Using role play in teaching english pseaking skill to 11th graders

Then the study analysed theresult of surveys, the result of interviews and the questionares and the study alsoproved helpulness of using role play activities in teaching English speaking

2.1.3 Teacher’s and learner’s roles in CLT 11

2.2.5 Principles for teaching speaking skill 20

2.2.7 Stages for teaching speaking skill 23

2.2.9 Some suggestions for teachers in teaching speaking skill 28

2.3 Role play 29

2.3.3 Types and procedures in using role play activity 342.3.4 How to use role play activities in the classroom 362.3.5 Significance of role play in teaching speaking 38

4.2.6 Students’ attitude towards role play activity 504.2.7 Students’ feedbacks to the implementation of CAs 514.2.8 Benefits of learning English speaking skill lessons use

4.2.9 Teachers’ opinion about speaking skills 534.2.10 Teachers’ perception about the use of CAs in teaching

2.3 Teachers’ evaluation on the lesson 88

Appendix 2a: Questionnaire for students (English version) 95Appendix 2b: Questionnaire for students ( Vietnamese version) 99Appendix 3: Questions for teachers interview 103

Appendix 5a: Students’ feedback to pilot teaching ( English version) 105Appendix 5b: Students’ Feedback to Pilot Teaching (Vietnamese version) 106Appendix 6: Teachers’ Feedback to Pilot Teaching 107

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CAs : Communicative Activities

CLT : Communicative Language TeachingRPs : Role Play Activities

C1 : Class 1

C2 : Class 2

Q1 : Questionnaire Number One

Q2 : Questionnaire Number Two

For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance andsupport from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,

Mr Tran Ba Tien, for his enormously helpful advice and kind guidance throughoutthis study

I am also grateful to all lecturers and the staff of the Department ofPostgraduate studies, Foreign Languages Department, Vinh university for theiruseful lectures and guidance during my study at the institution

My sincere thanks are due to all the colleagues and the students of the 11thform at Nam Dan 1 High School for their cooperation in giving me valuableinformation

Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my debt to my family fortheir encouragement, enthusiasm and whole-hearted support

It is undeniable that English has become more and more important in anysociety Being aware of the importance of English as well as the necessity ofdeveloping the learners’ communicative competence, the new textbook has beenapplied with some considerable changes in the context and methodology in the 11thform This book aims at improving students’ communicative skills concerningspeaking lessons through using role play activities In order to investigate typicaldifficulties in teaching speaking skill for the 11th form students after such a insyllabus, this study was carried out

Before presenting the study, the study carried out the surveys, interviewsboth teachers and students at NamDan 1 high school Then the study analysed theresult of surveys, the result of interviews and the questionares and the study alsoproved helpulness of using role play activities in teaching English speaking skill tothe 11th graders at NamDan 1 high school

This study believes that the role play is very important in teaching Englishspeaking skill because it gives students an opporunity to practice communicatingdifferent contexts and diffirent roles It also allows students to be creative and putthem in order person’s place for a while

The study shows that the use of role play speaking activities more enjoyableand interesting Role play activities help shy students by providing a mast Inaddition, using role play in teaching English speaking skill makes the world ofclassroom is broaden to include the outside world and students more motivated inlearning easier to understand the lessons

In the course of fulfilling this study, the research the data from obtained twokinds of data: the questionares for teachers and students; the result of the researchperiod before and after using role play in English speaking lessons

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 RATIONALE

Nowadays, English is an international language and has been widely used inmany countries in the world Almost people from many different countries aroundthe world use it to communicate The area of English has always become a specialinterest It’s because of the importance of English in any scope of our lives

In Vietnam, English is also considered the most important foreign languageand taught as a compusolry subject in most schools throughout the country It hasalso become an important need of the Vietnamese as a means of communication.There have been many changes in English teaching in order to meet the need One

of the changes is related to new English language teaching syllabus and newtextbooks, which have been used at high schools since 2006 The new textbookchanges from grammar and vocabulary to skills- listening, speaking, reading,writing

In the international relationship, English speaking ability is very important to

be able to participate in the wider world of work The speaking skill is measured interms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language This reality makesteachers and parents think that speaking ability should be mastered by students andchildren

Based on the reasons above, in recent years, English language teaching hasfocused on teaching the English language rather than teach about the Englishlanguage The emphasis is not only on linguistic of the language learners but also

on the development of learners’ communicative ability

In learning speaking skill, most students often meet some problems The firstreason their native language causes them difficult to use the foreign language Thesecond reason is because of motivation lack to practise it in communication Somestudents are afraid to join in the conversation

Role play is very important in teaching speaking skill because it givesstudents an opporunity to practice communicating different contexts and differentroles It also allows students to be creative and put them in other person’s place for

a while This helps students to develop their communicative English

1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

I believe that the analysis of role-play can benefit English teachers, Ministry

of Education and Training, scholars, and students in many aspects For Englishteachers, I hope that the English teachers in Vietnam could adopt role-play asone of the teaching methods The finding of this study provides an insight intorole -play and helps students improve their speaking skill Teachers may alsoimprove students’ perception of learning speaking

One of the goals in learning a second language is to have good speakingability Role play activities can help learners improve it Miller (1990) claims

“communication instructors should be wary of the general ability of the role plaactivities in the classroom” (Miller, 1990, p.21)

Role-play not only serves as a useful source for students to practicespeaking daily English conversation, but also helps them improve their style ofspeaking skill

For students, I expects students to be aware that they should improve the fourskills equally when learning English No matter which skill in English is moreemphasized in the Basic Competence Test (BCT)- the main examination forjunior high school students to enter senior high schools, students should learn andstudy these four skills at the same time In addition, students should not onlyfocus on the BCT, but they should also know that learning a second language willhelp them become more competitive

For all these reasons, it is necessary to use role play in teaching speaking skillfor the students of the eleventh grade at Nam Dan 1 high school I also want to knowthe advantages and the problems encountered by teachers and learners in using period

role play in speaking lesson I hope that the study will help the learners to improve

their English communication ability

1.3 AIMS OF THE RESEARCH

The aims of study is to know whether the result of teaching speaking forstudents in the eleventh grade at Nam Dan 1 high school by using role play better

or not through comparing the students’ scores before and after using role playtechnique

How to teach students communicatively speaking skill with using Role Playseems to be a challenge to English teachers not only in my school but also at theother High schools Therefore this paper is written to investigate the reality ofteaching speaking skill at some upper secondary schools in Nghe An Also, thisstudy intended to explore the application of Communicative Activities (CAs) todevelop the quality of teaching and learning English as well as to improve thelanguage interaction of students in speaking lessons Finally, it seeks to find out, towhat extent, these CAs have influence on students’ study achievements

Hopefully, through the study, can provide some suggestions to apply CAseffectively which would be beneficial for teachers in using role play in teachingspeaking skill at High schools

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) using role play has nowimproved speaking skill in teaching and learning English In order to help students

to communicate effectively in speaking class, teachers can conduct various RolePlay Activities (RPAs) Many researchers as well as teachers have drawn theirattention to the role of RPAs in teaching English speaking skills However, due tothe limitation of time and knowledge, the researcher does not have the ambition tocover all the aspects related to CLT in teaching and learning speaking such as thedifficulties when adapting CLT to speaking classes at High schools, teachingmaterial design and adaptation The study is restricted to investigating the RPAs

used to motivate the 11th graders in speaking lessons at Nam Dan1 High school,Nam Dan, Nghe An

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

Beside the abstract, bibliography and appendices, the study is divided intothree chapters as follows :

Chapter 1, The Introduction presents the rationales for the research,

Significance of the study, Aims of the research, Research questions, Population andSampling, Data collection, scope of the study, orgnization of the study

Chapter 2, “Literature Review”, a brief summary of previous studies related

to the research is offered as a basis for the study The main theoretical background

of this paper is based on the opinions of researchers like Hayriye Kayi (2006),Harmer (1984), Paul Procter ( 1996) , dealing with the nature of teaching speaking

in foreign language such as the definitions of speaking, Activities to promotespeaking, Some suggestions for teachers in Teaching Speaking Skill Lessons,

Principles of teaching speaking Definition of Role play, Types and Procedures in

using role play and the roles of teachers and students in English speaking skilllessons, interactions in language classrooms are clarified Furthermore, factorsinfluencing students’ success in foreign language learning through using Role Playsuch as motivations, attitudes are also discussed in this research

Chapter 3, “Research Methodology”, addresses the subjects, and presents the

methods and procedures used to implement the study

Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussion”, describes the reality of using Role

play in teaching English speaking skill at NamDan1 High school in Nam Dan, Nghe

An, difficulties the students and teachers encounter in speaking lessons, thediscussion of research questions and the solutions to the teaching speaking atNamDan1High school and the other High schools in Nghe An The data collectedfrom the survey are quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed

Chapter 5, “Conclusion and Suggestion” conveys an overall conclusion It

also suggests some solutions of using RPAs effectively to the teachers and studentsfor overcoming the existing difficulties and improving the quality of teaching andlearning English speaking skill at upper secondary schools The last part is theConclusion of the study, which summarises the study, states the limitations of the studyand recommendation for further research are also mentioned in this chapter

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In chapter 2, the first, the writer will provide a brief summary of previousstudies related to the research as a basis for the study

The second, the main theoretical background of this study is based on theopinions of researchers like Hayriye Kayi (2006), Harmer (1984), Paul Procter(1996), dealing with the nature of teaching speaking in foreign language such as thedefinitions of speaking, activities to promote speaking, Some suggestions forteachers in Teaching Speaking Skill Lessons, Principles of teaching speakingDefinition of Role play, Types and Procedures in using role play and the roles ofteachers and students in English speaking skill lessons, interactions in languageclassrooms are clarified Furthermore, factors influencing students’ success inforeign language learning through using Role Play such as motivations, attitudesare also discussed in this research

2.1 COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT)

2.1.1 Definitions of CLT

Richards defines that CLT can be understood as a set of principles about thegoal of language teaching, how learners learn a language, the kind of classroomactivities that best facilitate learning, and the role of teachers and learners in theclassroom

The term CLT, in fact, covers a variety of approaches that all focus onhelping learners to communicate meaningfully in a target language rather than asingle methodology These approaches parade under the general label

“communicative”, all of which characterize language teaching as the development

of communicative skills (Nunan, 1991: 78) CLT sets its goal to teach the learnersthe communicative competence and this approach does a lot to expand on the goal

of creating communicative competence compared to earlier method that focused on

the same objective Teaching students how to use the language can be seen asimportant as learning the language itself

According to Brown “We are exploring pedagogical means for ‘real life’ communication in the classroom” and “We are concerned with how to facilitate lifelong language learning among our students, not just with the immediate classroom task” ( 1994: 77)

There are many interpretations of what CLT actually means and involves

However there are still some misconceptions about CLT “Many teachers of English believe that CLT means not teaching grammar, or CLT means teaching only speaking not writing, listening and reading” (Thompson, 1996) As a result,

this approach may be applied inappropriately

Although the various definitions of CLT have been offered, all of these alsoclaim that the goal of teaching language is to develop learners’ communicativecompetence which involves the ability to use the language appropriately to a socialcontext These components can be seen as linguistic competence, sociolinguisticcompetence, discourse competence, and strategic competence In order to helpreaders see what CLT means deeply and completely, some characteristics of CLTwould be addressed in the next section

- Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlyingcommunicative techniques At times fluency may have to take on more importancethan accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use.

- In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language,productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts

Sharing the same view, Nunan (1991: 279) also proposed five commoncharacteristics of CLT classrooms:

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the targetlanguage

- 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 importantcontributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning to language activation outside theclassroom

2.1.3 Teacher’s and Learner’s Roles in CLT

a Teacher’s Roles

CLT focuses on the importance of providing learners with activities whichgive them the opportunity to use target language for their communicative purpose The type of classroom activities in CLT, therefore, requires teachers' new roles inthe classroom Rather than being a model for correct speech, teachers haveresponsibility to facilitate the communication among learners, they establish theCAs in order to supply their students the chance to share their ideas and opinions on

a regular basis In another word, this involves students in realistic communication

According to Harmer (2001: 56-57), teachers performs multi-roles which

vary for different activities such as controller, organizer, prompter, counselor, informants, assessor, participant, observer, tutor, performer, and as a resource.

Additionally, some other authors view teacher’s role as facilitator (Nunan,1991), need analyst (Richards and Rogers, 1994), instructor, co-communicator(Littlewood, 1991), researcher (Breen and Candlin, 1980), manager (Freeman,1986).

Obviously, teachers play many new roles in CLT However, it depends onthe teaching context in which some roles are more prominent than others

a Learner’s Roles

A great deal of use of authentic language is implied in CLT CLT employslearner-centered approach in which students are communicators It is supposed thatlearners now participate in classroom activities that base on a cooperative ratherthan individualistic approach to learning They should feel comfortable withlistening to their peer in pair work or group work tasks

Furthermore, Breen and Cardlin (1980: 110) describe learner’s role in CLT

as “negotiator – between the self and learning process and the object of learning – emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes”.

In order to achieve the aim of communication successfully, learners aresupposed to work as communicators and negotiators They are also claimed to take

on more responsible for their own learning

2.2 THE NATURE OF SPEAKING

The theoretical background of the study will be fully developed later in thethesis It discusses about speaking, definitionof speaking, teaching speaking andguiding teachers in teaching speaking In addition, It also discusses about role play,definition of role play, types and procedures in using role play and significance ofrole paly in teaching speaking skill

2.2.1 Definition of speaking:

According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary, speaking is “ to express orcommunicate opinions, feeling, ideas, etc, by or as talking and it involves theactivities in the part of the speaker as psychological, physiological (articulator) andphysical (acoustic) stages.”

Theodore Huebner said that “Language is essentially speech, and speech isbasically communiction by sounds” According to him, speaking is a skill used bysomeone in daily life communication whether at school or outside The skill isacquired by much repetition It is primarily a neuromuscular and not an intellectualprocess It consists of competence in sending and receiving messages

From the definitions above, it can be said that speaking is expressingopinions, ideas or feeling to others by using sounds or words of articulation in order

to inform, to persuade and to entertain that can be studied by using teaching andlearning methodologies

1 What is Teaching Speaking?

Teaching Speaking is to teach English language learners to:

- How to use words and sentences stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm

of the second language

- Produre the English speech sounds and sounds patterns

- Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper socialsetting, situation, audience and subject matter

- Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence

- Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.

- Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses which

is called fluency ( Hayriye Kayi, Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking in a Second Language, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol.XII, No.11,

November 2006)

.2 How is Teaching Speaking?

The first thing to keep in mind is that when we are helping our languagestudents learn to speak English, we are not actually teaching them to speak Unlessthey are infants, they already know how to do that What we are really helpingthem with falls into three categories:

- improving fluency (speaking smoothly)

- improving pronunciation (saying words properly)

- improving enunciation (Saying words/phrases clearly - I think this includesword and sentence intonation)

Speaking is about using our mouth and vocal cords to make sounds thatpeople understand as language It certainly involves other elements like grammarand vocabulary, but they aren't the core of it

a Improving Fluency

Fluency comes from practice - plain and simple However it needs to bepractice that involves extended use of the language and use of extended sentences You can not build fluency by repeating single words or short phrases Fluency at itsheart relates to being able to speak for longer periods of time in a smooth way Broadly speaking, here are a few things that can help build fluency:

speeches or presentations

group discussions

role plays

negotiations and debates

interviews and meetings

chatting in small groups

b Improving Pronunciation

Pronunciation is the ability to say words properly with the correct sounds inthe correct places This is a skill that can take a very long time to develop, but withconsistent work and practice, it can be done There are two keys to properpronunciation 1) native speaker input and 2) speaking by the learner with nativespeakers However, practice and lessons that target specific trouble areas can make

a huge difference in a student's ability to deal with issues in pronunciation

working on specific vowels

working on trouble consonants (e.g th for French speakers)

working on understanding movement and location of mouth and tonguewhen making sounds

c Improving Enunciation

Enunciation is speaking clearly - perhaps better understood by its oppositewhich is mumbling or slurring words Enunciation is a very important aspect ofspeaking in that poor enunciation can make someone almost impossible tounderstand Again improvements in enunciation come from exposure to nativespeakers, and plenty of natural practice Of course focused work targeting problemareas can help a great deal as well Things that can be done to help withenunciation include:

focused work on trouble word combinations

working on reductions (want to –> wanna)

working on sentence level stress points

working on word level stress points (e.g differences between noun/verbforms of same word record/record)

working on sentence level intonation patterns

There are literally hundreds of different activities that can used in differentsituations There isn't one right way, or even one right sequence Just be sure to

give students plenty of time for talking freely, supplement this with targetedexercises and practice, and actively encourage students to listen to and speak with

as many native speakers as they possibly can on a regular basis

Language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas ofknowledge:

Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words

in the right order with the correct pronunciation

Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message isessential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is notrequired (interaction/relationship building)

Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length ofpauses between speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to takeinto account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and forwhat reason

In the communicative model of language teaching, instructors help theirstudents develop this body of knowledge by providing authentic practice thatprepares students for real-life communication situations They help their studentsdevelop the ability to produce grammatically correct, logically connected sentencesthat are appropriate to specific contexts, and to do so using acceptable (that is,comprehensible) pronunciation

2.2.3 Types and Elements of Speaking

a Types of Speaking

The oral communication helps people convey their ideas Brown (2001)states that oral communication skills have two types namely monologues anddialogues

According to Brown and Yule (1983), the monologue involves the ability toperform an interrupted oral presentation such as speeches of a politician; a reporterreads news on the radio or TV This type corresponds with one-direction of

transferring the information from the speaker to the listeners It is used as a writtenform which suggests no reaction and response from the listeners.

The dialogue involves two or more speakers for transactional and ininteractive purpose Turn taking happens in order to change the roles of speakersand listeners in this type Participants exchange ideas directly and quickly Usingdialogue to teaching speaking skill for students seems to be a good choice for

educators and teachers as Byrne (1986) says: “Dialogues seem to be best suited to the teaching of the spoken language.” This technique will be discussed more in next

chapters

b Elements of Speaking

According to Harmer (2001), in spoken language some elements should be

included: the first one is being connected speech This means that a good speaker

should have ability to sound words correctly and connect the sounds to words to

each other The second element is an expressive device We can use pitch change, intonation, and stress to convey different meanings The third is Lexis and grammar This reflects the speaker’s ability of using phrases in appropriate way depending on the language function The last is negotiation language It means that

the speaker can make clarification and display good talking structure by creatingeffective speaking

Brown (2001) also indicates that rhythm and intonation, fluency, and accuracy are three aspects of speaking The speaker’s ability to articulate the words

clearly shows his or her fluency while accuracy reflects the speaker’s ability inusing the word naturally

Along with Brown, Burkart (1998) mentions three knowledge areas of

speaking: mechanics, function, social and cultural rules and norms He claims that

language learners need to recognize these three aspects in speaking

- Mechanics involves pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary which show the

ability of using of right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation

- Functions involve transaction and interaction which shows the ability of knowing

when clarity of message is essential (transaction/ information exchange) and whenprecise understanding is not required (interaction/ relationship building)

- Social and cultural rules and norms involves turn-taking, rate of speech, length of

pauses between speakers and relative roles of participants which shows the ability

of understanding how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in whatcircumstances, about what, and for what reason

Finally, Burkat (1998) states that in the communicative model of teachingspeaking, teachers need help their students raise their awareness of this knowledge

by providing authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communicationsituations and help their students develop the ability to produce grammaticallycorrect, logically connected sentences that are appropriate to specific contexts, and

to do so using acceptable pronunciation

b Talk as Interaction

According to Richards (2006), Talk as interaction refers to what we normally

mean “conversation” and describes interaction that servers a primarily socialfunction In our daily life, people meet each other then exchange greetings,engaging small talks or sharing their experience and so on in order to maintain thesocial relationship with other people Depending on the circumstances, theseexchanges can be casual or more formal Brown and Yule (1983) describe the main

features of talk as interaction as follows:

 Reflecting role relationship

 Reflecting speaker’s identity

 Having formal or casual

 Using conversational convention

 Reflecting degree of politeness

 Employing many generic words

 Using conversational register

 Being jointly constructed

Talking as interaction is a priority for students at upper secondary school.

The material for them to practice, therefore, is designed as conversations Someskills are required when students talk as interaction:

- Opening and closing the conversation

- Choosing topics

- Making small talk

- Recounting personal incidents and experiences

Burns (1998) offers two different types of talk as transaction One is the

situations where giving and receiving the information is the most important and theparticipants focus on what is said or achieved Information successfulcommunicated or understood is more important than accuracy The second type is

transactions which focus on obtaining goods or services such as booking for a room

in a hotel

The main features of talk as transaction are well described again by Richards

(2006):

 It has a primarily information focus

 The main focus is the information and not the participants

 Participants employ communication strategies to make themunderstood

 There may be frequent questions, repetitions, and comprehensionchecks

 There may be negotiation and digression

 Linguistic accuracy is not always important

Speakers also need some of the skills for this type of talk as follows:

- Explaining a need or intention

monologues rather than dialogues It often follows a recognizable format such as a

speech of thank you and is closer to the form of written language thanconversational language Talk of performance focuses on its effectiveness and theimpact on the listeners.

The main features of Talk as performance are:

 There is a main focus on both message and audience

 It reflects organization and sequencing

 Form and accuracy is important

 Language is more like written language

 It is often monologic

Some of the skills involved in talking as performance are:

- Using an appropriate format

- Presenting information in an appropriate sequence

- Maintaining audience engagement

- Using correct pronunciation and grammar

- Creating an effect on the audience

- Using appropriate vocabulary

- Using appropriate opening and closing

Understanding of the functions of speaking helps teacher design speakingactivities appropriately Talk as interaction seems to be the most difficult to masterfor students and to teach for teachers However, students at upper secondary schoolare required to achieve the skill of this type This demands teachers in identifyingstrategies to provide opportunities for learners to acquire skills

2.2.5 Principles for Teaching Speaking Skill

The goal of teaching speaking skills is communicative efficiency However,teacher should have a consideration to the students’ level to apply or combineappropriate activities in teaching According to Forseth et al (1995: 35-38), someprinciples should be taken in teaching speaking skill as follows

a For the beginning level

- Limit the objectives to avoid overwhelming the learners Provide the students withenough structured practice so they can begin interacting at a basic level This willreduce students’ fear and encourage more speaking More free production can comeafter structured practice.

- Mix the speaking activities with comprehension work; have students listen to theteacher or each other before they speak Comprehension work fosters an interactionbetween speaking and listening

- Provide activities which involve dialogues and functional use of the language.Focus on language use rather than knowledge about language Functions involve afocus on meaning

- Do not emphasize the significance of mistakes This encourages students to speakwithout fear of correction This increases focus on meaning and communicationrather than grammatical correctness Corrections should especially focus onproblems affecting clear communication or language already taught to the students

- State the purpose / goal of the activities to the students This provides a context orfocuses to help comprehension and allows the learners to concentrate on the taskand understand why they are doing it

b For the intermediate and advanced levels

- Focus on and work toward real, spontaneous speech Avoid form based drills( repetitive or grammar-based exercises)

- Design activities which encourage natural interaction between speakers

- Place students in pairs, triads or small groups Smaller groups and pairs arestudents-centered This increases the quantity of speech spoken by the students andlowers their anxiety

- Provide topics of interest to the students Interesting topics increase students’motivation This fosters a focus on meaning

At the advanced level, especially in free production, allow only speech in thetarget language

For students at upper secondary school, they are normally at intermediate level.Therefore, teachers should create appropriate activities which involve students inspeaking naturally.

Brown (1994) also offers 7 principles for teaching speaking skill

• Principle 1: Focus on both fluency and accuracy depending on your objective.

This principle suggests that teachers should be sure about their tasks whichhave linguistic objective and always create opportunities to help students perceiveand use the building blocks of language

• Principle 2: Providing intrinsically motivating techniques.

According to Brown, teachers have to appeal to students’ ultimate goals andinterests to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence andautonomy and help them to see how the activity will benefit them

• Principle 3: Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts.

Authentic contexts and meaningful interaction may require teachers a lotenergy and creativity However, with the help of a storehouse of teacher resourcematerials it can be done

• Principle 4: Provide appropriate feedback and correction.

Teachers have responsibility to make the decision about how to react andwhen to react to the students’ performance and inject kinds of corrective feedbackthat are appropriate for the moment

• Principle 5: Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening.

Speaking and Listening are skills which reinforce each other In other words,they are closely intertwined Skills in producing language are often initiated throughcomprehension

• Principle 6: Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication.

Students are given opportunities to show oral communicative competence whichreflects their ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics, to ask questions, tocontrol the conversations, and to change the subject

• Principle 7: Encourage the development of speaking strategy.

This strategy is shown through students’ communicative competence such asasking for clarification, asking someone to repeat something

2.2.6 Steps of Teaching Speaking Skills

Many researchers such as Florez (1999), Brown (1994), Burns & Joyce (1997),Carter & Mc Carthy (1995) have the same view on the set of procedures forteaching speaking skills A speaking lesson will follow the common paradigm ofpreparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension

a Step one: Preparation

The teacher establishes a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, andwith whom it will occur) and set the objective of the speaking skill to be targeted( asking for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words)

b Step two: Presentation

The teacher provides learners with a preproduction model that furthers themcomprehension and helps them become more attention observers of language use

c Step three: Practice

The teacher involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure in acontrolled or highly supported manner

d Step four: Evaluation

The teacher involves directing attention to the skill being examined and askinglearners to monitor and assess their own progress

e Final step: Extension

The teacher gives activities that require learners to use the strategy or skill in adifferent context or authentic communicative situation At this stage the learnermust integrate the use of new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones

2.2.7 Stages for Teaching Speaking Skills

In “Methodology course 1-Teaching the skills” (Hanoi 2002: 42-43) it issuggested that a speaking lesson should have three stages: pre-speaking, while-speaking, and post-speaking

a The Pre-speaking Stage

This stage can be seen as the preparation for the students With some activities such

as brainstorming, discussion tasks, vocabulary tasks or pre-speaking questions,students will find it familiar to the topics they are going to speak Moreover, this isthe step which teachers motivate students and raise the interest in the lesson Inaddition, before delivering the activities for this stage, the teacher needs to identifythe objective of the lesson, the situation of teaching and learning, and the students’need as well

b The While-speaking Stage:

This stage is often called controlled speaking Teachers can design the activitiesbasing on the tasks in the textbook or adapt some more activities to increase thecommunicative factor at this stage Students are supposed to do the tasks in pair orgroup work This stage aims to develop students’ speaking skill by doing thecontrolled tasks and activities themselves The tasks and activities also supplyopportunity for students to practice the accuracy and fluency Teacher needs tomonitor the activities and provide help for the weak students who have difficultycompleting the task at this stage

c The Post-speaking Stage:

This is the freer speaking stage Students are required to use the target languagewhich they have learnt and practiced, and their language knowledge to producetheir speaking communicatively What they produce reflects the result of theirpractice stage, their interests or views At this stage, the teacher plays the role asobserver, assessor who provides appropriate feedback to students

Basically, a speaking lesson should follow these stages orderly Nevertheless,the procedure of a speaking lesson may flexible due to each lesson, time constraint,

objectives of the lesson, types of students and materials in use However, teacherneeds to have an overview of the lesson to assess how far their students achieveafter the lesson.

2.2.8 Activities to promote speaking

When teaching the learners we have to keep in mind the fact that what wehave in front of us is a mixed class with varied abilities, expectations, motivationlevel , knowledge and last but not least, different learning styles Thus, we need tovary our approaches and offer as much opportunity as possible to make the wholeclass find a little something to hold on to, expand and develope

Nowadays many linguistics and English as second language (ESL) teachersagree on that students learn to speak in the second language by “ interacting”.Communacative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for thisaim Communicative language teaching is based on real life situations which requirecommunication By using this method in ESL classes, the students will have theopportunety of communicating with each other in the target language In bief, ESLteachers should create a class environment where students have real-lifecommunication, authentic activities and meaningful tasks that promote orallanguage

In fact, there are many activities to promote speaking As Hayriye Kayiinferred from many linguistics on her article on Teaching English as a secondlanguage Journal, there are thirteen activities to promote speaking They are:

2 Role- play

In role- play activities, Students pretend they are in various social contextsand have a variety of social role Thus, the teacher have to give information to thelaerners such as who they are and what they think or feel For example, the teachercan tell student that “ You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him whathappened last night, and ” ( Harmer, 1984)

3.Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-play but what makes simulationsdifferent than role-plays is that they are more elaborate In simulations, students canbring items to the class to create a realistic environment For example, if a student isacting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on

4 Information Gap

In the information gap activity, the students are required to work in pairs.One student will have the information that other students do not have The studentswill share their information each other Information gap activities serve many

purpose such as solving a problem or collecting information Each student plays animportant role because the task can not be completed if the students do not providethe information gram.

5 Brain Storming

With a given topic, students can give their ideas in the short time or limitedtime Depending on the context, either individual or group brain storming iseffective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The brain storming activitywill help students to open and share new ideas each other and also help them towide their knowledge

6 Interview

An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions

are asked by the interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee.Although interviews are a standard part of journalism and media reporting, thefocus of this is on how interviews can be used as a tool for psychological research

It is a good idea that teacher provides a public information to students so that theyknow what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but studentsshould prepare their own interview questions Then students can interview eachother

7 Storytelling

After reading or hearing from somebody a story or a tale, students cansummarize main points of that story or that tale They may create their own stories

to tell their partners This activity is also students to express their ideas in the format

of beginning, development, and ending Storytelling is the conveying of events in

words, images, and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment Stories ornarratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education,cultural preservation, and to instill moral values Crucial elements of stories andstorytelling include plot, characters, and narrative point of view

8 Story Completion

For this activity, the teacher starts to tell a story, but after telling somesentences the teacher stops narrating The next step, each student starts to narratefrom the point where the previous one stopped Each student can add from four tofive sentences And they can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on.

9 Reporting

Before doing this activity, the teacher has to ask students to read a newspaper

or magazine or a short news Then, they report in front of the class what they find asthe most interesting news Students can also talk about their experienced anything

in the daily life to their classmates

10 Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four Each suit will represent atopic For instance:

Diamonds: Earning money

Hearts: Love and relationships

Spades: An unforgettable memory

Clubs: Best teacher

Each student in a group will choose a card Then, each student will write 4-5questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group For example:

If the topic "Diamonds: Earning Money" is selected, here are some possiblequestions:

Is money important in your life? Why?

What is the easiest way of earning money?

What do you think about lottery? Etc

However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity thatstudents are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or nostudents get little practice in spoken language production Rather, students askopen-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences

11 Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures Students are asked to tellthe story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteriaprovided by the teacher as a rubric Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structuresthey need to use while narrating.

12 Picture Describing

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give studentsjust one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture For this activitystudents can form groups and each group is given a different picture Studentsdiscuss the picture with their groups, then a spokesperson for each group describesthe picture to the whole class This activity fosters the creativity and imagination ofthe learners as well as their public speaking skills

13 Find the Differences

For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given twodifferent pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture

of girls playing tennis Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences inthe pictures

Strategies for Developing Speaking Skills

Students often think that the ability to speak a language is the product oflanguage learning, but speaking is also a crucial part of the language learningprocess Effective instructors teach students speaking strategies using minimalresponses, recognizing scripts, and using language to talk about language that theycan use to help themselves expand their knowledge of the language and theirconfidence in using it These instructors help students learn to speak so that thestudents can use speaking to learn

1 Using minimal responses

Language learners who lack confidence in their ability to participatesuccessfully in oral interaction often listen in silence while others do the talking.One way to encourage such learners to begin to participate is to help them build up

a stock of minimal responses that they can use in different types of exchanges Suchresponses can be especially useful for beginners.

Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases that conversationparticipants use to indicate understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses towhat another speaker is saying Having a stock of such responses enables a learner

to focus on what the other participant is saying, without having to simultaneouslyplan a response

2 Recognizing scripts

Some communication situations are associated with a predictable set ofspoken exchanges a script Greetings, apologies, compliments, invitations, andother functions that are influenced by social and cultural norms often followpatterns or scripts So do the transactional exchanges involved in activities such asobtaining

2.2.9 Some suggestions for teachers in Teaching Speaking Skill Lessons.

Bellow are some suggestions for English language teachers while teaching orallanguage:

Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language by providing

a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materials and tasks,and shared knowledge

Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim, practicedifferent ways of student participation

Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speakingtime Step back and observe students

Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student's response

Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean? How did you reach thatconclusion?" in order to prompt students to speak more

Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was really great It was agood job I really appreciated your efforts in preparing the materials and efficientuse of your voice…"

Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very often while they arespeaking Correction should not distract student from his or her speech

Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contactparents and other people who can help

Circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track andsee whether they need your help while they work in groups or pairs

Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speaking activities.Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressingthemselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice thespoken language

2.3 ROLE PLAY

2.3.1 Definition of role play

According to Crookal and Oxford, there is a little consensus on the termsused in the role playing and simulation literature A few of the terms often used aregames, simulation, role play and role play game.¹

-¹ Crookal, D and Oxford, R.L., Linking Language Learning and Simulation/ Gaming In D Crookal and R.L Oxford (Eds), Simulation, Gaming, and Language Learning, ( New York: Newbury House, 1990), p.3

In this case, Gillian Porter Ladousse( 1987) illustrated that when studentsassume a “role”, they play a part ( either their own or somebody else’s) in specificsituation “Play” means that is taken on in a safe environment in which students are

as an inventive and playful as possible.²

Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role,

either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role.While the Oxford English Dictionary offers a definition of role-playing as "thechanging of one's behaviour to fulfill a social role", in the field of psychology, theterm is used more loosely in four senses:

To refer to the playing of roles generally such as in a theatre, or educationalsetting;

To refer to taking a role of an existing character or person and acting it outwith a partner taking someone else's role, often involving different genres ofpractice;

To refer to a wide range of games including role-playing video game,

To refer specifically to role-playing games

Role-play can be separated into “ role” and “ play” “ Role” refers to “play apart (either their own or somebody else’s) i a specific situation” (Gillian, 2002,p7)

“Play” represents “ the role is taken on in a safe environmnt in which students are asinventive and playful aspossible” (Gillian, 2002,p5) By using this method, studentscan like the experience of having conversations with people in reality and developtheir social ability with people

Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role,

either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role -

² Gillian Porter Ladusse, Role Play: Resources Books for Teacher Series,

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p.5

While the Oxford English Dictionary offers a definition of role-playing as

"the changing of one's behaviour to fulfill a social role", in the field of psychology,the term is used more loosely in four senses:

To refer to the playing of roles generally such as in a theatre, or educational setting;

To refer to taking a role of an existing character or person and acting it outwith a partner taking someone else's role, often involving different genres ofpractice;

To refer to a wide range of games including role-playing video game,

To refer specifically to role-playing games

In Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role is defined as theperson whom an actor represents in a play or a film, while role play is a method ofacting out particular ways of behaving or pretending to be other people who dealwith new situations It is used in training course language learning andpsychotherapy.³

As Donn Byrne gave comment that role play is a part of drama activity Hepointed that there are three terms to cover the drama activity They are mime(mimicry-memerization), role play and simulation He distinguished the terms asfollows:

- Mime, the participants perform actions without using words although as wewill see, This activity leads on to talk naturally

-³ Paul Procter(Ed.), Cambridge International Dictionary of English, ( New

York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p.123

- Role Play, the participants interact either as themselves in imaginarysituations.

- Simulation, this involves role play as defined above However, this activitythe participants normally discuss a problem of some kind with some setting that hasbeen defined for them.4

Both role play and simulation are commonly used in foreign languageclasses to facilitate communicative competence where as mime seems moreappropriate as

a language game It is performing actions without using words For instance, ifsomeone mimes and performs, the others try to guess what is it

The explanation said that Role play is a technique which involves fantasy orimagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while,improvising the dialogue and creating a real world in scenario It aims at students

to encourage thinking and creativity, help students to develop and practice newlanguage skills in a relatively non- threatening setting The students can developthe motivation involvement necessary for learning to occur

When teaching a dialogue, teachers and students often meet two problemswith most dialogues in textbooks follow:

Not authentic or natural The natural speech of native speakers is oftenphrases or sentence fragments full of pauses, false starts, and repetitions

The way most dialogues are taught Teachers ask students to memorizedialogues by heart

What can a teacher do to make a dialogue more communicative?

4 Donn Byrne, Teaching Oral English: LongmanHandbooks for English Teacher, ( Singapore: Longman Group, 1986), p.115

Example1 : Playing the roles in a dialogue

Step 1 Practise the dialogue in pairs

A: What time is it?

B: It’s 3:00 Why?

A: Oh, I need to go to the store! Do you want to come?

B: OK Just a minute I need to finish this first

Step 2 Ask a few pairs to perform the dialogue in front of the whole class,speaking in different moods such as happy, irritated, bored, or in different rolerelationships such as parent and a child, husband and wife, two friends, etc

Example 2: Using cue cards

Card A

You are talking to a new classmate Begin the conversation with a greeting

1 Greet your partner

2 Ask your partner which school he/she went to before

3 Ask your partner if he/she lives near the school

4 Suggest you go shopping together after school

Card B

You are a new student at this school One of your classmates greets you

1 Greet your partner back

2 Answer the question

3 Answer the question

4 Respond to the suggestion

Then students should be ready to move quickly into less controlled types ofrole plays, where only the situation and the relationship between the two speakersare specified: