Luận văn a study on using picture stories in speaking class to motivate eighth grade pupils at luong the vinh junior secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUINES: HOANG LE THUY A STUDY ON USING PICTURE STORIES IN SPEAKING CLAS

[NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANCUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

XE EEXEXEECCCEIOEEEKBIOHOEAOLEI-S

HOÀNG LỆ THỦY

A STUDY ON USING PICTURE STORIES IN SPEAKING

CLASS TO MOTIVATE EIGHTH- GRADE PUPILS AT

LUONG THE VINT JUNIOR SECONDARY SCIIOOL

Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng truyện tranh trang tiết học nói nhằm gây

hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 8 trường TIICS Lương Thế Vinh

MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES:

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUINES:

HOANG LE THUY

A STUDY ON USING PICTURE STORIES IN SPEAKING

CLASS TO MOTIVATE EIGIITII- GRADE PUPILS AT

LUONG THE VINH JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng truyện tranh trong giờ học nói nhằm gãy

hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 8 trường THCS Lương Thể Vinh

1.2 Ains of the shuấy

1.3 Scope of the stuổÿ àcineeeeeero

LA Methods of the study

1.5 Organization of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.3 Pioftire SOi9S sọ ử HH TH HH” HH Hoa reo

2.5 PieViots SiMllgS cu HheHhHe ra ehrereeasrereoseooaore TẾ CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

1.5 Organization af the study

Chaptor 3 defines the mothodalogy applied in the study inchuting features of the

participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives comprehensive answers to the research questions, Tt alsa offers suggestions to involved participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation

Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the research, ppuls forward practical suggestions for ñmther fulure rescarch as well as

addresses notable limitations.

CTIAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a detailed insight into theoretical background knowledge underlying the issues including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts, followed by a review of related studies in the same ficld

2.A.MOTIVATION

Many studies have revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to on2’s success in learning foreign languages According to Gardner (1985), learners with a positive altitude and high motivation towards the subjecl arc more likely

to sueeced in second language Iearning

Labonde (1982) also claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to determine the proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful

leamers will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation tox learning

In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple: “to

be motivalorl is to he moved lo do something” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p 54) However,

further breakdowns of the term tend to become rather complicated, especially when considering the variable facets of motivation involved in a tack as complex as the socially- and culturally-bound, long-term endeavor of forcign language learning

Gardner (1985), in his landmark account of a sovio-educational model of language acquisition, wrote that motivation to leam a foreign language can be described

as a complex of constructs, involving bath effort and dasire, as walk as a favorable attitude toward learning the language at hand This model promoted the notion that self: identify and identification with the foreign language community is important to the language-lcamning proves For example, ä pupil anay fecl he or she docs nol “fit in” with

the target langnage speakers (a de-motivating factor), or may want to “fully integrate”

and become, perhaps, complslely passable as a mative speaker of the language (a highty molivating factor) Where one is along this continu is described as ona’s integrative

motivation, or how much one wants to integrate with the target language community

According to Gardner, another motivation pupils may posses is instrumental: they

may want to learn the foreign language to achieve a practical goal, such as a job

promotion or {o oblain course credil (Gardner & Maclulyre, 1991)

Another scl of definitions stemming from rescarch is intrinsic and cxlrinsic

motivation — intrinsic motivation comes ftom the joy or pleasure derived through

language learning itself, while extrinsic rotivation resulls from the desire to oblain some particular outcome, reminiscent of Gardner’s notion of instrumental motivation

Démyei and Ctté (1998) described how motivation changes over time for any

given learner, and described how the flux in motivation may be tslaied to (emporal

components as small as a task in the language learnmg classroom or as large as the flow

ofa foreign language course over an entire academic year According to this dynamic, process-oriented approach to motivation in either small- or large-scale time frames,

pupils’ motivation consists of three stages: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional

(Démyei, 2003):

* Dre-actional Stage

Firsl, motivation needs to he generated According to Darnyei (2005), the generated motivation helps the pupil select the goal or task to pursue and launches the pupil into action ‘he pupil’s own initial goals, values and attitudes associated with the learning process, perceived likclihoad of success,

mental and physical) can all influence this stage of motivation

and the support the pupil gets (bath

» Actional Stage

Next, Démyei (2005) wrote that at the actional stage, the motivation needs to be

“mainlained and protected” (p 84) (by the qualily of the learning experience, by the nature of the classroom environment, by teachars, peers and/or parents, or by the pupil through self-regulation) during the particular action, which may be a classroom-based lask or the long-term endeavor of learning tha foreign language in the classroom, Dérnyci mentioned that this is especially important for classroom settings where pupils may be distracted by mitigating factors such as anxisty, competing interests (established by

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

viii

LIST OF TABLES, AND CHARTS

T Tables

Table 1: Pupils’ profile

‘lable 2: Pupils” rank on the activities in accordance to their interest

Table 3: Teachers’ rank on the activilics according to their students’ interest

'Table 4: Teachers” evaluation on the effactiveness ofpicture s†ories

I, Charts

Chart 1: Students’ interest in picture stories reading

Chart 2: Students’ attitnds toward the use of picture stories in speaking lessons

Charl 3: Students’ perception of picture stories in ngtistt

Chart 4: Students’ ideas on learning structures and vocabulary fiom picture stotiss

Chart 5: Students’ confidence

Charl 6: The classroom atmosphere

Chart 7: Students’ participation in activities

Chart 8: Favorite topics

Charl 9: Students’ difficulties in speaking Izs

mis using picture stories

Chart 10; Teachers” information on the frequency of using picture siories

Chart 11; Teachers* purposes of using picture stories

Chart 12: Teachers’ remark on students’ attitude toward the use of picture stories

Chait 13: Tcachers" idcas on the ødvanfagc of the usagc of pictuuc sfOrics

Chart 14; Teachers” difficulties in applying picture stories

1⁄4

29

30

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

CTIAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1, Kationale of the study

Recently, although the curiculum in Viemam has been changed a lot, the teaching of English language fail to fulfil its goals Even after years of English learning, the learners do not gain the confidence of using the language in and oulside the class Their output in the language is limited to writing run-of-the-mill answers for literature chapters and producing grammatically accurate, but isolated sentences while real communication involves ideas, ctuotions, {eclings, approprialcncss and adaptability

Besides, English is beeoming a language of global communication To have access lo infarmation and interaction wilh others over the world, the useful tool for most poopie is English skills, Thal is why improving students’ speaking ability should be paid more attention, even in the low grades, To achieve this goal, many teachers have applied different methods and techniques

However, il is a challenging task for language teachers lo establish a sucecssfial language classroom which can develop students’ speaking skill the best, Vietnamese students learn English in a non-English speaking environment, so the acquisilion of English is not generally considered essential for the enhancement of their life in the community In addition, there is no oral English test in most of exams in primary and secondary schools Consequently, many students have very low motivation of speaking English

Many studies have demonstrated that motivation has important role in the eflecliveness of teaching and tearning process Learners wilh high thotivation tend ia gain more success than unmotivated ones Therefore, this study was conducted to

investigate the benefits of picture stories in promoting students’ motivation with the hope

lo find good toaching malcrial for toaching speaking Fnglish The rescarchet hape findings fiom this study can be usetal for other teachers and researchers

1.5 Organization af the study

Chaptor 3 defines the mothodalogy applied in the study inchuting features of the

participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives comprehensive answers to the research questions, Tt alsa offers suggestions to involved participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation

Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the research, ppuls forward practical suggestions for ñmther fulure rescarch as well as

addresses notable limitations.

1.5 Organization af the study

Chaptor 3 defines the mothodalogy applied in the study inchuting features of the

participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives comprehensive answers to the research questions, Tt alsa offers suggestions to involved participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation

Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the research, ppuls forward practical suggestions for ñmther fulure rescarch as well as

addresses notable limitations.

According to Gardner, another motivation pupils may posses is instrumental: they

may want to learn the foreign language to achieve a practical goal, such as a job

promotion or {o oblain course credil (Gardner & Maclulyre, 1991)

Another scl of definitions stemming from rescarch is intrinsic and cxlrinsic

motivation — intrinsic motivation comes ftom the joy or pleasure derived through

language learning itself, while extrinsic rotivation resulls from the desire to oblain some particular outcome, reminiscent of Gardner’s notion of instrumental motivation

Démyei and Ctté (1998) described how motivation changes over time for any

given learner, and described how the flux in motivation may be tslaied to (emporal

components as small as a task in the language learnmg classroom or as large as the flow

ofa foreign language course over an entire academic year According to this dynamic, process-oriented approach to motivation in either small- or large-scale time frames,

pupils’ motivation consists of three stages: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional

(Démyei, 2003):

* Dre-actional Stage

Firsl, motivation needs to he generated According to Darnyei (2005), the generated motivation helps the pupil select the goal or task to pursue and launches the pupil into action ‘he pupil’s own initial goals, values and attitudes associated with the learning process, perceived likclihoad of success,

mental and physical) can all influence this stage of motivation

and the support the pupil gets (bath

» Actional Stage

Next, Démyei (2005) wrote that at the actional stage, the motivation needs to be

“mainlained and protected” (p 84) (by the qualily of the learning experience, by the nature of the classroom environment, by teachars, peers and/or parents, or by the pupil through self-regulation) during the particular action, which may be a classroom-based lask or the long-term endeavor of learning tha foreign language in the classroom, Dérnyci mentioned that this is especially important for classroom settings where pupils may be distracted by mitigating factors such as anxisty, competing interests (established by

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

CTIAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a detailed insight into theoretical background knowledge underlying the issues including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts, followed by a review of related studies in the same ficld

2.A.MOTIVATION

Many studies have revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to on2’s success in learning foreign languages According to Gardner (1985), learners with a positive altitude and high motivation towards the subjecl arc more likely

to sueeced in second language Iearning

Labonde (1982) also claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to determine the proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful

leamers will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation tox learning

In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple: “to

be motivalorl is to he moved lo do something” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p 54) However,

further breakdowns of the term tend to become rather complicated, especially when considering the variable facets of motivation involved in a tack as complex as the socially- and culturally-bound, long-term endeavor of forcign language learning

Gardner (1985), in his landmark account of a sovio-educational model of language acquisition, wrote that motivation to leam a foreign language can be described

as a complex of constructs, involving bath effort and dasire, as walk as a favorable attitude toward learning the language at hand This model promoted the notion that self: identify and identification with the foreign language community is important to the language-lcamning proves For example, ä pupil anay fecl he or she docs nol “fit in” with

the target langnage speakers (a de-motivating factor), or may want to “fully integrate”

and become, perhaps, complslely passable as a mative speaker of the language (a highty molivating factor) Where one is along this continu is described as ona’s integrative

motivation, or how much one wants to integrate with the target language community

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

CTIAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1, Kationale of the study

Recently, although the curiculum in Viemam has been changed a lot, the teaching of English language fail to fulfil its goals Even after years of English learning, the learners do not gain the confidence of using the language in and oulside the class Their output in the language is limited to writing run-of-the-mill answers for literature chapters and producing grammatically accurate, but isolated sentences while real communication involves ideas, ctuotions, {eclings, approprialcncss and adaptability

Besides, English is beeoming a language of global communication To have access lo infarmation and interaction wilh others over the world, the useful tool for most poopie is English skills, Thal is why improving students’ speaking ability should be paid more attention, even in the low grades, To achieve this goal, many teachers have applied different methods and techniques

However, il is a challenging task for language teachers lo establish a sucecssfial language classroom which can develop students’ speaking skill the best, Vietnamese students learn English in a non-English speaking environment, so the acquisilion of English is not generally considered essential for the enhancement of their life in the community In addition, there is no oral English test in most of exams in primary and secondary schools Consequently, many students have very low motivation of speaking English

Many studies have demonstrated that motivation has important role in the eflecliveness of teaching and tearning process Learners wilh high thotivation tend ia gain more success than unmotivated ones Therefore, this study was conducted to

investigate the benefits of picture stories in promoting students’ motivation with the hope

lo find good toaching malcrial for toaching speaking Fnglish The rescarchet hape findings fiom this study can be usetal for other teachers and researchers

viii

LIST OF TABLES, AND CHARTS

T Tables

Table 1: Pupils’ profile

‘lable 2: Pupils” rank on the activities in accordance to their interest

Table 3: Teachers’ rank on the activilics according to their students’ interest

'Table 4: Teachers” evaluation on the effactiveness ofpicture s†ories

I, Charts

Chart 1: Students’ interest in picture stories reading

Chart 2: Students’ attitnds toward the use of picture stories in speaking lessons

Charl 3: Students’ perception of picture stories in ngtistt

Chart 4: Students’ ideas on learning structures and vocabulary fiom picture stotiss

Chart 5: Students’ confidence

Charl 6: The classroom atmosphere

Chart 7: Students’ participation in activities

Chart 8: Favorite topics

Charl 9: Students’ difficulties in speaking Izs

mis using picture stories

Chart 10; Teachers” information on the frequency of using picture siories

Chart 11; Teachers* purposes of using picture stories

Chart 12: Teachers’ remark on students’ attitude toward the use of picture stories

Chait 13: Tcachers" idcas on the ødvanfagc of the usagc of pictuuc sfOrics

Chart 14; Teachers” difficulties in applying picture stories

1⁄4

29

30

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

Vii

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

4.1 Sindonts’ altitudes toward [he uss of picture slories in their speaking Iessons 12

4,2 Stuđents' Involvementf in the class ào nnneienerrrirosesee 2Í

4.2.1 Students’ confidence in class using picture stories 21 4.2.1 The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories 22

4.2.3, Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picitere SOTIES 0 ce eee 22

4.2.5, Favorite activities in speaking class using picture SOFIGS 0.0 cee eee ie ieee A

4.3 Stuđcnts” điẾÄcultics in spcaking lcssons using picfurc sfoIiGs 25

4.4, ‘Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons 26

4S, Difficullies in leaching Tngtish using picture stories 31

Appendix 4: Teachers" scoring on the questioninairs ¬— see dV

CTIAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a detailed insight into theoretical background knowledge underlying the issues including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts, followed by a review of related studies in the same ficld

2.A.MOTIVATION

Many studies have revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to on2’s success in learning foreign languages According to Gardner (1985), learners with a positive altitude and high motivation towards the subjecl arc more likely

to sueeced in second language Iearning

Labonde (1982) also claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to determine the proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful

leamers will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation tox learning

In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple: “to

be motivalorl is to he moved lo do something” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p 54) However,

further breakdowns of the term tend to become rather complicated, especially when considering the variable facets of motivation involved in a tack as complex as the socially- and culturally-bound, long-term endeavor of forcign language learning

Gardner (1985), in his landmark account of a sovio-educational model of language acquisition, wrote that motivation to leam a foreign language can be described

as a complex of constructs, involving bath effort and dasire, as walk as a favorable attitude toward learning the language at hand This model promoted the notion that self: identify and identification with the foreign language community is important to the language-lcamning proves For example, ä pupil anay fecl he or she docs nol “fit in” with

the target langnage speakers (a de-motivating factor), or may want to “fully integrate”

and become, perhaps, complslely passable as a mative speaker of the language (a highty molivating factor) Where one is along this continu is described as ona’s integrative

motivation, or how much one wants to integrate with the target language community

1.2 Aims of the study

‘The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a teaching stratggy on pupil’s motivation Tn order to achieve the aim of the study, the

rescarch questions below will be addressed:

- What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

- Does pupils’ involvernent increase in the class using picture stories?

- How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students

spenking?

- What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 3" grade pupils in Luong ‘The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3 Scope of the study

‘The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade students af Luong The Vinh Junior Sccondary 8oltool

1.4, Methods of the study

The sludy uscd questionnaires lo gather data and describe the curren! situation of

using picture stories to motivate the $8 grade pupils in speaking class Survey

questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency

in tens of rescarcher time, rescarcher effort anil financial resources according to Jo and Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998) Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and “if the questionnaire is,

1.5 Organization af the study

Chaptor 3 defines the mothodalogy applied in the study inchuting features of the

participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives comprehensive answers to the research questions, Tt alsa offers suggestions to involved participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation

Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the research, ppuls forward practical suggestions for ñmther fulure rescarch as well as

addresses notable limitations.

According to Gardner, another motivation pupils may posses is instrumental: they

may want to learn the foreign language to achieve a practical goal, such as a job

promotion or {o oblain course credil (Gardner & Maclulyre, 1991)

Another scl of definitions stemming from rescarch is intrinsic and cxlrinsic

motivation — intrinsic motivation comes ftom the joy or pleasure derived through

language learning itself, while extrinsic rotivation resulls from the desire to oblain some particular outcome, reminiscent of Gardner’s notion of instrumental motivation

Démyei and Ctté (1998) described how motivation changes over time for any

given learner, and described how the flux in motivation may be tslaied to (emporal

components as small as a task in the language learnmg classroom or as large as the flow

ofa foreign language course over an entire academic year According to this dynamic, process-oriented approach to motivation in either small- or large-scale time frames,

pupils’ motivation consists of three stages: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional

(Démyei, 2003):

* Dre-actional Stage

Firsl, motivation needs to he generated According to Darnyei (2005), the generated motivation helps the pupil select the goal or task to pursue and launches the pupil into action ‘he pupil’s own initial goals, values and attitudes associated with the learning process, perceived likclihoad of success,

mental and physical) can all influence this stage of motivation

and the support the pupil gets (bath

» Actional Stage

Next, Démyei (2005) wrote that at the actional stage, the motivation needs to be

“mainlained and protected” (p 84) (by the qualily of the learning experience, by the nature of the classroom environment, by teachars, peers and/or parents, or by the pupil through self-regulation) during the particular action, which may be a classroom-based lask or the long-term endeavor of learning tha foreign language in the classroom, Dérnyci mentioned that this is especially important for classroom settings where pupils may be distracted by mitigating factors such as anxisty, competing interests (established by

1.5 Organization af the study

Chaptor 3 defines the mothodalogy applied in the study inchuting features of the

participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure

Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives comprehensive answers to the research questions, Tt alsa offers suggestions to involved participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation

Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the research, ppuls forward practical suggestions for ñmther fulure rescarch as well as

addresses notable limitations.

According to Gardner, another motivation pupils may posses is instrumental: they

may want to learn the foreign language to achieve a practical goal, such as a job

promotion or {o oblain course credil (Gardner & Maclulyre, 1991)

Another scl of definitions stemming from rescarch is intrinsic and cxlrinsic

motivation — intrinsic motivation comes ftom the joy or pleasure derived through

language learning itself, while extrinsic rotivation resulls from the desire to oblain some particular outcome, reminiscent of Gardner’s notion of instrumental motivation

Démyei and Ctté (1998) described how motivation changes over time for any

given learner, and described how the flux in motivation may be tslaied to (emporal

components as small as a task in the language learnmg classroom or as large as the flow

ofa foreign language course over an entire academic year According to this dynamic, process-oriented approach to motivation in either small- or large-scale time frames,

pupils’ motivation consists of three stages: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional

(Démyei, 2003):

* Dre-actional Stage

Firsl, motivation needs to he generated According to Darnyei (2005), the generated motivation helps the pupil select the goal or task to pursue and launches the pupil into action ‘he pupil’s own initial goals, values and attitudes associated with the learning process, perceived likclihoad of success,

mental and physical) can all influence this stage of motivation

and the support the pupil gets (bath

» Actional Stage

Next, Démyei (2005) wrote that at the actional stage, the motivation needs to be

“mainlained and protected” (p 84) (by the qualily of the learning experience, by the nature of the classroom environment, by teachars, peers and/or parents, or by the pupil through self-regulation) during the particular action, which may be a classroom-based lask or the long-term endeavor of learning tha foreign language in the classroom, Dérnyci mentioned that this is especially important for classroom settings where pupils may be distracted by mitigating factors such as anxisty, competing interests (established by

CTIAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a detailed insight into theoretical background knowledge underlying the issues including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts, followed by a review of related studies in the same ficld

2.A.MOTIVATION

Many studies have revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to on2’s success in learning foreign languages According to Gardner (1985), learners with a positive altitude and high motivation towards the subjecl arc more likely

to sueeced in second language Iearning

Labonde (1982) also claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to determine the proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful

leamers will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation tox learning

In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple: “to

be motivalorl is to he moved lo do something” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p 54) However,

further breakdowns of the term tend to become rather complicated, especially when considering the variable facets of motivation involved in a tack as complex as the socially- and culturally-bound, long-term endeavor of forcign language learning

Gardner (1985), in his landmark account of a sovio-educational model of language acquisition, wrote that motivation to leam a foreign language can be described

as a complex of constructs, involving bath effort and dasire, as walk as a favorable attitude toward learning the language at hand This model promoted the notion that self: identify and identification with the foreign language community is important to the language-lcamning proves For example, ä pupil anay fecl he or she docs nol “fit in” with

the target langnage speakers (a de-motivating factor), or may want to “fully integrate”

and become, perhaps, complslely passable as a mative speaker of the language (a highty molivating factor) Where one is along this continu is described as ona’s integrative

motivation, or how much one wants to integrate with the target language community

CTIAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1, Kationale of the study

Recently, although the curiculum in Viemam has been changed a lot, the teaching of English language fail to fulfil its goals Even after years of English learning, the learners do not gain the confidence of using the language in and oulside the class Their output in the language is limited to writing run-of-the-mill answers for literature chapters and producing grammatically accurate, but isolated sentences while real communication involves ideas, ctuotions, {eclings, approprialcncss and adaptability

Besides, English is beeoming a language of global communication To have access lo infarmation and interaction wilh others over the world, the useful tool for most poopie is English skills, Thal is why improving students’ speaking ability should be paid more attention, even in the low grades, To achieve this goal, many teachers have applied different methods and techniques

However, il is a challenging task for language teachers lo establish a sucecssfial language classroom which can develop students’ speaking skill the best, Vietnamese students learn English in a non-English speaking environment, so the acquisilion of English is not generally considered essential for the enhancement of their life in the community In addition, there is no oral English test in most of exams in primary and secondary schools Consequently, many students have very low motivation of speaking English

Many studies have demonstrated that motivation has important role in the eflecliveness of teaching and tearning process Learners wilh high thotivation tend ia gain more success than unmotivated ones Therefore, this study was conducted to

investigate the benefits of picture stories in promoting students’ motivation with the hope

lo find good toaching malcrial for toaching speaking Fnglish The rescarchet hape findings fiom this study can be usetal for other teachers and researchers

viii

LIST OF TABLES, AND CHARTS

T Tables

Table 1: Pupils’ profile

‘lable 2: Pupils” rank on the activities in accordance to their interest

Table 3: Teachers’ rank on the activilics according to their students’ interest

'Table 4: Teachers” evaluation on the effactiveness ofpicture s†ories

I, Charts

Chart 1: Students’ interest in picture stories reading

Chart 2: Students’ attitnds toward the use of picture stories in speaking lessons

Charl 3: Students’ perception of picture stories in ngtistt

Chart 4: Students’ ideas on learning structures and vocabulary fiom picture stotiss

Chart 5: Students’ confidence

Charl 6: The classroom atmosphere

Chart 7: Students’ participation in activities

Chart 8: Favorite topics

Charl 9: Students’ difficulties in speaking Izs

mis using picture stories

Chart 10; Teachers” information on the frequency of using picture siories

Chart 11; Teachers* purposes of using picture stories

Chart 12: Teachers’ remark on students’ attitude toward the use of picture stories

Chait 13: Tcachers" idcas on the ødvanfagc of the usagc of pictuuc sfOrics

Chart 14; Teachers” difficulties in applying picture stories

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