Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng hoạt động điền thông tin nhằm tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 trong giờ học nói ở trường THPT Nguyễn Đăng Đạo, Bắc Ninh

Therefore, language teachers should provide their learners with continuous motivation to use English in class and the use of information gap activities in... The application of informati

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT NGUYEN DANG

DAO HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

(Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng hoạt động điền thông tin nhằm tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 trong giờ học nói ở

trường THPT Nguyễn Đăng Đạo, Bắc Ninh)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10

Hanoi, 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS AT NGUYEN DANG

DAO HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE

( Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng hoạt động điền thông tin nhằm tăng cường sự tham gia của học sinh lớp 10 trong giờ học nói ở

trường THPT Nguyễn Đăng Đạo, Bắc Ninh)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60.14.10

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Văn Độ

Hanoi, 2013

DECLARATION

This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education I certify that this thesis is the result of my own research, and that it has not been submitted for any other degrees

Hanoi, September 20 th , 2013

Signature

Nguyen Thi Huong

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Do, for the wholehearted guidance he gave me while I was doing this research I am truly grateful to him for his ideas, comments and instructions, as well

as encouragement and constant support Without these, the thesis could not have been completed

I would also acknowledge my great gratitude to all the lecturers and organizers of the Faculty of Post- graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable assistance during my study at the college

My special thanks are expressed to my friends for their great help and comments Also, my attitude goes to my colleagues and ninety students taking part in my research

Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my family for their support, encouragement and love, which were extremely important for the completion of this thesis

ABSTRACT

This study is majorly aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using information gap activities on grade 10th - students‟ participation for at Nguyen Dang Dao High School, Bac Ninh In order to achieve this aim, the quasi- experimental research was carried out in 8 weeks with classroom observation, students‟ self report and interview as data collection instruments The sample of the study consisted of 90 grade 10th students from two intact classes The experimental group received the intervention of information gap activities in four speaking lessons while the control one did not The results indicated that experimental group‟s participation level increased significantly while the control group‟s stayed almost the same Hopefully, this study can raise teachers‟ awareness of using information gap activities in teaching speaking to enhance learners‟ involvement

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Purpose and significance of the study 2

3 Research Questions 3

4 Method of the study 3

5 Scope of the study 3

6 Overview of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Teaching speaking 5

1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 5

1.1.2 Importance of teaching speaking in FLT 5

1.1.3 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 6

1.1.3.1 Notion and purposes of CLT 6

1.1.3.2 Characteristics of CLT 6

1.1.4 Characteristics of successful speaking activities 7

1.2 Information Gap Activities (IGA) 8

1.2.1 Definition of Information Gap Activity 8

1.2.3 Types of Information Gap Activities 8

1.2.4 Benefits of implementing IGA in teaching speaking 9

1.2.4.1 Increasing students’ motivation to speak the target language 9

1.2.4.2 Ensuring students’ equal participation 9

1.2.4.3 Facilitating language acquisition 10

1.2.4.4 Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning 10

1.2.5 The roles of teachers in IGA 11

1.2.5.1 Facilitator 11

1.2.5.2 Participant 11

1.2.5.3 Observer and learner 11

1.3 Students’ participation in speaking activities 12

1.3.1 Definition of students’ participation 12

1.3.2 Benefits of students’ participation 12

1.3.3 Factors affecting students’participation 13

1.3.3.1 Students’ personalities, language levels and motivation 13

1.3.3.2 Teachers’ roles, characteristics and methodology 14

1.3.3.3 Physical Classroom factors 15

1.4 Summary 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 The research method 16

2.2 Participants of the study 16

2.2.1 The teacher researcher 16

2.2.2 The observers 16

2.2.3 Samples for the control group and the experimental one 16

2.2.4 Samples for the interviews 17

2.3 Variables of the study 17

2.4 Data collection instruments 17

2.4.1 Classroom observations (Appendix A) 18

2.4.1 Students’ interaction self-reports (Appendix B) 19

2.4.2 Questionnaire (Appendix C) 19

2.4.3 Interviews (Appendix D) 19

2.5 The intervention of IGA 19

2.6 Summary 23

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 24

3.1 Data analysis 24

3.1.1 Students’participation before the experiment 24

3.1.1.1 Students’ on- task behaviour in two observed lessons 24

3.1.1.2 Students’ interaction times in two observed lessons 25

3.1.2 Students’participation at the experimental stage 26

3.1.2.1 Students’ on task behaviour 26

3.1.2.2 Students’ interaction times 27

3.1.3 Comparison of participation levels of the experimental group before and during the experiment 28

3.1.4 Comparison of the control group’s participation level and the experimental group’s at the experimental stage 30

3.1.5 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards the implementation of IGA in speaking lessons 31

3.1.5.1 Teachers’ attitudes 31

3.1.5.2 Students’ attitudes 31

3.2 Major findings 32

3.3 Discussion on the findings 32

PART C: CONCLUSION 34

4.1 Summary of the study 34

4.2 Recommendations 34

4.2.1 For teachers 34

4.2.2 For students 35

4.3 The limitations and suggestions for further study 35

REFERENCES 37 APPENDICES I Appendix A: Observation sheet I Appendix B: Students’ interaction self-report III Appendix C: Questionnaire for experimental group IV Appendix D: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS V Appendix E : Speaking lesson plan (Experimental stage) VI Appendix F : Handouts, cards, pictures for the sample plan lesson X

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 CLT Communicative Language Teaching

2 IGA Information Gap Activities

3 FLT Foreign Language Teaching

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Table 1: Students' profile 17

Table 2: The data collection proce 23

Chart 1: On task time of the control and experimental group before the experiment 25

Table 3: On task time of the experimental group during the experiment 27

Chart 2: On task time of experimental group before and during the experiment 29 Chart 3: On task time of the control group and the experimental one during the experiment 30

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

This research is carried out for the following reasons: the increasing important role

of English in our present life, students‟ weakness in speaking skill, the reality of learners‟ poor participation and the motivation created by imformation gap

activities(IGA) in speaking lessons

Firstly, it is undeniable that English has been playing a crucial role in our modern life It is the most effective means of global communication with a dramatic increase in number of users It also shows progressive effects in various aspects of life Anyone, no matter where he lives, is likely to be aware of the fact that having a good command of English helps him achieve the latest information on science and technology Therefore, it is English that enables him to improve his study and work

as well as betters his present life

Secondly, Nguyen Dang Dao high school students seem to be worse at speaking skill than other English skills whereas being good at it enables them to get a good job in the local region Nguyen Dang Dao high school is newly established and located in Tien Du district, where Tien Son industrial Park is located with a variety

of factories and companies, many of which require employers‟ good command of English Young people in the local province have the priority to be offered jobs provided that they can fulfill their requirements, one of which is English speaking skill However, most students in Bac Ninh, after graduating from high school and even a university have difficulty speaking English in real situations

In fact, learners‟ poor participation is one of the factors responsible for their low speaking proficiency Most students at Nguyen Dang Dao School are reluctant to speak the target language because of the lack of motivation Many of them keep silent or chat in speaking lessons while others make noise using their mother tongue Therefore, language teachers should provide their learners with continuous motivation to use English in class and the use of information gap activities in

speaking lessons is an excellent solution to improving the quality of students‟ participation in oral lessons

The application of information gap activities in English speaking lesson greatly encourages students to use the target language in class in some ways First, in this activity, one person has certain information that must be shared with others in order

to solve problem, gather information or make decisions This gives the students opportunity to speak English for an extended period of time In addition, speaking with peer is less intimidating than presenting in front of the entire class and being evaluated Another advantage of information gap activities is that students are forced to negotiate meaning because they must take what they are saying comprehensible to others in order to accomplish the task Therefore, information gap activities are of great use in English speaking lessons Making full use of these activities will definitely result in successful speaking lessons

The aforementioned reasons have urged the researcher to conduct the study entitled

“The effectiveness of using information gap activities to promote grade 10 students’ participation in speaking lessons at Nguyen Dang Dao high school, Bac Ninh province” It is hoped that the research will provide a better view to the

effectiveness of these activities on students‟ participation in speaking lessons

2 Purpose and significance of the study

The study aims at:

+ investigating the effectiveness of using information gap activities on

students‟ participation level in English speaking lessons

+ Raising language teachers‟ awareness of exploiting these activities

The study can be beneficial to both students and teachers First, it enables teachers

to confirm the importance of information gap activities in teaching speaking skills Hence it promotes teachers‟ using of these activities in class, which creates a natural and highly motivational environment for students to speak the target language to their partners

2 What are students and teachers’ attitudes towards IGA?

4 Method of the study

The study was carried out using quasi- experimental research method with the use

of classroom observation, questionnaires students‟ self- reports, and interviews as data collection instruments

Two intact classes were samples of the study Forty five students from class 10A5 were chosen for the control group while the same number of students from class 10A6 was the experimental group that receives the treatment of IGA To collect data for the study, classroom observations were conducted together with students‟ self reports and interviews to confirm the information from observers All the comments, remarks, recommendation and conclusions presented in the thesis were based on the analysis of the study

5 Scope of the study

There are various activities for teachers to promote students‟ participation in classroom activities However, within the limitation of research time and the allowed length of a minor research, this study only focuses on exploring the effectiveness of information gap activities on 10 grade students‟ participation in speaking lessons at Nguyen Dang Dao High School, Bac Ninh

6 Overview of the thesis

This study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part A: Introduction

The introduction part briefly presents the rationale of the study, the aims, research questions, methods, scope, the significance and the overview of the study

Part B: Development

The development part consists of three chapters

Chapter one provides essential literature review relevant to the study including

teaching speaking, IGA, students‟ participation

Chapter two presents the methodology underlying the research It deals with the

research method, the participants of the study, the variables, the intervention, the instruments and procedure for data collection

Chapter three is devoted to presenting how data was analyzed, what are the

findings of the study and the discussions about the study results

Part C: The thesis ends with the conclusion and recommendation part which gives

a summary of the main issues that have been discussed, the limitations of the study, some recommendations and suggestions for further research as well

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

To provide a theoretical background to the study, this chapter is devoted to the review of concepts that are the most relevant to the thesis‟ topic It begins with some theoretical backgrounds to teaching speaking Next come some theoretical backgrounds to information gap activities and students‟ participation

Byrne (1998:8) considered speaking a two way process between speaker and listener and it requires the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding

In the same respect, Nunan (2003; 48) shared the same idea with Byrne that speaking is the productive skill and it comprises producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning

From the aforementioned definitions, it can be concluded that speaking is the productive skill used to convey meaning in actual communication It is the most significant skill in language teaching and learning

1.1.2 Importance of teaching speaking in FLT

According to Ur (1996:120), speaking plays the most important role of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing since it is fundamental to human communication In reality, in daily life, people spend more time speaking than

writing He also claims that speaking is the first step to confirm who knows or does not know a language Ur (1996) indicates that people who know a language are referred to “speakers” of that language, as if speaking is the umbrella term that covers all other skills Nunan (1998, p39) considers “mastering the art of speaking”

as the most importance aspect of learning a language Furthermore, Lawtie (2004, p35) considered the ability to carry out a conversation is the target language as the success of learning a language Therefore, in reality, most foreign language learners are primary interested in learning speaking

1.1.3 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

1.1.3.1 Notion and purposes of CLT

In traditional speaking class, the practice of asking and answering questions is overemphasized The question and the answer are structured and predictable, there tends to be only one correct, predetermined answer On the contrary, CLT aims to reinforce the ability to use the target language for effective communication It has been designed with the hope “to provide learners with opportunities for communicating in the second language” (Ellis, 2003, p.91) shared the same point that Pattison (1989) shared the same point that CLT concentrates on the development of learners communicative competence and performance Hence, CLT helps to create opportunities for students to participate in the negotiation of meaning

to perform language functions and to attend to language forms and language functions as well

1.1.3.2 Characteristics of CLT

Nunan (1989) pointed out five features of CLT as follows:

- An emphasized on learning to communicate through interaction in the

target language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language

but also on Learning Management process

- An enhancement of the learner’ own personal experiences as important

contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities

outside the classroom

As pointed out, the researcher found out that the principles of CLT asserted on the students‟ communicative competence in the target language, not just linguistic structures but also semantic notion and social functions In addition, learners work

in groups or in pairs to transfer and negotiate meaning in real life situation where one person has information that the other lacks The teacher‟s role here is primarily facilitating communication, not intrude into students‟ conversations correcting mistakes

As a result, CLT provides learners various opportunities to involve in the speaking activities, hence developing their speaking skills

1.1.4 Characteristics of successful speaking activities

Ur (1996, P.120) lists some characteristics of a successful speaking activity as follows:

- Learners talk a lot As much as possible of the period of time allotted to

the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk

- Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a

minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

- Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are

interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective

- Language is of an acceptable level Learners express themselves in

utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of

an acceptable level of language accuracy

In order to conduct a successful speaking lesson, the teachers have to carry out activities fulfilling all these five features is not an easy work to teachers It must be

a hard work

1.2 Information Gap Activities (IGA)

1.2.1 Definition of Information Gap Activity

The concept of IGA is a significant aspect of communication in CLT classroom This activity is essentially based on the fact that in real life people communicate to have the information they do not know and want to possess “Information gap” popular in real life is applied in CLT classroom to become an authentic language classroom activity Different definitions of IGA are given by various authors

Harmer (2002:88) defines information gap activity in the same way; however, he emphasizes the purpose of the activity He says that in an IGA, two speakers have different parts of information making up a whole Since they have different information that their partners do not have and vice versa, there is a “gap” between them and they need to communicate to fulfill the gap

According to Neu and Reeser(1997) cited by Violet Raptou, IGA is an activity in which one person has certain information that must be shared with others in order to solve a problem, gather information or make decisions Prabhu (1987) confirms that these activities closely involve the process of sharing information among speakers

He considers this kind of activities problem solving tasks requiring participants

deliver the information they have to those who do not have it

In conclusion, the definitions may be different in words but they all come to an agreement that an information gap activity is an activity where learners are missing the information they need to complete a task and need to talk to each other to find it

It cultivates students‟ curiosity and the need to communicate; therefore, they are determined to be highly communicative activities in language teaching and learning

1.2.3 Types of Information Gap Activities

According to Ellis (1999), there are two types of information gap: one-way and-two way One- way occurs when one person holds information that other group

member(s) do not have An example of a one-way information exchange is one in which one person has a picture and describes it to his/her partners who tries to draw

it On the contrary, a two- way information gap activity, both learners have information to share to complete a task For example, both have the information about directions to a location but they have o share the information they have to complete the directions (Ellis,1999, p95) Both one- way and two- way information exchange activities involve an information gap that information must flow between group members in order for the activity to be accomplished It seems that two- way IGA have been shown to facilitate more interaction than one –way IGA

1.2.4 Benefits of implementing IGA in teaching speaking

IGA have increasingly achieved the popularity in CLT classrooms all over the world It has recently highly appreciated by language teaching specialists and classroom teachers The numerous benefits they bring to both teachers and students are admitted by many language experts and authors Raptou.V (2012) asserts that IGA satisfy Ur‟s characteristics of a successful speaking activity presented in part 1.4 of the thesis

1.2.4.1 Increasing students’ motivation to speak the target language

Students can be motivated to use the target language when taking part in IGA Brown and Yule (1983) says that we are usually motivated to tell people the things assumed not to be known by them; IGA; then, can provide learners with a reason to communicate in the target language In reality, the communicative needs are the root of students‟ motivation to speak Moreover, IGA can create a comfortable learning atmosphere for students Neu & Reeser(1997) cited by Raptou.V (2012) asserts that in IGA, shy and weak learners may feel more confident and less stressed when they speak with peers instead of presenting in front of the entire class and being evaluated Therefore, IGA are admitted to motivate learners to speak the target language since they create a reason for communication and relaxing learning environment

1.2.4.2 Ensuring students’ equal participation

In IGA, every participant has the responsibility for giving the missing information

to their partners and receiving it from them to complete a mutual task Therefore, all students have to engage in the activities No longer do strong speakers dominate the activities but weak ones can become more confident to practice the target language Neu & Reeser(1997) cited by Raptou.V (2012) claim that IGA are extremely effective in creating opportunity for every student to speak in the target language for

an extended period of time Therefore, participation among students is surely even

1.2.4.3 Facilitating language acquisition

IGA can facilitate language acquisition including accuracy and fluency Raptou (2012) thinks that IGA can reinforce vocabulary and various grammar structures taught in class and that they allow students to use language forms and functions in a communicative way He asserts that thanks to IGA, grammar is no longer a concept students have difficulty students have applying to their speaking because IGA require language of acceptable level In terms of fluency, Raptou (2012) indicates that IGA provide students opportunities to express their ideas in the target language

in a natural way Hence, these communicative activities can help students acquire the target language more effectively and more easily

1.2.4.4 Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning

Another advantage of information gap activities is that students are forced to negotiate meaning (Neu & Reeser, 1997) IGA require information exchange among partners Involving in the activities where the information is known to someone but unknown to others, participants have to try to deliver information to their partners and reach mutual comprehension through recasting, clarifying and confirming information In other words, they must make what they are saying comprehensible

to others in order to accomplish the task

In conclusion, many authors agree that IGA are beneficial activities in language

teaching They are highly communicative, highly motivational, and helpful for building students‟ confidence and developing their sub-skills Therefore, IGA are highly recommended to be applied in language classrooms

1.2.5 The roles of teachers in IGA

It is believed that the teacher is the most important figure in the teaching process and he/she is the first responsible for the actual learning standard in schools and the level of students‟ achievement Many authors such as Littlewood (1981), used the term “facilitator” as the dominant role of the teacher in CLT classrooms Breen and Candlin (1980) also hold the same view with these two authors but they added two more roles of the teacher: to act as a participant and an observer and learner Tran Lam Son (2009) generalized all these three roles of the teacher in IGA as follows:

1.2.5.1 Facilitator

The teacher‟s role as a facilitator of communication comprised of many other roles such as the role of language instructor, material provider, activity initiator, classroom activity organizer, error- corrector, by-stander and consultant or advisor

1.2.5.2 Participant

As a language teacher, he/she should make an equal part in the activity He can offer his information, stimulate and present new language simultaneously but he/she should act á one equal in position to the students and at the same time stimulate and present new language, without taking the main initiative for communication away from the students themselves and one only authoritative and superior in language ability and language teaching skills

1.2.5.3 Observer and learner

The teacher may also act as an observer and learner When the independent activity

is in progress he may move about the classroom in order to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of the students, as a basis for planning future learning activities He can use the weaknesses as signs for learning needs which he must cater for later, probably through more controlled, pre-communicative activities

To sum up, the teacher plays such a crucial role in IGA that he/she mostly decides the success of the activity He/she plays many roles at the same time, which requires much more responsibility In IGA, the communicative activity designed for developing learners‟ communicative abilities in the foreign or second language

classroom, the teacher is less dominant but more important than in the traditional classroom activities

1.3 Students’ participation in speaking activities

1.3.1 Definition of students’ participation

Students‟ participation can be understood as students‟ involvement in classroom activities and in this case, oral activities According to K Mortensen (2008), student participation is “the dynamic interaction” between students and teacher or students and students

There are a number of ways that students can participate overtly, including offering their ideas and thought spontaneously, volunteering to answer questions, demonstrating at the chalkboard, talking to peers or to the teacher (Turner.C & Patrick H, 2004) Students‟ participation may include their watching, listening and thinking, however, in the current study, the researcher would focus on participation which is explicit and observable

Students‟ active and even participation brings numerous benefits to language teaching- learning process However, students‟ participation in classroom oral activities is an element which can be affected by a variety of factors such as students themselves, teachers and classroom quality

1.3.2 Benefits of students’ participation

Learner participation plays a major role in language learning in the classroom Research conducted by Lim (1992 cited in Nunan, 1999, p48) has both shown students‟ participation is related significantly to improvement in language proficiency Weimer (2011) also says that learner participation helps to develop learners‟ important speaking skills It is reasonable because high level participation enhances students‟ opportunities to use the target language and provides teachers‟ feedback He adds more benefits of getting students to participate, including the ones of adding interest to the lessons, encouraging students‟ preparation before the lectures All of these advantageous factors enable to create a successful language lesson

1.3.3 Factors affecting students’participation

Students‟ participation may be influenced by teacher, students and physical classroom factors These factors can have positive or negative effects on students‟ involvement

1.3.3.1 Students’ personalities, language levels and motivation

Learners‟ personalities such as extroversion, inhibition, self-esteem, empathy, dominance, talkativeness and responsiveness also have a great influence on the success of second language learners (Ellis, Lightbrown & Spada, 1995: 54-55) Ellis (1985:120) emphasizes that extroverted learners are more successful in oral communication than the introverted ones since the former ones are more willing to interact with others than the later It is understandable that in a class, students involve in lessons at different levels Therefore, the teacher must take his/her students‟ personally differences into consideration so that all learners can benefit from classroom activities

Students‟ low perceived proficiency is among the factors affecting the reluctance of their participation in a speaking lesson (Tsui, 1996) Similarly, in Burns and Joyce‟s view, that students have difficulties in pronunciation, lack of social and cultural knowledge, grammar patterns results in students‟ break-down in processing language and communication In fact, many Vietnamese high school students lacking vocabulary, structures and expressions seem to be unwilling to speak English in classroom activities In brief, students‟ limited language proficiency prevents them from taking an active part in speaking activities Therefore, it‟s the teacher‟s role to choose the suitable topics as well as activities for students to be interested in involve in the lesson

Motivation, the desire to do something to achieve a goal, exists in two types: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation The former belongs to people having personal interest in doing something while the later is caused by such outside factors such as the need to pass an exam or the hope to win a financial reward (Harmer, 1999:51)

If students just learn in order to get good marks or pass the written exams, they tend

not to participate fully in speaking activities It is a common problem among Vietnamese students as the speaking skill is completely ignored in tests and passing the exams is over-appreciated That‟s the reason why students‟ low levels of participation in speaking lessons seem to be a big challenge to language teachers

1.3.3.2 Teachers’ roles, characteristics and methodology

Teachers‟ influencing factors include of their roles, characteristics and methodology

The roles of the teacher (mentioned in chapter 1, part 2.3) affect students‟ participation in classroom activities If the teacher plays the dominant role in speaking lessons, students are deprived of opportunities to use English in class (Farzi, N.Y) With an increasing concern about CLT approach in foreign language teaching and learning, in which learners are the center of the lesson, the teacher can succeed in increasing students‟ involvement in the lesson if they can encourage the students to play the emerging role in contributing to the lesson

Barry (1993:94) said: “the perfect set of personal qualities and characteristics for an effective teacher has not been found” However, it can be admitted that teacher should be the one that students respect and lay their trust on so that he/she can encourage the students to involve in the classroom activities Therefore, every teacher should be aware to build good personal qualities to become an effective language teacher

The teacher‟s methodology referring to the approach or method and teaching techniques he/she applies to the classroom activities can significantly affect students‟ participation The traditional method, teacher-centered one may result in students‟ passiveness and low level of participation in learning whereas the student-centered one may make students more active Moreover, Kayi (2006, Cathard (1986) and House (1986) suggest that the amount of participation varies according

to the activities the teacher implement The application of appropriate methods and activities can increase students‟ activeness and participation in classroom activities

1.3.3.3 Physical Classroom factors

Physical condition in classroom including classroom size, facilities such as chair arrangement, lights and boards may affect students‟ participation either in a positive

or negative way

Hammer (1992) determined that physical condition had a great impact on students‟ learning as well as their attitude towards the subject matter It affects learners‟ motivation Large class size, poor equipment may decrease the effectiveness of language learning Le Phuoc Ky (teacher‟s edition, 2002) suggested that the number

of students should be kept small in order that the interaction between students and students, students and teacher can be maximized

Disadvantageous classroom factors popularly exist in almost all high schools in Vietnam where too many students in a class as well as lack of teaching facilities create trouble to language learning and teaching Thus, arranging classroom physical condition is a need if we want to increase students‟ participation in classroom activities

1.4 Summary

In summary, chapter 1 has presented some theoretical background knowledge related to the topic of the study It has theoretically discussed about dependent and independent variables of the study including teaching speaking, IGA and students‟ participation The following chapter will display the detailed description of the methodology, the procedure and results of the study in the light of the above discussed theories

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter gives a detailed description of the research method, samples of the current study, the variables, the instruments used to collect data to answer the research questions

2.1 The research method

To carry out this study, quasi- experimental research was implemented to investigate the effectiveness of using IGA on increasing students‟ participation in speaking lessons To achieve this aim, two intact classes were chosen, one of them was the experimental group and the left was the contrastive groups Each class consisted of forty five 10 grade learners Because the participants were not randomly sampled, no claim is here made that the two intact classes chosen constituted a representative sample of all learners in the school

2.2 Participants of the study

2.2.1 The teacher researcher

The researcher has been teaching English at Nguyen Dang Dao High School for 10 years She is currently attending a Master Course in Teaching Methodology at Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages & International Studies

2.2.2 The observers

The four observers have been teachers of Nguyen Dang Dao High School for 6 or 7 years They all had gathered experience in observation work through training workshop and peer- appraisal sessions All the four were given further training in observing and recording data using the Observation sheet in speaking sessions Moreover, a briefing session was organized and the definition of participation as well as the related issues was discussed so that observers can measure the level of participation

2.2.3 Samples for the control group and the experimental one

Two 10th grade classes namely 10A5, 10A6 were chosen Forty five students from Class 10A5 (28 boys and 17 girls) were selected for the control group; another forty

five students from class 10A6 (30 boys and 15 girls) were chosen for the

experimental one These classes were comparatively equal in terms of number of students, age and sex All the subjects are at the age of sixteen and have been

learning English for 7 years The experimental and control classes are described in details in the following table

Groups Control group Experimental

Table 1: Students' profile

2.2.4 Samples for the interviews

- For teacher interview: Four teachers taking part in the observations were

questioned in the interview to give their opinions and attitudes towards the

effectiveness of IGA on students‟ participation in speaking lesson

- For students’ interview: Five students from class 10A6 were randomly chosen

for the interview to gather their attitudes towards the implementation of IGA in

speaking lessons

2.3 Variables of the study

To affirm the accuracy of the study, the researcher defined the variables of the study

as the dependent variable and independent one Within the study, the dependent variable is students‟ participation level and the independent variable is IGA

2.4 Data collection instruments

The study adopts both quantitative and qualitative kind of research method in which the data is collected by means of classroom observations as a major tool, interviews

with both teachers and students as the one to confirm the results reported by observers Moreover, the students‟ interaction self report after every lesson is a powerful tool to collect data and check the reliability of information reported by observers Especially, a set of questionnaire was distributed to the experimental group so that the researcher could gather students‟ attitudes toward IGA

2.4.1 Classroom observations (Appendix A)

In addition to questionnaires, classroom observations through which four other teachers can evaluate the level of students‟ participation in speaking lessons before and during the experiment are carried out using the tool of observation sheet: on-task behavior (Appendix A) This sheet, which was used by Hopkins (1985), Peacock (1997) and many others, quantifies student on-task behavior

It should be noted here that only students' talking in English to one another was noted as participation effort Listening to others or to the teacher was not included

as it is difficult to record Another issue is that the quality of students' speaking could not be checked as recording fifty-five students was almost impossible Noise would surely contaminate the data However, the times of speaking/interacting, to some extent, do reflect the students „involvement in speaking activities

There are twelve scan columns and the line number was the number of students who were observed The sheet would be filled out by four non-participant observers (each observer observed 11or 12 students, totally forty-five students were observed

in a ten-minute group work) while the learners were working in speaking activities This observation sheet started to be filled when the learners had been working in pairs or in groups for two minutes The learners were observed one after another, clockwise around the class Every five seconds, the observers wrote down the category best describing the observed student‟s behavior at that moment, and then passed to the next student Number 1 would be entered if the learners were on-task (or were engaged in the pedagogic work) and number 2 would be if they were not on-task (completely lack of attention to the task) The observers continued this process until all students had been observed twelve times This process would be

going on until the end of the lessons After each lesson a class on-task percentage could be calculated

This observation sheet was used for 10times, 2 times at the pre-experimental stage and 8 times at the while - experimental stage of this study Each class was observed twice to find out the students‟ participation level in real teaching situation and four other times during the experiment to find out whether the level of participation increases or not

2.4.1 Students’ interaction self-reports (Appendix B)

The students‟ self reports were designed for both “before the experiment” and “after the experiment” in order to collect data measuring participation levels The self- reports require students to provide their interaction times in 45 minute speaking session They did not require students to provide their names to secure confidentiality

2.4.2 Questionnaire (Appendix C)

The questionnaire consists of 6 questions requiring students to express their

opinions about IGA implemented in speaking lessons They can answer them

merely by circle the letter which means strong agreement, agreement, neither

agreement nor disagreement, disagreement, or strong disagreement

2.4.3 Interviews (Appendix D)

In order to test the validity of the information from the students‟ self- report and observations as well as collect teachers and students‟ attitudes towards IGA, two informal interviews with both teachers and students were conducted after the experiment Four teacher observers were required to answer three questions expressing their evaluation of students‟ participation in observed lessons and their own attitudes towards information gap activity implementation In addition, five students chosen from the experimental class were interviewed with a set of four questions exploiting their opinions about the lessons they have just attended

2.5 The intervention of IGA

The intervention of IGA was applied in the experimental class with the major aim to test whether they affect students‟ participation or not, hence to answer the research

questions:

1 Does the implementation of information gap activities really increase grade

10 students’ participation in speaking lessons at Nguyen Dang Dao high school?

2 What are students and teachers’ attitudes towards IGA?

Based on the initial data from observations in the first two weeks, the researcher found that students have few opportunities to practice English in speaking lessons She decided to carry out the expriment of using IGA to enhance students‟ participation

The researcher designed lesson plans for the experimental speaking classes The steps to set a lesson plan by using IGA in speaking lessons are suggested as follows:

 Objectives: Students find and share information by asking and answering

questions to complete a task

 Key words: The key words of each lesson were considered important words to

understand the text They are decided by the teacher

 Key structures: The key structure of each lesson is chosen was chosen to apply

IGA to help in understanding the text Its function is related to the topic and the theme of the text

 Estimated time: 45 minutes for each lesson

 Resources and teaching aids: Student book, the worksheets, pictures, maps,

laptop and other materials are used as teaching aids They are selected appropriately for each lesson

 Warming up:

In this activity, two students share information to complete the task In one-way gap activities, one student has all the information and the other learner completes a task For example, one student describes a picture and the other learner draws it In two-

way gap activities, one student has some information that his/ her partner does not have and vice versa They must share the information to complete a task

 Procedures and techniques:

- The teacher designs a handout based on information, vocabulary and structures that students have been working on Then the teacher deletes pieces of information on two sets of the handout For example, handout A has some information deleted that handout B provides and vice versa One side of the handout can be more challenging than the other in order to meet the needs of a multi-level class The teacher needs to adapt the textbook tasks based on information gap concept

Here are sample handouts adapted by the researcher

Speaking section, unit 15, page 159, Tieng Anh 10

New York London

High building Many

National holidays 7 days

High building Many

People Formal, reserved

Transport convenient

- Pre-teach and practice vocabulary and structures for the particular task

- Explain the information gap activity procedure by modeling a sample information gap activity with a good student

- Have students work in pair One student of each pair gets handout A while the other gets handout B.sk two students to model the asking and answering of questions in the information gap activity before the whole class begins the activity

- Students ask and answer questions and record the answers until all the information gaps of the handouts have been fulfilled

- Ask the students to compare their handouts with each other in pair

- To complete the activity with the whole group, the teacher can ask volunteers to come up to the board to fill in the information they‟ve had from their partners so that slower pairs can catch up and check their work

 Evaluation:

The teacher wanders around observing the students to know whether they

involve in the activity or not

 Homework: The teacher can ask students to create their own information gap activity about the topic of the lesson they have already learnt

Lessons plan sample was enclosed in appendices section

In brief, for this “control group design” research, the procedures of data collection are described in the following table:

Informants Before experiment Intervention of IGA After experiment

Students Control group - Observation in 2

group

- Observation in 2 periods

- Students‟ self

IGA in speaking lessons

-Observation in 4 periods

- Students‟ self reports