The application of “scaffolding method” into promoting english learners autonomy at an international school in hanoi – an action research project

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI THAO PHUONG THE APPLICATION OF “SCAFFOLDING METHOD” IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THAO PHUONG

THE APPLICATION OF “SCAFFOLDING METHOD” INTO PROMOTING ENGLISH LEARNERS' AUTONOMY

AT AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN HANOI –

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

(Áp dụng “Phương pháp giàn giáo” vào việc nâng cao tính tự chủ trong việc học Tiếng Anh cho học sinh tại một trường quốc tế tại Hà Nội – Nghiên cứu hành động)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

HANOI 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THAO PHUONG

THE APPLICATION OF “SCAFFOLDING METHOD” INTO PROMOTING ENGLISH LEARNERS' AUTONOMY

AT AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN HANOI –

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

(Áp dụng “Phương pháp giàn giáo” vào việc nâng cao tính tự chủ trong việc học Tiếng Anh cho học sinh tại một trường quốc tế tại Hà Nội – Nghiên cứu hành động)

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: Language Teaching Methodology

(Lý luận và phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng anh) Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Dr Pham Lan Anh

HANOI 2019

DECLARATION

I certify that the thesis entitled ―The application of ‗Scaffolding method‘ into promoting English learners' autonomy at an International School in Hanoi –An action research project‖ is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Pham Lan Anh for her critical feedback and valuable guidance throughout the process of this research

I would also like to thank lecturers and staff of the Postgraduate Department of University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University for their interesting lectures, precious support, guidance, and constant encouragement

My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues of English Group, in Global International School, who as my good friends, were always willing to help and give

me their best suggestions

A special thank -would also go to all the students in Global School who took part in the research Without their participation and cooperation I would not be able to complete this research paper

Last but not least, my deep appreciation and gratitude to my beloved family, especially my parents and my husband for their encouragement, inspiration and unconditional love, which enormously helped me towards the completion of my research

ABSTRACT

Learner autonomy, a recurrent topic in language teaching over the last three decades, has been advocated from a pedagogical point of view and from the perspective of philosophy Learner autonomy is one of the most important factors leading to the success in second language learning as well as life-long learning In view of the necessity of learner autonomy in the context of the foreign language classrooms, the aim of this study is to foster autonomy of EFL learners in speaking skill by encouraging them to take the responsibility in the learning process This is an action research conducted with 28 grade 10 English gifted students from class 10D at Global International School The goal was achieved by raising their awareness, training them the necessary strategies, and applying proposed activities After twelve lessons of implementing the action plan, questionnaire and was administered to discover the difference in the level of autonomy among the subjects Other data collection instruments like follow-up interviews and classroom observations were also exploited to validate the results The findings analyzed against a set of given criteria revealed that after having worked with this action plan, these learners were able to improve their autonomy as well as their spoken English They became more aware of how certain aspects of language work and they were able to develop their self-confidence and stimulate their motivation to continue learning in class This suggests a way of gauging students‘ responsibility for their own learning and that learner autonomy, as a life-long mode of learning, can only be achieved with the efforts of both the teacher and the learner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Methods of study 3

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Structure of the study 4

PART B DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Learner autonomy 5

1.1.1 Definition of learner autonomy 5

1.1.2 Roles of learner autonomy 6

1.1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy 6

1.1.4 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy 7

1.2 Speaking skill 12

1.2.1 The nature of speaking and characteristics of an effective speaking lesson 12

1.2.2 Autonomy in speaking skill 13

1.3 Scaffolding method 15

1.3.1 More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) 16

1.3.2 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) 16

1.3.3 Basic scaffolding strategies for English language learner 17

1.3.4 The application of scaffolding theory in oral English teaching 17

1.4 Review of previous studies on autonomy 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Research question 21

2.2 Subjects of the thesis 21

2.3 Setting 22

2.4 Research design 25

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 38

PART C CONCLUSION 52

1 Recapitulations 52

2 Recommendations 53

3 Limitations 54

4 Suggestions for further study 55

REFERENCES 56 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 V APPENDIX 3 VI APPENDIX 4 VII APPENDIX 5 XI APPENDIX 6 XIV APPENDIX 7 XVII APPENDIX 8 XVIII APPENDIX 9 XIX

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Characteristics of independent learning

Table 2: Students‘ attitudes and performance during the project Table 3: The benefits of the projects to the students

Table 4: Students‘ self-evaluation of their speaking skill

Figure 1: The Learner Independence Continuum

Figure 2: Students‘ opinions on the continuity of a similar project Figure 3: Level of students‘ involvement during the project

Figure 4: Students‘ changes in their perception of learner autonomy

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Learner autonomy, a concept promoted by Holec (1981) and others in the context of European language education, has become a favorite topic for analysis for the last twenty years In fact, people pay more attention to the process of acquiring than the product of learner autonomy Over the history, many great thinkers such as Galileo, Rousseau, Dewey, Kilpatrick, Marcel, Jacotot, Payne and Quick have mentioned about the importance of autonomy by proposing their ideas on education in different times (Balcikanli, 2008)

Students who depend on themselves in learning speaking are more able to succeed academically and more motivated than those who do not have effective strategies in learning by themselves (Holec,1981).Despite being discussed worldwide, learner autonomy remains an unfamiliar concept in Vietnam Whether or to what extent learner autonomy is developed and practiced in Vietnamese schools is still open to question Due to very limited time spent on teaching and learning pronunciation in the classroom, it has become increasingly essential to provide them with useful learning strategies so that they can employ in their self-study time In this case, the success of learning English speaking depends very much on how effectively and autonomously the students practice self-study

For all the reasons above, I have decided to undertake a study on students‘ autonomy

in learning English speaking at Global International School (GIS), Hanoi Despite the effort made to implant learner autonomy, it is still at a low level in upper secondary school setting in Vietnam, and the students in GIS are of no exception Even the students who are gifted at English exhibit low responsibility in their English - learning process When asked to work in pairs and groups in speaking lessons, they start to write down their own ideas as a long presentation or some key points and revise their own work individually, and ready to communicate only when they are perfectly sure of their part and their ideas Furthermore, they are generally reluctant

to question the teacher or give their opinions

An open discussion in Vietnamese with the students explicates that their low autonomy has resulted from psychological, social and personal grounds Their misleading beliefs, minute confidence, restricted knowledge as well as the previous learning experience are agreed upon as the primary causes of their passive learning style The beliefs and attitudes learners hold have a strong influence on their learning behaviors It is, therefore, essential to assist students in moving towards greater autonomy, especially in learning speaking

This situation urges the conduction of this research to aid students in their second language learning and life-long learning This is basically no easy task since autonomy does not blossom automatically Due to the highly complex nature of language and language learning, augmenting autonomy in language learners often proves to be a doubly difficult objective Although few research have been done in Vietnam to boost students‘ active engagement in speaking, a large number of studies

in other countries have reported favorable results in developing their students‘ autonomy Most of them use awareness-raising activities, portfolio, self-assessment, homework and assignment in their studies Regarding all these practices, the present paper is an attempt to search the current research then build an appropriate project of actions for the English gifted students in English, GIS who have average level of learning autonomy The expectation is to help learners generate a sense of autonomy

in language learning, elevate the students speaking skill as well as render effective speaking lessons

2 Aims and objectives of the study

This research aims at:

- identifying the current grade 10 (GIS) English gifted students‘ autonomy in speaking skill

- working out the appropriate scheme of actions to improve the situation

- finding out the effectiveness of the selected activities in the action plan

In particular, it is conducted to ascertain the following objectives:

 What scaffolding strategies can be used to develop students’ autonomy in speaking lessons?

 What are the attitudes of the students towards autonomy in learning English speaking?

 How do the students improve throughout the application of scaffolding in teaching speaking?

3 Methods of the study

As mentioned above, this is an action research to solve the problem of low level of learner autonomy in grade 10 English gifted students, GIS To reach the goal, an intervention was launched into the classroom environment It was divided into two stages The former consists of selected awareness-raising activities such as contract

signing, and essential speaking-strategies training activities to raise students’

awareness of the problem as well as equip them with necessary skills to acquire more confidence in speaking skills The latter pertains the practice of such skills in

doing their home assignments and in-class activities to habituate their speaking practice and active engagement After the intervention, questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations were conducted to get the feedback The data aims at getting the students evaluation on the activities and more remarkably, to examine whether they become more autonomous

4 Scope of the study

Learner autonomy is undoubtedly vast issue in the second language learning It borders different aspects However, this study touches upon only one researchable aspect of autonomy, i.e., developing autonomy in speaking skill In the literature, there is a range of actions to ensure students self-directed learning; however, several pertinent activities are adopted in consideration of the context of GIS and the small scale of this research for the sake of limited time and students‘ low level Furthermore, the subjects of this study are the grade 10 students who are gifted in English as these students often exhibit the least autonomy in learning

5 Structure of the study

This paper is organized into three main parts as follows:

Part C: Conclusion

This last part of the study recaps the main content of the study and deals with some

suggestions for improving students‘ autonomy in studying speaking skill In

addition, it also poses several directions for future research

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter addresses a review of the literature related to learner autonomy and pronunciation learning and teaching In each section, the definition or explanation of the key terms is presented together with the studies worldwide

1.1 Learner autonomy

1.1.1 Definition of learner autonomy

The term ―learner autonomy‖ was first introduced formally by Henri Holec in 1981 when he wrote Autonomy and foreign language learning - his contribution to the Council of Europe‘s work in adult education The so-called ―father‖ of learner autonomy, provides a broad definition which considers learner autonomy ―the ability

to take charge of one‘s own learning" Scharie and Szabo (2000), turning attention to the aspect of attitudes, seemed to share the same interest with Holec (1981) when they presented a persuasive analysis of the interrelationship between autonomy and responsibility According to the authors, autonomy is defined as ―the freedom and ability to manage one‘s own affairs, which entails the right to make decisions as well‖ whereas responsibility is understood as ―being in charge of something, but with the implication that one has to deal with the consequences of one‘s own actions.‖ (Scharie&Szabo, 2000: 4) They argue that autonomy and responsibility are interrelated and both require learners‘ active involvement

Benson (2001: 47), however, stated that it is preferable to define autonomy as the capacity to take control of one‘s own learning, largely because the construct of

―control‖ appears to be more open to investigation than the constructs of ―charge‖ or

―responsibility.‖ In his definition, he indicated three levels of control that a learner should take in order to develop his/her learning autonomy: ―An adequate description

of autonomy in language learning should at least recognize the importance of three levels at which learner control may be exercised: learning management, cognitive processes and learning content‖ (Benson, 2001: 50)

I am in favor of Henri Holec‘s definition of learner autonomy as learners‘ ―ability to take charge of their own learning‖ This general but concise definition, from the researcher‘s view, really touches upon the spirit of autonomy It is obvious from Holec‘s definition that an autonomous learner not only possesses a sense of responsibility for his learning but he/she is also self-conscious of that responsibility All in all, in second language learning, learner autonomy is a stimulating, multifaceted concept which can be interpreted from different viewpoints Learners‘ autonomy encompasses not only their attitudes but also their behaviors It is both a process and a goal in language learning, in education and in living; therefore, to develop learner autonomy, it is important to find a way to help students to be aware of what they have done and further reflect on it so that they could achieve personal awareness, process and situational awareness, and task awareness

1.1.2 Roles of learner autonomy

Learner autonomy can be regarded as an offspring of learner-centered approach, which is an innovative and effective one in the literature of second language learning The benefits of cultivating autonomy in learners have been disclosed by a variety of researchers and practitioners Learner autonomy can lead to increase in motivation and cooperation as well as responsibilities in their studying process, which means more effective learning (Deci, 1995, p.2) Furthermore, the concept of autonomy is not restricted in school aspect Once students acquire autonomy in learning in the school curriculum, they slip easily into autonomy for other activities outside class In other words, autonomous learners evolve life-long learning and hereby they are capable of authoring the world in which they live

1.1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy

Many scholars agree on the hypothesis that learner autonomy entails reflective involvement in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating learning However, different scholars may contribute additional attributes of learner autonomy

to these core features

According to Scharle and Szabo (2000), an autonomous student must have built four blocks, such as: motivation and self-confidence, monitoring and evaluation, learning strategies, and cooperation and group cohesion While motivation and self-confidence refer to the intrinsic motivation and willingness to take responsibility

in learning, cooperation and group cohesion indicates that learners should liaise with each other in the learning process The second and third factors cover the same notion

as the core features Monitoring skills emphasize the need to focus on the process of learning rather than the product This step is followed by self-evaluation, which means learners judge their own works as objectively as they can, acknowledging their level of proficiency, their strong and weak points

1.1.4 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy

Autonomous learning must be the characteristic expected to nurture in students with the aids from teachers Teachers take responsibility for managing and consulting during the process It is not leaving students to fend by themselves or sitting students

in front of computers and hoping they will learn

First and foremost, teachers become less of a knowledge transmitter and more

of a facilitator Relinquishing teacher‘s control is parallel with providing sufficient guidance to smooth learners‘ way into autonomous learning, and into developing purposefulness and creativity in doing so (Dickinson, 1995) Teachers supervise students in their own learning- preference discovery and create opportunities for their experience

Autonomous learning magnitude necessarily entails difficulties in many aspects, and different students may have problems in different ways To that end, teachers are also the counselors helping students with individual obstacles Both facilitators and counselors provide psychology-social and technical supports, the difference between the two is that while the former mainly works with groups, the latter in one-to-one situations (Voller, 1997) According to Riley (1988), counseling involves a great deal of work such as eliciting information about aims, needs and

wishes, helping with planning, suggesting materials and sources, taking part in interaction, offering alternatives, listening and responding, interpreting information, giving feedback on self-assessment, and being positive and supportive, etc

Furthermore, facilitating and counseling learners is not just a matter of pointing them

in the right direction - it is also to do with motivation, behaviors, and practical and emotional support Teachers, therefore, should motivate students in acquiring learning independence as well as language skills Beside stimulating factors, autonomy requires a conscious awareness of the learning process, strategies and styles Learner strategies are a key to and ―prerequisite‖ for learner autonomy (Weden, 1998) Learners can take care of their own learning only when he has become more mature and made use of the pertinent strategies Thus, teachers have to expedite learners to know what learning strategy is and how imperative it is in enhancing autonomous learning

To sum up, the teacher s function should become less dominant, but not less important Instead of absolving themselves of all responsibility teachers, they play more roles than before as facilitators, counselors, motivators, awareness raisers as well as resources in this development This implies the ―reappraisal of teachers and learners‘ roles' (Lynch 2001, p 394) Autonomy inevitably involves a change in power relationships and in both teachers‘ attitudes

However, this change cannot occur effortlessly It is a process and it should be characterized as ―a continuum‖ (Voller, 1997, p 100) In accordance with this viewpoint, Sharle and Szabo (2000) illustrate a continuum of teacher attitudes ranging from traditional to learner autonomy attitude and suggest that teachers should move toward the right hand side of the continuum (teacher autonomy attitude) They further denote that this transition should be gradual rather than abrupt and dramatic to allow time for the involved parties to adapt themselves to the new practices It is worth noticing that however difficult and time- consuming the transformation will be,

it is the first priority for the teachers to modify themselves first if they expect to change their students attitudes

1.1.5 Ways to develop autonomy

As learner autonomy is so crucialin second language acquisition, scholars, researchers and teachers have long been searching for methods to magnify this

character in learners It is suggested that this transition must be taken through raising awareness, changing attitudes, and transferring roles (Scharle&Szabo, 2000)

The starting stage in cultivating autonomy in learners is raising awareness of pedagogical goals, contents and strategies (Nunan, 1997) This phase functions as an impetus to initiate learning the second language and ―opening the learner‘s eyes to new ways of thinking about their learning‖ (Scharle&Szabo, 2000, p 15) It is grounded in the belief that even when teachers provide all the necessary circumstances and input, learning cannot happen if learner is not willing to contribute Thus, teachers must initially present new perspective and new experience

to learners and encourage them to think consciously in their inner learning processes This is a tightly-teacher-controlled stage on the consumption that learner are not yet responsible in their learning

However, only raising students‘ awareness cannot guarantee students‘ selfdirected learning Once they take on new viewpoints in learning purposes, processes and the nature of language learning, they should accustom these attitudes and strategies introduced in the first phase This can be done by a series of activities

in which students ―consciously practice learning strategies‖, requiring more learner initiative and higher level of responsibility (Scharle&Szabo, 2000, p 50) Accordingly, repeatability in doing these activities are momentous to shape and consolidate new beliefs and habits

The last and simultaneously effort-intensive phase is transferring roles as the result of a considerable change in classroom management Transferring roles is decisive in that ‗‗For one, learners can only assume responsibility for their learning if they have some control over the learning process For the other, increasing independence may evoke and reinforce responsibility and autonomous attitudes‖

(Scharle&Szabo, 2000, p 80) Teachers handle over roles that are traditionally held

by themselves However, these loosely structured activities do not entail teacher‘s freedom of charge Furthermore, peer support in this environment is weightier pushing learners in acquiring ―a capacity and willingness to act independently and in cooperation with others, as a socially responsible person.‖ (Dam, 1995, p 1, cited in Lee, 1998)

Sharle and Szabo (2000) hold that this three-phase process should be seen as a smooth process where one stage develops into the next The activities they provide in their book should be considered as suggestive ones since ―autonomy has to be adapted to different cultural contexts" (Holec, 1981) and accordance with students‘ level of autonomy at different stages

Different classroom cultures may entail different teachers‘ responsibilities and students‘ roles, which means the borderline between the suggested activities in changing awareness and transferring attitudes are vague In other words, to cultivate learner autonomy, learners should first have the right attitude towards learning and knowledge of strategies in second language learning Secondly, they must involve in the learning process themselves as ―language learning depends vitally on language use‖ (Deci, 1995) Practitioners, researchers have suggested a number of activities for learners‘ involvement They have reported on the effectiveness of using motivating activities (Barrett &Dabom, 2001; Kavaliauskiene, 2003; Lucliini&Rosello, 2007); portfolios, assignments, projects and homework (Coombe, 2001; Ali, 2000; Malcolm, 2001; Nakayama, 2000; Kavaliauskiene, 2003), self-evaluation and peer assessment, diary and journal keeping on strengthening their responsibility and nourish this activities

In short, there are three phases in culminating learner autonomy, namely raising awareness, changing attitudes and transferring roles The activities in each part should be adapted in line with students‘ level of self-direction and educational milieu During the transition, motivation is necessaryas learning is usually most efficient and

rapid when the learner is motivated and attentive A range of current perspectives has now put motivation on a different footing, integrating psychological considerations with social conditions The question is how to make students like what is required The answer lies in the students‘ investment in studying Even when students like the subject, learning will not happen if they do not invest enough time, money and energy ―Required motivation‖ is now said to be ―more important to acknowledge the diversity of motivations and reorient them in a more holistic and richer framework of SLA‖ (Zuengler& Miller, 2006) Bony Norton Peirce (1995) used the term

‗investment‘ to emphasis on the commitment to target language study, students‘ Whereas other researchers often focus on one of these three steps to promote students‘ learning responsibility (only raising students‘ awareness of the matter, or asking students to keep portfolio and assignment, or letting them to self-assess, the researcher decided to take the first and the second stage, bearing in mind the low level

of autonomy and little speaking lesson experience of her students as well as the time constraint of the study As there is not enough time and the students are not mature enough to reach the other end of the autonomy continuum, the final stage is left to maybe the next terms

Consequently, the author of this research decided to adopt selective activities in the first two stages suggested by Scharle and Szabo (2000) and her tailored assignment setting for the students to make ensure that they invest adequate time, effort and money in their learning Also, students‘ signing a learner contract is used to ascertain their commitment to what they are required to do Like other researchers investigating the realm of learner autonomy, the researcher also uses assignments to boost learner responsibility, but in other forms to suit her own teaching As they have never learned speaking before, they must be well-equipped by having chances to practice functional language and speaking techniques Thus, the intervention started first with raising matter awareness and subject awareness then and regular assignment to implant the independent learning style in the students

1.2 Speaking skill

1.2.1 The nature of speaking and characteristics of an effective speaking lesson

Speaking skill has been placed more weight in comparison with other skills as it is the first step to identify language ability Knowing a language means being able to speak the language (Pattison, 1987) It is the vehicle to establish and maintain social relationships as well as achieve professional advancement In particular, speaking has two principal functions: transactional function and interactional function While the former is primarily concerned with the transfer of information, the latter involves the maintenance of social relationships

Moreover, only by speaking a language can we ever hope to learn it In order to acquire the skills, communicative activities must be applied in class to aid students to obtain not only accuracy but also fluency in their speech

Regarding characteristics of an effective speaking lesson, Penny Ur (1996) has a comprehensive look at the issue In her viewpoint, there are four characteristics to determine whether the speaking lesson is fruitful or not as follows:

❖Learners keep talking in most of the time allowed for the activity in which the learners are the center of the activity and the interference by the teacher is little

❖Participation is evenly distributed among learners

❖All group members are motivated in the activities thanks to an interesting topic

or their desire to achieve the task objective

❖Language use is appropriate, easy to understand and quite accurate

The focal point in assessing a speaking lesson is students‘ active participation It cannot be a speaking lesson if the students do not speak the target language, let alone managing effective lesson Deci (1995) is correct in claiming that autonomy must include language use Using language or speaking the language is the prerequisite to attain the objective Students‘ involvement is significant but must be equal amongst the participants While working in pairs or groups, one student dominating the situation and speaking most of the time may give rise to the breakdown of the

communication and it cannot be an effective lesson Hence, all of the students should

be motivated to contribute to the activities

Furthermore, Ur (1996) does have a good balance between accuracy and fluency This set of characters reveals that fluency and meaning should be a focal point of the speaking lesson; however, accuracy should not be disregarded Accuracy is the means to ensure the act of getting the message right Without appropriate correction and adequate attention to accuracy, students may run the risk of fossilizing the mistakes, which hinders the process of reaching an advanced level in the target skill Grounded in the literature, the following characteristics of an efficient speaking lesson are drawn out, serving as the criteria for the assessments of my colleges‘ observations in my speaking lesson

❖ Active and equal participation

❖Learner-centeredness

❖Message oriented communication

❖ Motivation

❖ Cooperation

❖ Acceptable level of accuracy

1.2.2 Autonomy in speaking skill

The principle issues relating learner autonomy and speaking skill have so far been considered It is vital to investigate how autonomy is revealed and manifested in speaking skill To put it another way, this part deals with the characteristics of learner autonomy in speaking and the practice to foster their autonomy in this skill

Thombury (2006, pp 87-92) puts forward five characteristics of an autonomous speaker:

❖ Speed: working fast, spontaneously and coping with unpredictability

❖Economy: ignoring inessentials and knowing how to carry out tasks with minimal means

❖ Accuracy: being quick at detecting and rejecting errors

❖ Anticipation: thinking and planning ahead

❖Reliability: being versatile, i.e performing a range of different speaking tasks range of different topic, and being reliable even adverse conditions

This autonomy is partly due to the increased automaticity of his language production, what he experienced as ―feeling fluent‖ As we have seen, the ability to automatize the more mechanical elements of a task so as to free attention for higher-level activities The autonomy in speaking increases in proportion to the automaticity of his language production

Along similar line, Rubin and Thompson (1994, p 75) gives several techniques which autonomous students often use in speaking skill:

 Rehearsal: rehearsing the situation in their heads to make sure they can do it or rehearsing with another students

 Automatic use: imagining what they would say in the foreign language in different situations (when they are in a store or restaurant, etc.)

 Paraphrasing: trying to say something in another way

 Topic changing: switching to the topic they know to maintain interaction in the target language

In socio-cultural perspective, autonomy is defined as the capacity to self-regulate performance as a result of gaining control over skills that were formerly other-regulated In classroom one, this is learners need to be given opportunities to talk freely about subjects of their own choice Like autonomy development in other skills, autonomy development in speaking includes three previously mentioned phases Specifically, it commences with awareness-raising activities in which learners learn features of spoken language This is followed by appropriate activities

to aid them to gain control of these features, before reaping full autonomy as independent speakers in a range of different spoken genres

These activities can be selected from the repertoire of learner autonomy raising

techniques mentioned in the preceding sections with preference for activities requiring more speaking practices For instance, it is beneficial to utilize homework assignments, tape diaries (learners keep a taped diary by recording themselves regularly at home on audiotape and submitting this to the teacher for feedback), audio and video conferencing (these are virtual meetings, in which two or more people communicate via a live audio or video link over the Internet.), human-computer interaction (Students use computer program called ―chatterbox‖ to practice speaking with the computer instead of a person) and oral portfolios (learners reflect on their out-of-class speaking experiences in oral form.)

To sum up, learner autonomy improving process encompasses three phrases (raising awareness, changing roles and transferring roles) In any event, it requires students‘ investment in internalizing the target language, and it correlates with students‘ achievement in learning the language skill Besides, teachers‘ roles are crucial in this process as awareness raisers, facilitators, counselors, motivators and resources Rooted in this literature, it is investment in internalizing the target language, and it correlates with students‘ achievement in learning the language skill Besides, teachers‘ roles are crucial in this process as awareness raisers, facilitators, counselors, motivators and resources It is pertinent to carry out the action research as a project which encompasses two different phases The first one deals with raising student‘s awareness of autonomy and nature of second language acquisition This is succeeded

by assignment to form the habit of learning autonomously for the students

1.3 Scaffolding method

In the field of education, the term scaffolding refers to a process in which teachers model or demonstrate how to solve a problem, and then step back, offering support as needed Psychologist and instructional designer Jerome Bruner first used the term 'scaffolding' in this context back in the 1960s The theory is that when students are given the support they need while learning something new, they stand a better chance

of using that knowledge independently Bruner recommends positive interaction and three modes of representation during teaching: actions, images, and language

His theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process

of making meaning According to Bruner, social learning tends to come before development He believes that young children are curious and actively involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new understandings In order to develop kids‘ cognition, teachers need to comprehend two of the main principles of Bruner's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

1.3.1 More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)

The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience.For example, who is more likely to know more about the newest teenage music groups, how to win at the most recent PlayStation game, or how to correctly perform the newest dance craze - a child or their parents? In fact, the MKO need not

be a person at all Some companies, to support employees in their learning process, are now using electronic performance support systems Electronic tutors have also been used in educational settings to facilitate and guide students through the learning process The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does

1.3.2 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second important principle of Bruner‘s work, the Zone of Proximal Development This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner (Saul, 2014) For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so, but was

able to solve it following interaction with parents, and has developed competence at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws Bruner sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher mental functions He also views interaction with peers as an effective way of developing skills and strategies He suggests that teachers use cooperative learning exercises where less competent children develop with help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development

1.3.3 Basic scaffolding strategies for English language learner

According to Bernice Moro Ph.D, Fordham University, there are six basic scaffolding strategies for English language learner:

 Demonstrating the requirements that they need to follow

 Establishing a link between students‘ mental structure and new knowledge

 Introducing new concepts by creating environments those are familiar to students

 Helping students see the relationship between different concepts

 Checking students‘ understanding of texts by asking them to present the text in various ways (i.e: presentations, games, conversations)

 Encourage students to evaluate and adjust on their own performance, then plan for future one

1.3.4 The application of scaffolding theory in oral English teaching

Applying scaffolding theory in the teaching activities, teachers should give students a lot of support and help, and teach them some principles or rules that can be used to solve some problems when no people can help, so that learners are able to strengthen the sense of learning independently, build the learning ability of self-control and self- responsibility With scaffolding, the teacher transfers the learning task to the students gradually and finally withdraws it from the learning process In middle school oral English teaching process, teachers help students identify their the zone of proximal development, on the basis of this, teachers should train these students selectively,

give full play to its ―scaffolds‖ effect, help students avoid some problems (their tension, poor vocabulary and grammatical structure is simple, spoken time is short, take a long time to organize their thoughts or searching words, repeated use the same word or sentence structure, etc.) arise when doing oral English training Except for a series of oral English training, teachers should try their best to choose a lot of topics that are closer to their lives, leave necessary time as far as possible for students to think about or discuss, then use what they have learned to express their views In order to arouse students‘ enthusiasm of speaking, teachers can select interesting topic for the students to discuss and voice their ideas The teacher may guide students adopt the strategy of avoidance, circuitous transfer the topic to others, then expounds his views, they can agree with the above mentioned view, and also they can oppose Through the communication strategy training, the students gradually developed the abilities to learn independently and solve problem skillfully, the debate in cooperation can help cultivate students‘ critical thinking This strategy is important, however, the content of the language itself, fluency, accuracy are all equally important, and cooperative learning in oral practice after the strategy training also plays a crucial role At this point, teachers should pay more attention to fluency, under this circumstance of form error that does not affect the meaning expression can

be ignored, after students overcoming anxiety, they can put up accurate demand Within the limitation of this paper, there wasapplication of no separated strategies In the two following projects, there were lots of activities which are based on the combination of such strategies as giving students specific instructions or requirements; linking students‘ new knowledge to the previous one that they have already known; helping student‘s to be aware of choosing the most appropriate strategy for particular activity

1.4 Review of previous studies on autonomy

Research over two decades have depicted that one of the important concepts in teaching second language is learner autonomy Learner autonomy according to Littlewood (1996) is one of the key concepts in theories that examine factors that help

students develop their ability, teaching language for communication, group learning with having practice and helping student think independently

Several current attempts have been made to integrate self-access into courses of ESP/EAP (e.g., Fisher, Hafner, & Young, 2007; Gardner, 2007; Nunan, 1996; Toogood & Pemberton, 2002) Reasonable success was reported in Toogood and Pemberton‘s (2002) attempts to integrate self-directed learning into the curriculum and in meeting student needs for both free choice and support In an EAP program where learners were given opportunities to control their learning, Nunan (1996) contends that such power transfer from the teachers to the learner can increase the awareness of, and sensitivity to, the learning process over time Elsewhere, Nunan (1999) highlights the importance of goal-setting and learner choice in encouraging learner independence

In that regard, classroom teachers who attempt to integrate autonomous learning into the curriculum have an important role to play in fostering learners‘ autonomy and ―in launching learners into self-access and in lending them a regular helping hand to ‗stay afloat‘‖ (Sheerin, 1997) According to Voller (1997), teachers have three major roles

in autonomy-supportive classrooms: facilitator, counselor, andresource Sheerin (1997), however, warns the teachers of the danger of over-advising and under-advising if they are ―ill-prepared‖ and ―ill-equipped‖ for such roles To help teachers prepare better for their new roles in the autonomous learning is an integral part of the curriculum, it is essential for them to understand their learners‘ motivation

to engage in autonomous learning and how far the integration of autonomous learning into the curriculum affects learners‘ motivation to develop their capacity for taking control of their own learning

In the existing body of literature on autonomy and motivation, studies of learners‘ perceptions of autonomous learning have dominated the recent autonomy research (e.g., Broady, 1996; Chavali, 2001; Cotterall, 1995; Pill, 2001; Reinders, 2000; St John, 1988) Yet little work has been done in applying―scaffolding method‖ into promoting students‘ autonomous learning In addition, although there have been

some attempts to explore how scaffolding strategiesinfluenced language learning, those studies were not specific to the autonomous learning context where learning takes place outside the classroom Therefore, the goals of this research paper is to identify strategies that can be used to develop students‘ autonomy in speaking lessons,the attitudes of the students towards autonomy in learning English speaking and how the students improved throughout the application of scaffolding in teaching speaking

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research question and the method of study to answer this question It therefore provides a description of the subjects of the study and the procedure for carrying out the research with details of the action plan

2.2 Subjects of the study

The subjects are 28 students aged 16, with 26 female and two males in my own class.' Their negative attitudes towards state-of-the-art approaches and the unsatisfactory study results compel several actions to renovate the situation In reality, they appear

to have experience undue stress when expected to participate actively and become dependent in the learning process This stress is often caused by their extensive teaching culture at primary and secondary schools where students raising their voices without any permission from teachers are considered to be discourteous Furthermore, they are prone to the environments in which the teacher gives them each direction with corresponding available materials to accomplish each step This may account for the fact that students misunderstand or even lose respect for a teacher who expects them to work collaboratively with other students and study independently rather than takes on the traditional role of teacher as the main source of knowledge Thus, giving empowerment to students must be parallel with changing their attitudes

towards this process The newcomers making the transition from secondary school to university need help in organizing themselves as autonomous students These freshmen should be properly primed for directing their own learning process, setting

as a good foothold for the next coming school years and in the long run for their life-long study

2.3 Setting

This part describes the teaching context at Global International School (GIS) with the analysis of the opportunities and constraints it brings about Although English is taught to both English-major and non-English-major students, my discussion is focused on English major ones who are the target population of this study

2.3.1 English devision at GIS

With the increasing demand of English-competent workforce, English group was established at GIS in 2007 in order to prepare the best human resources for the universities as well as the demand for high quality labor force of the market The objective of this institution is to provide students with a good command of English to use it productively in their future workplace The English major students aged 16 come from different parts of Vietnam They must take examinations in English, literature and math to get entrance to GIS The model of English examination is multiple-choice questions (MCQ) with the focus on grammar and reading proficiency Each year, nearly 100 students enroll in the devision

There are 8 teachers aged 25-57 at the English devision of GIS Young teachers take large percentage (80%) and the number is always on the rise The majority of young teachers possess a bachelor degree in English language teaching and the rest are taking an MA courses A small percentage of the senior teachers (aged 40-57) were trained in in-service program In general, the teaching staff is always eager for knowledge, energetic and willing to apply better ways to fortify their teaching quality

2.3.2 The teaching syllabus for speaking skill

The English gifted students enjoy a whole language approach and integrated activities The program lasts for six semesters (macro skills, micro skills and others related to academic learning) The textbook used for developing students‘ four skills

is ―Destination‖ (B1 level) by Malcolm Mann and Steve Taylore - Knowles They adhere to communicative approach Each unit comprises five sections: Reading and listening, speaking, writing and a case study The four skills are taught integratedly throughout the syllabus

With reference to assessment, 40% of the total mark goes for mid-term tests and presentation, and 60% for final test The target for the grade 10 English students is the Pre-intermediate level, which is ―the ability to use English to communicate effectively in social‖ (quoted from GIS‘s speaking syllabus for grade 10 English gifted students– 2017)

In grade 10, the students study four subjects English 1.1,1.2,1.3 and 1.4, each of which is allotted three periods (45.15.15) It means students will have 42 periods for class meetings, 15 for group presentations, and 15 for self-study (45 minutes a period) The syllabus for the grade 10 students is theme-based as briefed below:

1 Learning and doing Making request

2 Coming and going Talk about time and place

3 Friends and relation Presentations - signposts and

stepping stones

4 Buying and selling Appraisals

5 Inventions and discoveries Negotiating

6 Sending and receiving Interrupting in meetings

7 People in daily life Making small talk

8 Woring and earning Presentations - handling

questions

-

9 Lifestyle Negotiators - making offers,

agreeing deadlines

10 Creating and building Expressing emotions

11 Nature and the universe Talk about plans in future

12 Problems and solutions Telephoning-handling

Every six units will be taught at one semester, and each semester comprises two stages Each stage is taught with three units and three periods Each stage‘s duration

is in 6 weeks (12 periods a week) Therefore, this action research is launched when students is on stage two of the syllabus, learning unit 4,5 and 6 As revealed above, there are limited speaking techniques taught In reality, this problem is exaggerated when the students‘ level of speaking is mostly elementary; more extra materials need

to be designed by teachers to ease students‘ hardships in the learning process

2.3.3 The opportunities and constraints of the context

a The opportunities of the context

The context offers several opportunities for the teaching and learning at the English group, GIS Firstly, students come from different areas around Vietnam; they bring with them a diversification of background knowledge as well as identities and characters Secondly, most of the teachers in the department are young and active; they are enthusiastic and ready to change for the better However, diverse limitations exist leading to the unfavorable learning and teaching results

b The constraints of the context

Constraints come from all people of concern in the program Firstly, although almost students are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, their investment appears not to suffice for the subject Their fast satisfaction of their success in winning a position at a university and the deeply-rooted dependent attitudes deprive them of time and efforts for English learning To put it another way, good result cannot be expected with low commitment to the target language study Secondly, since the students used to strive for the discrete-oriented entrance examination with reading and grammar competency only, their communicative competence are mainly at low level Although they can do MCQ grammar tests well, most of them are incapable of writing correct and comprehensible sentences, i.e the ability to negotiate meaning is not satisfactory To make it worse, the opportunities for them to negotiate with the native speakers are meager Besides, the cultural aspect counteracts the application of

new teaching approaches In primary and secondary school, they used to be taught in teacher- centered and teacher-led approach They did not raise their voice if they were not called upon by the teachers Teachers were the authorities and whatever teachers said was thought to be correct Interruptions or arguments are considered insolent In brief, they are not pro-active enough to negotiate participatory interaction

In summary, young and enthusiastic cohort of teachers and students‘ background diversification have brought advantages for the teaching and learning context However, unfavorable language environment and non-autonomous learning methods have triggered difficulties for the teachers in improving the students‘ English proficiency

2.4 Research design

2.4.1 Review on action research

Action research involves the researcher in questioning their own practice to find ways

to improve that practice (McNiff, 2002) It furnishes the researcher and participants with the opportunity to scrutinize existing practices, and modify them in the search for refinement of those practices Action research has the potential to bring benefits for all stakeholders involved in the process It not only provides the teacher with a means to better their teaching practice but also trains learners to become more efficient in their learning It can be argued that practitioners already reflect upon their practice, but the difference in using action research is that it is systematic, and any intervention is informed by theory (O‘Brien, 1998) Up to present, there are a lot of

action research models applied by researchers all over the world, among which Kurt Lewin’s Model (1946)and Kemmis and McTaggart’s Model (1988)seemto be the

most popular ones

Kurt Lewin, who first coined the term ―action research‖ in 1944, is generally considered the ‗father‘ of action research His model is an action-reflection cycle of planning, acting, observing and reflecting

Aterwards, it is extended into ongoing action-reflection cycles

His approach involves a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and reconnaissance (or fact- finding) about the result of the action

Kemmis and McTaggart’s Model (1988) shares some similarities with Lewin‘s of the

cyclical nature of the typical action research process, as this model of action research Each cycle also has four steps: plan, act, observe, and reflect

In this model, it shows how reflection leads on to the next stage of planning The planning stage is not separated from the previous stage but is embedded in action and reflection The short and multiple cycles are to ensure rigor As it is intended that the end result is change, effective action research depends upon the agreement and

commitment of those affected by it This is achieved by involving them directly in the research process

The below diagram shows a self- reflective spiral of planning, acting, observing, reflecting and re-planning as the basis for understanding how to take action to improve an educational situation It indicates the principles in action, the movement from one critical phase to another, and the way in which progress may be made through systematic steps

Within the framework of this paper, considering such factors as purpose and process, outside support, data utilized, audience and side effects, the researcher decided to

apply Kemmis and McTaggart’s Model (1988) to carry out her action research

2.4.2 Research procedure

To get deeper understanding about the procedure of this action research, the detail explanation is as follows:

a Identifying the problem

The researcher as the students' teacher in this research identified the problem The problems refered to the students‘ speaking skill that is still low (by observation of the class and discussion with other colleagues)

b Carrying out the real action research

 Planning

In this step, the researcher makes the lesson plan about a certain topic, material, media, time, schedule, clarifying theories, identifying research questions and instruments

She first investigated the reasons for the problems then solved the problem in the light

of learner autonomy The lessons learnt from the literature helped her to make an informed choice She decided to apply the students‘ raising awareness and changing attitude activities suggested by Scharle and Szabo (2000) and a series of activities designed by herself basing on six strategies mentiond above, which are all called the project in this research

Once a focus area has been selected and the researcher's perspectives and beliefs about that focus have been clarified, a set of research questions was generated to guide the inquiry

 Implementing

In this step, the researcher implements the activities and assignments written in her lesson plan The whole process of the research implementation can be seen in table below:

Phase

Class

meeting

No

1 1 - Introduce the course schedule and

assessment scheme

- Discuss autonomy and nature of speaking, nature of group work explicitly (Activity 1+2)

- Have students complete a questionnaire

on ‗What sort of Learner awareness language learner are you?‘ (Activity 3)

- Subject matter awareness

- Learning process awareness

- Awareness-raising

- Learning strategy awareness

2 - Discuss and practice strategies, and

solutions in speaking English (Activity 5) Introduce the learner autonomy-fostering project

- Have students sign a contract of commitment

- Find common mistakes in using English (Activity 4)

- Awareness-raising confidence raising

- Learning process awareness

- Commitment raising

2 3-5 - Home assignment and information

sharing

- changing attitudes 6-9 - Home assignment and report 1 - changing attitudes

- bolster confidence 10-12 - Home assignment and report 2 - changing attitudes

 Reflecting

After carrying out the teaching process using activities, the researcher recites the

occurrence in classroom as the reflection of the action She evaluates the process and the result of the implementation of activities and assignments in English teaching The data of each step are analyzed, and the data will be used to determine the next step in the next action or cycle to reach the goal which has been sated before

2.4.3 Description of data collection instruments

The questionnaire

It was undoubted that questionnaires were beneficial for obtaining quantitative information and thanks to their time and energy efficiency for collecting and analyzing Thus, the researcher used questionnaires (see Appendix 4) with the aim of tracking students‘ development in autonomy in learning speaking skill

Unlike other action research which often acquires the results by pre-questionnaires and post questionnaires, this study used only one questionnaire at the end of the

interventions, in which students reflected their attitude changes The reason lied in

the fact that the changes could have both positive and negative, consequently the total

of calculation, whether equal or not, would not truly reflect the students‘ progress making For example, if five students becomed more autonomous and other five become less autonomous, the result would be the same In this case, it was misleading

to conclude that the project didn‘t take any effect Actually, it signaled that something should be investigated more Thus, by letting the students self-evaluate the level of autonomy, it was possible to see the real impact of the project

The questionnaire comprised fourmultiple-choice-item parts and a session for free comments with open-ended items

Part 1 was designed to find out the students‘ attitudes and performance towards the project according totheir commitment to do the project, which showed the level of the students‘ autonomy

Part 2 wasto find out whether the project improves the students‘ speaking proficiency It was created by the researcher based on the criteria of speaking autonomy pointed out by Thombury (2006) and Rubin and Thompson (1994) in the

literature review part (part 2.2.3) The data could not only show the level of students‘ proficiency but also operate as an indication of their improvement of their autonomy

in learning speaking skill

Part 3 was an adaptation of Broady (1996) and Chu, Lee, Sakai, and Takagi (2008): It was used to discover the students‘ changes of attitudes towards learning in general Part 4 was to reconfirm the conclusions drawn from part I, II, III It was also used to find out if there are any inconsistencies in answering the questions in the 4 parts

In brief, all of these parts served to prove whether the target students became autonomous after all of the intervention In order to increase the reliability of the data, this questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese (see Appendix 5)

The interview

The interview questions (see Appendix 7) were also conducted to get insight into each issue, identifying more details and reasons for the issues stated in the questionnaires For this reason, semi-structured interviews seemed to be an appropriate tool for exploring the issues Five out of the 28 students were randomly chosen for the interviews to get their opinion of the project used To make it reliable, one of the colleagues who had got a MA in TESOL and was interested in the research

in high hopes of bettering the situation was asked to carry out the interview

All the questions were open-ended questions which start with ―how‖, ―what‖ or ―do you‖ The most important benefit of this type of question was that they allow researcher to find more than she anticipated: students might share motivations that she didn‘t expect and mention behaviors and concerns that she knew nothing about When the researcher asked the students to explain things to her, they often revealed surprising mental models, problem-solving strategies, hopes, fears, and much more

The observation

The researcher had two other teachers of English observe her class and herself taught six lessons of that class to check the students‘ participation in the speaking lessons and their level of autonomy in speaking This observation sheet (see Appendix 8, an