In doing the research, the author attempted to address three main aspects Firstly, the study investigated how teachers conceived about elicitation in teaching speaking skill

In addition to the convgpls, their actual employment was also closely lookod at, Last bul

2 How do they cmploy clicitation in teaching English speaking skill to

first-year students of VET, VNU, Hanoi?

3 What efliects does the employment have on students?

1.3, Scope of the study

First and foremost, the rescarch focused on tcachers’ application of clivitation

techniques in speaking lessons only in order to foster students’ talk Therefore, application

into other kinds of lessons and the outcomes of the teaching on other Linguistic skills are not faken ino consideration

Also, as stated in the earlier part, the research targeted at freshmen of UET, VNU

only, which excluded those from other academic levels and institutions

1.4, Significance of the study

It should be noted that the research was a great attempt to approach an issue which

is no longer new but still needs more profound research Therefore, once finished, it can

bring various benefits to involved partics namely students, teachers, educational

administralors and researchers of the relevant fields

Firstly, students and teachers of UET, VNU, Hanoi are those who directly benefit from the information the research provides ‘Teachers will have a comprehensive took at the situation of their awn appticalion of elicitation teaching to increase slutsnis’ talk, realize obstacles that they themselves and their colleagues have encountered and work out

solutions to amend their teaching practice Students are likely to be well aware of their

Researchers of the relevant fields can also refer to the present work for literature reviow,

In general, students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers are those who are likely to benefit fom the study in different ways

1.5 Overview of the rest of the paper

The rest of the paper consists of four following chapters

Chapter 2 provides background theories underlying the issue including definition

of key concepts and relevant knowledge in accordance with a review of related studies of the same field

Chapter 3 presents the methodology of the research including features of parliviparis, research selling, research instruments, data colleetion and data analysis: procedure

Chapter 4 reports and discusses findings which answer the four research questions

Tt also offers recommendations lo relevant parties so as lo

mplish a higher effectivensss of elicitation teaching

Chapter 5 summarizes major findings, highlights contributions of the research, puts forward practical suggestions for future rescarch as well as addresses noled Hinmitations of the study

In conclusion, the initial chapter has presented basic understanding of the research

including talionaies for doing the rescarch, objectives, scope significance and overview of

the rest of the paper.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapler means to review background Ihcories related to the issue including

definitions of key concepts and relevant knowledge Scveral related studies of the same field are also brought to discussion

2.4 Key concepts and relevant knowledge

Elicitation teaching is a typical execution of communicative teaching approach and

has been extensively employed by teachers who are committed to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) This fact shows a light tolationship belween CLT and elicitation teaching Therefore, before digging deeper into the major concept, it is significant to review the theory of the underlying approach

2.1.1, Communicative Language Teaching

CLT has emerged as by far Ihe most popular (caching approach defaulted in almost every English language classroom worldwide Kumaravadivelu (1993: 12) affirmed the

influential power of CLT that “CLT which started in the early 1970s has become the driving force that shapes the planning, implementation and cyaluation of English language

teaching programs (ELT) in most parts of the world” Richard (2005: 6) also gave a full account of whal language leachers mean by “commurricalive”

Convuunicative Language Teaching (CLT) can be understood as a set of principles

about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn the language, the kinds of

classroom activities that best facilttate learning, and the roles of teachers and students in

the classroom

CLT includes a complete code of laws that should be strictly complied with in

order to develop leamers” communicative competence as the ulfimate goal, which collides with what Harmer (2001: 86) believes: “CLT features learning sequences which aim Lo improve the students’ ability to communicate” In addition, Rudder (2000) claimed that

“the essence is language for communication and self-expression” It can be inferred from these views thal leaching students low to use the language and to communicate in a language is considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself To maximize leaming potential ina commmmnicative classroom, teachers are instructed to make use of various loots which help lo oreale genuine communication, one of which is the use

of elicitation techniques

2.1.2, Elicitation

2.1.2.4, Definition of clicitation The majority af CIT leachers tend lo mention clicilation as their Giroitiar leaching practice but the cxplanations of this term vary broadly, This diversity may stom fram a fact that elicitation hardly gets any specific clarifications in academic literature ‘The nature of it can be rougtily understood via the word “elicit” which means “draw facls, responses, answers, stv, from somebody, sometimes with difficulty” (Oxford Advanced Dictionary,

2008)

Flicitation techniques arc widely uscd in numerous seicncas In English langusgs

classrooms, teachers are supposed to master these elicitation techniques to draw out

answers or responses from students As defined by Dam and Cetin (2009), “elicitation is a technique by which the teacher gets the learners fo give information rather than giving it to

them” The definition in Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguis

“Techniques or procedures which a teacher uses to get leamers to actively produce speech

or writing’ suggests that there may be wide applications of elicitation into the field of

language teaching The current rescarch is to adopt the former definition as it dircetly

demonstrates the nature of English teaching procedure in the light of CLT Regarding

elicitation techniques, they can be considered effective 1ools that teachers should benefil from to accelerate their students’ speaking capacity in class

According to Darn, (2008), asking questions is a natural feature of communication, but

also one of the most important lools which teachers have at their disposal Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participation and increase understanding Aiso, accarding to the writer, while questioning

can be an cfTzetive tool, there is both an art and seicuce to asking questions Some of the

niles teachers should take into account are to consider the quantity of questions to raise in appropriate time and place to keep teacher talking time to the mminnun while maximizing

students’ contributions and what questions to ask students ‘The latter is shared by Doff (1988/23) ns: “The focus of cliciting techmiques is whal quastions to ask to cticit the

expected target language”

Regarding question types, scholars had numerous different ways of classification Grammatically, Doff (1988:23-24) gave quite a basic categorization including: Ves/na question, Or question and Wh-question Fustly, Yes/ne question helps teachers to see whether students understand any point related to the lesson and keep them focused By

boing asked to select one option among some available «

in Or question, sludents are

made to think carefully for the right answer, WA-questions, ox questions beginning with what, who, where, when, which, ete., can be asked to obtain specific information ‘these kinds of questions tremendously exploit students’ existing knowledge or check their

siơn of the new knowledge, Henceforth, wh-questions are by far most Favored

to elicit student-talk in class time

Dam (2008) also made a therough review on types of questions As discovered, there have bccn a number of typologics and taxonomics of questions Socratic questioning

forms the basis of eliciting (Ur, 1996: 53), Meanwhile, Darn (2008) found out that

Bloom’s taxonomy identifies six types of questions by which thinking skills may be developed and tested In the context of language teaching and leatning, Bloom himself maintained that "The major purpose in constructing a taxonomy of educational objectives

is to facilitate communication ” According to the author, classroom questions can fall

inlo two Tain types:

© Display questions: these questions help elicit leamars’ prior knowledge and to check their comprchension of the knowicdge that has bccn taught Display questions often focus on the form or meaning of language structures and items, the answers of which are already known by leachers

© _ Roforential questions These questions are used to foster students’ skills of providing further information, giving an opinion, explaining or clarifying They often focus on content rather than language, require ‘follow-up’ or ‘probe’ questions, and the answer is not necessarily known by the teacher

(cited in Chu, 2009: 11-13)

Mehan (1979) proposed four major types of elicitations or questions (the two terms

arc interchangeable by many scholars) inchiding choice, produel, process

Those taxonomics of yusstions, ospooially thơ enc by Daff (1998) and the other by Mehan (1979) share some common features The difference may result som their diferent angles of views and focuses However, all of them agree on the fact that questions are used for the main purpose of checking students’ comprehension of the new knowledge and provokz their prior knowledg:

21.2.2.2, Using pictures Dam and Cetin (2006) raised the importance of offering input in association with clicitation; and pictures arc always a good source of such input Using pictures is addressed

by Doff (1988) as one of the easiest ways to elicit new vocabulary (or structure) in

practice, CLT teachers often choose lo use pictures mosily in warm-up stage lo exeils

students and catch their attention to the lesson Doff (1988: 166) stated basic principles of using pictures: “the teacher uses pictures to set the scene and asks questions about what they see, why they think it happens, what they think will happen next and how they feel or whal thoy think about it Apart fom bei

2.1.2.23, Using gumes or activities Chui (2009: 15) emphasized that this tool is strongly advecated by many ELT experts Traditionally, there used to be a cormmon conception that all leaning should be serious and solemn in nature This is a mere misconception as it is possible to leam a

language and enjoy oneself at the same time (Lee, 1995: 35) Wright, Betteridge and

Buckby (1984:1) belioved that “language learning is hard work Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time Games help and encourage many leamers to sustain their interest and work”, Therefore, it is clearly seen

that good games can be used during a burdensome lesson Games help teachers to create contexts in which the language is uscful and mzaningful If games arc well-chosen and appropriately used, they ean give students a break and simultancously crcate chances for them to practice new skills in a highly amusing and motivating way (Krsoz, 2000) In order

lo filly obtain these benefits, one thing teachers should take info consideration is thai

“whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning fopic, and the elassroom settings are factors that should be taken info account (Nguyen and Khuat, 2003)

2.1.2.2.4, Using texts and dialngues According to Darn and Cetin (2006), eliciting ideas and background information also reqnires input which may come from a teacher's anecdote ar story, a text, pictures, or a

video, and invalves the sharing of knowledge between tcachar and learners Doff (1988:168) suggested that “teacher may also consider using texts and dialogues to guide students to respond to the language uss and context of use presented in those texts and dialogues”, They play the role of providing students with illustrative language samples based on which students can produce ones of their owm Particularly, authentic texts and dialogues, when introduced into language classrooms, can bridge the gap between classroom knowledge and “a student?s capacities to participate in real world events” (Wilkins, 1976; 79, as cited in To and Nguyen, 2008) As texts and dialogues fiction as standard samples for students to imitate, they require @ careful selection of materials

aubjzel tơ the syllabus, students” caring styles, inter and other faclors

2.1.2.2.5 Using non-verbal language

‘This tool is quite handy as it requires little prior preparation ftom teachers It includes numerous forins Hike miming, gestures, facial expression, body language, etc which are used mainly to elicit new vocabulary or structure (Dot, 1988) This technique partly provokes students’ curiosity and uttering of expected language items

2.1.2.3 Arlvantages af elicitation techniques

‘As highlighted earlier, elicitation teaching helps develop a leaner-center leaming atmosphere ‘Therefore, learners are those who get the most benefits and teachers are not excluded

The first and foremost advantage of elicitation teaching is to increase students’ speaking time and reducing teachers’ unnecessary speaking These two benefits can be

he of she is using English to introduce new materials” (Doff, 1988: 159)

In addition, eliciting involves the class by focusing students’ ailention and making them think Teachers can activate students’ minds more by asking questions, by pushing them to think and encouraging them to contribute; they will be more engrossed in the

1

mị In so doing, sludsrts” motivation is also igniled and maintained throughout the lesson,

Next, on the premises that the teaching of new knowledge is often based on what

the learners already know (Darn & Cetin, 2006), elicitation encourages students to draw on

whal they already know or partly know (Doff, 1988: 161) Before intsoducing now knowledge, teachers tend to remind students of the old one or ask them about personal

experience By attempting to answer teachers” questions, students have opportunities to

soan their background knowledge system, checking what they have or partly have alrcady

in their minds

One minor advantage af using elicitation Lecturiquss is thal students can learn or be exposed to useful incidental language during elicitation That is the language which is not explicitly taught but students still pick up during their interaction in classtoams, As a result, what students can lear is far beyond the primary objectives of the lesson

in tho

Obviously, clicitation dircetly and mainly benefits studonts However

meantime, teachers are at a great advantage First, “elicitation can be used by teachers for presenting new language as well as reviewing what was taught earlier” (Doff, 1988:161) Morcaver, as a diagnostic lool, cliciling gives leachers a chanee to sce whal sludents know and what they do not and hence to adapt their presentation to the level of the class Therefore, it is clearly seen that elicitation plays the role as testing tools that teachers can

use Lo measure the level of the class

Eliciting is a powerful diagnostic tool, providing key information about what the

learners know or don't know, and therefore a starting point for lesson planning, Eliciting

also encourages teachers to be flexible and to move on rather than dwell on information which is already known

{ cited in Darn & Cetin, 2006)

ik

In short, eliciting is beneficial to both students and teachers

2.1.2.4, Disadvantages of elicitation techniques

While cliciting clearly contributes to students’ involvement and teachers’ evaluation of their performance, it does not always produce the desired or expected results for the following reasons

Despite his strong approval of the use of this technique in classrooms, Doff (1988 161) still had to admit that eliciting takes more time than straightforward presentation of new knowlsdge Tho first reason is thal, sometimes, trying to clicit a word or oxplanation can take ten times as long as just explaining it, This problem then may negatively affect class time budget ‘The burden is much greater when they have to manage a large-sized class within a given amount of time Another reason is that a replacement of straightforward presentation with sliciiation means teachers’ spending more time and

effort preparing essential materials, structuring their lesson and delivering it in a way that students can raise more voice, become mote active and responsive in class The conflict between the limitation of time and ths acquisition of desircd quality somchow discourages

teacher from attempting to use elicitation for their students’

In Vikelihond, there are cases where students are loo passive or nol cooperative enough to respond to teachers, As such, early elicitation may be greeted with stony silence and teachers" attempt for elicitation at this beginning stage may end in failure

With respect to questioning which is the leading techmaue of elicitation, teachers should pay attention to some of the following points, as reviewed by Chu (2009)

Firstly, “teachers should vary his/her questioning technique according to the

difficulty of the question” (Doff, 1988:166) ‘hey are advised to go from easy questions

concerning most common knowledgs to more dificult and expertise ones as well as types

The second rule worth considering is that afler delivering each question, teachers should leave time for students to digest or to think of the answer However, it is not advised by Damn & Cetin (2009) to “pull teeth” or wait for “prolonged answers”

Noxt is teachers? response aller students give their answer A minor gosture or quick comments can be delivered to show teachers’ acknowledgement which tums out to

be a very significant source of encouragement to their learners

Lastly, “the teacher should elicit onto the blackboard” to make it easier fr students

to follow and yet maximum attention fram them (of, 1988: 167)

2.2, Related studies

‘As stressed previously, eliciting technique is a powerful tool frequently employed

in the process of teaching English, especially undcr communicative approach Therefore, there is no question why the issue has bean brought into research field by some scholars, both overseas and domestic involved

One of the pioneering studies on the application of eliciting techniques into English lessons is “Eliciting spontaneous speech in bilingual students; Methods and techniques” by Cornejo, Ricardo and Najar (1983) in this research, the three researchers first presented an

innovative techniques were put forward to foster students’ sporttaneous conversations, both

with their leachers and stadenls While the study could provide significant background theory and practical recommendations, it still had two perceivable limitations Since it was conducted outside Vietnam, the scope of the study did not reach Vietnamese language leaching and learning comtexl Also, the subjects of the study were bilingual students whose culture, education and other conditions were totally different from Vietnamese EFL

students’ The gap that no specifications for Vietnamese students were made can be partly

bridged by domestic rescarchers

In another research named “Maximizing learning potential in the conmmmicative classroom" by Kumaravadivela (1993), clicitation teaching was also brought into

As CLT bocane the mos| prevaiting approach implemented in almost every uppor- secondary school in Vietnam, there have been several researches on the field The first one

is “Using elicitation techniques to teach Vocabulary to 17" form students in Hanoi” by

Pham (2006) On shedding light on the issue, the author attempted fo investigate three

ituation of leaching vacabnlary to 11 form students in Hanoi, the appticalion

addbessed Firsity, the study cenlsred around the leaching vocabulary Althongh this was one of three core teaching components where the employment of elicitation techniques could be considered @ must in modem EFL classrooms, the results of a thorough investigation into this field only could not represent that of the others namely grammar, promnniation and four macro skitts: Histoning, speaking,

dings anid wriling, S

only, tha classroom settings where the survey of this research was conducted were not yet introduced the new textbook which still followed the old teaching methods

One year later, analher rescarch on clivilation was varied out by Tran (2007) named “eliciting technique to teach speaking ski! to grade-10 students in HFLSS” Firstly, she investigated the real situation of teachers’ using eliciting techniques to teach grade-10 students in TIVT.SS in Tanoi, Then, outstanding advantzges of this practice could

be drawn out, Hindrances to the employment process of this technique were diagnosed for timely and necessary pedagogical adjustments Notably, the author gave a close Look at the speaking skill as the focus Que porecivabie limilatien is thal the snbjcels of the studly wers students fiom FLSS only, which could hardly be generalized into a wider population of

other institutions across the city and country

14

Most recently, Nguyen (2011) worked on “de exploitation of eliciting techniques

by fourth-year sndants in their teaching practicum at University af Languages and

International Studies, Vietnam National University” (ULIS, VNU) The author looked into

how eliciting techniques were used by student-teachers in teaching English to first-year suudents at English Division |, Facully of Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU The sludy was

a praiseworthy attempt to evaluate the fiequency of using eliciting techniques, the effectiveness, difficulties and solutions to enhance the effects of elicitation teaching Howaver, the different leaching context in Nguyen (2011) made the prosonl ressarchuer

decide to do further work on the same issue

‘These listed gaps intensify the significance of the current study which targets at elicitation techniques teachers use to teach speaking skill to non-major university students

examined the application of elicitation in a different approach and context.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY This chapter is to slabarate the methodotogy of the tescarch inckuding rescarch sottings, participants, data collection instruments and analysis together with data analysis procedure

3.1, Research settings and participants

3.1.1 Rescarch settings

Syllabus

In the first academies your, sludents ara lo reach levels Al and A2 (according to Common European Framework of Reference, now refarred to as CEFR) in two initial semesters ‘he number of credit hours each week is 6 which is halved into two class

contacts In the light of Communicative Approach aiming to develop students’

communieative cormpetcnee slongsids with tinguislic ability, textbooks applicd to le

Al and A2 are New English File Elementary and Pre-intermediate respectively, by Clive Oxsnden, Christina Latham-Konig and Paul Seligson Moreover, students can self-study with the workbooks of this scrics and other recommended material sources Pronunciation section is particularly intensified with the utilization of Pronunciation in use Elementary bby Jomathan Marks

With regard to testing and evaluation, there are two mid-term tests and one final exam The former consists of one written and one oral test scheduled in Week 9 and 13 respectively ‘The latter is conducted at the end of every semester in the integrative form

‘but with the absenee of the oral ski The grade proportion for these thr

15% - 50%, with the other 10% devoted to the checking of students’ attendance and

cqually divided into 15 classes, i.c about 25 to 30 per class Last but uot leasl, UET students had been placed into appropriate classes coxresponding to their English

teachers and students were involved as subjcels of the arch

Although the research focuses on teachers’ application of elicitation teaching, students play an equivalent role as direct beneficiaries, observers and evaluators of the

process They were primarily scleeted for the questionnaire to obtain answers to Rescarch

Question 3 The total number was approximately 90, which constituted nearly one fifth of the entire population

The selection of students taking part in the survey primarily complied with the

principle of random sampling This sampling method is wsefid if the researcher wishes lo

be able to make generalisation, because it seeks representativeness of the wider

poprdation (Cohen, Manion and Monison, 2000: 100) Every student has chanes to be

selected The selection of one may not eliminate the likelthood of the others Therefore,

this sampling method oould ensure high diversity and, thns, validity for the study On applying the mentioned theory, the researcher did hand-pick four out of given 15 classes

In these four chosen classes, the researcher selected 20 students fiom each to approach

However, to intensify the representativeness of the study, another method namely stratified sampling was alsv employed to choose these 20 students properly The researcher divided the whole population of each class into sub-groups, each of which

“contains subjects with similar characteristics” (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2000 101) Their Al scores are the only criterion for different categories which serve the later

selection.

from four earlier-selected classes, which might be useful for the comparison between their own responses and their sindents’ evaluation From those 10 teachars, six of thom were inviled 1o the interview session

43.2, Rescarch Instruments

AS a survey research, it fully employed all three fundamental tools namely

questionnairc, scmi-structurcd intervicw and classroom obscrvation The combination of these three instruments was believed to generate valid and reliable data

3.2.1, Teacher and Student Questionnaire

The first data collection method, the questionnaires, was delivered to both teachers and students ‘This tool was popularly used in almost every primary research According to Wilson and Mc Lean (1994), questionnaire was highly regarded for its

outslaning merits inchiding providing structured, numerical data, heing able to he

administered without the presence of the researcher, and offen straightforward ta be

analyzed (cited by Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2000: 245) Also, from reality, the

researcher found it time- and cffort- saving to conduct questionnaire survey among a

18

relatively large number of UL freshmen and teachers These advantages are already recognized by Milne (1999) when he slated:

Questiormaires come in mary different forms from factual to opinion based, from

tick boxes to free text responses Whatever their form, questionnaires are often viewed as quick and easy to do

In this research context, both teacher and student question included two main

sections: the first sought respondents’ personal information which was collected and

presented carfior in 3.1.1 and the second was the main content, The leachor questiormaire

was to deliberately find the answers to the two first research questions: tzachers’ concept

of elicitation in teaching English speaking skill and their actual employment Meanwhile, the student question was targeted to the effects of that employment on students In order

to gói sim re opinions and abjective

In general, the questionnaire was carcfully designed in terms of both appoarmee and content for the highest retum rates as well as the usefitness of the responses

(2000: 268), interview is a conman research tool used to collect data, as in surveys or

experimental sitations Tn the curren, rescarch, somi-structured inlarview was sinployed

to probe for details

session of sharing personal information To avoid possible misunderstanding and

confusion, the interviews were done in Vietnamese Under the interviewees’ permission, the responses were noted and tape-recorded sa as nol lo twiss any important details Al

times, unclear points were further explained, which partly enriched the quantity and

quality of collected data

3.2.3 Classroom observation

In the light of a primary research, classroom observation was regarded as a must for a maximum degree of objectivity Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000: 305) claimed

that observational data are attractive as they afford the researcher the opportimity to

gather ‘live’ data from ‘tive’ situations On doing lesson observation, the r2scarcher

In conctusion, the combination of the three most common tools namely questionnaire, interview and classroom cbservation brought to the researcher a rich amount of valid and reliable data, the analysis of which would be presented in the next

chapter

4.3 Data collection procedure

The data collection procedure can be divided into lwo main stages including the preparation and actual implementation,

3.3.1 Preparation

First of all, a tescarch design was construcled with a selection of participants, consideration of data collection instruments and data analysis methods Not long later, Est drafts of questionnaires and interview schedules were written up After that, the

20

piloting of the questionnaire survey was carried out over a small group of students within the targeted population Afler the piloting session, important amendments were made to

have better editions of questionnaire With a consideration of rescarch objectives and the

nature of observed lessons, the researcher constructed the classroom observation framework The last preparalory step was Lo send wrilten consents lo the inlerviewees and

arrange the interview dates

could not be determined by the rescarcher hersel bul on penissiơn

Step 3: Teacher interview was done right after the observed classes were finished,

It was the suitable time for the interviewer to clarify any points that she found ambiguous

or worth asking about the obscrved lessons as well as about the questionnaires

3.4, Data analysis procedure

Based on questionnaire resulis, the researcher began lo classify, synthesize and report data, To make the analysis comprehensible, answers to every question in the form

of words were transfered into chaits first, followed by a detailed explanation Semi- structured interviews were transcribed, analyzed and integrated into the presentation of questionaire results so thal roudors could have a decpor understanding of the siluations

Regarding classroom observation, the researcher made a thorough analysis on the observation details videoed from the two lessons ‘The results then were double-checked with those of questionnaires and interviews

To sum up, the research did involve a considerable number of 80 fieshmen and 0 teachers of English from UET, VNU in questionnaire survey, interview and classroom observation The resulls, afler that, ware synthesized, analyzed as well as reported in the most reader-fiiendly way and would be cleaily presented in the next chapter,

21

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

This chapter is where the answers to the three research questions can be found

Apart from a thorough analysis of the data collected from the collection instruments, it

also presents significant pedagogical implications for relevant parties of the research

4.1 Data analysis and discussion

Research question 1: What is teachers’ concept of elicitation in teaching

English speaking skill to first-year students of UT, VNU?

aware of elicitation that they ever use in teaching speaking, and secondly, if yes, the

frequency of teachers’ actual using elicitation in teaching speaking Rather than directly

revealing the name of this way of teaching, the research gave the equivalent definition to

prevent biased answers

Usually BOften Gsometimes WRarely mNever

Figure 1: Frequency of elicitation teaching

As can be seen from the pie chart, “usually” constitutes the largest proportion of

70% followed by a relatively smaller percentage of 20% which goes for “often” Only 10% of the respondents ticked at “sometimes” whereas “rarely” and “never” were both

totally ignored These numbers reflected a high chance where elicitation teaching was

utilized in teaching speaking to first year students at UET, VNU The finding had no conflict with Teacher 1’s opinion:

Teacher 1 when interviewed affirmed her frequent use of elicitation in teaching

speaking as: “4s an English teacher of new generation where CLT is widely advocated

and exercised, I strictly follow teaching methods of this approach I try to give students

more chance to talk rather talk myself for mast of the tine As far as Lam concerned, the

method that we've talking about is called “elicitation” in ELT.”

Neguycn’s (2011) also found out that clicitation is frequently uscd in English

classrooms, no matter whether they are taught by teachers or would-be teachers

Two important conclusions can bs made from the first question Firstly, teachers

are well aware of the technique that they use in teaching speaking, ie elicitation, to their

first-year students ‘he data can also reveal that they put this teaching way into use with

Effects Point | Point | Point Point | Poiut

(%) | 0) (%)

1 Checking students’ understanding of the 0 6 0 90 10

focus issucs

time/Decreasing teachers’ talking time

knowledge

6 Exposing students to incidental useful 0 0 90 19 0

language

7, Having students learn how to guess 0 0 30 50 0

‘Table 2: Benefits of eticltation teaching

Teachers’ responses about the effects of elicitation in teaching speaking skill was not sparsely distributed throughout the 1-5 scale bat gathered in three highest levels No

teachers added any other effects to the list provided by the researcher,

23

It is striking from the chart that elicitation was effectively mostly because it was

ssid to help increase students’ talking time and reduce teachers’ talking dime This

aspect was acknowledged by 100% respondents Standing at the 2" position was

“Activating students’ background knowledge” with 60% choosing Point 5 and 40%

choosing Poinl 4 Flicilation was also considered extremely useful in “checking

students’ understanding of the focus issucs” and “measuring students’ levels” when

there were 50% of the teachers choosing Point 4 and the other half choosing Point 5 Clearly, in these four aspeets, no respondents licked Point 3 or lower Points However, a percentage of up to 40% choosing that category made “keeping students’ motivated” stand at the S* rank ‘The effects “exposing students to Incidental useful language” and

“having students learn how to guess” attracted only 20% of the respondents for Point 4

‘but up lo 80% for Point 3

It can be inferred ftom the figures that elicitation was agreed by teachers to have a mumber of positive effects on students’ speaking skill Teacher 5°s answers affirmed that:

“The most important impact of elicitation teaching is to create more chance for students to talk rather than sitting around to be passively imparted the input by the teachers like what they used to do For teachers, using elicitation is particularly good to wei closer to their students, see how goud or bad they are at English, etc.”

Besides those effects, T8 added: “I strongly advocate the use of elicilation in reaching speaking because it’s a handy tool for me to see whether my students pay

attention to what Int teaching or to what extent I can make myself understoad hy them”

The observation of Group 2 revealed some similar results During the lesson File

1D “fhe Devil’s Dictionary”, the teacher elicited the theory of relative pronouns and

rolative clauszs bocause she assumed thal students may have Toarnt ther all once al high school, In ts way, the teacher involved students in contributing to the construction of the theory instead of presenting them all to students However as fir as the observer could see, the teacher could hardly speak less thant expected since asking many questions

to alicit correct answers from students was as exhausting as saying them directly Sometimes, the teacher did not give complete answers but Jet them guess the missing parts The classroom atmosphere was quite exciting al that tine

24

‘The findings about teachers’ concepts about the effects of elicitation in teaching

speaking skill came as no surprise to the researcher as those benefits have been widely acknowledged by a number of authors worldwide (Refer to 1.2.3)

Such an evaluation and observation reached an agreement that elicitation was considered a highly effective tool in teaching speaking skill to UET freshmen

« Teachers’ concept of the shortcomings of elicitation teaching

Although elicitation was asserted to bring a number of benefits to both teachers

and students surveyed, the employment of that method had significant disadvantages

Generally, all the shortcomings in discussion were of medium degree since neither

“never” nor “usually” constituted a high percentage out of the entire respondents No

teachers added any other shortcomings to the list provided by the researcher

Figure 2: Shortcomings of elicitation teaching

1, Is time-consuming 4 Tends to be hard for teachers to

approach shy students