An action research project on using pictures to encourage 4th graders to participate in speaking activities at a primary school in bac ninh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ĐÀO THỊ MẾN AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON USING PICTURES TO IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐÀO THỊ MẾN

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON USING PICTURES TO

IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL

IN BAC NINH PROVINCE

(Nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng tranh ảnh nhằm khuyến khích cho học sinh lớp 4 tại một trường tiểu học ở Bắc Ninh tham gia vào các hoạt động nói)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐÀO THỊ MẾN

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON USING PICTURES TO

IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL

IN BAC NINH PROVINCE

(Nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng tranh ảnh nhằm khuyến khích cho học sinh lớp 4 tại một trường tiểu học ở Bắc Ninh tham gia vào các hoạt động nói)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thu Hạnh, PhD

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF PROJECT REPORT

I certify my authority of the Study Project Report submitted entitled “An

Action Research Project on Using Pictures to Encourage 4 th Graders to participate in speaking activities at a Primary School in Bac Ninh Province” in

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts

Hanoi, July 2019 Đào Thị Mến

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to register my profound gratitude to Mrs Nguyen Thu Hanh, my respected supervisor, for her invaluable instruction, contribution and great care to my research

I wish to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the teachers

of Department of Post-Graduate Studies who have supplied me with the good conditions to conduct this thesis and finish this M.A course

My thanks go to my managers at my school, my colleagues for their assistance, encouragement during the time I participated in M.A course

Also, I owe my debt to my colleagues and students who are the subjects of

my thesis for their willingness to answer my talks, questionnaires, and interviews

Lastly, I am also grateful to my families for their kindly encouragement

during the research‟s finalization

ABSTRACT

Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) encourage students to take a more active role in the oral activities in the classroom through different strategies This study was conducted with the purpose to identify the effectiveness of using pictures to encourage the student‟s participation in speaking activities The study showed that most students at this primary school experienced many difficulties in speaking English and they were not confident when they spoke or talked to their friends To make situation better, an action plan was made, focusing on using pictures to motivate them actively to participate in speaking English The subjects

of the study were 32 fourth graders of a primary school in Bac Ninh province To that end, action research (AR) was attempted with the use of quantitative and qualitative methods to determine whether the use of pictures can improve the students‟ participation in speaking activities in class as well as their attitudes towards the use of pictures during speaking lessons The data were collected through the talks with colleagues, students‟ pre and post-questionnaires, and interviews The research was conducted during the first semester of the school year

2016 – 2017

The findings of the study suggested that through using pictures the fourth graders‟ participation in speaking activities increased because this technique made the lessons more interesting and attractive

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF PROJECT REPORT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LISTS OF TABLES vii

LISTS OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Overview of speaking skills 5

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skills 5

2.1.2 Types of speaking skills 6

2.1.3 Difficulties in teaching and learning English speaking skills 7

2.1.4 The practice of teaching and learning speaking skills to primary students 9

2.2 Overview of pictures and their use in speaking lessons 10

2.2.1 Definitions of pictures 10

2.2.2 Types of pictures 11

2.2.3 Benefits of using pictures in teaching language 11

2.2.4 Activities used with pictures to teach speaking skills for children 13

2.3 Previous studies 14

Chapter summary 17

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 An overview of action research 18

3.2 Research setting 20

3.2.1 The school 20

3.2.2 Participants 20

3.2.3 Data collection instruments 21

3.2.4 Data analysis 25

3.2.5 Research procedure 26

Chapter summary 30

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31

4.1 Analysis of the talks with colleagues 31

4.2 Analysis of personal class observation 32

4.3 Analysis of students‟ pre-questionnaire 33

4.4 Analysis of students‟ post-questionnaire evaluation 39

4.5 Analysis of the interviews 42

4.6 Discussion 44

Chapter summary 47

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 48

5.1 Conclusion 48

5.1.1 Effectiveness of using pictures to motivate students to speak 48

5.1.2 Students‟ attitudes towards the use of pictures in speaking activities 49

5.2 Limitations of the research 49

5.3 Educational recommendations 50

5.3.1 For the teachers 50

5.3.2 For the students 51

5.4 Recommendations for further research 51

REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: TALKS TO THE COLLEAGUE I APPENDIX 2: TALKS TO THE COLLEAGUE II

APPENDIX 3: TALKS TO THE COLLEAGUE III APPENDIX 4: PRE-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IV APPENDIX 5: POST-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS VIII APPENDIX 6: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS X APPENDIX 7: LESSON PLAN XI

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Procedure and duration of conducting questionnaires 24

Table 3.2: Procedure of conducting interviews 25

Table 4.1: Factors causing students‟ low participation 35

Table 4.2: Students‟ frequency of attending speaking activities 37

Table 4.3: Students‟ opinions about speaking activities in the class 38

Table 4.4: Students‟ opinions about English speaking activities using pictures 39

Table 4.5: Students‟ opinions of the benefits of using pictures in English speaking activities 40

Table 4.6: Students‟ own changes after using pictures in speaking activities 41

LISTS OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: Steps in the action research cycle (Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1998) 19

Figure 4.1: Students‟ evaluation of the English speaking activities in the classroom 33

Figure 4.2: Students‟ evaluation on their anxiety in English speaking lessons 34

Figure 4.3: Students‟ interest in learning English speaking skills 37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the research problem and rationale for the study It then draws the aims and the objectives of this thesis, along with the research questions This is followed by the reason why the research is significant The scope of this research is then discussed The last section indicates the organization of the paper

1 Rationale for the study

These days, English has been considered as an international language which facilitates communication between people all over the world To understand each other better, it is necessary for each individual to master and use English fluently According to Hoàng Văn Vân (2010), the English language, widely known as the global language, has become popular in Vietnam for some decades It mostly becomes a compulsory subject and has been taught almost everywhere in Vietnam from schools, colleges to universities The Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training have been taking a lot of actions in

an ambitious education reform so that by the year 2020 all students will reach B1 level adopting CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) standard after leaving high schools They are taking a phased approach in which primary English language teaching plays a very important role

As a primary English teacher, the researcher finds that in order to study English as a foreign language and to be successful with it, students must be helped

by the teachers to acquire language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing but most language teachers still follow a traditional and test-oriented teaching approach They often concentrate on teaching English vocabulary, sentence patterns, or sometimes pronunciation so the students do not spend much time speaking and as a result their participation in speaking activities is low They

do not feel confident or even afraid of making mistakes when speaking before the class Of these four skills, speaking skills need a great support In her teaching experience, the researcher has found that one of the aspects that the students really

need is to encourage them to participate in classroom speaking activities That is why in this thesis she wants to find out the factors that affect her students‟ participation

in speaking activities, and help them overcome it through using pictures in teaching speaking English to motivate them to more participate in speaking activities And then she realized the effectiveness of the use of pictures in teaching and learning English as well as the students‟ attitudes towards of the use of pictures in learning English

2 Aims and objectives of the study

The aim of the study mainly focuses on the application of different types of pictures in teaching English-speaking skills to 4th graders in classroom speaking activities Particularly, the primary purpose of the current study is to explore the benefits of using pictures in speaking lessons to the researcher‟s students Besides, the study investigates these students‟ attitudes towards the use of pictures in classroom speaking activities

3 Research questions

For the purpose of the research, the current study had the following questions:

part in classroom speaking activities in a Bac Ninh primary school?

2) What are these students’ attitudes towards the use of pictures in English speaking activities?

4 Scope of the study

Due to time constraint, the length of the thesis and the researcher‟s knowledge, this study cannot generalize to all kinds of learners and situations It is better to generalize to a small size of classroom and for students aged of 10 In addition, the study is limited to only one class at one primary school in Bac Ninh province Therefore, how the other groups of ages respond to the use of pictures in speaking activities, and how the use of pictures can help them improve speaking skills are not investigated in this study Finally, the study focuses on the use of pictures to motivate students with their speaking skills only, other skills are not the subjects of the study

5 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this study contributes to the knowledge of communicative teaching, specially teach and learn speaking skills to young learners, the employment of pictures in promoting students‟ active participation in English lessons Practically, the success of the study will help teachers understand more about students‟ interest and difficulties in classroom speaking activities with the use

of pictures From that, the teachers can find out the appropriate and stimulating

activities to help students improve their speaking skills

6 Organization of the thesis

The study is divided into five chapters as follows: the introduction, the literature review, the research methodology, the findings and discussion, and the conclusion

Chapter 1 Introduction reveals the rationale, the aims and objectives of the

study, the scope of the study, the significance and the structure of the study It expresses the reasons why the researcher decided to carry out this research Some main points related to the research such as research questions, significance of the

research will also be mentioned

Chapter 2 Literature Review provides the overview of speaking skills and their types; the practice of teaching and learning English speaking skills to primary students as well as the general knowledge of pictures such as their definitions, their types and benefits of using pictures in teaching language Furthermore, the previous studies related to the research are included

Chapter 3 Research Methodology discusses the research-governing

principles and research methods This section covers the setting and participants of the research, and the methods of collecting data, the data collection techniques, and data analysis techniques

Chapter 4 Finding and Discussion provide a report on the data of the

research

Chapter 5 Conclusion summarizes what has been studied with suggestions

for further research This part also includes limitations of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The aim of this chapter is to review the literature relevant to the issues under the study

2.1 Overview of speaking skills

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skills

Definition of what speaking is attracted a lot of attention and concern from researchers There are several definitions on speaking presented in language learning methodology Burns and Joyce (1997) for example, define speaking as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking

Another definition of speaking which comes from Richard (2008, p.19) states that “speaking” is the delivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips Speaking includes two forms: formal and informal Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people we know well Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time

Besides, Carter and Nunan (2001) develop the idea that speaking in a second language involves the developments of a particular type of communication skill It has occupied a special position in the history of language teaching, and only in the last two decades it has begun to emerge as a branch of teaching, learning and testing

in its own right, rarely focusing on the production of spoken discourse

In Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009, p.414), speaking is “the action of conveying information or expressing one‟s thoughts and feelings in spoken languages” In terms of language teaching and learning, speaking is considered as one of the four important language skills including listening, reading,

speaking and writing to practice and master In this light, Nunan (2003, p.48) puts it that “speaking is the productive oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning.”

Brown (1994) also shares the opinions that speaking ability is integrated closely to writing, and listening So, in language teaching, it is a great importance to emphasize the interrelationship of skills From the above definitions and explanations of speaking in second language or foreign language learning, the definition of speaking in this study is summarized as the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a various context to express ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in order to inform, to persuade, and to entertain

It is clear that speaking has many definitions It requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence) to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings in order to exchange information in their daily lives

2.1.2 Types of speaking skills

According to Burns and Joyce (1997), students in speaking class must be exposed to three key items: form-focused speaking, meaning-focused speaking, and fluency-focused speaking

2.1.2.1 Form-focused speaking

Form-focused instruction, that is, attention to detail of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and so on When learners begin speaking in another language, their speaking will need to be based on some form-focused learning An effective way to start is to base speaking on some useful, simple memorized phrases and sentences These may be greetings, simple personal description, and simple questions and answers As their proficiency and experience in the language develop, most of these sentences and phrases may be re-analyzed and incorporated into the

learner‟s system of knowledge of the language; language use based on memorization can be the starting point for more creative use of the language

2.1.2.2 Meaning-focused speaking

Meaning-focused instruction, that is, opportunities to produce meaningful spoken messages with real communicative purposes In addition to form-focused speaking, language learners should be exposed to and given chances to practice and use meaning-focused communication, in which they must both produce and listen to meaningful oral communication

2.1.3 Difficulties in teaching and learning English speaking skills

It is a commonly recognized fact that achieving proficiency in foreign language speaking in classroom conditions is not an easy task Even advanced learners often finish a language course with the conviction that they are not sufficiently prepared for speaking beyond the classroom This difficulty results basically due to the students and inadequate frequency of speaking opportunities in the classroom in comparison to the abundance of natural varieties and genres of oral communication (Nation & Newton, 2009)

In fact, selecting the most appropriate types of spoken discourse for classroom practice in a particular language course is a very hard decision which, unfortunately, hardly ever reflects the natural occurrence and distribution of communicative situations

Other problems that are commonly observed in the language classroom are related to individual learners' personalities and attitudes to the learning process and learning speaking in particular They can be shown as the inhibition which is the fear of making mistakes, losing face, criticism or shyness The second thing is that learners have problems with finding ideas to speak, formulating opinions or relevant comments The third one is the low or uneven participation and this is often caused

by the tendency of some learners to dominate in the group The last one is about the mother-tongue use which is particularly common in less disciplined or less motivated classes, learners find it easier or more natural to express themselves in their native language (Ur, 1995, p.121)

In addition, as many teachers‟ observations indicate the main challenges in the English as a Foreign Language classroom are to be lack of motivation, students‟ reluctance to speak, and the use of the first language (Nunan, 1993) It implies that

in speaking class, it is not easy to make students speak Students‟ reluctance to speak, according to Burns and Joyce survey (1997) may be caused by some factors such as cultural factors, linguistic factors and/ or psychological factors In line with the ideas, Thornbury (2006) explains that the main difficulties the learner-speaker often faces are the limited skills factors, in which their knowledge is not sufficiently automated to ensure fluency As a result of these limitations, there may be also affective factors such as lack of confidence of self-consciousness, which might inhibit fluency When the students do not feel confident to speak, teachers are supposed to help them build their self-confidence, as Brown (2001, p.63) suggests that teachers should call on to sustain self-confidence where it already exists and to build it where it does not In sum, as teachers, they need to be aware of any problems that students might face in speaking class

The fact is that English is used for communication among people in the world As an international language, it is necessary for us to learn it But studying English as a foreign language is not easy Therefore, the students should be taught English from elementary school up to university (Remelan, 1992, p.2) English is

divided into four skills which are follows: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing; therefore, speaking is the second skill and has an important role in communication Speaking is a part of daily life that everyone should develop in subtle and detailed language (Celce-Murica, 2001)

In brief, there are many factors that cause difficulties in teaching and learning speaking English among English foreign language learners Some of these factors are related to the learners themselves and the environment

2.1.4 The practice of teaching and learning speaking skills to primary students

In real contexts, when enrolling in an oral conversation, speakers of a language deal with many different things at the same time For example, they have

to listen to and understand what the other people say, express what they want to say, wait for their turns, deal with unexpected changes of the topics, and think of something to say when there appears a long pause in their conversations Davies and Pearse (2000) also agree that speakers do not usually have much time to construct their utterances carefully In fact, conversations are so complicated for many learners because they take place in real time and involve various skills While learning to speak a foreign language, making mistakes is not avoidable Therefore,

in the practice of teaching and learning speaking skills to primary students in

classroom, Davies and Pearse (2000) have suggested some implications such as: (1)

Teachers need to create a relaxed atmosphere in classroom context; therefore,

learners are not afraid of speaking in front of the whole class; (2) pair-work and

group-work should be employed in speaking activities as many as possible so that

learners do not have to face with the whole class listening; (3) teachers should

expose learners to naturally pronounced speech as much as possible and to integrated pronunciation work so that they can learn to pronounce the language

intelligibly and can develop speaking skills; (4) improvement on English fluency

can be developed without any specific language focus in speaking activities In addition, it is a crucial thing to avoid any obsession with accuracy during the time

of fluency practice; finally, (5) teachers need to create chances for learners to use

previously introduced language; and to accustom learners to combining listening and speaking in real time and in natural interaction Davies and Pearse (2000) emphasize that the best chance for them to do so is to get learners in the general use

of English in the classroom

In addition, Dunkel (1991), Richards (1983), and Ur (1984) recognize that in order to speak fluently and accurately foreign language, learners have to face with many characteristics of spoken language Such characteristics might be clustering, redundancy, reduced forms or reductions, performance variables, colloquial language, rate of delivery, stress, rhythm, intonation, and interaction However, Pinter (2006) argues that those characteristics of spoken language make it hard for learners to become a proficient speaker in a foreign language, especially for children because they do not have to master all these kinds of things, even in their mother tongue, when engaging in speaking In consequence, she suggests that it would be better if teachers could help their learners with some forms of language functions

In short, teachers should employ some implications when teaching English to younger learners in the classroom for example; they should create a relaxed atmosphere in classroom in order to make their students not feel afraid of speaking

in front of the class, especially making mistakes In addition, they should encourage their students to positively join in their lessons

2.2 Overview of pictures and their use in speaking lessons

2.2.1 Definitions of pictures

One type of visual instructional media that is going to be used in this research is pictures There are several definitions of pictures The basic one is by

Hornby (2005) in which he defines picture as a painting or drawing or even a

photograph that shows a scene, a person or a thing that has been represented on paper using a pencil, a pen or paint In different words, Stevick (1986) identifies

pictures as non-verbal materials that can be useful in teaching English verbal skills

In addition, Ur (2012) adds picture drawings are commonly used in the textbooks or

colored posters or pictures downloaded from the internet

Pictures which are sometimes called drawings or photographs or images are often used in designing many books concerning with imagery needs so they are frequently deceptive with regard to the images that students derive from the same objective external stimulus Moreover, pictures are the most obvious type of visual material for pupils; pictures are useful for designing language tasks such as describing, interpreting, dictating, and comparing

2.2.2 Types of pictures

The above definitions about pictures seem to be apparent It is to have a good idea to look at different terms of pictures One of the most interesting and useful categories of different picture types is suggested by Gerngross and his associates (2006) They identify pictures as photographs, personal photographs, drawings, cartoons, visual aids, and artwork First, photographs are pictures taken form

magazines and newspapers that show us portraits, landscapes, objects or animals

Personal photographs are pictures of anything that are taken by the teacher or students Drawings are pictures of visual materials about artwork or maps Cartoons

are a set of pictures that make a story; usually we call it picture stories Visual aids

are all kinds of visual materials that we make for use in classroom such as flashcards or teachers‟ cards, and artwork used in business like advertisements or book covers

In conclusion, there are various types of pictures to be used for language learning, practicing and organizing They differ regarding their size, form and origin, which make them fit for a number of activities depending on their type For several reasons they help students remember the words better and understand to practice and they help the teacher to make the lesson more interesting and beneficial The following part concerns the relationship between the use of pictures and language teaching and learning as well as benefits relating to the use of pictures

in the field of language teaching and learning, especially the teaching of speaking skills to younger learners

2.2.3 Benefits of using pictures in teaching language

The main advantage of a picture is its obvious visibility to learners Using pictures can bring benefits to teaching language as they promote learners‟ interest in acquiring a foreign language Byrne (1980) states pictures can stimulate the students‟ discussions and interpretations on the topic Moore (1982) adds students‟ imagination can be inspired For example, it is assumed that visual aids in general, especially pictures and colorful posters, could add attractiveness to the atmosphere

of the classroom Wright (1989) argues that pictures can motivate students to take part in speaking activities On the other hand, Gill (2005) asserts that focusing on the visual learning styles of English Foreign Language students was critical to their language acquisition, since these students need the visual stimuli of Power Points, whiteboards, and printed materials

Brown (2004) states describing pictures can be an ideal activity to begin the class because the students focus on content They are likely to learn new topical or content vocabulary and grammar through teacher scaffolding during this activity Moreover, pictures can be used to enhance student‟s participation and create a positive attitude towards English Wright (1989) goes on to say that the use of pictures can stimulate and motivate students in language learning Thus, Wright also states that the use of pictures provides motivation and the nonverbal stimulus helps students to understand better Additionally, Wright also proposes that they sponsor, stimulate, and provide information for writing and speaking activities without the need for teacher guidance Thus, from that point of view, pictures represent an advantage in helping teachers with the learning process They become important for the teacher to prepare students for communication, making use of both verbal and nonverbal sources

In short, using pictures is one of the techniques in teaching language in general and teaching speaking English to the primary students in particular Pictures can motivate the students to speak as it gains the students‟ interest The environment of teaching and learning becomes alive The students tend to be more

active since pictures can provide the necessary concrete experiences and also help the students integrate prior experiences that make them easier to express their ideas, feelings and thoughts By using pictures, the teacher does not need to spend too much time explaining the teaching materials because the students already understand the materials Based on the strengths, teachers can make their lessons more attractive and interesting to encourage their students to participate actively in learning speaking English

2.2.4 Activities used with pictures to teach speaking skills for children

There are many speaking activities which are designed based on the use of pictures Here are some useful common activities offered by several scholars

First, the two common activities suggested by Ur (2012) are picture

description and picture differences In picture description activities, learners in

groups or in pairs try to speak out as many sentences that describe the picture as possible According to Ur (2012), this activity is simple, but it is a surprising productive activity for learners because it makes learners feel the success of the

activity, or the sense of achievement and satisfaction In picture differences

activities, learners work in pairs and each of them has a different picture Without looking at the other picture, they have to find out as many differences in the two pictures as possible According to Ur (2012), this activity requires learners to ask and answer many of purposeful questions to complete the task

There are some more activities provided by Pattison (1987); for example,

find the picture, memory tests, spot the difference, split picture stories, and strange pictures

Find the picture: the aim of this activity is to ask learners to describe

pictures for identification Learners can work in groups or in pairs and take turns

to describe the pictures for the others to recognize or to find out the picture they are talking about

Memory tests: learners are presented a picture or photograph, they then have

a few minutes to look at the picture or photograph carefully After that, the pictures

are taken away; learners in groups or in pairs are asked to answer some questions about what they have seen in the pictures

Spot the difference: this activity asks learners to work in groups or whole

class to name things different between the two pictures or learners may work in groups to compare and contrast the two pictures

Split picture stories: the activities ask learners to work in groups or whole

class to put pictures into a story In other words, they are provided with a picture story in a wrong order; they then have to exchange ideas and discuss various possible versions of the story

Strange pictures: the aim of the story is to engage students in their

imagination to create a story around the picture Learners can work in groups or pairs and choose two or more pictures; they then discuss or exchange ideas to make

up a story around the pictures they have chosen

According to Pattison (1987), all of the activities above are good for providing learners with meaningful and purposeful practice because the activities create an information gap in which learners have to interact or exchange ideas or information to complete the task

It is undeniable that, activities used with pictures for speaking practice can be countless Pictures provide serious language practice and can be invaluable in the classroom for stimulating discussion and bringing enormous variety to lessons They also provide the teacher with a flexible and convenient tool to test many different things in exams The picture differences activity makes students more interested in asking and answering the questions to complete the task

2.3 Previous studies

Pictures are popular in language teaching Their usefulness and effectiveness have been proved in many studies Research which involves using pictures to teach English for children are numerous Followings are some studies and articles on the employment of pictures in speaking activities:

One of recent studies by Karsono (2014) investigated the employment of

pictures in improving the speaking ability of the grade eighth – A students of SMP Negeri 1 Anggana Thirty-one students involved in a classroom action research (CAR) design After the procedures of CAR, i,e planning, acting, observing and reflecting, the results showed that the use of pictures had succeeded, to some extent,

to improve students‟ speaking ability and students‟ participation The students‟ speaking ability were improved as it showed that the number of students which were classified as good and very good increased from 6,4 % in preliminary study to 83,9% in cycle 1 and reached 100% in cycle 2 That means after the implementation

of using pictures in English speaking activities, the students could improve their fluency, content, pronunciation and grammar The average score rose from 66 in preliminary study, 74 in cycle 1, and 80 in cycle 2 The students‟ participation also became more and more regular from cycle to cycle The results of the research showed that the implementation of using pictures could give an improvement on students‟ speaking ability and students‟ participation in speaking activities

In addition, an earlier research by Pešková (2008) aimed at proving the benefits of the use of pictures in teaching English Working with three groups of learners, mainly the lower secondary pupils (namely grade seventh, grade eighth, and grade ninth of language classes in the secondary school at Blažkova Brno) The study found that secondary school pupils are the most appropriate with the teaching

of English through pictures The observations in the research revealed that learning with pictures provided pupils with a great opportunity to interact with their peers and expressed themselves to others The pupils preferred using their mother tongue

to English and usually made noise during the activities, which could be solved by the fact that the researcher selected appropriate activities and pre-taught some necessary language items As a result, the pupils could interact and exchange ideas with each other in the target language in a more effective way

Importantly in an article titled “Teaching vocabulary with visual aids”, Lai (2000) revealed that students responded and expressed differently due to their different educational and cultural background Using visual aids (mainly pictures)

could help students with their understandings of a topic and their realization of similarities and differences among topics The study reconfirmed the fact that visual aids strengthened and reinforced what learners have learned In addition, visual aids could stimulate students‟ interest, and related what they have learned with their daily life experience Moreover, visual aids could help with learners‟ development

of literacy abilities and oral abilities Students had a chance to brainstorm and present their ideas and thoughts Visual aids could also provide learners with opportunities for their discussion of similarities and differences and their creativity

of new stories relating to their personal background and experience

Together with previous studies, Nguyễn Thị Thanh Xuân (2014) investigated the effects of visual aids (mainly the use of pictures) in teaching and learning English language vocabulary at a Secondary School in Binh Duong province, Viet Nam With the participation of fifty grade-eight students in two groups (CG and EG) and eighteen teachers at that school, she found that although there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups, most of students and teachers expressed positive attitudes towards the use of visual aids, including pictures in English vocabulary teaching and learning The research also revealed that visual aids increased students‟ interest in learning English, especially the use of pictures to teach vocabulary for students

The above studies have emphasized the importance and effectiveness of visual aids, especially the use of pictures in language teaching (such as in teaching vocabulary, speaking, listening and writing) From the researcher‟s experience in teaching English, she realized that her students continually face a dilemma in speaking English fluently, practicing conversation and presentation The researcher believed that pictures have had its valuable contribution to teaching speaking skills

As a result, these reasons urged the researcher to conduct this study

Chapter summary

This chapter has reviewed theories of speaking, theories of language teaching speaking skills in general and then in specific for children In addition, the chapter has described many useful and interesting activities in teaching speaking skills for children, and has summarized related studies that might influence and support for the current research

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents a detailed description of how the research was carried out including research design and procedures, research setting, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures

3.1 An overview of action research

This study follows the action research approach This is because this type of research is aimed at improving teaching practice Action research has been defined

in a number of different ways Burn (1994) defines action research as “the application of fact finding to practical problem solving in a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it, involving the collaboration and co-operation of researcher, practitioners and laymen” In the first chapter of the book “Action research for Language Teachers”, Wallace (1998) states that Action research is a process which collects data on your everyday practice and analyzes it

in order to make decision about what your future practice should be

In this study, the researcher followed the model proposed by Kemmis and

Mc Taggart (1988) because the steps in this model make it easier and more convenient for her to carry out the research Besides, it reflects correctly what steps will be taken during the study According Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1998), the action research process has four steps such as the planning stage, the action stage, the observation and the reflection The spiral of cycles will recur until a satisfactory result has been achieved and stop until the time is felt enough

- Step 1: Planning is the first stage of the cycle, an action plan is developed that will achieve some agreed goals during this stage The plan can encompass the change in three “registers”: how language is used in the situation, what activities and practices are employed, and how social relationship and organizations are structured

- Step 2: The action stage involves implementing the plan while recognizing

the need for flexibility and judgment Even so, it may sometimes be necessary to revert to the planning stage if the proposed actions cannot be implemented

- Step 3: Observation: Action should be accompanied by monitoring and observation of the results A range of data collection methods can be used, including documents, interviews, diaries, observations and questionnaires, along with secondary data Observation feeds into the next stage of the cycle by providing the basis for reflection

- Step 4: Reflection is the final stage, in which the researcher and the group collaboratively “analyze, synthesize, interpret, explain and draw conclusions” about what has been achieved and identified possible ways of moving forward Depending

on the outcomes, another cycle of planning, acting, observing and reflecting may be set in motion The Figure 3.1 below will illustrate about the stages of every cycle of the action research

Figure 3.1: Steps in the action research cycle (Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1998)

3.2 Research setting

3.2.1 The school

This research has been conducted at a primary school in Bac Ninh Province, where the researcher has been working as a teacher of English, located in Bac Ninh province There are 50 teachers and 1005 students who come from different communes nearby The school was set up in 2004 with 10 classes, and expanded its number of classes up to 29 up to now English is the compulsory subject at primary schools The students have four periods learning English every week The materials are the text books issued by Ministry of Education and Training The 4th form students at this school are ten years old and have been learning English for one year; their English knowledge is, in general, not good, especially speaking skills

3.2.2 Participants

The participants of this research were in the fourth grade students of a primary school that consist of 32 students with relatively equal quantity of boys and girls The students basically are beginners of English; most of them are intelligent, dynamic and interested in learning English They are step by step familiar with speaking skills Many students can understand quite well the English accent in the tape Most of them can make sentences based on the sentence patterns that they have learnt Some students take part in the lessons actively and eagerly However, some students feel shy when speaking English because they are afraid of making mistakes while English speaking is a new skill to students Therefore, it is difficult for them to keep up with the speed of understanding what foreigners say Moreover, the number of students in some classes is big Thus, many students have few opportunities to talk and exchange in order to practice speaking English

The textbooks which are required to teach English in primary schools are

English 3, 4 and 5 (Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo, 2016) They were developed based on

the new national curriculum The methodologies that the books follow are centered approach and the communicative approach with task-based teaching being

learner-units Five teaching units cover a topic and each teaching unit is sub-divided into 3 lessons Each lesson consist of five or six activities: Look, Listen and Repeat, Point and Say, Listen and Tick, Look and Write and Let‟s Sing Each period is supposed

to be taught in 40 minutes

3.2.3 Data collection instruments

In order to obtain adequate data for the study, talks with colleagues, personal class observation, survey questionnaires, and interviews were chosen to carry out Every name of students and teachers used is a pseudonym, which is to ensure the confidentiality of all of the participants The students were coded as from S01 to S32 for the questionnaires and I01 to I08 for the interview

3.2.3.1 Talks with colleagues

The researcher conducted some talks with three female colleagues, whose age range from 30 to 42 They were awarded a Bachelor Degree of English major and all of them are enthusiastic and experienced teachers They love both their job and their students All of them have been teaching English to the primary students for at least 8 years up to now They have joined the talks at the beginning of the research to identify the difficulties in learning speaking skills as well as solutions to improve these problems (Appendix 1,2,3)

In the present study, the researcher has employed Take-note to collect data from the talks Classroom observations provided the researcher with real data including work arrangement used in the speaking lessons, a fair opportunity for the

students and the activities used in the speaking lessons All of the data obtained from class observations are noted down, analyzed, and then synthesized for further use in the study Classroom observations help the researcher survey the real situation and compare with the information collected from questionnaires Before observing the classes, permission from the teachers was sought by the researcher, and she also met the teachers privately as well as friendly asked for their lesson plans for the classroom observations

3.2.3.3 Pre and post questionnaires for students

Survey questionnaires can be applied to gather data efficiently on a basis of language scale, and it can help researchers to obtain the respondents‟ views (Brown, 2001) Moreover, Connaway and Powell (2010) stated that questionnaires can be used to investigate students‟ perspectives and their problems towards the classroom activities Therefore, the researcher employed this instrument to investigate the problems, difficulties which the students have to cope with in learning English as well as their hope and expectation

The current study applied a group-administered questionnaire for its advantage and efficiency For example, if there appear any ambiguities or confusions about any questionnaire items, the researcher presented to explain them

at once; therefore, the data collection is more reliable (Brown, 2001)

Questionnaires were written in English, and then they were translated into Vietnamese Students at this level did not possess enough English language to facilitate the language difficulties in reading and responding to the questions, and express their thinking clearly and completely Consequently, it is better for students

to express themselves fully in their mother tongue, here is Vietnamese Before releasing the official questionnaires, they were edited by an English translator

This self-reported questionnaire included Likert-scale questions Students answer all questions in the questionnaire and can express their opinions which makes their answer as objective as possible In order to help students understand the content of the questions easily, the whole questionnaire was translated into

Vietnamese

* Pre-questionnaire: 6 questions for students (Appendix 4) were made and conducted to find out the problems, difficulties which the students have to cope with in learning English such as their attitudes and their anxiety towards learning English Moreover, the researcher attempted to apply pictures to help students overcome their difficulties in learning English Particularly, question 1 is raised to point out students‟ opinions or their evaluations on the difficult or easy levels of speaking activities in the class Question 2 gets the information about the nervous level when they spoke English before others How they felt and what they thought was also made Question 3 collects the data about the factors causing students low participation in speaking activities Question 4 attempts to measure what made students interested in learning English Question 5 collects the data to know the frequency of attending in classroom activities Question 6 attempts to explore students‟ enjoyment about different classroom activities in English speaking lessons

* Post-questionnaire (3 questions): After teaching three lessons employing pictures to motivate students to take part in speaking activities in the class The researcher wanted to know whether the effectiveness of the use of pictures in motivating students to participate in the classroom speaking activities can be improved or not, she conducted 3 questions for students in order to evaluate the results of this technique Particularly, question 1 attempts to find out the students‟ answers about the use of pictures in speaking activities Question 2 is concerned with the students‟ opinions about the benefits of using pictures in speaking activities Question 3 is about the students‟ own changes after taking part in the speaking activities using pictures

On the day of delivering the official questions, the researcher informed clearly the purpose and questions in the survey By this way, the students understood what they needed to do in the survey, and responded to the questionnaires appropriately

Moreover, the conductor appeared to be ready to explain and to give help with any unexpected language difficulties In general, there were 32 students joined in answering the surveys It took them about fifteen minutes to complete the surveys After finishing the surveys, data collection was sorted, gathered in categories, and was analyzed at the analyzing stage

Table 3.1: Procedure and duration of conducting questionnaires

- Delivering the questionnaires

- Helping the participants when they are doing questionnaires

- Collecting the completed questionnaires from the student‟s right

after they finish

- Sorting, and presenting the data into categories 2- 3 days

3.2.3.3 Interviews

Interviews were used to gather data in particular categories There is a reciprocal relationship between interview and the questionnaire Questionnaire presents problems to people of limited literacy, and an interview can be conducted

in depth and at an appropriate speed (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007) In addition, Oppenheim (1992) claims that interviews make the respondents more involved and motivated, and are better than questionnaires in handling more difficult and open-ended questions Interviews and questionnaires can support and supplement each other (p 352) There are many types of interviews such as individual interviews, group interviews or telephone interviews In this research, the researcher employed individual interviews Although individual interviews are considered as time-consuming, they are good ways of exploring the data confidentially It is worthy for the researcher using individual interviews to gather data about learners‟ opinions and thinking about the use of pictures in speaking

activities (Brown, 2001)

Eight out of thirty-two students were randomly invited to participate in interviews Interview questions (Appendix 6) were written in English; however, it was conducted in Vietnamese so that students could express their opinions and thinking fully Each interview lasts about four to five minutes

In general, there were three main questions in the interviews The first one aimed at exploring whether students are interested in using pictures in speaking or not, and exploring reasons for their answers The second question investigated students‟ thinking about the use of pictures in speaking activities The third question revealed students‟ suggestions/ recommendations to improve the use of pictures in English speaking activities The procedure of designing and conducting the interviews are described in the following table

Table 3.2: Procedure of conducting interviews

- Designing interview questions and interview sheet Two days

- Inviting eight individual interviews from student participants

Two days

- Organizing individual interviews with eight student participants

- Interviewing each participant individually

- Listening intentionally and take notes carefully

- Categorizing and analyze the data collection Two days

3.2.4 Data analysis

Descriptive data analysis was employed to analyze data from questionnaires

It helps to describe or characterize the answers for respondents to numerically coded questions (Brown, 2001) Two main tools, therefore, in the study used to analyze the data are frequencies and percentages

Frequencies are a sort of tool which counts the number of times people did the same things (Brown, 2001) In the present study, frequencies indicate summaries of students‟ responses to questions in the questionnaires and interviews

Concerning analyzing data from descriptive statistic data, percentage is mostly integrated with frequencies to present a comprehensible and clear picture of

a certain phenomenon (Brown, 2001)

Data from interviews perform a variety of different specific ideas and opinions; therefore, the study needs a way to combine the data from specific to general As a result, the study adopted inductive content analysis By using content analysis, the diversity of responses „is reduced to a handful of key issues in a reliable manner‟ (Dornyei, 2003) In content analysis, responses may be categorized into „distinct content elements‟, „substantive statements‟ or „key points‟ in the first phase After that, these categories will be used to describe the content of responses

in form of comparisons for demonstrations (Dornyei, 2003, p.116)

3.2.5 Research procedure

The action research was conducted during the first semester of school year 2016- 2017 Adapting steps in Kemmis‟ and Mc Taggart‟s action research cycle (1988), the action was developed in four steps as follows:

3.2.5.1 Step 1: Problem identification

In order to identify the problem, the researcher conducted some talks with three colleagues and personal class observation about teaching English especially English speaking skills Some problems are listed:

- Some students were unwilling to speak in front of the class

- Many students were too shy to speak

- Some students were shivering and gabbling, they stood up without saying full sentences

- Several students did not pay attention to the lesson; they made noise, and did what they liked

In order to consolidate her conclusion, after one week the researcher continued to implement pre-questionnaire for her students to get the certain information about the difficulties that make their participation in speaking activities when speaking English low

Now the researcher had answers from the students‟ survey questionnaires The

most important factors that affect students‟ participation in speaking activities are:

- The speaking activities are very difficult

- Students are afraid of making mistakes

- Students do not often practice speaking

- The topics in speaking activities in the textbook are not interesting and attractive enough

3.2.5.2 Step 2: Planning the action

After having identified the problems, the researcher realized that something should be done to encourage students to participate in English speaking activities Concerning these issues, the researcher decided to use different types of pictures such as pictures description and picture differences in most of speaking activities during the pilot teaching The researcher arranges to teach speaking by using pictures Students might work in pairs or groups to describe a picture to friends, find the differences between pictures, or rearrange the pictures to retell a story etc The tasks and activities that were going to be conducted in the process of teaching and learning can be seen in the lesson plan attached in this study The researcher carefully prepared the action steps in this research as the following:

- The lesson plan was taught with the employment of pictures in speaking activities

- Students worked in pairs, in groups or individually to practice speaking English They modified or created a situation based on the pictures

- Teacher evaluated and checked the students‟ comprehension about the topic they learnt in the class by calling one of them to present in front of the class

3.2.5.3 Step 3: Implementing the action

After everything was prepared carefully, the real action took place There were three lessons (Appendix 7) conducted in this stage Each lesson was taught in

40 minutes This aimed at studying the effects of applying pictures on improving the students‟ participation in speaking activities After three lessons, students were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of using pictures in speaking lessons through post-questionnaires To know the students‟ attitudes towards the use of pictures in

speaking activities, the researcher chose randomly eight students to interview

The researcher entered the class at 9.05 a.m As usual before the lesson

began, she delivered cordial greeting by saying “Good morning, class” The students responded warmly by saying “Good morning, Mrs Men” Then, the researcher continued asking “How are you?” The students answered mechanically in chorus

“I’m fine, thank you, and you?” The researcher answered “Pretty well, thanks” Afterwards, she showed some pictures related to the topic, (e.g Who is this? Where

are they? How old are they? What are they doing? etc Their answers were really

various Based on the contextual teaching and learning, the researcher led their attention into the topic being discussed by giving students brain storming activities

to build up their knowledge They were also taught to pronounce vocabulary as well

as sentence patterns which were written on the board

The researcher showed four different pictures for students to practice asking and answering questions about where someone is from, using sentence pattern

Where are you from? To broaden the students‟ knowledge about the topics and

other things, the researcher prepared the media or aids that were going to be used

(eg A newspaper, a carton, glue, scissors, and crayons), cutting an interesting picture from the newspaper (especially, a person or a place), then attaching it to the

carton, adding colors to the picture or carton, finally, describing the picture orally Through these pictures students can practice speaking English and know more about the culture and people from the different countries as well As a result, the students felt very enthusiastic and eager to do the assignment given by the researcher

Further, the researcher divided 32 students into 8 groups of 4 Every student had a picture in his or her group The others needed to pay attention and prepared their turns to practise since this activity would be done gradually At first, the students described the picture individually in details for around 1 and 2 minutes Every student got their own turn to make sure that they knew how to tell the pictures After all groups had presented the pictures, the researcher gave corrections

to any errors produced by the students such as their pronunciation and stress

The students did the actions like in the first lesson when presenting their pictures in other two lessons After all groups presented the pictures, the researcher gave more attention to them Then she gave comments and feedback on students' activity In general, it seemed most of the students were enthusiastic to do their tasks The pictures were created to be used in teaching and learning process to make the students enjoy speaking and reduced their boredom

3.2.5.4 Step 4: Reflecting the action

In this stage, the data were collected and analyzed These data come from the talks with colleagues, the class observation, and students‟ questionnaires to know the difficulties that students face in speaking skills And the results of the analysis after implementing the action were evaluated to see whether the action was effective or not

Chapter summary

By so far, this chapter has illustrated the research context of the study including the research site, teaching materials, the main teaching staff, and the current teaching and learning English speaking at the researcher‟s school In addition, the chapter has presented the research population, the research design and the design of lesson plans Furthermore, the chapter has given explanations to the use of research instruments as well as their purposes Finally, the chapter has summarized the procedures of data collection and has come up with an analytical framework for the research in advance The next chapter reports the results of the data collection and their discussion from the research instruments