Using story telling to enhance speaking performances for 10 graders students

Up to now, most ofthe students at Trieu Son 5 high school still have difficulties in learning English in general and in speaking in particular.. - Investigating the use of story-telling

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Significance of the study 2

1.5 Methods of the study 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2

2.1 Overview of speaking skill 2

2.1.1 Definition of speaking skill 2

2.1.2 Elements of speaking skill 3

2.1.3 Teaching speaking skill 3

2.2 Overview of story-telling 4

2.2.1 Definition of story-telling 4

2.2.2 Types of stories 5

2.2.3 Procedure of Story-telling 5

2.2.4 Advantages of using story-telling to enhance speaking performance for the 10 th graders students 5

2.2.5 Using story-telling in the English language classroom 6

2.2.6 Story-telling Strategies 6

2.2.7 Story-telling activities in the ESL Classroom 6

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 7

3.1 Research questions 7

3.2 Study setting 7

3.2.1 Theoretical setting 7

3.2.2 Practical setting 8

3.3 Participants 8

3.4 Materials 9

3.4.1 The curriculum and the textbook Tieng Anh 10 9

3.4.2 Research instruments 9

3.5 Procedure 9

3.5.1 Procedures of data collection 9

3.5.2 Procedures of data analysis 10

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 10

4.1 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 1 10

4.1.1 Data analysis from Phase 1 10

4.1.2 Discussion from Phase 1 13

4.2 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 2 14

4.2.1 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaires 14

4.2.2 Data analysis from teachers’ questionnaires 15

4.2.3 Data analysis from class observation 17

4.2.4 Discussion from Phase 2 18

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 18

5.1 Conclusion 18

5.2 Pedagogical implications 19

5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies 20

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

These days, people increasingly demand to have more than one language.Language as a magic tool for communication plays an essential role in our dailyactivities Without communication, we will be left behind And it is itssignificant role as the international language that makes English becomes moreand more crucial in the context of globalization Therefore, in some recentyears, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills in order to meetstudents' needs for effective communication Communication in foreignlanguage is considered as a bridge to get information, knowledge, and culture

However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching andlearning English in general and teaching and learning speaking skills inparticular have not come up to the expectations in spite of teachers’ efforts tosupply students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills,teaching and learning speaking effectively is quite a problem to both teachersand students at various schools in Vietnam

At Trieu Son 5 High school, the situation is the same Up to now, most ofthe students at Trieu Son 5 high school still have difficulties in learning English

in general and in speaking in particular They always think speaking is hard workand not enjoyable Hence, when the teachers ask them to practice speaking, theyare not brave enough to speak up, especially in front of the class Sometimes,they also feel anxious and less confident about their speaking, pronunciation,

or grammar For most students, they find speaking especially important yetmost challenging one It also seems to the writer that the techniquesexploited during a speaking activity such as: story-telling, simulations,discussions, etc are not always really effective Therefore, it is useful toimplement story-telling technique in improving students’ speaking competence

By implementing story-telling, there are many benefits for teachers and students,such as improving students’ vocabulary, improving students’ self-confidence,promoting students’ ability to pick appropriate words, etc Hopefully, throughthis writing, teachers who are concerned with students’ weakness in theirspeaking can recognize the effective way to improving students’ speakingcompetence

It is the reasons mentioned above that urge me to discuss it in mypresentation today The reasons and factors have inspired me to conduct a

research entitled "Using story-telling to enhance speaking performances for 10 graders students."

1.2 Aims of the study

The study is conducted with the aim of investigating the use of story-tellingactivities in speaking lessons at Trieu Son 5 high school In details, the aims ofthe study are:

- Exploring the attitudes of students at Trieu Son 5 high school towards applying

story-telling to speaking lessons.

- Investigating the use of story-telling activities by teachers at Trieu Son 5 high

school in teaching speaking to 10th graders

- Investigating the effectiveness of story-telling activities in enhancing speaking

performance of 10th graders students at Trieu Son 5 high school

1.3 Scope of the study

Among numerous techniques of teaching speaking, the study focusesspecifically on using story-telling in enhancing speaking performances for

1 0 graders students at Trieu Son 5 H i g h school Therefore, the target that thestudy investigates and serves is just 88 students from 2 classes of grade 10 and 6teachers in the context of Trieu Son 5 high school

1.4 Significance of the study

The research is a great attempt to investigate the effectiveness of telling activities in enhancing speaking performances for 10th graders students atTrieu Son 5 high school Once completed, it will be a useful source for thosewho are teachers of English at high schools Moreover, this study providesteachers at Trieu Son 5 high school with suggestions to apply story-tellingactivities successfully Thus, the results of the research will make a greatcontribution to the improvement of teaching speaking skill for students at highschools The result of this study is expected to enable students to improve theirEnglish speaking competence At the same time, the study supplies the Englishlanguage teachers with further understanding of speaking skill and story-telling

story-in terms of types, advantages when employstory-ing them

1.5 Methods of the study

With the aim of addressing the research questions, this study employedboth quantitative and qualitative methods including survey questionnaire andclassroom observation

Firstly, for its versatility and straightforward data processing, the surveyquestionnaire was employed to quickly collect data from a large number ofparticipants

Secondly, classroom observation was used as the indispensable methodsince it offered a double-checking scheme of participants' responses, helping theresearcher to investigate the issue in practice with an objective view

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of speaking skill

2.1.1 Definition of speaking skill

Speaking can be seen as the key to human communication It is a crucialpart of second language learning and teaching There are a variety of definitions

of speaking Speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of context” (Chaney, [12,

p.13]) Another definition is proposed by Nunan [48] which states that speaking

is the ability in using oral language to explore ideas, intentions, thoughts andfeelings to other people as a way to make the message clearly delivered and wellunderstood by the hearer.

2.1.2 Elements of speaking skill

2.1.2.1 Accuracy

Skehan refers to accuracy as “how well the target language is produced inrelation to the rule system of the target language” (1996, cited in Ellis &Barkhuizen, 2005, p 139) To achieve accuracy, grammar, vocabulary andpronunciation should be considered

- Grammar

- Vocabulary

- Pronunciation

2.1.2.2 Fluency

The ultimate aim of EFL learners is to be able to speak fluently According

to Hasselgren (1998 cited in Luoma, 2004, p 89) fluency is the ability tocontribute to what a listener, proficient in the language, would normally perceive

as coherent speech, which can be understood without undue strain, and is carriedout at a comfortable pace, not being disjointed or disrupted by excessivehesitation

2.1.3 Teaching speaking skill.

2.1.3.1 Factors affecting speaking performance

In order to help students to overcome problems in learning speaking, it isnecessary for the teachers to figure out factors that affect their speakingperformance Students’ speaking performance can be affected by the factors thatcome from performance conditions (time pressure, planning, standard ofperformance and amount of support), affective factors (such as motivation,confidence and anxiety), listening ability and feedback during speakingactivities

- Performance conditions - Affective factors

- Listening ability - Topical knowledge

- Feedback during speaking activities

2.1.3.2 Difficulties EFL learners have when learning speaking.

For Ur (1996), there are some speaking problems that teachers can come across

in getting students to talk in the classroom These are: inhibition, lack of topicalknowledge, low or uneven participation and mother-tongue use

The first problem that the students often encounter is inhibition

Secondly, learners often complain that they cannot think of anything to say andthey have no motivation to express themselves

Another problem in speaking class is that participation is low or uneven

Finally, when all or a number of learners share the same mother-tongue, theytend to use it because it is easier for them

2.1.3.3 Principles for teaching EFL speaking

The first principle is that, to make sure the teaching takes place in anintended way, it is critical to create a high level of motivation (Ur, 1981, p.4).That is the key consideration in the determining the preparedness of learners tocommunicate Motivation is the combination of effort plus desire to achieve thegoal of learning plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language So effortalone does not signify motivation but it is the desire and the satisfaction in theactivity that count (Nunan, 1999: 233) In order to make students feel satisfiedand have the desire to get involved in the lesson, teachers should do thefollowing things

First, teachers use the instinct or experience, depending on the teacher’squalification, to choose interesting topics in order to draw students’ attention andmake inspiration

Second, teachers can create interest in the topic by talking about the topicand by communicating enthusiasm

Third, motivation is raised in a lesson also by the fact that teachers help tocreate a relaxed, no anxious atmosphere which helps even weak and reluctantstudents

Fourth, teachers should give appropriate level of difficulty, not toodifficult nor too easy for students may feel bored

And finally, teachers had better employ meaningful learning withmeaningful activities relevant to the real life to get students to talk aboutthemselves

The second principle is, when students are motivated enough to getinvolved in the lesson, teachers should give them the maximum number ofopportunities possible to practice the target language in meaningful contexts andsituations which helps to facilities acquisition for all learners rather thangrammatical explanation or linguistics analysis (Nunan, 1999: 241)

2.1.3.4 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

To support the teaching learning process of speaking skill, the teachersmust know about the characteristics of students and also the characteristics ofsuccessful speaking activity If the teacher knows about the characteristics ofeach student, the teacher can easily give the material to students According

to Underhil (1987; 120), there are some characteristics of successful speakingactivity:

- Students talk a lot - Participation is even

- Motivation is high - Language is of an acceptable level

2.1.3.5 Different speaking activities

- Free discussions - Information - gap games

- Story-telling - Oral presentations

2.2 Overview of story-telling

2.2.1 Definition of story-telling

According to Handayani (2013, p.1), story-telling can encourage students

to explore their unique expressiveness and can heighten a student's ability tocommunicate thoughts and feelings in an articulate, lucid manner Barnes (1997,p.1) argued that story-telling is the art of telling a story that includes telling astory with the use of the written word, with the use of song, acting, mime, danceand other mediums

Plourde (1985) suggested activities that emphasize on story-telling,generating character, helping students find an appropriate voice, and developingthe ability to make logical conclusions He reveals a variety of techniquessuitable for children in kindergarten through grade 6 One of which is story-telling

2.2.2 Types of stories

Classifying stories into categories can be very difficult because categoriesoften overlap Therefore, different linguists use different ways to classify stories.According to Helen McKay and Berice Dudley (1996), "there are many differenttypes of stories The most important consideration when choosing a tale to tell iswhether you like it enough to tell it with enthusiasm Stories shouldcommunicate to you a need to be told" They classify stories into many morecategories as follows:

• Fable • Fairytale • Personal story • Traditional tale

• Folk tale • Legend • Religious story

• Myth • Parable • Tall tale

2.2.3 Procedure of Story-telling

According to Jianing (2007), there are six steps in conducting story-telling, asfollows:

- Warming Up

- Divide the students into groups and each group prepares a story

- Ask each student to prepare a story (about two minutes long) in advance

- Divide the students into four to five groups and each group is given an opening

of a story and asked to finish the story in about 20 minutes

- Ask each group to hand in an incomplete story and redistribute them among thegroups

- The teacher gives the first sentence to the class and then each student adds onemore sentence to make a whole story impromptu

2.2.4 Advantages of using story-telling to enhance speaking performance for the 10 th graders students

Opening a lesson with a story may put the students at ease and allow them

to understand something concrete before going on to the related abstract concept

As we can see, there are a number of advantages of using story-telling toenhance speaking performance for the 10th graders students

The first advantage that can be cited is story-telling gains the students’attention It enables the students to be exposed to a moral dilemma or a problem-

solving exercise Students can use story-telling to share stories of success anddevelop a sense of community They also can use it to explore personal roles andmake sense of their lives This enhances the use of imagination and concentratesthe mind It may be the use of imagination enables stories to be remembered Ithas also been suggested that story-telling enhances critical thinking The subjectfor which this strategy appears to be most appropriate is that of developinglanguage Story-telling is appropriate allowing for creative expression and anintuitive application of knowledge Yet it is not just an understanding of wordsthat is enhanced, story-telling also develops verbal skills One final aspect ofstory-telling is the interaction that it generates Fry and colleagues have proposedthat teaching is about facilitation and that exchanging stories allow the teacher tohear the student’s perspective Similarly, it has been claimed that the process oflistening shows respect to others That is develops relationships and that theteacher can assess the students at the same time According to Tsukanto inJamari’s research, story-telling motivates participants to listen and speak Theactivities can be done better by integrating story-telling The students can worktogether to train themselves repeatedly both in the classroom and outside Thestory-telling provides participants with opportunities to listen to language incontext rather than in bits and pieces" According to Amanto, "stories havetraditionally been used to teach and entertain" Based on explanations above,story-telling is a technique which gives many opportunities for participants tolisten and speak Besides that, it can also give entertainment for the participants.

2.2.5 Using story-telling in the English language classroom.

As we all know, stories have always played a significant role in children'sgrowth Stories not only help in stimulating children's imagination andunderstanding of the world, but also in developing children's language abilityand appreciating literature (Aiex, 1988; Cooper, 1989; Koki, 1998; Zobairi &Gulley, 1989) It is just as Wright wrote, "Stories which rely so much on words,offer a major and constant source of language experience for children" (Wright,1995) The primary reason to recommend story-telling in the EFL speakingclassroom is that stories are motivating and immensely interesting, can bestattract listeners and promote communication "The excitement and drama ofstory-telling provide a context that holds students' attention." (Cooter, 1991; Bla,1998) Secondly, stories are an enormous language treasure For hundreds ofyears, thousands of stories have been created and passed down

2.2.6 Story-telling Strategies

Story-telling strategies utilizes the vocabulary and structures which need

to be taught in the early stages of language learning This can be achieved byincorporating them into stories which the students listen to, watch, retell, read,and write After hearing a story, various students act it out together or assumedifferent roles while their peers watch Students are not required to memorize thestories; on the contrary, they are encouraged to construct their own variations as

they retell, using props such as illustrations and labels Story-telling then is notonly use to stimulate the students‟ imagination, but also to develop theirlanguage abilities (Koki, 1998).

2.2.7 Story-telling activities in the ESL Classroom

- Group Discussion and Interaction - Story-telling

- Story-telling or Drama

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions

In order to meet the aim of the study, the following research questions weregenerated:

1 What are the attitudes of students at Trieu Son 5 high school towards using story-telling activities in a speaking lesson?

2 How do teachers of English at Trieu Son 5 high school teach speaking to 10 graders students with story-telling activities?

3 In what ways do story-telling activities enhance speaking performances of

10 graders students at Trieu Son 5 high school?

3.2 Study setting

3.2.1 Theoretical setting

Despite realizing English speaking is very important, Vietnamese studentsstill cannot acquire it The main reason is that the traditional teaching laid theemphasis on grammar has led to this problem In the teaching situations, thestudents usually keep quiet in speaking lessons; they mind speaking In real-lifesituations, students find it hard to communicate with English speaking people; it

is difficult for them to response spontaneously and naturally Unfortunately, this

is happening at almost high schools in Vietnam, except for foreign languagespecializing schools

The teaching contents are organized according to themes so as to providecontexts for language skills, language elements and socio-cultural knowledge to

be taught and developed in an integrated manner These themes are all drawnfrom the contexts of students’ daily life such as home and school, health,recreation, community and the world

The total number of class hours for English education is also clearlyspecified In high school, the time allocation is 315 for standard textbooks Eachclass hour is 45 minutes in length

Tiếng Anh 10 is the official textbook for 10th grade students, includestopics: daily life, school talks, people’s background, special education,technology, excursion, the mass media, story of my village, undersea world,conservation, national parks, music, films and cinema, the world cup, cities,historical places

An ideal systematic textbook evaluation would be a longitudinal one, whichincludes pre-use evaluation, while-use evaluation and post-use evaluation But

textbooks are subject to adaptation when they are actually used in the room, despite the great effort that textbook writers make to meet the needs of theintended users Tiếng Anh 10 is accompanied with cassette tapes and students’workbook The textbook is evaluated with clear structure, an adequate number ofreview units and covering all four language skills adequately and allowing for anintegration of skills at the pre and post stages However, there are several units inthese book which are not suitable or unfamiliar and far from the students'background knowledge such as talking about the World Cup (unit 14), talkingabout historical places (unit 16) Consequently, the students will lose theirinterest during the lesson., too confused… Teachers usually have to adapt, itmay be: omission, addition, reduction, extension, rewriting, modification,replacement, re-ordering, branching…

class-3.2.2 Practical setting

My school is located in a countryside of poor conditions Most of studentshere were born in working and farming family with medium living standard, sothe teaching of English in this school has encountered with several difficulties Even though most students are aware of the importance of English, themajority of the students do not pay much attention to English, especially,speaking skill And if some students are said to be good at English, it means theyare good at English grammar Most of them find it hard to express themselvesorally

And, the teachers have to face a lot of difficulties in teaching speakingbecause students seem to be passive in all speaking activities In the Englishlessons, teachers have to speak Vietnamese most of the time because they areafraid that their students do not understand what they are speaking

This may be because of the following reasons:

First of all, Trieu Son 5 High School teachers of English, by and large, havepositive attitudes towards the communicative approach, but they feel constrained

to implement communicative teaching in their classroom Communicativeteaching is too challenging: the teacher’s proficiency is low; they rarely haveaccess to the input and resources of the target language

Secondly, Trieu Son 5 High School has an average class size of between 40and 45 students Inside the classroom, students sit in long row with 4 or 5students in one row, thus becoming very immobile for communicative activities.The third obstacle is the teaching schedule; students only meet for only 3periods a week for English, so the teachers are under pressure to cover theallocated syllabus in the time allowed

Last but not least, almost important English exams at schools as well ascollege entrance exams to universities are still in written form, so most teachersand students have little motivation to teach and learn speaking As a result,students are often shy and unconfident to speak in English

3.3 Participants

Eighty eight students in two randomly selected classes 10B3 and 10B7 atTrieu Son 5 high school participated in this research They include both male andfemale All of them are at grade 10th at Trieu Son 5 high school that have beenlearning English for four years Sixty percent of them come from farmingfamilies which don’t have much money to support for their learning and to affordmodern media such as cassette, CD, the Internet for their children Englishlearning In addition, six teachers who are teaching English for their experiencewere invited to join in the study Their teaching experience ranges from 10 years

to 20 years They are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy toteaching In this study, no names of teachers or students were identified

3.4 Materials

3.4.1 The curriculum and the textbook Tieng Anh 10

The textbook Tieng Anh 10 (51-2006/CXB20-30/GD) is continuouslydesigned at the suitable level with high school students In this textbook, theobjectives are clear and concise and a detailed overview of the topics, functions,structures/ grammar, and skills within each unit are illustrated in the introductorytable of contents The textbook Tieng Anh 10 is theme-based designed with 15

units, equivalent to 16 topics In each unit, the language input is divided into 5

sections separately: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus

Lesso

n

1 A day in the life of… Talking about daily activities

2 School talks Making questions and answers in small

talks

3 People’s background Talking about people’s background

4 Special education Making an interview and reporting on

results

5 Technology and you Talking about the uses of modern

technology

7 The mass media Talking about different types of media

8 The story of my village Talking about plans and their possible

results

9 Undersea world Talking about causes and consequences and

offer solutions

10 Conservation Talking about the new kind of zoos

11 National parks Talking about an excursion

12 Music Talking about favorite kinds of music

13 Films and cinema Talking about a film

14 The World Cup Talking about the World Cup winners

16 Historical places Talking about historical places from given

3.5.1 Procedures of data collection

The study consisted of two main phases as follows:

In the first phase, the study was conducted to know the real condition of theclassroom problems in the teaching and learning process so that the researchercan design the appropriate action plan to solve the students’ problem In thisphase, a set of questionnaires was delivered to 88 10th graders students and sixteachers of English at Trieu Son 5 high school The questionnaires includedexplicit instructions on how to reply to questions, hence the participants could do

it easily

In the second phase, story-telling technique was implemented in speakinglessons The implementation was adjusted with the English class schedule at theschool where this study was conducted The designed plans were implemented infour classroom meetings After finishing observing the action, surveyquestionnaires for students and teachers were administered again

3.5.2 Procedures of data analysis

The data gained from the survey questionnaire are consolidated andcategorized by the researcher The results were subsequently tabulated andconverted to percentages with the use of chart and table for the conveniences ofanalysis Along with the information via survey questionnaires, informationgained through class observations was added to assist interpretation Validcomparisons between the figures were also included Besides, in the way ofsumming and averaging the participants’ rating, the overall evaluation of theparticipants was done

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.

4.1 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 1

4.1.1 Data analysis from Phase 1

Table 1: Teachers’ and students’ opinions towards the importance of teaching and learning speaking skill

(Please refer to questions 1 in

Appendix 1 and questions 1 in

Table 1 indicates teacher’s and students’ opinions about the importance ofteaching and learning speaking skill As can be seen above, most of the studentsand teachers found that teaching and learning speaking skill was very important.From the data collected above, it can be understood that the majority of theteachers and students were aware of the importance of teaching and learningspeaking skill

Table 2: Students’ interest in learning speaking skill

(Please refer to question 2 in Appendix 1)

According to the data in the tableabove, more than half of the students

speaking skill From the fact above, itcan be concluded that despite beingaware of the importance of learning speaking skill, most of students were notexcited with speaking lessons In brief, it is crucial for teachers to look forappropriate methods to enhance the students’ interest in learning English

Chart 1: Language used by students in speaking lesson

(Please refer to question 3 in Appendix 1)

Using English only; 7.00%

Using more English than Vietnamese;

28.00%

Using more Vietnamese than English;

53.00%

Using Vietnamese only; 12.00%

Table 3: Language used by students in speaking lesson

(Please refer to question 3 in Appendix 1)

Using more English than Vietnamese 25 28Using more Vietnamese than English 47 53

As can be seen from the chart, more than half of the students often usedmore Vietnamese than English in speaking lessons whereas 27% of the studentsoften used more English than Vietnamese 12% of the students reported that theyused Vietnamese only Very few students speak English only in speaking lessons(7% respectively) This fact can be explained by the students’ poor speakingcompetence.

Chart 2: Teachers’ and students’ self-evaluation towards students’ speaking ability

(Please refer to question 4 in Appendix 1 and question 2 in Appendix 2)

Table 5: Teachers’ & students’ evaluation towards speaking activities in the textbook English 10

(Please refer to question 5 in Appendix 1 and questions 3 in Appendix 2)

Table 6: Students’ knowledge towards the term “story-telling”

(Please refer to question 6 in Appendix 1)

It is an activity in which students are put in the real

situations

It is an activity which provide students with the chances to

practice speaking in a creative way

Table 7: Frequency of story-telling activities in speaking lessons

(Please refer to question 4 in Appendix 2)

Options N of Ts % of TsAlways 0 0Usually 0 0Sometimes 2 33.3Seldom 4 66.7

According to the table above, more than half of the teachers (66.7%)seldom applied story-telling in their speaking lessons 33.3% of the teacherssometimes used this technique In brief, it is clear that story-telling activitieswere not often used by teachers at Trieu Son 5 high school

4.1.2 Discussion from Phase 1

From the data analyzed in the two survey questionnaires for the teachersand students, the author knew the real condition of the classroom problems in the