Some suggested activities to improve the 10th graders speaking skill

This study aims at using of three stimulating activities: games, video and role play to intensify students’ participation in speaking activities at Le Viet Thuat high school.. Despite te

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NGHE AN, 2014

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: TRAN BA TIEN, Ph.D.

Nghe An, 2014

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere.

Author

Nguyen Thi Anh Hong

I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and support of many individuals

in assisting me to accomplish this study.

First of all, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor: Dr Tran Ba Tien for his valuable time, suggestions, guidance, and assistance in this study He always guides me with valuable suggestions, helpful comments and whole-hearted guidance during my implementation of this study Without his help, the thesis would not have been possible

I also want to thank the cooperation of my colleagues and my students, especially the students of class 10A1, 10A2, 10A3 at Le Viet Thuat high school in Vinh city who have helped me to collect data for the study.

Last but not least, I would especially thank my family; my close friends who have gave in their support and like to constant encouragement to fulfill my study My thanks

go to my husband, his material and spiritual support throughout this study.

Vinh 2014.

Nguyen Thi Anh Hong

This study aims at using of three stimulating activities: games, video and role play to intensify students’ participation in speaking activities at Le Viet Thuat high school

The study was carried out in 10A1, 10A2, 10A3 class at Le Viet Thuat high school in the second semester of the school year 2013-2014 The writer took 107 students and 9 teachers as the subject of the research The writer taught speaking English using three stimulating activities: games, video and role play To find the results, the researcher got the information from the students’ and teachers' answers on survey questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews The result of the research using three stimulating activities: games, video and role play shows that, the students become active and cooperative in learning speaking The students’ motivation to speak and to practice speaking is stronger, and their speaking skill is improved Most of the students said that they like these techniques They became braver and felt more confident to speak and express their feeling Based on the findings, the writer also made some recommendations on how to use three stimulating activities in class As a result, games, video and role play are highly recommended as effective activities in the improvement of students’ speaking.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Pages

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Scope of the study 2

1.3 The aims of the study 2

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Method and procedure of the research 3

1.6 Design of the study 3

Chapter 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

2.1 Communicative language teaching 5

2.1.1 What is meant by communication? 5

2.1.2 Communicative language teaching 5

2.1.3 Communicative Competence - The desired goal of CLT 7

2.1.4 The necessity of teaching and learning speaking skill in a Communicative Class 8

2.1.5 Nature of communicative language teaching 9

2.2 Theoretical background of speaking 11

2.2.1 What is “speaking”? 11

2.2.2 The nature of speaking 12

2.2.3 The role of speaking skill in communication approach 13

2.2.4 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 14

2.2.5 Principles in teaching speaking in CLT 14

2.2.6 Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill 15

2.2.7 Factors affecting English speaking abilities 16

2.3 Theoretical background of activities 17

2.3.1 Stimulating activities 17

2.3.2 Types of stimulating activities in teaching speaking skills 18

2.3.3 Three most stimulating activities in speaking class 20

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research context 25

3.1.1 An overview of the research site 25

3.1.2 Description of the students at Le Viet Thuat High school 25

3.1.3 Description of the teachers at Le Viet Thuat High School 26

3.1.4 The textbook 26

3.2 Participants 30

3.3 Research instruments 30

3.4 Data analysis 32

3.5 Conclusion 32

Chapter 4 FINDING AND DISCUSSION 33

4.1 Presentation and analysis of data 33

4.1.1 Pre-task questionnaire for students 33

4.1.2 Questionnaire for teachers 40

4.2 Post-task questionnaire for students 43

4.2.1 Analyzing result of post-survey questionnaire 43

4.3 Analyzing results of classroom observations 47

4.3.1 From the experimental teaching observation 47

4.3.2 From the teacher observation 48

4.4 Problem in speaking lessons when use three stimulating activities: games, video and role play 51

4.5 The obstacles during the use of three stimulating activities: games, video and role play in speaking class 51

4.6 Discussion 51

4.6.1 Difficulties from the teachers and students 51

4.6.2 Solutions to improving 10th graders’ speaking skill 56

4.7 Summary 58

Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 59

5.1 Summary of the study 59

5.2 Recommendations on how to use three stimulating activities in class.60 5.2.1 For the teacher 60

5.2.2 For the administrator 63

5.3 Limitation of the study 64

5.4 Suggestions for further research 64

REFERENCES 65

APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MOET : Ministry of education and training

LIST OF FIGURES

Pages

Figure 4.1 Student’s opinions towards speaking 33

Table 4.1 Students’ opinions towards the speaking tasks of the new textbook .34

Figure 4.2 Frequency of students’ speaking participation 36

Figure 4.3 Students’ self-improvement of speaking skill 36

Table 4.2a The frequency of using techniques 38

Table 4.2b Students’ opinions towards teachers’ teaching speaking techniques 38

Table 4.3 Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons 39

Table 4.4 Teachers’ difficulties in teaching English speaking skills 40

Table 4.5 Teachers’ solutions to the problems 42

Table 4.6a Students’ feeling and attitudes towards stimulating activities exploited by the teacher 43

Table 4.6b Students’ feeling and attitudes towards stimulating activities exploited by the teacher 44

Table 4.6c Students’ feeling and attitudes towards stimulating activities exploited by the teacher 45

Table 4.6d Students’ feeling and attitudes towards stimulating activities exploited by the teacher 45

Table 4.6e Students’ feeling and attitudes towards stimulating activities exploited by the teacher 46

Table 4.7 Students’ participation in stimulating activities 46

Table 4.8 The effects of stimulating activities in learning speaking lesson to students 47

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

Language education, especially foreign language teaching and learning, is a compulsory in every country With the development of the market economy and the globalization trend, learning foreign languages has become not only an interest but also a great demand for most people in Viet Nam

Since 2006, the Ministry of Education and Training(MOET) has introduced the new English textbook to high school students throughout the country In general, these new textbooks achieved the goal of teaching English through a communicative approach Each unit contains four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, with various interesting topics relevant to the age of students The new textbooks have many advantages; however, both the teachers and students face a lot of challenges in the process of working with the new English textbooks It seems that they do not fulfill the requirements of the new textbooks at all

More ever, one of the main tasks assigned to foreign language teaching at school is that of training students to be communicatively competent “The aims of foreign language instruction, especially English language instruction, is commonly defined in terms of four essential skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking, of which speaking is becoming the most important aspect in developing one's communicative competence (Moore, 1992, p.9)

Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts.” (Chaney,1998, p.13) In any second language teaching and learning, speaking is always believed to be the most vital skill Learning a target language makes no sense if you can not communicate in it successfully

However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning speaking in particular does not come

up to the study goals A great deal of researchers has shown the students are often hesitant and anxious about speaking the target language in class Despite teachers' efforts to provide students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills, how to teach and learn speaking skill effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students to many high schools in Viet Nam.

As a teacher of English at Le Viet Thuat high school in Vinh city, I also have the same difficulties I find the new textbooks more effective than the old ones that were used years ago However, my teaching seems to encounter a significant problem: the students do not pay more attention to their speaking skill, they usually keep quiet in speaking lessons or they often use mother tongue instead speaking English

Against the problem above, some suggested activities should be used to overcome them I am interested in applying these activities to improve the speaking skill of Le Viet Thuat high students in English classes based on the syllabus of MOET so that I will conduct the research entitled “ Some suggested activities to improve the 10th graders' speaking skill” My objective is to find the most effective ways of helping them to overcome the barrier of low self confidence when studying speaking skill

1.2 Scope of the study

This research mainly covers the problems with the speaking skill that teachers and students have in the process of using the text book for grade 10 These problems were discussed throughly in order to discover the causes and to offer some suggested activities

The study only focuses on using three stimulating activities: games, video and role play to improve English speaking skills 10th graders at Le Viet Thuat high school

1.3 The aims of the study

To find out the difficulties in teaching and learning English speaking skill that 10th graders and English teachers at Le Viet Thuat high school have encountered

To suggest some recommendations how to use three stimulating activities: games, video, role play to enhance students in speaking skill and develop communicative skill.

1.4 Research questions

1 What are the difficulties encountered by the English teachers and the 10th graders in teaching and learning English speaking skill at Le Viet Thuat high school?

2 How to use three stimulating activities: games, video and role play to overcome these difficulties?

1.5 Method and procedure of the research

A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods were used for this research Two survey questionnaires were used to collect data for the study

The first survey questionnaire was carried out on 107 10th graders from 3 classes at Le Viet Thuat high school

The second one is carried out on 9 teachers of Le Viet Thuat high school

1.6 Design of the study

Chapter I:Introduction: consists of the rationale, the aims, the method and

design of the study The research questions are also mentioned in this part

Chapter II: Literature review gives the theoretical background of CLT,

speaking skill and stimulating activities

Chapter III: Presents the use of stimulating activities to improve the 10th

graders' speaking skill at Le Viet Thuat high school It provides the current situation

of teaching and learning English speaking skill at Le Viet Thuat high school and a research on the use of stimulating activities It gives research methodology which consists of research questions and participants of the study It also gives research instruments, data collection procedures, technique for analyzing data

Chapter IV: Provides discusses the findings of the study, data analysis and

findings through an analysis of all data collected by means of classroom observation, post-survey questionnaire and individual interviews In this chapter, the

writer describes the process of teaching speaking through stimulating activities such as: games, video, role play at Le Viet Thuat high school.

Chapter V: Conclusion: summarize the main points which have been

explored in the study and made some recommendations on how stimulating activities should be used to improve the 10th graders It also discusses the limitations of the study and makes some suggestions for further research

Chapter 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In this chapter, theoretical background relative to the topic and surveys of articles, books and other resources relevant to a particular the study topic will be presented This part will also provide description, summary, and critical evaluation

of each work quoted

2.1 Communicative language teaching

2.1.1 What is meant by communication?

In Thompson's book (2003, p 9) “Communication and Language”, he considers that “Communication is such a well-integrated part of our day-to-day existence that we tend to take it for granted rarely pausing to consider what it involves or just how important it is to us”.Before he expressed to his own ideas about communication, he mentioned some of Fiske's ideas:

“Communication is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes but few can definite satisfactory.” (Fiske, 1990, p 1)

“Communication is too often taken for granted when it should be taken to pieces,”(Fiske, 1994, p 8)

Thompson noticed “I quickly recognize that communication is used in a number of senses and at a number of levels to indicate the transmission of information or even, as in the transport networks example, the transmission of goods and people.” (Thompson, 2003, p 10)

However, he completely agreed with Fiske's ideas that:”the most relevant definition

of communication for present purposes is social interaction through messages” (Thompson, 2003, p 10).There are two related aspects that we should consider when talking about definition of communication is “social” and “interaction”

2.1.2 Communicative language teaching

The history of language learning and teaching methods has experienced many changes with many approaches, such as Grammar - Translation Method,

Reading Method, Audio lingualism, and Affective - Humanistic Approach and, etc CLT is the latest influence on teaching methodology which has been put forth around the world as a new or innovative approach to teach English as a second or foreign language CLT appeared in the late 1960s due to the changes in the British language teaching tradition Until then, situational language teaching remained the major approach in British approach to teaching The need for communicative proficiency rather than mere mastery of structures made scholars advocate this view of language teaching.

*David Nunan’s definition of CLT:

CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaningful tasks and using language that

is meaningful to learners Objectives reflect the need of the learners: they include functional skills as well as linguistic objectives The learners’ role is as a negotiator and integrator The teachers’ role is as a facilitator of the communication process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task - based and authentic (David Nunan, 1989, p 194)

*Characteristics of CLT:

CLT has six features for most modern approaches and methods, which are learner - centered teaching, cooperative learning, interactive learning, whole - language education, content - centered education and task - based learning Besides,

Littlewood (1981, p 1) states: “one of the most characteristic features of

communicative language teaching is that it pays a systematic attention to functional

as well as structural aspects of language” For other theorists, communicative

language teaching means using procedures where learners work in pairs or groups employing available language resources in problem solving tasks

David Nunan (1991, p 279) offers five characteristic features of CLT:

• An emphasis 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 the learning process itself.

• An enhancement of the learners’ own experience as important contributing elements to classroom learning

• An attempt to link classroom language with language activation outside the classroom

These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom Under this broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities

2.1.3 Communicative Competence - The desired goal of CLT

When teaching a language, the most important goal is to help the pupils to obtain the ability to communicate Therefore, as an effective approach in language teaching, CLT puts communicative competence on the top of its objectives

The concept of communicative competence was introduced in 1964 and since then it has caught much attention from linguists all over the world Communicative language teaching is an approach that aims to make communicative competence the goal of language teaching That is to help students use language appropriately in real communication Rivers (1981, p 15) and those who work with foreign language teaching in U.S tend to define communicative competence as simply linguistic interaction in the target language: “The ability to function in a truly communicative setting; that is in a spontaneous transaction involving one or more

other persons” People who work in ESL, on the other hand, tend to use communicative competence in Hymes’ sense In his view, a person who acquires communicative competence acquires both knowledge and ability for language use with respect to

• Whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible

• Whether (and to what degree) something is feasible in virtue of the means of implementation available

• Whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate (adequate, happy, successful) in relation to a context in which it is used and evaluated)

• Whether (and to what degree) something is in fact done, actually performed and what its doing entails

A more recent but related analysis of communicative competence is found in Canale and Swain (1980), which identified four dimensions of communicative competence: Grammatical competence, Socio linguistic competence, Discourse competence and Strategic competence

To sum up, communicative competence is the ability to use the language correctly, appropriately in any particular circumstances of communication It is the goal of language teaching and it makes CLT different in scope and status from any other approaches

2.1.4 The necessity of teaching and learning speaking skill in a Communicative Class

Speaking is fundamental to human communication Just think of all the different conversations we have in one day and compare that with how much written communication we do in one day Which do we do more of? In our daily lives most of us speak more than we write Therefore, if the goal of the language course is truly to enable the students to communicate in English, then speaking skill should be taught and practised in the language classroom Speaking is a skill which deserves attention in both first and second languages The learners often need to be able to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their most basic

transactions It is the skill by which they are most frequently judged It is the vehicle par excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business It is also a medium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularly conductive for learning Therefore, the teaching of speaking merits more thought.

Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language They regard speaking as the most important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress

in terms of their accomplishments in spoken communication The necessity of

learning and teaching speaking skill was emphasized by Nunan (1991): "success is

measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the (target) language." Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get any

opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get unmotivated and lose interest in learning On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be

In the communicative model of language teaching, instructors help their students develop this body of knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communication situations They help their students develop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable (that is, comprehensible) pronunciation The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation

2.1.5 Nature of communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching means little more than an integration of

grammatical and functional teaching Littlewood (1981, p 1) states, “One of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”.

Communicative language teaching stresses the importance of providing the learners with opportunities to use English for communicative purposes and attempts

to integrate such activities into a wider program of language teaching

2.1.6 The techniques of communicative language teaching

The techniques of communicative language teaching are described by features Nunan (1991a, p 279) gives five features to characterize CLT:

• An emphasis 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 the learning process itself

• An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

• An attempt to link classroom language teaching with language activation outside the classroom

According to Richard and Rogers(1986, p 170), communicative principles can

be applied to the teaching of any skills and at any levels Because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in the literature on communicative language teaching, description of typical classroom procedures used

in a lesson based on CLT principle is not feasible Savignon (1984) discusses techniques and class management procedures associated with a number of CLT classroom procedure (e.g group activities, language games, role plays), but neither these activities nor the ways in which they are used are exclusive to CLT classrooms

Johnson and Johnson (1989) offer five core characteristics that underlie current applications of communicative methodology:

• Appropriateness: Language use reflects the situations of its use and must be appropriate to that situation depending on the setting, the roles

of the participants and the purpose of the communication, for example Thus learners may need to be able to use formal as well as casual styles

of speaking

• Message focus: Learners need to be able to create and understand messages, that is, real meanings Hence the focus on information sharing and information transfer in CLT activities

• Psycholinguistic processing: CLT activities seek to engage learners in the use of cognitive and other processes that are important factors in second language acquisition

• Risk taking: Learners are encouraged to make guesses and learn from their errors By going beyond what they have been taught, they are encouraged to employ a variety of communication strategies

• Free practice: CLT encourages the use of “holistic practice” involving the simultaneous use of a variety of sub-skills, rather than practicing individual skills one piece at a time

To sum up, communicative language teaching is best considered an approach rather than a method It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of classroom procedures

2.2 Theoretical background of speaking

2.2.1 What is “speaking”?

There are many definitions of speaking According to Chaney, (1988, p 13) speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” According to other researchers such as Brown (1994), Burn and Joyce (1997), speaking is “an interactive process

of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” In a related study, Bygate (1987) had a detailed definition which

states that “speaking is the skill by which learners are most frequently judged and through which they make and lose friends It is the vehicle par excellence of social solidarity, social ranking, of professional advancement and of business It is also the medium through which much language is learned”.

2.2.2 The nature of speaking

It is obvious that speaking is the key to communication and seems to be the vital skill in comparison with reading, listening and writing Everywhere people speak to each other to exchange attitudes, cultural values, etc Without it communication will become difficult to proceed and our world will become as silent as a grave Therefore, classroom activities aiming at developing learners' ability to express themselves through speech are considered an important component in a language school curriculum

There have been many scholars discussing the nature of speaking To Brown (1994), Burn and Joyce, (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information; Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experience, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking; it is often spontaneous open ended and evolving However, speaking is not always unpredictable Language functions that tend to recur in certain discourse situations (declining an invitation, requesting time) can be identified and charted For example, when a salesman asks,“May I help you?”, the expected discourse sequence include a statement of need, response to the need, offer

of appreciation, acknowledgements of appreciation, and a leave- taking exchange Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language, such as grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary (linguistics competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistics competence)

According to Byrne (1976, p 8), speaking is a two-way process between the speakers and the hearers involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive

skill of understanding Both the listener and the speaker have a positive function to perform The speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message The message itself in normal speech usually contains a great deal of information that the listener needs.

It is perfectly true that speaking is active, or productive, and makes use of aural medium An act of speaking is commonly performed in face-to-face interaction The act of speaking involves not only the production of sounds but also the use of gestures, the movements of the muscles and the face Spoken language consists of short, often fragmentary utterances, in a range a pronunciation There is often a great deal of repetition and overlap between one speaking and another Speakers frequently use non-specific references

Some of the micro-skills involved in speaking The speaker has to:

• Pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can distinguish them This includes making tonal distinctions

• Use stress and rhythm patterns and intonation patterns of the language clearly enough so that people can understand what is said

• Use the correct forms of words This may mean, for example, changes

in the tense, case or gender

• Put words together in correct word order

• Use vocabulary appropriately

• Use the register or language variety that is appropriate to the situation and the relationship to the conversation partner

• Make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, by whatever means the language uses

• Make the discourse hang together so that people can follow what you are saying

2.2.3 The role of speaking skill in communication approach

In my opinion, those who think the major objective of the students is reading not speaking have ignored some obvious pedagogical facts:

Firstly, people have the notion that learning English has something to do with oral English When one says some students are good at English, people will naturally think he or she can speak English well.

Secondly, oral English can be very useful for the development of reading and writing skills Rivers points out: “When we read and write, we can call upon what

we know of the language orally”, (Rivers, 1968, p 20) He goes on to say that there must be a connection between reading and speaking If the students are reading, and then they are using their oral English, too If a student has poor English, his reading ability may also be poor Similarly, Rivers (1968) argues that writing involves oral ability as well

2.2.4 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

There are some characteristics of a successful speaking activity which are introduced by Ur (1996, p 120) as follows

+ Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activities is in fact occupied by learner talk This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pause

+ Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority

of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contribution 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 acceptable level of language accuracy

2.2.5 Principles in teaching speaking in CLT

Language educators and teachers have made great efforts to find out the main principles of teaching speaking

According to Larsen Freeman (1986, p 77) “…the challenge for the teacher is

to create a classroom environment which does not look like a normal classroom” so

“…the teacher should try to provide as relaxed and comfortable an environment as possible” Because he believed that “Language learning is more effective when it is fun” and “learning is facilitated in a relaxed, comfortable environment”

Ur (1996) also set some principles as follows:

• Take account of the student as a person

• Reduce anxiety by moving from easy to less easy

• Maintain a carefully balance between fluency and accuracy

• Provide good model for students to imitate

• Provide appropriate stimuli for eliciting speech

• Vary classroom interaction modes

• Give clear instructions

• Monitor student activity continuously

• Prepare well for the class

• Handle errors sensitively and effectively

2.2.6 Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill

If the aim of the English course is to enable the students to communicate in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language classroom However, it is true that when teaching speaking skill, the teachers can encounter many problems The most popular ones can be listed as follows: First, the class size is one of the major concerns Teaching the target language for a class of

40 or 45 students is quite a hard job and not effective The teachers have to deal with many problems of large class, so the results of teaching and learning speaking skill are unsatisfactory Second, students’ lack of motivation also prevents the success of the speaking activities in class They almost have no interest in learning the foreign language They just take part in the communicative activities because of the teachers’ presence, the requirements of the exams, etc Another difficulty in teaching and learning speaking skill is mother-tongue use In classes where all learners share the same mother-tongue, they tend to use it because: it is easier, it is

unnatural to communicate in a foreign language and they feel less exposed in their mother-tongue If the students work in small groups, it can be quite challenging to get them - especially the less disciplined and motivated ones- to speak the target language Many other problems in the process of teaching and learning speaking skill will be discussed carefully in later part of this study.

2.2.7 Factors affecting English speaking abilities

There are many factors that influence that success or failure in learning speaking However, the three most important factors are motivation, attitude and learning strategies

Motivation is the first important factor affecting a language learner According

to Gardner (2001), motivation refers to the driving force in any situation In the socio-educational model, motivation to learn the second language is viewed as requiring three elements First, the motivated individual expends effort to learn the language That is, there is a persistent and consistent attempt to learn the material

by doing homework, by seeking out opportunities to learn more, by doing extra work and so on Second, the motivated individual wants to achieve the goal Such

an individual will express the desire to succeed, and will strive to achieve success Third, the motivated individual will enjoy the task of learning the language Such an individual will say that it is fun, challenging and enjoyable, even though at times enthusiasm may be less than at other times

Attitude is the second factor which has an influence on the language learning Gardner and Lambert (1972) defined attitude at the present that a learner has to follow an object Language learning attitude has a relationship to motivation Language learners who have extrinsic or intrinsic motivation will have the more positive attitude than those without motivation or who consider language learning a compulsory subject

Within second or foreign language education, a number of definitions of language learning strategies have been used by key figures in the field Early on, Tarone (1983, p 67) defined a language learning strategy as “an attempt to develop

linguistic and socio linguistic competence”.Rubin (1987, p 22) later wrote that language learning strategies “are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner construct and affect learning directly” In their semina study, O’Malley and Chamot (1990, p 1) defined language learning strategies as “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information”.

2.3 Theoretical background of activities

2.3.1 Stimulating activities

First, we will address the issues related to stimulating speaking activities Then

we will examine the concepts of stimulating, stimulating activities Finally, we will suggest some requirements for using stimulating activities in language teaching classes

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “stimulating” is to

“make people feel enthusiastic; full of interesting or exciting ideas” (2005:1057)

Up to now, there is no definition of the researchers about “stimulating activity” According to Jeremy Harmer (2001), students need frequent changes of activities: they need activities that are exciting and stimulating their curiosity: they need to be involved in something active The span of concentration of our students

is less Thus we have to assign some interesting activities to draw their attention.Hence, some suggested activities mean: “through a variety of fun, interesting and useful activities which are given by teachers may attract students' motivation, participation in the learning process so as to stimulate students in the classroom communication includes: games, discussion, music, dramatic stories, role play ” In English language classrooms, by using stimulating activities, the teacher is able to improve the students' speaking ability because they are interesting techniques to apply

in classroom The students become comfortable to speak everything and get opportunity to develop their communicative competence more freely In other words, these activities can be considered effective tools that teachers should benefit to improve their students to raise much more voice in class That is the new setting of a modern language classroom where students are the center of attention in class

2.3.2 Types of stimulating activities in teaching speaking skills

Rudolph Kampmeier cited by Mc.Connell (1987, p 1) argues that “Teaching is

a stimulating activity on the part of those who are service, since it provides the open mind with techniques and advances to meet the challenges of the student”

Thus, a number of classroom techniques such as role play, discussion, communication games and problem-solving, and using stories are recommended as appropriate to stimulate natural communication by theorists such as Harmer (2001), Livingstone (1983), Littlewood (1981), Ladousse (1987), Ur (1981) In order to help students gain success in speaking, there are many activities to stimulate students talk in speaking class as follows:

2.3.2.1 Role play

According to Stephen D Hatting (1993, p 165) based on his observation in the conversation class, the role play would seem to be the ideal activity in which students could use their English creatively and it aims to stimulate a conversation situation in which students might find themselves and give them an opportunity to practice and develop their communication skill

2.3.2.2 Simulations

For others, simulations stimulate student (Joan Andorfer, 2008) Burns & Gentry (1998) state that the teacher must take on some additional responsibilities in role playing/ simulation

2.3.2.3.Drama

According to Bang (2008, p 30) drama - oriented activities are capable of stimulating the learners' interest in the English classroom by including them to invent a scenario, practice its discourses, and express them both individually and collectively Stated simply, the activities encourage bot teacher and student for creativity and spontaneity Through the dramatic activities, learners not only gain an understanding of grammatical structure in a context but also experience the dynamic, and productive use of the language to influence, control, entertain, and inform, that is, as if in real communicative circumstances

2.3.2.4 Games

According to Carrier (1980, p 6) “Games stimulate students' participation and

give them confidence.” This is when students free themselves in order to participate

to get the best score or even to be the best in the class They usually feel much more confident with their performance and this makes them learn and practice new structures, learn from their mistakes, and fulfill the goals of the class, indeed

2.3.2.5 Short stories

Puji Rahayu (2008) claims that stories can help to stimulate students overall facility of creativity They contribute to multicultural awareness, tolerance and familiarity with each other beliefs Stories are akin to a magnet for students to be drawn to reading We can exploit the stories to get our students to practice the many language skills required for overall proficiency The subsequent sections illustrate how this may be done The aim of using the stories was not only to develop communicative ability historical stories Biblical stories can be used with Christian people

2.3.2.6.Discussion

After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussions, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things Hence, Ismail Cakir (2006) claims that

“Discussion stimulates communication among students, and it helps to achieve communicative practice With this activity students have an opportunity to develop sharing and co-operative skills”

2.3.2.7 Video

It is universally recognized that videos as visual aids have a lot to contribute to the process of language learning and teaching, combining education and entertainment Supporters agree that videos stimulate student interest to acquire the target culture, as well as language (e.g, Stempleski, 1992; Tomalin, 1992) Video is supposed to communicate meaning better than any other media (Tomalin, 1992) Here it will be useful to look at the advantages of video in language classes from perspectives

2.3.3 Three most stimulating activities in speaking class

There is a variety of stimulating activities to use in the teaching and learning process Each stimulating activity has its own advantages and using the right activities in the right way to teach, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place In this study, in reality of my teaching and talking with my students the researcher using some kinds of stimulating activities to identify students' participation in speaking activities

Moreover, some writers have defined a game as:

A structure that has rules, goals and agreement of players on the surface, and wonderful bidden processes underneath (Turtledove, 1996, p 3)

An activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun (Hadfield, 1990, p 5)

An agreeable way of getting a class to use its initiative in English and as it is gently competitive, it increases motivation It is also a contrast to periods of intensive study (Haycraft, 1978, p 94)

Thus, the definition above- dictionaries and authors- have general similarities among them, they coincide principally in three aspects: competition, rules and

Based on the concept above, definition of game is considered a valuable technique, which includes three principal elements: competition, rules and enjoyment, which should be well established by a teaching-learning objective Any teacher would be able to use games in order to increase the student's motivation towards the English language, at the same time that students can better develop or improve his/her own abilities of learning

The use of games in the classroom has many advantages Carrier (1980, p 6) mentions some of them:

• “Games give a variety of tools to facilitate the teaching-learning process”;

• “Games are flexible”;

• “Games raise the students motivation”;

• “Games make students produce language subconsciously”;

• “Games stimulate students' participation and give them confidence”;

• “Games transform the teacher's role from that of formal instructor to that of an organizer or/and moderator of the class”;

• “Games can also serve as a testing mechanism”

In conclusion, games can be used to give students enjoyment and useful practice in classes More importantly, games provide an opportunity for real communication Games can increase student-student communication, but reduce the teacher's domination of the classroom Playing games also helps students build solidarity between all participants and applaud each other's efforts to win This can be useful in reducing teacher-student distance Hence, game or competition is stimulating activities to students because the more students enjoy, the more they learn

2.3.3.2 Videos/ DVDs in language teaching and learning

“English teachers all over the world carry out for materials which can make English come alive for their students TV, video, and the newer video-related technologies provide such a resource ” (Stempleski,1995, p 48 )

It is universally recognized that videos as visual aids have a lot to contribute to the process of language learning and teaching, combining education and entertainment Supporters agree that videos stimulate student to acquire the target culture, as well as language (e.g Stempleski, 1992; Tomalin, 1992) Video is supposed to communicate meaning better than any other media (Tomalin, 1992) Here it will be useful to look at the advantages of video in language classes from different perspectives.

Jeremy Harmer (2001, p 282) claims that video has many advantages:

In conclusion, learners are extremely excited about the programs which combine foreign language learning with entertainment By listening to English songs, watching films or cartoons, it stimulates students to practice English effectively, getting themselves involves in the foreign language environment naturally At the same time, they have a lot of fun, they start finding out that learning English is far from boring but very easy and interesting with video programs which are specially designed for language learning purposes The learner should want to see more to ask questions, to follow up ideas and suggestions By generating interest and motivation, video clips can create a climate for success learning Hence, video is a stimulating activity

2.3.3.3 Role play

In the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role defined as the person whom an actor represents in a film or play, while role play is a method of acting out particular ways of behaving or pretending to be other people who deal with new situations It is used in training courses language learning and psychotherapy (1996, p 123)

In this case, Gillian Porter Ladousse (1995, p 5) illustrated that when students assume a “role”, they play a part (either their own or somebody else's) in specific situation “Play” means that is taken on in a safe environment in which students are

as an inventive and playful as possible

What is meant by imaginary people is that students can become anyone they like for a short time The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star , the choice

is endless Students can also take on the opinions of someone else “For and against” debates can be used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favour and those who are against the theme

Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated and practiced through role play in imaginary situations “At the restaurant”, “Checking

in at the airport”, “Looking for lost property” are all possible role-plays

From those explanation above, the writer views that role play is a technique which involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a real in scenario It aims at the students to encourage thinking and creativity, lets students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively non-threatening setting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur.There are some significances of role play in teaching speaking It has been mentioned before that role play is one of the activities to promote speaking Through role play activities the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to others by using words or sounds of articulation

Larsen Freeman (1986) explained that role plays are important in the

communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social roles.

A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and imagination According to Ladousse (1995), role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and increases motivation Here peer learning is encouraged and sharing of responsibility between teacher and the learner in the learning process takes place

Role play can improve learners' speaking skills in any situation, and helps learners to interact As for the shy learners, role play helps by providing a mask, where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated In addition, it is fun and most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning

Several reasons for using role play in teaching speaking quoted from Ladousse (1995) as follows:

a A very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our students in speaking skill in any situations through role play

b Role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships, but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses

c Some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives

It is helpful for these students to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the friendly and safe environment of a classroom

d Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask

e Perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that it is fun

In conclusion, role play is a technique which can develop students' fluency in target language, stimulate students to speak or interact with others in the classroom, increase motivation and make the teaching-learning process more enjoyable Therefore, role play is a stimulating activity

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY

This study was carried out at Le Viet Thuat high school in Nghe An province

In this chapter, the context and the participants of the study, the English textbook for grade 10, the instruments to collect data and the research questions will be described

3.1 Research context

3.1.1 An overview of the research site

Le Viet Thuat high school is in Vinh city, Nghe An province The school has good classrooms for students, a big library with many books and a language lab with quite good equipment

This school has 41 classes (each has about 40 students) and 11 teachers of English aged from 30 to 52 with at least 10 years of teaching experience Of these teaching staff members, three graduated from University of Language and International Studies; the others followed continuing education or took part in short term English courses Most of the lessons are usually conducted in Vietnamese because the students cannot understand everything in English and the teachers have

to teach in their mother tongue

There are 13 classes for grade 10 students (with the total number of 520 students) Most students come from the city and nearby the city All of them experienced at least 4 years of learning English at lower-secondary school However, their English command is not good in terms of grammar, vocabulary and the four skills

3.1.2 Description of the students at Le Viet Thuat High school

The majority of students are aged from fifteen to nineteen from the city and some of them are ethnic minority Some students live very far from school All of them have learned English at secondary school for four years Some of them have also learned English since Primary school Comparing with the students in the past,

now they are more aware of the importance of learning English, more intelligent, more active and more motivated in learning English However, their speaking skill

is not quite good Only a few students wish to take university entrance exams in English, which means few students have real interest in learning English In other words, not much attention is paid to English by the majority of the students The learning of speaking is far worse As the students grow older, they become more reluctant to speak the target language To answer the teacher's questions, the students usually use Vietnamese when they do not know the words in English or when they wish to ask questions but cannot express themselves with confidence in English It means they do not try to use English as much as possible

3.1.3 Description of the teachers at Le Viet Thuat High School

If students are the most important factor in the learning process, teachers are the most important in the teaching process There are 11 teachers of English language aged from 30 to 52 Most of them have been trained at Vinh university They are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching However, they have to face with many difficulties

3.1.4 The textbook

3.1.4.1 The overall design of the textbook

Like the textbook written for the other grades, the English textbook for grade

10 is written basing on themes, such as School Talks, People's background, Special Education, Technology, Excursion, etc Each lesson includes 5 parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, Language Focus (with two smaller parts: Pronunciation and Grammar), each of which is introduced within 1 period The content of each part closely relates to the topic of the lesson

The Reading part is chosen to begin each lesson with a view to develop skimming and scanning skills The students have to read a text of from 190 to 230 words on average which provides them with new words and knowledge related to the topic There are three steps: Before you read introduces the topic and the vocabulary of the reading part to students; While you read aims at developing

reading skill and usually includes 3 or 4 tasks which help students to understand the reading content and widen their vocabulary; After you read consolidates students' reading skill through various activities such as summarizing the text or discussing the topic.

In Speaking part, students have to work in group, work in pair and work individually to improve their communicative skill This part has three or four tasks: task 1 and 2 usually provides some language input or specific communicative structures such as expressing preferences, talking about the use of the computer, etc The other tasks then ask students to make a conversation or a speech from the previous ones and to practice speaking in front of the whole class within some minutes

The listening part focuses on developing such listening skills as intensive listening, extensive listening, listening for specific information, listening for gist, etc The listening part follows three steps: Before you listen, while you listen, after you listen

The writing part usually begins with a given piece of writing such as a letter, a narrative or a description of people, statistics, etc Students are asked to complete some tasks related to the available writing so that they can understand the structures and vocabulary used in the writing Then students practice writing with such suggestions as vocabulary or questions

The final part - language focus- has two smaller parts: The pronunciation part helps students with English vowels, diphthongs and consonants; the Grammar and vocabulary part helps students to practice with grammar exercises

Together with the textbooks are the workbooks for students to practice at home and the CDs which record the content of the reading and listening parts

3.1.4.2 The general features of the textbook

The English textbook for grade 10 is designed with a view to:

• “developing students” communicative skills at basic level: listening, speaking, reading, writing

• Providing students with appropriate, systematic and basic knowledge of English.

• Giving general knowledge about the people, cultures and geography of English speaking countries and help students from positive attitudes towards the language that they are learning

The English textbook for grade 10 follows the two approaches dominating the foreign language education and methodology all over the world- the learner- centered approach and the communicative approach The teaching method chosen for this book is task-based teaching The reason for this choice is that these two approaches consider students the center of education and aim at developing their creativity In traditional teaching approaches, teachers are the center of the teaching and learning process- the teachers speak and the students just listen In the learner- centered approach, the teacher is not only the provider of knowledge but also the organizer, advisor and facilitator; the students not only listen passively to the teacher but also actively take part in the learning activities through pair work and group work The traditional approaches consider such linguistics competence as pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar structures their final aims while the communicative competence with listening, speaking, reading and writing skills is the biggest concern of communicative approach; the linguistic competence is just the means for students to obtain their communicative competence

3.1.4.3 Description of the speaking section

As mentioned above, speaking is the second part in each lesson and it has from

3 to 4 tasks In lesson 1 and lesson 2, the speaking tasks are suitable for the students because the topics are familiar (A day in the life of , Music, Films and Cinema, School talks, etc.) and the grammar as well as structures used for speaking (greetings, asking and answering) are simple and easy for them to remember In most

of the other lessons, students have to remember many things: A large number of new words, complicated grammar rules (simple past, past perfect, gerunds and to- infinitive, passive and active voice, present perfect, relative pronoun, etc) and unfamiliar topics

(Undersea Animals, Conservation, Technology and You, Historical Places, etc) The specific description of the speaking sections in the textbook comes as follows:

Unit Topic Speaking

1 A Day In The

Life Of… 3 tasks

- Asking for and giving information from a timetable

- Talking about daily activities

2 School Talks 4 tasks - Making questions and giving responses in small

- Making an interview: matching

- Making an interview and reporting on results

5 Technology

- Asking for and giving information about the uses of modern inventions

- Talking about the uses of modern technology

6 An Excursion 3 tasks - Expressing agreements and disagreements

- Giving opinions

- Asking and answering about the uses of media

- Talking about different types of media

- Reporting on discussion results

10 Conservation 4 tasks - Talking about the new kinds of zoos

- Reporting on discussion results

- Making plans

- Expressing regrets

- Talking about an excursion

12 Music 3 tasks - Asking and answering questions about music