04051001863 tóm tắt nâng cao kĩ năng nói tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 8 thông qua các dự Án làm việc nhóm một dự Án nghiên cứu hành Động Ở một trường thcs tỉnh phú thọ

04051001863 tóm tắt nâng cao kĩ năng nói tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 8 thông qua các dự Án làm việc nhóm một dự Án nghiên cứu hành Động Ở một trường thcs tỉnh phú thọ

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST

GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ THI KIM OANH

IMPROVING GRADE 8 STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILLS THROUGH

TEAM PROJECTS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN PHU THO PROVINCE

Nâng cao kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 8 ở một trường THCS

tỉnh Phú Thọ thông qua các dự án làm việc nhóm

M.A SUMMARY MASTER’S OF THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Ph.D Nguyễn Thị Hương

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

In digitalization age, together with creativity, collaboration, self-confidence, and

critical thinking (Sato, 2017; Lubis, 2019), communicating fluently and confidently in English becomes an essential goal to achieve by EFL students around the world as well as Vietnamese students in particular Teaching English has become an increasingly significant element in Vietnamese educational system So important is it that English has made a compulsory subject in curriculum Speaking and listening skills hardly get much attention Teachers focus more on written language They tend to rely on materials in course book which provides activities in working with vocabulary items As a result, teaching and learning process become monotonous, which does not keep students engaged in speaking lessons There are many factors affect the success of language learners such as learning ability, motivation and teaching methodology, among which motivation and appropriate teaching techniques play an important role in the learning process According to Jeremy Harmer (1998, p86) there are three important things to be considered when getting students involved in speaking class Firstly, speaking activities provide rehearsal opportunities Secondly, speaking task in which students try to use any or all of language they know provide feedback for both teacher and students And the last, students have opportunities to activate the various elements of language they have stored in their brains, the more automatic their use of these elements become

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is one of the approaches recommended to be used PBL allows students to design, plan, and carry out an extended project that produces a publicly exhibited output such as a product, publication, or presentation (Patton, 2012:13) Through PBL, the students are engaged in purposeful communication to complete authentic activities (project-work), so that they have the opportunity to use the language in a relatively natural context (Haines, 1989, as cited in Fragoulis, 2009) and participate in meaningful activities which require authentic language use (Fragoulis, 2009)

Project-based learning is an appropriate approach to teach English as a foreign language in Junior High Schools because it can engage the students to be active in learning English Working with project means the students will be involved actively in the learning process From that reasons, this research wants to prove the implementation of PBL as an approach to accomplish people expectation of mastering English and engaging the students

in speaking activities

All the above mentioned reasons have led the writer conduct an action research title

“Improving grade-eight students’ speaking skills through team project: An action research

project at a secondary school in Phu Tho Province”

2 Aims of the study

This study aims at examining the efficacy of project-based learning in improving students’ speaking skills in the specific context PBL helps improve students’ speaking skills and their attitude towards the implementation of project-based learning will be examined Specifically, the following two aspects will be dealt with: the effectiveness of project-based learning in helping enhance students’ speaking skills in terms of language development and self-confidence and students’ perception of the benefit in using project-based learning to improve their speaking skills in EFL class in a Junior High school in Phu Tho Province

3 Research questions

The present study focuses on answering the following questions:

1 To what extent does project-based learning help in improving students’ speaking capabilities?

2 What are the students’ perception of the benefits and challenges of the implementation of PBL in EFL classroom?

4 Scope of the study

For the academic scope, this small-scale action research only examines the efficacy of project-based learning on the improvement in students’ speaking performance For social scope, this study is refined to a small group of students in a lower secondary school in Phu Tho Province, Vietnam

5 Method of the study

With the aforementioned research questions, this study employed the mixed method, both quantitative and qualitative data The data were collected by means of test, questionnaire, semi-interview, teacher’s journal

6 Significance of the study

The study are expected to make a meaningful contribution both for teachers and students to get a new strategy, a variation in their learning activities that can help them improve their English speaking abilities

7 Organization of the study

The study is divided into 5 parts: Introduction, Literature review, Methodology, Data analysis and discussion, and Conclusion

Chapter I: Introduction - the researcher states the rationale, aims, research questions,

scope, methods and significance of the study

Chapter II: Literature review - the researcher reviews the literature related to the

Chapter III: Methodology - the researcher mentions the issues of methodology

consisting of research questions, study design, participants, and data collection instruments consisting of questionnaire, interview and observation, data collection procedures, and data analysis

Chapter IV: Data analysis and discussion - the researcher gives a detailed

presentation of data and detailed description of data analysis The researcher also presents some discussion and interpretations of the findings of the study, and then gives suggestions for the teachers in teaching speaking skill at the school

Chapter V: Conclusion - the researcher summarizes the key points in the study, and

implications of the study, discusses limitation, and gives suggestion for further research

References and Appendices are represented at the last pages of the study

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE RIEVIEW 2.1 Teaching speaking skills

2.1.1 Definition of Speaking

Nunan (1991) argues that speaking skill is the single most important aspect of learning

a second or foreign language, it is because learning the language is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the target language (Garner 2006, p.124) Sharing the same opinion, Bashir et al further stated “Speaking is a productive skill in the oral mode, which is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words” (2011, p.38) (Davies &Pearse in Huang,2008) Speaking in a second language (L2) involves the development of a particular type of communication skill Oral language, because of its circumstances of production, tends from language in its typical grammatical, lexical, and discourse patterns.Speaking is one of the skills that have to be mastered by students in learning English Richards (2008, p.19) states that in speaking we tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or simply being together From the definitions above, the researcher concludes speaking as a complex process of sending and receiving messages through the use of verbal expression, but it also involves nonverbal symbol such as gestures and facial expression and has many functions in daily life

2.1.2 Factors that cause speaking difficulties

According to Ur (1996, cited by Al-Housni, 2014, p 23), there are a number of factors that keep students from speaking English fluently.First, students might be worried of

making mistakes, scared of their classmates’ criticism, which is known as Inhibition This is due to their lack of ideas or vocabulary Also, low participation is considered as one of the most significant factors that decreases students’ speaking improvement Moreover, frequent

use of mother tongue during English speaking lessons is another obstacle that interferes

their foreign language learning process When students could not find the equivalent lexica

in the target language, they tend to use their first language because they might feel less stressed while speaking their native language Teachers are considering teaching grammar and vocabulary items are what would help students to speak In fact, that is not sufficient; students need to be engaged in communication in order to improve their speaking skill

2.1.3.Teaching Speaking Activities

Practice activities may serve the learning/teaching goal of speaking proficiency Richards and Lockhart (1996) define practice activities as tasks which involve performance

or learning of an item that has been previously presented Brown has six distinctive categories of classroom speaking performances, namely imitative, intensive, responsive, interactive (Transactional; dialogue), interactive (interpersonal; dialogue) and extensive

According to Brown, imitative purely focuses on phonetic level of oral production It

has nothing to do with students’ comprehension (Brown, 2000b, p 271).Meanwhile,

intensive leads the students to produce the language by themselves This technique focuses

technique is realized in directed response, read – aloud, sentence/dialogue completion, oral questionnaire, picture-cued, and translation (of limited stretches of discourse) (Brown,

2000b, p 273).Responsive, on the other hand, requires students to respond to teacher or

other students’ questions The respond is usually short, meaningful, and authentic – not in the form of dialogue The activities are question and answer, giving instruction and

directions, and paraphrasing (Brown, 2000b, p 273).Interactive is divided into two subcategories: Transactional dialogue and Interactive (Transactional dialogue) is longer

and more complex form of responsive technique The purpose of this technique is to accustom students to be able to convey or exchange fact, information, or opinion with

others Interactive (Interpersonal dialogue), aims at maintaining social relationships Casual

register, ellipsis, sarcasm, slangs, humor, and other sociolinguistics dimensions are features that must be known by students in this technique The examples are conversation and role play (Brown, 2000b, p 274) The last kind of speaking activities is Extensive

(monologue) In this technique, the language production is frequently planned and the

participants’ role is as listeners The activities can be oral presentation, picture cued storytelling, retelling a story, news event, and translation (of extended prose) (Brown, 2000b, p 274).The teacher should consider taxonomy of skills from what will select one or several that become the objectives of the learning process

2.2.2.Types of Project

According to Sawsan (2004), there are three types of project: structured

project,semi-structured project, unproject,semi-structured project, which involve the teacher and students to decide

and to design the topics and activities during the lesson In this research, semi-structure project is utilized to design the topics and presentations in the process of teaching and learning speaking activities

2.2.3.Characteristics of Project – Based teaching

Harmer (1991) distinguishes six general roles of a teacher as a controller, an assessor,

an organizer, a prompter, a participant and a source The teacher has to change his/her roles

due to many factors that arise because of the point of usefulness for project work The teacher should provide good organization of the project and be sure that students know what

to do Teacher can participate in various sub-tasks, e.g role-plays or other communicative tasks, but teacher is also a natural participant of the whole project The final role which comes into question during project work is "the teacher as a walking resource center"(Harmer 1991, p.204) When an intensive group work takes place, teacher can walk around and provide linguistic or other kind of help Project work definitely presents new demands on the teaching style

2.2.4.Advantages of Project-Based Learning

Project-Based Learning is an appropriate approach to encourage the students’ motivation in learning the speaking skill Hutchinson (1992), a great expert of project work, emphasizes main aspects of learning in projects, they are hard work and creative Project encourages the students to become creative in two aspects: content and language Moreover, projects are useful way to provide a longer term goal, and students can invest their energy in activities that has real outcome According to Scrivener (2005), projects are usually task – oriented Scrivener (2005) describes most projects will work best if undertaken by small group.Working together provides mutual support and a wider range of ideas However, Fragoulis (2009) states that there are some positive outcomes of implementing PBL method

in the teaching and learning of speaking skill They are as follows: 1) PBL provides contextual and meaningful learning for the students; 2) it can create an optimal environment for practicing speaking English; 3) makes the students actively engage in project learning; 4) enhances the students’ interests, motivation, engagement, and enjoyment; 5) promotes social learning that can enhance collaborative skills; 6) and can give an optimal opportunity

to improve the students’ language skills Thus, PBL gives many benefits in the teaching and learning of English, especially for speaking skill

2.2.5.Disadvantages of PBL Method

According to Westwood (2008), students have lost interest and motivation to English because when they get difficult projects in groups, some students dominate the works while other students do little Some students feel uncomfortable with being given choices or topics and they are apprehensive about project work (Fragoulis, 2009) Moreover, Beckett (2002) states that the implementation of PBL generally the projects will be conducted in a long-term such as several weeks or more than a month because it requires several stages to be accomplished in teaching and learning process

2.2.6.Strategies to Employ PBL in Teaching Speaking

Stoller (1997) proposed 10 step sequence (see Figure 1) of implementing Project Based Learning in a language classroom to give effective ways to manage the structure to project work and guides teachers and students in developing meaningful project that facilitate content learning and provide opportunities for critical moments in the project

Figure 1: Steps of developing a Project Based Learning in a language classroom

Step 1: The teacher gives students an opportunity and encourages them to adjust the

project theme

Step 2: Students determined the final outcome

Step 3: Students structure the―body of the project

Step 4: The teacher explains language intervention lesson which they acquire for

gathering information

Step 5: Students actually gather information inside or outside the classroom

Step 6: The teacher discusses with students about techniques for compiling and

analyzing the large amounts of information they have accumulated,

Step 7: Students think about what they had collected, how one part relates to another Step 8: Students again receive input from the teacher on possible language demands in

the final activity

Step 9: Each student is ready to present their project and findings to fellow classmates

and teacher

Step 10: It will be the most important step, it is a time for reflection on and evaluation

of the entire project work.After understanding the steps of implementing PBL in a language classroom, teachers will know that by applying Project-Based Learning, learning becomes fruitful for learners because they exhibit their abilities to plan, manage, and accomplish projects

2.3.Review previous studies

Numerous studies have been conducted worldwide in terms of applying Project-Based learning in teaching English in general and teaching speaking in particular Nassir (2014) aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Project–Based learning strategy on developing ninth graders' achievement level in English The study by Lipova (2008) based on a project

STEP 1: Agree on a theme for the project

STEP 2: Determine the final outcome

STEP 3: Structure the Project

STEP 4: Prepare students for the language demands of step 5

STEP 8: Prepare students for the language demands of step 9

STEP 5: Gather information

STEP 9: Present Final Product

STEP 6: Prepare students for the language demands of step 7

STEP 7: Compile and analyze information

STEP 10: Evaluate the project

carried out with high school students The thesis focused on the benefits of project work, on communication and using individual skills and talents therefore the research hypothesis deals with the advantages of projects as well The first study explored the effect of Project-Based Learning on the students’ motivation in learning From the first study, the researcher could learn about the effectiveness of project–based learning strategy on developing ninth graders' achievement level in English as well as how to measure the effect of the project–based learning strategy on the students' attitudes towards English The second study indicated by the improvement of the students’ speaking aspects covering comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and pronunciation The last study, the researcher got the examples of benefits of project work The researcher tries to explore more in finding how Project-Based Learning can be effective for enhancing students’ motivation in learning the speaking skill.In Vietnam, Pham Thi Thu Ha (2014) studied the use of PBL in improving students’ speaking skills This study examined two issues: students' views about the use of Project-Based Learning in their English classes and the effects of PBL on students' English speaking abilities The research revealed that students had a favorable attitude toward the implementation of PBL in their English classes This research should be beneficial to both instructors and students when it comes to teaching and acquiring English speaking skills

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research setting

The research was conducted in a public lower secondary school, which is situated in Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province.Most of students in Gia Cam lower secondary come from worker and small business families in the centre of Viet Tri city The number of grade 8 students is 370, at around the age of 13 and 14 They all have learnt English as foreign language since Primary school Now they have got three English classes a week The main material for teaching English at Gia Cam Junior High School is a new set of English textbooks, the standard syllabus, written by Hoang Van Van et al TIẾNG ANH 8 follows the systematic, cyclical, and theme-based syllabus approved by the Ministry of Education and Training in January 2012.The Student’s Book contains: 12 topic-based Units Each unit has seven sections and provides language input for seven classroom lessons of 45 minutes each These 12 richly illustrated, cross-curricular, and theme-based units focus on offering students motivation, memorable lessons, and a joyful learning experience

3.2 Participants of the study

Participants in the survey consisted of 30 students randomly chosen from grade eight classes All of them have at least four to five years of exposing with English,the researcher includes 15 students in the interview to gain insights into the issue.The subjects of the study are

a sample of 30 in the grade eighth form randomly selected at Gia Cam from classes 8E Most of participants live in suburban of Viet Tri city and are from worker families, and small business families They do not have the same English proficiency level in general and speaking and listening competence in particular Some of them are good, self-motivated and eager to learn in speaking classes while the rest remain unmotivated, lack of confidence and keep silent most of the time

3.3 Research design

3.3.1 Action Research

The stages of action research were planning, action, observation, and reflection that problematized (in a positive sense) issues, dilemmas or gaps in teaching situations This research observed the way to improve the junior high school students’ speaking skills by using Project-based Learning The data were described qualitatively so that the research used a descriptive-qualitative design

3.3.2 Action research Cycle

3.3.2.1 Planning

The teacher made some plans of actions to be implemented to improve the students’

speaking skills Besides, she prepared the lesson plans based on the curriculum and syllabus from the school Finally, she tried to find and develop the materials which were suitable based on the indicators of learning that would be achieved during the teaching-learning process of speaking

Identification of the problems

Having done some observations and interviews, the researcher managed to identify the problems emerging in English speaking lessons in class 8E Based on the observations, and interviews, the researcher identified several problems in the teaching learning process First, the pronunciation of the students was still weak Moreover, they had less practice in speaking Besides, the students had low motivation to get involved actively in the English subject They did not improve their comprehension and were not accustomed to listen to English The materials given were only relied on textbooks And finally, the activities in the

teaching-learning of speaking were monotonous and not interesting

Evaluation of the students' speaking skill through a pre-test

According to Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020 Project, eighth-grade students are supposed to achieve CEFR level A2, so a pre-test was conducted to evaluate the students’ speaking skill The pre-test took place in pairs among students and met the CEFR's demands at A2 level.The pre-test (WBT) consists of three parts:

Part 1: Getting to know each other

Part 2: Exchanging information

Part 3: Consensus finding

The speaking test is also marked out of 10 according to the following criteria:

* Fluency and coherence (2.5 points)

* Lexical resource (2.5 points)

* Grammatical range and accuracy (2.5 points)

Table 1: The Pre-Test Mean Score of each Speaking Aspect

Mapping out strategies for improvement

The students were role-play activity, discussion activity, information-gap activities, based learning I designed the following strategies to improve the problems:

project-1 Students chose the group members at the beginning of the first term

2 The teacher provided a list of topics based on the themes of English 8 from Unit 1 to unit