THESIS SUMMARY DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL OF YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES AT ATLANTIC LANGUAGES AND INFORMATICS SCHOOL

This study focused on the development of young learners‟ speaking skill at ALIS by applying one of cognitive strategies in teaching process: imagery.. During the process of teaching Engl

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

ĐỖ THỊ HUYỀN THESIS SUMMARY

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL OF YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES

AT ATLANTIC LANGUAGES AND INFORMATICS

SCHOOL

(PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA HỌC VIÊN NHỎ TUỔI THÔNG QUA QUAN ĐIỂM TRI

NHẬN TẠI TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ TIN HỌC ĐẠI TÂY DƯƠNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

-

ĐỖ THỊ HUYỀN THESIS SUMMARY

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL OF YOUNG LEARNERS THROUGH COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES

AT ATLANTIC LANGUAGES AND INFORMATICS

SCHOOL

(PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI CỦA HỌC VIÊN NHỎ TUỔI THÔNG QUA QUAN ĐIỂM TRI

NHẬN TẠI TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ TIN HỌC ĐẠI TÂY DƯƠNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Phạm Hữu Đức

Hanoi, 201

ACKNOWLEDMENTS This study has been completed with the help and support of many people Therefore, I

am grateful to all of them

First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mr Phạm Hữu Đức, PhD, my supervisor, for his instructive suggestions and valuable comments on the writings on this study Without him, the present study would not been accomplished

At the same time, I also give my thanks to all students at Atlantic Languages & Informatics School (ALIS) who took part in the research for their active cooperation

Last but not least, I would like to give my sincere thanks to my family, who have always inspired and encouraged me to complete this study

ABTRACT

This research aims to develop speaking skill of young learners through Cognitive perspectives at Atlantic Languages & Informatics School ( ALIS) The participants were 18 primary school students including 10 females and 8 males aged from 7 to 10 years old They studied three lessons a week (each lesson lasts 90 minutes) and all the learners had been learning English at ALIS for eight months This study focused on the development of young learners‟ speaking skill at ALIS by applying one of cognitive strategies in teaching process: imagery The author hopes that this study will help students develop their English speaking skill in a natural way through the use of pictures

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration of authorship i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of tables vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1

2 The scope and subject of the study 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Purposes of the study 3

5 Research questions 3

6 Methods of the study 3

7 Organizations of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Concepts of speaking 5

1.1.1 What is speaking skill? 5

1.1.2 Communicative competences 6

1.1.2.1 Grammatical competence 6

1.1.2.2 Sociolinguistic competence 7

1.1.2.3 Discourse competence 7

1.1.2.4 Strategic competence 8

1.2 Young learners 9

1.3 Cognitive perspectives 10

1.3.1 Definition of cognitive perspectives 10

1.3.2 Cognitive theory on learning 12

1.3.3 Kinds of cognitive strategies in language teaching 15

1.4 Pictures 16

1.4.1 Types of pictures 16

1.4.2 Why use picture in speaking class? 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants 20

2.2 Data collection 22

2.2.1 Data collection instrument 22

2.2.2 Data collection procedure 23

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 The students‟ speaking ability development 25

3.2 Influences of using pictures in the teaching learning process 28

3.3 Summary 30

PART C: SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION 1 Overview 31

2 Limitations of the study 32

3 Suggestions for further study 32

REFERENCES 34

APPENDICES: pre-test and post-test

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Record of students‟ test scores 25 Table 2: t-test 26 Table 3: ranking scale 27 Table 4: The score frequency gained in both pre and post test of students‟ speaking ability 28

Part 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

English is the international language Almost all the people from many different

countries around the world use it to communicate “English is spoken as a first

language by more than 300 million people throughout the world’s population speaks English with some degree of competence It is an official or semi- official language in over 70 countries and it plays a significant role in many more” (A S Hornby, 2005: 91)

It is also widely known as a tool for international communication in transportation, commerce, banking, tourism, technology, diplomacy, and scientific research Therefore, teaching and learning English is very important and necessary because mastering it is the best and the shortest way for us to have many opportunities to reach the success of life Realizing the significance of this language, more and more Vietnamese people at different ages start to learn it A long time ago, English was learnt at secondary school and college Today, in our country education system, students are introduced to English at elementary school According to Vietnam‟s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), by 2020 all senior high school students will have to study English as a compulsory subject Nguyen (2011, as cited in Le, 2013) pointed out that some private schools in the larger cities in Vietnam have taught English courses to the first grade (6 periods per week) Beside the lessons at primary school, the increasing number of parents let their kids attend English courses at the private language centers There are many reasons that parents let their kids go to study

at these centers Some want their kids to be familiar with English while the other people simply expect their children to have higher marks at school No matter what reasons are, this statement is very praiseworthy

As we know, listening and speaking are the two most important skills and related to

each other in terms of communication, but “speaking seem intuitively the most

important” ( Ur,1996, p.120) During the process of teaching English to young

learners at ALIS, I recognize that teaching speaking is not an easy job at all Unlike the usual way of learning of teenagers or adults, the very young learners are unable to concentrate for an extended period time Therefore, the teachers have to apply activities

in class to make them less bored To help students make better in speaking activity, I consulted some methods to increase their motivation and to improve their speaking ability These above reasons gave me a desire to conduct the study: These above

reasons gave me a desire to conduct the study: “Developing speaking Skill of Young

Learners through Cognitive perspectives at Atlantic Languages & Informatics School (ALIS)” I hoped this research will be a helpful contribution in teaching and learning

English to enhance speaking ability for the young learners

2 The scope and subject of the study

This study investigated the effects of cognitive strategies in teaching and learning speaking at ALIS Because of the limit of the study, I will focus on one of cognitive strategies: Imagery through using pictures in teaching progress; the study will carried be out in English classes for young learners at ALIS; The study involves the participation of 18 learners who are attending” LET‟S GO 2” class

3 Significance of the study:

Because the study was conducted on a small scale with a group of LET‟GO classes at a language and technology school, the researcher hopes to contribute to the teaching of speaking English at ALIS The result of the study is considered helpful for teachers and learners at this school This study will be a useful material for teachers of English at ALIS, especially for those who are in desire of developing and improving their students‟ speaking

4 Purposes of the study

This study focused on the development of young learners‟ speaking skill at ALIS by applying one of cognitive strategies in teaching process The writer hopes to help students develop their English speaking skill in a natural way using pictures Besides, she desires to contribute to the teaching and learning of English to enhance

speaking ability for young learners To achieve this aim, some objectives are posed for

the exploration as follows:

(1) To find out the effects of pictures on the students‟ performance in English lessons;

(2) To discover students‟ attitudes towards the use of pictures in the classroom

5 Research questions

With those objectives, my research questions are:

1 What are the effects of pictures on students‟ achievement?

2 What are the students‟ attitudes towards using pictures in English class?

6 Methods of the study

On one hand, the analysis is involved in the process of data collection and analysis The data collected will go through analysis and yield conclusion about the subjects of the study The instruments for this process include the pre- test and final speaking test score

On the other hand, the students‟ attitude of cognitive strategies reflected through the teacher‟s observing students in the activities, have been subjectively analyzed

Thus, main instruments for data collection are used in this study, including the test score and teacher‟s observation Hopefully, the study will yield beneficial results which support the learning and teaching speaking in the future

7 The organizations of the study

The study comprises three parts: Introduction, Methodology, and Conclusion Part one, INTRODUCTION, presents an overview of the study in which the rationale, the aims, and the significance of the study, the research questions, the method, the scope and the design of the study are presented

The next part provides the DEVELOPMENT of the thesis with three chapters Chapter 1 presents the literature review with some aspects of speaking such as definition of speaking, communicative components; what the cognition is, some kinds

of cognitive strategies in learning English language

Chapter 2 is research methodology In this chapter, the focus will be on background information of the subject of the study, the instruments used to collect data, the procedure of data collection as well as the data analysis procedures

Chapter 3, findings and discussions, presents a description of data analysis and

discussions With the description of data analysis through two instruments: and the test and post-test, I explored some interpretations of the findings

pre-The last part CONCLUSION is devoted to the overview of the study This chapter also provides the limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for further study

Part II DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Concepts of speaking

1.1.1 What is speaking skill?

In teaching English, there are four important skills, listening, speaking, reading, and writing However, teaching and learning speaking skill is different from the way of learning and teaching other skills Whereas, teaching reading or writing related to the text, speaking happens in real time since it interacts between the speaker and the listener Moreover, when you speak, you cannot edit or revise what you wish to say as you can if you are writing The speaker has to decide on their message and communicate it without taking time to check it over and correct it

There are various different definitions of speaking skill In Oxford Advanced

Dictionary, the definition of speaking skill is “to express or communicate opinions,

feeling, idea, etc., by or as talking and it evolves the activities in the part of the physical (acoustic) stages.” (Oxford Advanced Dictionary, 1995:13) Speaking is an

interactive process in which individuals alternate in their roles as speakers and listeners and employs both verbal and non-verbal means to reach their communicative goals

Chaney‟s definition describes speaking in a similar way saying that speaking is “ the

process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” (Chaney, 1988: 13)

Bailey (2005) states that “ speaking is a process of interaction where speakers

intent to build meaning through producing, receiving, and processing information”

Nunan (1991: 40) states that speaking “is the same an oral interaction which are

conventional ways of speaking information, expressing our idea, and thought have in mind.” In other words, speaking is the activity of giving speeches and talks, to indicate

the opinion you are giving According to Ladouse ( as cited in Nunan, 1991: 23),

speaking is described “ as the activity as the ability to express oneself in the situation,

or the activity to report acts, or situation in precise word or the ability to converse or

to express a sequence of ideas fluently.”

From the above definitions of speaking, we can conclude that the objects of speaking are various such as discussion, speech, debate, dialogue and conversation Therefore, speaking itself is considered as the most effective tool for social communication

1.1.2 Communicative competences

Language proficiency is not a one-dimensional construct but a multifaceted modality consisting of various levels of abilities and domains Hymes (1971) also assumes that language learners need to know not only the linguistic knowledge, but also the culturally acceptable ways of interacting with other people in various context and relationships He further proposed the theory of communicative competence that is comprised of the interaction of grammatical, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, and probabilistic language components Based on Hymes‟ theory, Canale and Swain (1980); identified the keys components of communicative language as grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence

1.1.2.1 Grammatical competence

Grammatical competence is related to knowledge of language itself, its form

and meaning In the other word, linguistic competence concerns knowledge of syntax and phonic concepts as: spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, word formation, grammatical structure, sentence structure In order to covey meaning, EFL learners must have the knowledge of words and sentences They must understand how words are segmented into different sounds, and how sentences are stressed in particular ways

Therefore, linguistic competence enables speakers to use and understand English language structures accurately which contributes to their fluency Nunan (1999, p226)

pointed that one person wants to speak another language, and he needs to know: “how

to articulate sounds in a comprehensible manner” Nunan further expressed that one

needs adequate vocabulary, and one needs to have the mastery of syntax Faerch,

Hasstrup, and Philipson (1984: 168) also expressed that “ it is impossible to conceive

of a person being communicatively competent without being linguistically competent.”

Linguistic competence is doubtlessly an integral of communicative competence

1.1.2.2 Sociolinguistic competence

It is concerned with knowing how to use language, in a particular context, in order to achieve certain communicative goals or intentions An example would be “The door is over there” This sentence could have a number of illocutionary forces It might

be a statement about the position of something - the door, or an attempt to elicit the implication “you get out of my eyes as I don‟t want to see you any more”

1.1.2.3 Discourse competence

This type of competent deals with the mastery of how to use a language in order

to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres, that is, cohesion and coherence of utterances in a discourse This cohesion of thought is attained by means

of cohesive devices such as pronouns and grammatical connectors, together with a unity of thought and continuity in a text

Consider the example: “the teacher asking students about the hurricane”

Teacher: what does the hurricane do?

Students:

Student A: The hurricane uprooted the trees

Student B: The trees are uprooted

Student C: Hundreds of trees were uprooted by the hurricane

Student D: It uprooted hundreds of trees

All of the above answers are true in grammar, but students B and C put new information first; and as Widdowson (1978) points out, it is more normally in the case

in discourse that shared information (about the hurricane) precedes new information (about its effect) Moreover, student D uses a reference item “it” as a cohesive device

to link the answer to the question and this fits in with the normal pattern of oral discourse In this way, a unified spoken text is achieved

1.1.2.4 Strategic competence

Strategic competence refers to the mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies by means of both the underlying knowledge about language and communicative language use or skill The main goal to attain with this competence

is first, to compensate for breakdowns in communication, and secondly, to enhance the effectiveness of communication On this issue, further comments will be examined later in the section of the model assessment

Communicative competence includes (a) knowledge of grammar and

vocabulary of the language; (b) knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g.),

knowing how to begin and end conversations, knowing what topic can

be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which

address forms should be used in different persons one to speak to and

in different situations; (c) knowing how to use the respond to different

types of speech acts such as request, apologies, thanks, and

invitations; ( d) knowing how to use language appropriately

(Richard, Platt & weber (1985, as cited in Nunan, 1999:226)

1.2 Young learners

Young learners are usually described as learners aged between 6 to 10 or 11

Slatternly and Willis (2001: 4): “Young Learners” (YL) were from 7 to 12 years old"

Teaching young learners are different from teaching adult Knowing characteristics will help teachers teach young learners more effectively

In general, young learners show “an enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity

about the world around them” (Harmer, 2007:82) Young learners are very outspoken

imaginative, inquisitive, and keen They enjoy repetition of routines and activities and they love to be creative They are less inhibited than other age groups but their self-control is very poor Since they have a lot of physical energy, physical movement should be an essential part of their learning (Brendon, 2012) Children at the ages are not only interested in the physical, but also the tangible As Scott and Ytreberg (1990)

describe, “Their own understanding comes through hands and eyes and ears The

physical world is dominant at all times.”

Young learners learn by example and the most important role for a teacher is to

be their living example (Harmer, 2007: 82-83) These children also have a positive attitude to learning and learning new things is an adventure for them Harmer further argues that young learners have different characteristics and the way they learn is different from how adolescents, adults and even from older children learn Generally, young learners have very limited attention and concentration spans, and therefore,

“they can easily get bored” and lose interest These children also are very sensitive and dislike criticism They look for guidance and support, and for this reason, they require individual attention and approval from their teachers They seem to respond well to praising, and it is very important to praise them for what they do It is common sense that if children are praised, they are motivated and feel successful (Scott and Ytreberg, 1990: 3) A child receiving the right sort of support and encouragement become

creative, independent and adventurous learners Most experts agree that teaching a group of young learners is enormously rewarding, but also demanding Harmer highlights that teachers should be able to understand “how their students think and operate” (2007: 83) As young learners have a very keen sense of fairness, teachers should avoid playing favorites and they must treat each student equally (Scott and Ytreberg, 1990: 9) Teachers also need to pay attention to “their students” current interests so that they can use them to motivate the children (Harmer, 2007: 83)”

In conclusion, understanding young learners‟ needs and characteristics will help teachers to implement appropriate strategies of teaching and techniques It will also help them to deal with students successfully, so this will lead to better outcomes

1.3 Cognitive perspectives

1.3.1 Definition of cognitive perspectives

There are a number of psychology perspectives These perspectives involve different explanations for human behavior One of these psychology perspectives is the cognitive perspective What is the cognitive perspective? The cognitive perspective is concerned with understanding mental processes such as memory, perception, thinking, and problem solving, and how they may be related to behavior Imagine that a college student makes little effort to achieve good grades in college courses One possible cognitive explanation for this low achievement motivation is that the person has low self-efficacy The person may believe that he or she does not have the ability to achieve good grades, and thus the person makes little effort

Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking, remembering, learning and using language When we apply a cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we focus on the understanding of information and concepts If we are able to understand

the connections between concepts break down information and rebuild with logical connections, then our mention of material and understanding will increase

When we are aware of these mental actions, monitor them and control our learning processes it is called metacognition

Other psychological approaches focus on different components of human activity Behaviorists focus on the examination and analysis of objectively observable and quantifiable behavioral events Those who favor the humanistic approach focus on the individual in relation to their own environment Human welfare, values, and dignity are major components of this theory

Thought processes have been studied by philosophers for centuries However, the psychological study of cognition is a relatively new area of study with its origins in the 1950's The study of metacognition is even newer, much of the work in this area originated in the 1970's

Rejecting the pure stimulus-response approach of the behaviorists, cognitive psychology draws much from the Gestaltists who focus upon insight and define it as

"the sudden perception of relationships among elements of a problem situation."(LeFrancois, 1972) Cognitive theories view learning as a process of

recognition The learner perceives new relationships among the parts of a problem

Researchers who contributed significantly to the development of cognitive psychology include Jerome Bruner, who developed a learning theory based upon categorization, and David Ausubel, who attempted to explain meaningful verbal learning as a phenomenon of consciousness rather than of behavior

Cognitive theory maintains that how one thinks largely determines how one feels and behaves This relates to and incorporates to all forms of knowing, including memory, psycholinguistics, thinking, comprehension, motivation, and perception

Memory is an important component of this theory Much of the material learned in school is dependent on rote memorization of declarative or factual knowledge Recently attempts have been made to develop methods of teaching which are based on meaningful integration of material and the master y of

procedural knowledge Thinking of the learner will determine how effectively the

information is retained or processed

According to Kate McGilly (1996), students are not learning to their full potential due to the fact that more often than not, they use rote memory procedures

in the classroom With the increased competition in the work force and jobs becoming more demanding, students need to be more prepared for higher learning and the job market with skills that evolve from cognitive theory These skills, including study skills, social skills, problem solving, and organizational skills to name a few, should be taught and integrated across the curriculum

1.3.2 Cognitive theory on learning

Cognitive theory of learning sees second language acquisition as a conscious and reasoned thinking process, involving the deliberate use of learning strategies Learning strategies are special ways of processing information that enhance comprehension, learning or retention of information This explanation of language learning contrasts strongly with the behaviorist account of language learning which

sees language learning as an unconscious, automatic process This view leads to a classroom focus on using learning strategies that have been observed in successful language learners and to a view of the learner as an 'information-processor', with limitations as to how much new information can be retained, and who needs strategies

to be able to transfer information into memory In the classroom relevant activities include review and revision, class vocabulary bags, using a scaffolding approach with young learners, analysis and discussion of language and topics, inductive approaches and learner training

Children acquire receptive language before expressive language Children‟s ability to understand language develops faster than their ability to speak it Receptive language is the ability to understand language, and expressive language is the ability to use language to communicate If a mother tells her fifteen-month-old child to put the toy back in the toy chest, he may follow her instructions even though he can‟t repeat them himself

Moreover, environment can influence children‟s language acquisition A major proponent of the idea that language depends largely on environment was the behaviorist B F Skinner, who believed that language is acquired through principles of conditioning, including association, imitation, and reinforcement According to this view, children learn words by associating sounds with objects, actions, and events They also learn words and syntax by imitating others Adults enable children to learn words and syntax by reinforcing correct speech

Critics of this idea argue that a behaviorist explanation is inadequate They maintain several arguments:

 Learning cannot account for the rapid rate at which children acquire language

 There can be an infinite number of sentences in a language All these sentences cannot be learned by imitation

 Children make errors, such as over-regularizing verbs For example, a child may

say Billy hitted me, incorrectly adding the usual past tense suffix -ed to hit

Errors like these can‟t result from imitation, since adults generally use correct verb forms

 Children acquire language skills even though adults do not consistently correct their syntax

It is impossible for the young child to voice concepts that are totally unknown to them Children learn about the world first, and then map language onto their prior experience For example: an infant experiences the house cat; they know that it meows,

is furry, purrs, eats from a bowl in the kitchen – hence develops the concept of cat first then learns to map the word “kitty” onto that concept

Memory and the concept of time and space determine the use and understanding

of language (Piaget, 1926; Sinclair-deZwart, 1973) Therefore, children's first words and first steps occur near their first birthday For the cognitive theorist, it is no coincidence that language and mobility are correlated because mobility better allows the infant to experience the world and thus begin to map verbal concepts onto their experiences

However, it is difficult to know exactly how much of language development is defendant on other facets of development (causation-correlation errors possible) Many concepts may be acquired long before any language is used to convey them yet simply never voiced Possible disassociations between cognitive and linguistic development are not a hindrance upon regular language development

1.3.3 Kinds of cognitive strategies in language teaching

Cognitive strategies are one type of learning strategy that learners use to learn more successfully They are the useful tools to support students with learning problems

In O‟ Mally and Chamot‟s framework (1990), language learning strategies are divided into three main categories: metacognitive strategies; cognitive strategies; social/ affective strategies O‟ Mally and Chamot( 1990: 45) further divided these categories into the smaller ones According to them, cognitive strategies are branched into as the follows:

Resourcing: using reference materials such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or

Note taking: writing down key words and concepts in abbreviated verbal,

Summarizing: making a mental or written summary of information gained

through listening or reading

Deduction: applying rules to understand or produce language or solve problems Imagery: using visual images (either mental or actual) to understand and

remember new information or to make a mental representation of a problem

Auditory representation: playing in back of one‟s mind the sound of a word,

phrase, or fact in order to assist comprehension and recall

Keyword method: remembering the language in the second language

by(1)identifying a familiar word in the first language that sound like the new word or otherwise resemble that new word,(2) generating easily images of some relationship with the first language homonym and the new word in the second language

Elaboration: relating new information to prior knowledge, to different parts of

new information to each other or making meaningful personal associations with the new information

Transfer: using what is already known about the language to assist

comprehension or production

Inferencing: using the information in the text to guess meaning of new items,

predicting outcomes, or complete missing parts,

Recombination: constructing a meaningful sentence or large language sequence

by combining known element in the new way

Translation: using the first language as the base for understanding and/ or producing the second language

1.4 Pictures

Wright (1990) states that “picture is not just an aspect of method but through its

representation of place, object, and people, it is essential part of the overall experiences”

1.4.1 Types of pictures

Gerngross and Puchta (1992, p 4) divides pictures as:

1 - Photographs from magazines or newspapers, which include portraits, action photographs, landscapes, objects, animals, etc

2 - Personal photographs taken by the teacher or students

3 - Drawings including visual material like artwork, stickers, maps, etc

4 - Cartoons as pictures stories

5 - Classroom visual aids, which are all kinds of visual stimuli, created for use in the classroom only

6 - Commercial artwork, i.e advertisements, book covers, etc

According to Harmer (2007: 178), pictures “can be in form of flashcard, large wall

pictures, cue cards, photographs or illustration, and projected slide, images from an overhead, or projected computer images.”

Flashcard

It is a small card that teacher hold on for their students to see

Large wall pictures

They are big enough for everyone to see details “Sometimes, teachers use large wall

pictures, where pointing to detail of a picture will elicit a response, such as there’s some milk in the fridge or he’s just been swimming, etc.” (Harmer, 2007:178)

Cue cards

They are the small cards used in pair or group work Teachers put their students in pair

or groups and give them some cue cards so that when a student picks up the top cue card in a pile he or she has to say a sentence that the card suggests

Photograph or illustration

A photo or image depicts a situation or people in action Teachers use it to make the situation or the action clear

Projected slide

In the multimedia class, the teachers also apply it to teach Sometimes, the teachers use

it to show the images in the big form

1.4.2 Why use picture in speaking class?

A wise statement says, “I hear I forget, I see I will remember” This means that our eyes see and catch most of the time will stay in our memory Therefore, the statement

strengthens the use of pictures in the classroom as a media to teach English Sadiman

(1990: 29-30) defines that picture is a general verbal communication that can be understood and available everywhere Pictures give real description of a particular object Sadiman further proposes some reasons for applying pictures in teaching and learning procedure They are as following:

1) They serve concrete clues of a thing,

2) The y can surpass the limitation of space and time,

3) They can surpass sight limitation,

4) They can clarify a problem, prevent and correct misconception,

5) They are inexpensive, easy to get and to be used

Moreover, Wright (1989) says that pictures enable to stimulate students, to make the subjects that they are dealing with clearer, and to illustrate the general idea and forms of an object or action, which are particular to a culture Kemp and Snellie (1989,

as cited in Burden 1994,p 138), the aims of using pictures are:

1) to motivate an interest or a degree of action;

2) to present information;

3) to provide instruction

Pictures are easy to obtain We can take them from magazines, newspapers, books, etc pictures are easy to manage By employing a picture of a house, a teacher does not need to bring a real house to describe the room of house Hamalik (1982, p 81) lists some of advantages of pictures They are:

- Concrete, through pictures students can see real things clearly The problems can be seen more easily through pictures than through lectures

- Room and time, in term of room, pictures representation of real thing which are sometimes of impossible to see for some reasons

- Lack of human sense, small thing which can‟t be seen with eyes, can be represented by means of pictures

- Explanation, pictures can be used to explain problems in the environment It will be clear and efficient

- Economy, pictures can be cut-out of old or unused materials such as old newspaper, magazines, posters, etc or the teacher and the students can draw pictures by themselves

- Practical, one picture can be seen by all students in the classroom or even in the community of the school Most pictures are easy to store and maintain after used

To sum up, pictures are commonly used by the teachers because of some advantages that pictures bring back in supporting an effective and efficient teaching and learning process It is obvious that those advantages will help the students understand better

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 Participants

The study was carried out at ALIS The participants of the study were 18 students including 10 females and 8 males They were learning at the primary school with the age ranging from 7 to 10 years old They studied three periods a week (each period last 90 minutes) and all of them had been learning English at ALIS for eight months Before the participants took the test they, had to complete the course The process of teaching speaking English by using pictures to young learners consists of four steps as follows

1 Warming up

Warming up is the first step in the teaching process In this stage, the writer presented the new materials to the students The writer did it by asking the students some questions related to the material or the topic being discussed, for example, if the topic was about transportation, the writer would ask the students some questions as follows

Do you know what transportations are?

Can you mention another kind of transportation?

This activity was done to introduce the new topic to the students

2 Presentation

In the second activity, the writer began to explain the materials to the students

In learning English, there are four skills, which must be mastered They were listening, speaking, writing, and reading However, the author focused on teaching speaking In this step, the teacher can use some media of teaching to help the teacher explains the material easily

a Teaching vocabulary

In teaching the vocabulary by using pictures, the author gave the materials by asking the students to listen to her and then repeat after her For example, when the topic was transportation, the author showed some 31 pictures of transportation and mentioned their names, and then she asked the students to repeat saying the names of objects after her For example:

b Teaching Speaking

In teaching speaking, the writer led the students to some communicative activities She used pictures to make her easier in delivering the materials When the topic is about transportation, she showed some picture of the transportation Then, she asked some students to answer the questions about the pictures, for example:

Author: What is this?

Students: Pedicab

Author: How do you spell it?

Students: /pie/ /ie/ /die/ /ai/ /sie/ /ei/ bie/

Author: Student 1 What is this?

Student 1: Ship

Author: How do you spell it?

Student 1: /es/ /eic/ /ai/ /pie/

Author: Very good

Author: Which transportation do you prefer to go by, ship or airplane?

This activity could make the students understand the objects and help them relate to the topic the author is going to teach

2.2 Data collection

2.2.1 Data collection instrument

As the author stated in the Introduction part, the data of research was gained through the employment of two research instruments: testing (pre-test & post-test), classroom observation, which will be discussed in detail below

The pre-test was designed to measure student‟s speaking ability before, applying pictures in teaching progress The pre-test also measures how successful the course was and how the teacher managed the class

The classroom observation: the teacher observed class during the teaching and learning progress in order to find out the students‟ attitudes toward using pictures

The post-test speaking is conducted to evaluate the students‟ achievement in speaking as well as the effects through the applying pictures in teaching speaking

2.2.2 Data collection procedure

In this single-group experiment, a pre-test and a post-test are given to one group

to measure the effect of the instructional activity

Before introducing an activity, the author gave a pre-test Next, the author applied the activity, gave a post-test that is comparable to the pre-test, and finally analyzed pre-post differences

The procedure will be as follows

Pretest -> Treatment -> Posttest

Before that, the author gathered background information for all participants, such as previous achievement records or socioeconomic status This helped the author estimate bias that was introduced and adjusted for it The author also collaborated with program staff, other instructors to gain their support and cooperation

However, the method had some limitations While the single group experiment offers simplicity, several problems can complicate interpretation as follows

History

Events happening between pre- and post-test may increase scores Without a control group, it is impossible to know if the pre-post difference is a result of the event

Testing effect

Completing a pre-test measure may make participants aware of a deficit that they then address If you use identical measures, students may do better the second

time because of practice

Instrumentation effect

How the author measures the outcome and who measures it may change from pre- to post-test and can affect whether students appear to improve It is important that pre and post measures be equivalent

In the first phase, the pre- test (Appendix 1) was conducted to 18 students in LET‟S GO 2 at the English center The test was designed with two parts, and lasts from

5 to 7 minutes for each students Part 1 is the general conversation in which students are required to answer the questions about personal details In part 2, students were given pictures related to the topics or issues they have learned during semester Students were asked questions based on the pictures and then responded the answer The tester gave them the scores based on the students‟ answers The students‟ marks

on this test would be used in the data analysis of the research

After the collected data were analyzed, in the second phase, the teacher applied pictures in class During the teaching procedure, the teacher observed students in order

to find out the student‟s attitude, their feeling towards learning with pictures in class

Two months later, a post-test (Appendix 2) was carried out to test the students‟ achievement in speaking as well as the effects through the applying pictures in teaching speaking The test kept the same format and criteria as the pre- test, and the examiner was the same Generally, the basis of the test is virtually the same The students‟ marks

on this test would be used in the data analysis of the research

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 The students’ speaking ability development

Our first research question concerns the effects of pictures on students‟ achievement of spoken production The raw data showed that the participants‟ paper scores range from above 60 to almost 100; however, most (n = 18) of the participants‟ scores fall between

65 and 85; nevertheless, most (n= 18) participants‟ forum scores were above average

As shown in Table 1, the participants' scores were similar in terms of the mean, standard error of mean, median, standard deviation, and range A t-Test was used in this context

Table 1: Record of students’ test scores

The table above showed the result from the test The result of the paired samples test shown in Table 2 suggests that there is no significant difference between the variations of the two tests (pre-test and post-test) with p-value (0.001001) In other words, the spoken production was improved

t-The second research question addresses students‟ attitudes towards using pictures in English class The participants' raw scores were compared with the ranking scale The majority (n = 18) of these scores are between 65 and 85

Table 3: ranking scale