04051001861 tom tat Áp dụng hoạt Động Đóng vai trong các bài học nói Để tăng cường Động lực học tập của trẻ em Ở một trung tâm tiếng anh tại hà nội, việt nam

04051001861 tom tat Áp dụng hoạt Động Đóng vai trong các bài học nói Để tăng cường Động lực học tập của trẻ em Ở một trung tâm tiếng anh tại hà nội, việt nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF

LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

(Áp dụng hoạt động đóng vai trong các bài học nói để tăng cường động lực học

tập của trẻ em ở một trung tâm tiếng Anh tại Hà Nội, Việt Nam)

MAJOR: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 8140231.01

SUPERVISOR: Dr HOANG THI XUAN HOA

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

As an English teacher for Vietnamese young learners, I found out that children have short attention spans and they are not usually involved in the lessons if teachers keep teaching in traditional ways People usually said that children can learn language better and more quickly than adults but there is no obvious evidence for this Actually, learning effectiveness depends on many factors such as cognitive ability, span of attention, faculty of memory, self-consciousness, linguistic capacities, learning style, motivation for studying and so on In fact, I used to have a hard period of time starting to teach children English because they are too young to

be motivated to study While there are so many studies about English communication skills and learning motivation of adult learners are taken into account, just a few about young learners‟ motivation are conducted Because of those reasons, I decided to do research on young learners‟ motivation when applying role-play as a new teaching method to find out how it works I hope that the other teachers encountering the similar contexts have the suggestions to improve their own situations

2 Aims of the research and research questions

This thesis aims at improving the children‟s learning motivation through role play technique applied in speaking lessons In order to achieve this goal, the study should answer these questions:

2.1 What are the young learners‟ interest and difficulties in speaking lessons? 2.2 To what extent does the use of role-play help improve the learner‟s motivation

in speaking lessons?

3 Scope of the research

The learning context of this study is in class FAM 2 at an English center in Hanoi There are 8 students in the class, 3 of them are females and 5 are males These students are at the age of eight so they are really mischievous and playful They cannot focus on the lessons for too long The target of the course is that students can

use their own language elements gained from the lessons to communicate in a natural way The period of conducting the study is in 5 weeks and the textbook used

is Family and Friends 2, the second edition The methods used in this research are observation, journal, and comparison to evaluate the attitude and motivation of students before and after learning with role play This research was conducted to improve the young learner‟s motivation by using role-play activities effectively

4 Significance of the research

It is expected that with the use of an action research in applying role play into speaking lessons, students will be motivated to study and involve in the lesson more The results of this study also suggest an effective activity in speaking lessons

to encourage students to study actively In other words, this research will be of help for teachers, educators and researchers who want to find the way to improve

students‟ learning motivation

5 Structural organization of the thesis

The thesis is divided into 5 chapters

Chapter I is the introduction which reveals the reason for choosing the topic, the aims and objectives of the study, the scope of the study, the significance and the structure of the research and the statement of research questions

Chapter II is literature review which provides theoretical background of teaching speaking to young learners, motivation, role play as well as the relationship between teaching speaking using role play and young learners‟ motivation

Chapter III mentions the research methodology In this chapter, the conduction of

an action research and data collection are clearly stated

Chapter IV named Findings and discussion which deals with the detailed results of the study and covers a comprehensive analysis on the data collected from observation, teachers‟ journal and comparison

Chapter V is the conclusion which summarizes the concluding marks, pedagogical implications and limitations of the study This part also gives some suggestions for further research in the future

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Motivation

1.1 Definition and types of motivation

Motivation is defined in Merriam-Webster dictionary (1997) as “the process of motivating; the condition of being motivating; a motivating force, stimulus, or influence that causes a person or student to act” According to Johnstone (1999), motivation is considered a stimulant to achieve a particular target In other words, when people are stimulated or provoked to do something by any factors, it means they have the motivation to achieve their goals

1.2 Functions and roles of motivation in language acquisition

It is shown in one important study carried out by Masgoret and Gardner (2003) that motivation and language acquisition has a close relationship In this research, they analyse the relationship among the variables of socio-educational model (integrativeness, motivation, attitudes toward the learning situation, integrative motivation and instrumental orientation) and language achievement As a result, language achievement correlated with the motivation variable rather than the other variables of the socio-educational model

1.3 Motivation in EFL teaching and learning

Motivation plays an extremely important role in the second or foreign language learning process It helps to increase students‟ energy to attend the activities and encourage their attention into the lesson It is claimed that intrinsic motivation is more powerful and considered to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation in educational programs However, most of the language learners are motivated to study through external factors in the EFL program According to Harmer (2001), the learners with intrinsic motivation will enhance language skills significantly if they love the learning process The research conducted by Vansteenkiste, Lens, and Deci (2006) also pointed out that natural goal framing which include external factors drove students to deeper engagement, higher persistence and better learning in class activities

1.4 Motivation of young learners

Nikolov (1999) found out that compared to adult learners, young learners had more positive attitudes toward learning English Many researchers agreed that the younger the learners are, the better they learn Young learners‟ motivation to learn English is very simple but various

Nikolov, (1999), and Julkunen (2001) agreed that children‟s motivation and attitude toward learning are affected by many things such as teachers, learning conditions, parents, and favorable teaching methods Hence, it is really important if teachers can base on the children's favorite to create better conditions for them to be motivated to study

2 Teaching speaking

According to Chaney (1998), speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" On the similar points, Brown (1994) and Burns & Joyce (1997) stated that speaking is an action that involves producing, receiving and processing information and its form is dependent on the context in which it occurs

The final purpose of teaching speaking is to enhance students‟ real-life communication skills In order to communicate well, it is essential for the students

to develop their speaking skill with interactive activities When students can join the activities they like, they tend to be motivated to learn more „The more meaningful the materials and tasks are for the learners involved the better the outcome will be” (McDonough and Shaw 1993:142) Hence, teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language Among the useful speaking teaching methods and activities, role-play which provides real-life conversations is the most effective to motivate students to speak

3 Teaching speaking to young learner

For young learners, learning to speak a new language is like to start another mother tongue Different from the adults when learning language, young learners seem to

respond to the meanings rather than the language forms This means that children learn better when the lessons focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency rather than

on accuracy (Moon, 2000:5; Harmer, 2001:38)

Moreover, the children prefer and be involved in the activities which can catch their interest immediately Furthermore, children are more excited at sensory aids and physical activity, such as role-play, games, or Total Physical Response activities (Brown, 2001:89)

However, young learners usually have short attention spans They cannot focus on the lessons for too long unless they are interesting, lively or fun Therefore, it is important to provide activities which can maintain their interest and attention alive (Harmer, 2001:38; Curtain & Dahlberg, 2010:19)

Compared to the other techniques, simulation and role-play are the most effective ones to improve the students‟ speaking skill When doing the role-play, students act

as the participants in the real-life situation whatever their characteristics are Hence, their language is produced in a natural way and their oral fluency is also improved

4 Role play technique

4.1 Understanding of role play

As defined in Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary (1994:1526), role play

is “the act of imitating the character and behavior of a type of a person who is very different from yourself, either deliberately, for example as a training exercise, or without knowing it”

Huang (2008) defined, in educational perspective, that role play is one type of simulation which puts the emphasis on the interaction among characters in the situation She also claimed that role play is other means of communication for many different purposes such as persuasion and negotiation, expressing emotion or conveying messages

4.2 Types of role play

According to Donn Byrne (1986: 122), there are two types of role play, scripted and unscripted one In terms of scripted role play, students can perform following the

prepared written scripts of conversations, prompts and expression under the instruction of teachers This type of role play is used more commonly because the students just need to read aloud the written lines On the other hand, unscripted role play is hardly applied in the class because it is difficult and complicated for the students to prepare the conversation and act out in a short period of time However, unscripted role play is usually conversations which are more related to real life Teachers usually change the conversation based on the real situation to help students understand the applied language easily Hence, students can develop their communication better when encountering a similar situation in real life

4.3 Functions of role play

Stephen D Hattings (1993:165) declared that role play is ideal to be used in speaking class to encourage the students to use English creatively He also claimed that role play activities stimulate interactive conversation in various situations Consequently, students are provided more opportunities to practice speaking and develop their communication skill Similarly, Tompkins (1998) stated that role playing is one of the most extremely valuable L2 learning methods because of its effectiveness for stimulating students‟ thinking, creativity and behavioral skills Maxwell (1997) also agreed that the purpose of role play is to “improve students‟ verbal and nonverbal skills” and to link the knowledge and language they have learnt to perform their roles in real-life conversations Role play creates the benefits

of bringing abstract discussions alive and provoke the students‟ willingness to learn

4.4 Significance of role play

Role play applying in speaking lessons is considered one of the most effective teaching methods which brings about various advantages and significances for students Attending role play activities, students learn how to express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings by using languages Bailey and Nunan (2005) suggested that role play is an ideal technique which can help students learn and practice essential vocabulary, grammatical structures and speech acts

Snarski (2007) mentioned five advantages brought about by applying role play technique in language class: whole class participation, integrated observation task, varying proficiency levels, pragmatic practice and critical thinking skill

4.5 Applying role play in teaching speaking skill

When teaching English, Adriyati (2009:22) advised that teachers should consider

these points The first point should be defining objects The reason you want to

include the role play activities in the lesson depends on your purpose and lesson objectives

Secondly, choosing context and roles in which teachers select one situation from the

chosen topic and decide the setting for the characters is also an important point It is not necessary that the setting has to be real but the realistic one is recommended In case the characters used in the role play are human, teachers should define their

goals and mention what may happen if the characters cannot achieve them

Thirdly, when introducing the exercise, teachers should describe the setting and the

problem to engage the students in the scenario The students should be provided the clear information about the characters, their goal and background Besides, teachers

should outline the goals that the students are expected to gain after the lesson

4.6 Relationship between role play and motivation

According to Maxwell (1997), role play is helpful in improving students‟ willingness to learn It is undeniable that students are motivated to study when they are taught interesting things according to the way they want to learn And the students learning with motivation usually acquire knowledge better than the other ones With role-play, some reserved learners become motivated to take part in the learning activities because they feel comfortable when acting as reality together with their friends

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1 Research background and participants

This research was conducted in FAM 2 class, one of my classes in English Dream center located in Hanoi There were 8 students in my class, 5 boys and 3 girls Almost all of them were at the age of eight They were very intelligent but really naughty, noisy and aggressive, especially the boys However, they had difficulty in producing the sentences fluently and naturally They seemed to lack learning motivation even though they were given stickers to change a reward toy every month and some of them were a little shy when being asked to speak English in front of the class

The textbook used for this course is Family and friends 2- 2nd edition by Naomi

Simmons After this course, the students were expected to be able to use the new words and structures to make some simple dialogues

This action research was done in 5 weeks from the beginning of June till the second week of July in 2020

2 Research design

This research was implemented in the form of an action research so that teachers can practice the ideas of improving both teaching and learning quality Action research is a process investigated into teaching and learning by teachers to develop their own teaching and students‟ learning The purpose of applying action research

in the classroom is to help teachers observe the teaching and learning activities and find out the influences of their teaching method on their students Those collected information will be of help for teachers and educators to make wiser changes and decisions for the future

The goal of this research is to improve learners‟ motivation in English speaking class, so doing an action research in which the teacher can join as a participant will

be the best method to achieve the goal

3 Research procedure

The research procedure is applied according to 4 steps of Kurt Lewin‟s model First

of all, a careful plan was made to make sure that the new teaching method was effective for the children‟s motivation improvement in speaking Among many types of methods, role-play was chosen because it is the most suitable method which can motivate the young learners in speaking lessons Then, a set of role-play activities was created and applied in speaking class While implementing role play, teachers carefully observed the engagement and interest of students, took note on the observation forms and then wrote down a journal after each lesson to find out the changes in the students‟ learning motivation Furthermore, informal talks with the evaluation form were also conducted to help the researcher find out the change easier

3.1 Planning

In this step, teacher made the detailed lesson plans for each speaking section using role-play technique (Appendix 1) Moreover, being able to act their favourite role helps to motivate students to involve in the activities better Besides, an observation form was prepared to take note the students‟ reaction and a journal form was planned to be written after each lesson to see the change in the students‟ learning motivation through the teacher‟s observation Furthermore, the informal talk questions were created to get the data from the learners

3.2 Acting

During the study, role play activities were included in every speaking lesson so that the teacher could observe changes in the children‟s learning motivation The role plays were implemented in groups or in pairs depending on each scripted situation

to ensure that all the learners could have the chance to take part in the activities Requirements for each role play activity were always given by the teacher at the beginning of the activities and rehearsals were usually conducted with the teacher‟s support to encourage the confidence and motivation of the young leaners Finally,

teacher gave them feedback and the whole class voted for the best performance after each lesson in which role play was applied

3.3 Observing

During the time students were practicing or doing the role plays, teacher observed the students‟ attitude, response, participation and achievement All of the observed information was noted down and made into a journal (appendix 4) to record the things happened while applying role-play technique into speaking lessons A journal

is extremely effective to find out the changes when conducting the research because

it contains the notes of the real situation when the actions occurred

3.4 Reflecting

After the first week of observation and the teaching journal, teacher identified one problem related to the equality of the roles in the speaking activity Therefore the researcher was more careful in choosing the next conversations for the role play activities to balance the equality of the roles Besides, teacher based on the informal talk result and the journal to compare the changes in students‟ attitude and learning motivation before and after applying role play technique into speaking lessons Also, this is of help for the teacher to have better lesson plans in the future

4 Technique of collecting data

In order to identify the motivation in speaking of young learners in the English center and evaluate the improvement of the children‟s learning motivation when applying role-play technique in speaking lessons, three research methods were used:

Observation, informal talk and journal

4.1 Observation

As mentioned in the literature review, the motivation of young learner can be observed throughout the research through their interest, engagement, expectancy of success and satisfaction in the role play activities in speaking sections Therefore, observation is one of the techniques used in this research The observation forms (appendix 5) were for individual student and were prepared before the lesson to save time

The improvement in their learning motivation pointed out the effectiveness of the new teaching method in speaking lessons of young learners Each learner had their own behaviour when learning English Through observation, teacher realized the strengths and weaknesses of each student and might find out the suitable way to motivate them to study

4.2 Informal talks

Before conducting the research, teacher made individual informal talks (appendix 2)

to ask all students some questions related to speaking lessons to find out their interest and difficulties in speaking lessons It is important to realize young learners‟ difficulty in speaking and their favourite topics or favourite activities because the researcher can base on that information to adjust the suitable lesson plan for students to study better

After the fifth speaking lesson with role play, teacher made the second informal talks (appendix 3) to identify their reaction toward this new method and evaluate their learning motivation Teacher asked what they like or dislike when doing the

role play to adjust the lesson plan for better results

4.3 Journal

After note-taking from each lesson, the teacher synthesized and wrote them down into the journal to analyze the results (appendix 4) The journal in this case was used as a diary in which the teacher recorded what happened in the speaking class using role play, what responses and behaviour students showed, what they gained and what strengths and weaknesses of each student was The journal also included what the teacher could do or could not do as the plan and her expectation From the information in the journal, the teacher realized the advantages and shortcomings of the way each role play activity was performed and adjusted better for the next lessons

5 Technique of data analysis

The data in this action research from observation, informal talk and journal was analyzed qualitatively Also, the comparation of learning motivation before and