Teachers use of eliciting techniques in english speaking lessons at son tay upper secondary school, hanoi

Research Aims and Research Questions The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of eliciting techniques by teachers ofEnglish in Son Tay upper secondary school in speaking less

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

CAO THI ̣HÔ ̀

NG PHƯƠNG

TEACHERS’ USE OF ELICITING TECHNIQUES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT SON TAY UPPER SECONDARY

SCHOOL, HANOI

(Sử dụng thủthuâṭgơịmởtrong giờdaỵ nói Tiếng Anh của giáo

viên THPT Sơn Tây, Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Code: 60 14 10Cohort: MA 18

HANOI , 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-

(Sử dụng thủthuâṭgơịmởtrong giờdaỵ nói Tiếng Anh của giáo viên taịTHPT

Sơn Tây, Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Code: 60 14 10Supervisor : Lương Quỳnh Trang( M A)

HANOI, 2011

1 Statement of the Problem and the Rationale of the Study

2 Research Aims and Research Questions

3 Scope of the Study

4 Significance of the Study

5 Methodology of the Study

6 Organization of the Study

1.2 2 Asking Questions Combined with Using Pictures

1.2 3 Asking Questions Combined with Using Games or Activities1.2 4 Asking Questions Combined with Using Texts and Dialogues1.2 5 Asking Questions Combined with Using Non-verbal Language1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Eliciting Techniques

4 Phases to Teach Speaking

2.7 Procedure of Data Collection

2.8 Data Analysis Procedure

2.9 Conclusive Remark

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND

DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Research Question 1

3.2 Research Question 2

3.2.1 The Teachers’ Frequency of Using Elicitation

3.2.2 Stages in which Eliciting Techniques are Employed in Speaking Lessons3.2.3 The Constraints of Using Eliciting Techniques as Reported by the Teachers

3.3 Summary

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION

4.1 Major Findings of the Research

4.2 Pedagogical Implications of the Research4.3 Contribution of the Research

4.4 Limitations of the Research

4.5 Suggestions for Further Studies

LITS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: The use of eliciting techniques in English speaking lessons of grade 10- from the student questionnaire

Figure 2: The use of eliciting techniques in English speaking lessons of grade 11- from the student questionnaire

Figure 3: The use of eliciting techniques in English speaking lessons of grade 12- from the student questionnaire

Figure 4: The frequency of using eliciting techniques in speaking lessons of grade 10 Figure 5: The frequency of using eliciting techniques in speaking lessons of grade 11 Figure 6: The frequency of using eliciting techniques in speaking lessons of grade 12 Table 1: Stages in which eliciting techniques are employed in speaking lessons of grade

10, 11, and 12.

LISTS OF ABBRIVIATIONS

ELT: English Language Teaching

EFL: English Foreign Language

ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of the Problem and the Rationale of the Study

Second Language Acquisition theories acknowledge that the importance of the ability tospeak is a key to success in the process of second language learning Pattison (1992)confirms that when people know a language, they mean being able to speak a language.The essential role of speaking skill in language learning is undeniable Similarly, mostlearners of English, especially those who are upper secondary school students, agree thatthe ability to express themselves freely in English in communication is of great value fortheir future careers

For upper secondary students, the ability to communicate fluently and effectively inEnglish has been of primary significance However, the fact shows that only a smallproportion of students can perform communication well in foreign language The majority

of them still remain embarrassed when they have a conversation in a foreign language Insome particular cases, students fail to speak a single word in English

Nevertheless, foreign language teaching, especially ELT in Vietnamese upper secondaryschools, has been strongly influenced by the traditional grammar-translation method withits major focus on grammar, reading, and writing A number of English teachers in SonTay upper secondary school are also profoundly influenced on this method A little or noattention is given to developing students‟ speaking skill As a result, students have littleopportunity to develop their communicative competence in English in their classrooms(Nunan, 1991, p 25)

Actually, eliciting is of great significance in speaking lessons as a tool of creating andstimulating a communicative language learning environment It is implied that teacher canelicit ideas, feelings, meanings, situations, associations, memories or anything that helpprovide the key information about a topic, encouraging students to get involved in thecommunicative process That confirms the reasons why eliciting techniques play a vitalrole in helping students develop speaking ability

Whether or not teachers apply any kinds of eliciting techniques to encourage students totake part in speaking activities is of great concern for all teachers of English in Son Tayupper secondary school Therefore, a thorough understanding of the fact may lay the

foundation for the improvement of teaching and learning speaking situation This

assumption has led me to undertake the study entitled “teachers‟ use of eliciting

techniques in English speaking lessons at Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi” with

the hope of better understanding about the reality, thus some recommendations may be

proposed in order to improve the quality of teaching speaking in my school

2 Research Aims and Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of eliciting techniques by teachers ofEnglish in Son Tay upper secondary school in speaking lessons Specifically, it addressedthe following research questions

Question 1 What eliciting techniques are used in English speaking lessons for Grade 10,

11 and 12 students at Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi?

Question 2 How are these techniques used to elicit student talk?

3 Scope of the Study

The study is limited to the search for teachers‟ use of eliciting techniques in speakinglessons at Son Tay upper secondary school The work involves firstly in the investigationinto the reality of which eliciting techniques are used in English speaking lessons of SonTay upper secondary school Then it identifies the frequency of employing thesetechniques It finally offers some implications to improve the quality of teaching andlearning speaking skill in Son Tay upper secondary school

4 Significance of the Study

Conducting this research, the researcher expected to identify the teachers‟ use of elicitation

in teaching speaking skill and the most common eliciting techniques teachers tended toemploy during their speaking lessons of all three grades of Son Tay upper secondaryschool, evaluation of how these techniques applied by both the teachers and students aswell as mentioning the difficulties the teachers encountered when using these techniques.Once completed, the research would serve as a reference for those who want to have aclearer view of the use of eliciting techniques Moreover, the findings could help teachersimprove their eliciting techniques as well as classroom management during teachingspeaking in order to improve students‟ communicative skill In addition, the findings of thepaper could be considered a source of reference for administrators in order to make

adjustment to the testing and assessment process Thus it can be of great benefits for bothteachers and students in their teaching and learning speaking skills at high school level.

5 Methodology of the Study

The research instruments, namely questionnaires, observations and interviews wereemployed to collect data for the research To be specific, a set of questionnaires wasdistributed to 120 students of 3 classes of all three grades 10, 11, 12 of Son Tay uppersecondary school In addition, three teachers were asked for the permission to be observed,and 6 teachers for interviews to get more in-depth information for the study Theinformation collected from questionnaires, observation checklists and interviews wastranscribed as the primary source of data for the research The general approach for dataanalysis was content analysis (Grbich, 2007 The contents were to be sorted into categoriesbased on the two research questions

The results from questionnaire, observations were summarized, evaluated and categorized

by Microsoft Excel with the detailed checklists from the observation schemes After thatteachers‟ interviews were transcribed and categorized into groups The flow of informationamong the teachers‟ interviews was the basis to compare and draw the conclusions aboutthe similarities and differences in applications of elicitations in speaking lessons among thethree grades 10, 11, 12 Additionally, the analyses of observations and interviews alsosupport for the results and discussions of the two research questions

6 Organization of the Study

Part A (Introduction) provides a flow of information the rationales, the aims, the

significance as well as the methods of the study

Part B (Development)

Chapter 1 (Literature review) offers the theoretical background of the study, including

discussions of key concepts and the related studies

Chapter 2 (Methodology) describes the research setting, participants, instruments of data

collection as well as the procedure employed to carry out data analysis

Chapter 3 (Data analysis and discussion) presents, analyses and discusses the findings that

the researcher found out from the data collected according to the two research questions

Chapter 4 (Conclusion) summarizes the answers to the two research questions, several

pedagogical recommendations concerning the research topic, the limitations of the research

as well as some suggestions for further studies Following this chapter are the references and appendices

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents some theoretical background based on which the study is carried out Firstly, a detailed presentation of research background will be described with the key concepts, including “eliciting techniques”, “speaking”, and “approaches to speaking” Some descriptions about the advantages of elicitation are also presented Finally, a brief review of the related studies will reveal the research gaps and hence, lays the concrete foundation for the aims and objectives of this research paper.

1 Eliciting

1.1 Definitions of Eliciting

Different methodologists define the term “elicitation” in a number of academic ways,

therefore the nature of this term can be seen in the light of the verb “to elicit” In language

teaching and learning, the term “eliciting” can be stated as a means of getting information

from learners “To elicit” is “to get information or reaction from somebody, often with

difficulty” is defined in Oxford Advanced Dictionary, (7th edition, p.474) Afterwards,

“eliciting techniques” are various ways people choose to employ in order to provoke ideas

from others

According to Darn (2008), “eliciting” is the term referring to a range of techniques teachers use to draw out answers and responses from their students and to “get students provide

information rather than giving it to them” Elicitation is also defined in the Dictionary of

Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics as the “Techniques or procedures areemployed by a teacher during a lesson in order to help students activate speaking orwriting” recommends that the application should be in a broader scale In other words,eliciting techniques are considered effective tools that teachers should make use of in order

to stimulate and get their students raise their voices in class

Gower, R., Philips D and S Walters (1995) in Teaching Practice handbook, assume that

“eliciting is when the teacher brings out students knowledge, suggestions and ideas You can

do this by asking questions and by encouraging and guiding contributions By eliciting you canuse little „teacher talking time‟ to increase „student talking time‟ Finding out what

the students already know and getting few ideas about a context or some vocabulary related

to it is a useful way of setting up an activity, whether it be a role play, a game, a listeningtask, the introduction of a new language structure, etc.” (p 1)

The researcher really likes the idea that, the reduction of „teacher talking time‟ can becompensated by an increase in the „student talking time‟ By eliciting, teachers can helplearners take more active part in the language learning process

As suggested by Doff (1988, cited in To et al., 2010), elicitation is mainly done by asking

questions merely or asking questions combining with some other tools Consequently,within its scope, this research paper focused on eliciting with questions and question-toolcombination Other techniques to elicit students‟ responses will not be mentioned

From what have been presented, the author highly appreciates and chooses Doff‟s

definition in this thesis that “eliciting is asking the students questions to get them to

contribute what they know already, to produce language and to draw information out of them” because it is closely related to the study of the researcher.

1 2 Types of Eliciting Techniques

Although different authors share various view points about types of eliciting techniques,they show the common assumptions that eliciting is not just asking “What does this or thatmean?” but to draw out to what extent students know about the target knowledge In order

to serve that purpose, eliciting as in Doff‟s (1988, cited in To et al., 2010) idea is mainly

carried out by the teacher asking questions or asking questions combined with other meansincluding pictures, games or activities, texts or dialogues and non-verbal language

questions,” which means that asking questions is the leading technique to elicit ideas and

responses from students As acknowledged by Darn (2008), asking questions is not onlythe natural feature of communication, but also one of the most significant tools teachershave at their disposal With this perception, questioning is indispensable for the way

teachers manage the class to engage students in the lesson, promote communicativeprocess as well as increase students‟ understanding.

Ur (1996, p.230) points out the characteristics of “effective questions” as follows: Once aquestion generates stimulating, rather immediate, suitable and comprehensive answers, itcan be an efficient questioning technique On the contrary, using questioning technique cancause pauses or only excellent students can answer the questions, or make the classroomenvironment become boring, or only short and ineffective responses are elicited

In terms of question types, there are numerous ways of classification This section of thestudy would like to introduce the most common systems of question classificationaccording to three different criteria covering three aspects: grammatical form,

communicative value and content (Wei Liu, 2005, p.16) However, “the dimension of the

content-oriented question has long been ignored in questioning study” (Wei, 2005, p.18).

As a result, this criterion of questioning system will be discussed in another study

Classification of questions by grammatical form

As presented in the preceding part, eliciting is asking students questions teachers‟ aimwhen asking questions is to get the shortest possible correct and natural answers, Doff(1988), Stevick (1988), Hakansson and Lindberg (1988, cited in Ellis 1994, p.588) andCross (1991) share the same opinion that questions are grammatically categorized intothree types: yes/no questions which expect affirmation or negation “or” or alternativequestions which require students to reply by merely choosing one of two options supplied

by the questions; and wh- or information questions which want students to give responses

by coming up with some information that is not contained in the question itself

Yes/no question: This is the type of questioning which expects the answer to be either

“yes” or “no” It helps teachers check students‟ comprehension at any point related to the

lesson Doff (1988, p.23) has asserted that yes/ no questions are “often the easiest

questions to answer” as “they do not require students to produce new language.” This is

the reason why this type of questioning cannot help much in eliciting student talk but isstill used in the classroom for certain purposes

“or” question: This type is also called alternative questions The raised questions contain

two factors and require the answerer to select one option among the available ones Withthis type of questioning, teachers cannot only check students‟ careful thinking for the right

answer but also motivate students to review their knowledge by justifying their choice.Consequently, asking alternative questions is an effective instrument to encourage students

to response

Wh- question: The third type of question normally begins with what, where, when, which,

why, how in order to get specific information, thus forcing students to think, synthesize and

understand their existing knowledge as well as the new knowledge

Classification of questions by communicative value

In class, teachers‟ questions play a number of roles They can activate the teacher-learnerinteraction and ensure that all students participate in learning and communication process.Classroom questions can be divided into two major types

Firstly, in order to support classroom management, classroom procedures and routines,

teachers raise procedural questions, which are also termed “social questions” (Barnes,

1969; 1976, cited in Ellis, 1994, p.587), “managerial questions” or “instruction questions”(Wang, 2001, cited in Wei, 2005, p.17) In other words, the main functions of thisquestioning type are directing, propelling and managing classroom activities Besides,Wang (2001, cited in Wei, 2005) added that these questions could also serve the functions

of developing students‟ pronunciation, intonation, sense of language and the use oflanguage that students can imitate in the real English use Some examples of this type are

“Is everything clear? Can you make it clearer? Can you understand? Can you read this or

that?”

Secondly, the fact that teacher has already known the answers of such questions or not

distinguishes questioning types into two subtypes, including “display questions” and

“referential questions”.

“Display questions” or “pseudo questions” (Tsui, 2001), or “factual questions” (Borg et al.,

1970, cited in Nunan, 1991), or “known-information questions” (Allright & Beiley, 1991)are those used to help the teacher test students‟ knowledge and understanding whileteachers have already known the answers As a result, display questions are form-oriented

or known-information-based (Wei, 2005, p.17) “Who is the main character?” can be taken

as an example These questions are not only easy for students as a number of students‟answers are available in the texts but also unproblematic for teachers to make and check

because they have already known the answers However, overuse of this questioning typethroughout the lesson may cause the lesson boring or less active.

On the contrary, “referential questions” encourage authentic language production as they

are questions used in real communication (Doff, 1988) The answers have not been known

by both teachers and students, which increases teachers‟ interest in hearing students‟responses So “referential questions” can be called “meaning driven” as stated in Wei(2005, p.17) Referential questions are able to elicit students‟ talk longer because theyrequire more thoughtful responses

In summary, both kinds of questions are of essence in a language class; specifically thespeaking class and teachers should take every advantage of questions of referential typewhich promote students‟ production of more imaginative and personal response

1.2 2 Asking Questions Combined with Using Pictures

Doff (1988, cited in To et al., 2010, p.12) gives his support for this technique as one of the easiest way to elicit new vocabulary or structure: “The teacher uses pictures to set the

scene and asks questions about what they see, why they think it happens, what they think will happen next and how they feel or what they think about it” By using pictures from

students‟ textbook or from any supplementary sources, teachers can fully motivate students

by catching their attention as well as stimulating their curiosity, imagination, guessing anddesire to present the target language items

1.2 3 Asking Questions Combined with Using Games or Activities

Dhaka (2010) states that games have been considered by a variety of language specialists,methodologists and authors as great, effective tools for teachers to teach the language Hegoes on to say that games are of great motivation and entertainment; and they providereserved students with more chances to state their views and ideas Normally, students donot wish to present themselves, yet, via games, they can reveal their hidden talent, and theyfind encouragement and security to show their attitudes Games also allow students to gainnew knowledge which a normal lesson does not always offer

Via games, learners are able to acquire English as the way they speak their native languagewithout knowing that they are learning Accordingly, without pressure, they can gain agreat deal To the full extent, reserved learners can take a more positive part in theinteractive communication process

1.2 4 Asking Questions Combined with Using Texts and Dialogues

Doff (1988, cited in To et al., 2010, p.13) has claimed that “teacher also may consider

using texts and dialogues to guide students to respond to the language use and the context

of use presented in those texts and dialogues”

A careful selection of texts and dialogues plays a vital role in providing students withillustrative language samples, via which students can produce ones of their own afterstudying the model Predominantly, the exploitation of authentic texts and dialogues inlanguage classrooms can bridge the gap between in-class knowledge and students‟

“capacities to participate in real world events” (Wilkins, 1976, p.79, cited in Guariento &

Morley, 2001, p.347)

1.2 5 Asking Questions Combined with Using Non-verbal Language

Stated in Doff (1988, cited in To et al., 2010, p.13), miming, gestures, facial expression,

body language, etc or non-verbal language, in short, are what the teachers have at theirdisposal to motivate students‟ responses These non-verbal tools can be alternated or usedtogether with other tools to change the class atmosphere and make students attentive inclass By making use of this technique, teachers can partly provoke students‟ curiosity,attention, and then utter the expected language items

1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Eliciting Techniques

Like any other tools of communication, questioning or eliciting is used for a great manyspecific purposes When considering questioning and answering as parts of the normalhuman use of language, it can be used to find out what people do not know or to clarifywhat is still unclear, and to help the person who is questioned understand something better

or to prompt him or her to remember something

Eliciting is of great importance In the presentation stage, students are usually passive tolisten to or to wait for their teachers‟ explanations and presentations of the new knowledge

If teachers elicit from students, they can get them actively involved in the classroomactivities (Ur, 1996, p 229)

The first positive point to be addressed is that eliciting technique involves the class by

keeping students alert, drawing their attention as well as making them think Doff (1988,

p.159) has diagnosed the problem that in the presentation stage, it is likely that teacherswill talk most of the time in order to provide as much knowledge as possible while

students‟ main task is listening to the teachers‟ instruction, meaning “this part of the

lesson will be dominated by teacher – he or she is using English to introduce new materials.” As a consequence, even the best students can find their minds wandering

occasionally in class If the teacher can activate students‟ mind and call back their attention

by asking them to contribute to this stage of the lesson, there is a far less chance thatdistracting factors can drift into students‟ minds This leads to the fact that students‟logical, reflective or imaginative thinking will be stimulated by answering the teacher‟squestions throughout the lesson

Secondly, elicitation helps maximize student talking time and simultaneously minimizeteacher talking time In class, if students respond to most of the questions provided byteachers in almost every stage of the lesson, they undoubtedly speak more than they do ifthey just listen to teachers‟ explanation As a consequence, questioning raised inappropriate time can keep teacher talking time to minimum while maximizing students‟contribution together with their talking time

Doff (1988, p.161) has assumed that “eliciting encourages students to draw on what they

already know or partly know”, which makes up for another benefit of elicitation By

starting with easy questions and moving to the more difficult ones, teachers will be able toboost students answering and realize the limitation of students‟ knowledge once theiranswers start to become incomplete or wrong Thus, elicitation creates two influences on

teachers: (1) teachers know how to adapt the presentation to the level of the students, and

(2) teachers can mainly spend lesson time on the most important points

Moreover, it is taken for granted that eliciting technique may create motivation among

students According to Ur (1996), when trying to answer the eliciting questions from the

teacher, students immediately work out or at least they may guess the answer Students willfeel pleased if their answer or guess is correct If not, they will self-realize that they need tostudy more on the answers and become more receptive

Most importantly, eliciting is the tool used to create direct interaction between teachers andstudents Corey (1940, cited in Hargie, et al, 1981, p.66) considers teachers‟ eliciting as afundamental and important means of classroom interaction This benefit has been stated by

Ur (1996, p.299) when the author has affirmed that elicitation serves several purposes such

as giving opportunities for students to present their ideas, Kissock and Iyortsuun (1982)also share the same view that it is of essence for teachers to realize the significance and

impact of questioning on communication and learning in the classroom in order to improvethe use of questions by both teachers and students.

On the other hand, a number of drawbacks of elicitation are also pointed out First, it may

be a waste of time Second, it does not always result in more student talking time Third, itmay encourage only better students Moreover, eliciting sometimes faces with silence due

to redundancy in asking questions Another disadvantage is that the eliciting language isnot natural or it can be boredom Additionally, it may not be students‟ habit to respond toteachers‟ questions due to their learning culture

Eliciting is quite a difficult skill It needs practice and experience to make it fully used of I

do believe that, though it still bears a number of downsides, elicitation is a really effectivetechnique that should be applied in language teaching and learning

In short, eliciting technique is beneficial for both teachers and students There are a greatnumber of purposes for teachers to use elicitation; as a result, teachers should take everychance when possible in order to apply appropriate types and forms of questioning inlanguage teaching classroom

To sum up, this section has presented the definitions of elicitation, types of eliciting as well

as the benefits of eliciting In the next section, speaking skill, characteristics of a successfulspeaking activity, approaches to speaking, as well as the importance of employing elicitingtechniques in speaking lessons will be discussed

2 Speaking

2.1 Definition of Speaking

In this section, the author will consider what we mean by “speaking” In languageteaching, we often talk about four language skills in terms of their direction and modality.Speaking, in particular, can be regarded as the productive, oral skill

Speaking serves a vital function in human communication There is a variety of linguistsdefining the term of speaking Lerris (2003) states that: “Speaking is a chance to notice the

gaps between what you can say; it is the chance to test hypotheses about language.”

Similarly, Bygate (1987) assumes that speaking skill is a medium through which a largeamount of language is learnt Brown and Yule (1983), in their book, claim that spokenlanguage consists of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation There is a

great deal of repetition and overlap between one and another speaker Speaking is alsoconsidered as “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal andnon verbal symbols, in a variety contexts” (Chaney, 1998, p.13, as cited in Kayi, H (2006).Additionally, Florez (1991, p 1) defines speaking as “an interactive process ofconstructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information”(cited in Bailey, 2005, p 2) According to Mackey (1965) “ oral expression involves notonly the use of the right sounds in the right patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also achoice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning” ( as cited inBygate, 1987, p 5)

Of all the definitions of speaking given by different methodologists, the author likes theterm “ speaking” defined by Florez (1991), as it is closely related to the field in which theresearcher is doing her research

2.2 Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity

Ur (1996) asserts the characteristics of a successful speaking activity as follows:

Learners talk a lot As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity in

fact occupied by leaner talk This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pause.

Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative

participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed.

Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic

and have something new to say about it.

Language is of an acceptable level Learners express themselves in utterances that are

relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy Ur (1996, p 120)

2.3 Approaches to Speaking

Bailey (2005), claims that language teaching used to be considered as assisting learners toacquire linguistic competence, which means, students are able to communicate when theyare equipped with grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation However, this assumption hasundergone significant changes Linguistic competence can be understood as acommunicative competence Language users need communicative competences in order tointerchange their information and ideas This means, besides linguistic component, thereare three other elements a speaker needs to demonstrate when he or she speaks The first

element is sociolinguistic competence, which means the speaker‟s suitable use of language

in different type of speaking The second significant component, strategic competence, isshown when a speaker wants to find a way to convey his or her meaning The last factor isdiscourse competence It is applied when a certain speech displays both cohesion andcoherence (p 3)

It has been highly appreciated when a speaker of a foreign language can functioneffectively all the four components of communicative competence to interact with otherspeakers The author thinks that the four components of communicative competence havevarious implications for EFL teachers Since communicative competence was constructed

in many aspects, it is crucial for teachers of EFL to understand fully the relatedcomponents in order to help learners improve their speaking skill

3 Eliciting Techniques and Speaking in Second Language Teaching

Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching Despite itsimportance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English languageteachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization ofdialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking shouldimprove students' communicative skills By this way, students can express themselves andlearn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicativecircumstance In speaking lessons, students are usually passive to wait for teachers‟explanations If teachers elicit from the students, they can get them active and involved inthe speaking activities Via elicitations, students are encouraged to express their own ideas,

to provoke their flow of information and knowledge Therefore they can gain muchprogress in speaking skill

4 Phases to Teach Speaking

Byrne (1988) distinguishes three following phases to develop learners‟ oral ability: thepresentation phase, the practice phase and the production phase

In presentation phase, teachers create some communicative activities to warm up students

as well as lead students in the topic of the lessons In this stage, teachers ask studentsquestions to elicit information or to provide some key vocabulary related to the topic of thelesson

At practice phase learners have to do most of talking as they are provided maximum

amount of practice in the form of controlled and guided activities to improve vocabularyand grammar knowledge as well as fluency of speaking The learners, at this phase, answerthe teacher‟s guided questions, discuss with their partners to find new ideas related to thetopic At the end of the practice phase, Ur (1996) suggested what the teacher should do is

to enhance the learners‟ fluency of speaking First, attention must be fully paid by thelearners Second, the target language must be clearly heard or repeated Third, learnersunderstand the meaning of new materials and finally, short-term memory of the materialmust be created for later use in the lesson

At the last phase of learning speaking, production phase, learners are given chances to

speak English freely Being in a real situation, learners use English by themselves, notnearly depend on the teacher‟s help Free activities are also in the form of individual work,pair work and group work However, pair work and group work are of great importanceand effectiveness as all learners can have chance to participate in talks, and they seem moreconfident and more motivated Moreover, this can save a great deal of time In the process

of teaching speaking, the improvement of the speaking ability will be gained if these threephases are followed orderly However, they might not be applied as expected because oftime limitation, types of learners and materials in use

So far the definition of speaking, characteristics of a successful speaking activity,approaches to speaking, the importance of employing eliciting techniques in speakinglessons as well as phrases to teach speaking have been presented In the next section, somerelated studies will be mentioned

5 Related Studies

Topics of eliciting techniques have received a great deal of attention among EFL

researchers and language teachers as “eliciting is a powerful diagnostic tool” for teachers

to provide information and knowledge for their students (Darn (2008) Therefore, thesubject of elicitation has been discussed through a large number of studies in differentdisciplines where elicitation is employed Addressing this issue, in the world of languageteaching, various studies such as those by many authors One of the most remarkable

example of the previous studies is “Eliciting spontaneous speech in bilingual students:

Methods and techniques” by Cornejo, Ricardo and Najar (1983) In this study, the three

researchers introduced the traditional techniques to elicit students‟ language, and then

recommended the use of interviews as an effective technique to elicit students‟ talk.Additionally, it is noteworthy that many books on language teaching and learning havebeen published, such as Ur (1996), Cross (1991), etc Unfortunately, little attention waspaid to elicitation as a small technique in language teaching This apparently offers a gapfor the researcher to conduct a study in a more comprehensive way with Vietnameseparticipants.

As regards Vietnam‟s ELT context, the aforementioned issue has not been thoroughlyinvestigated despite the existence of a few related studies by undergraduates such as Pham(2006), Tran (2007) and Chu (2009) Pham (2006) investigated the use of elicitation inteaching vocabulary to 11th form students in Hanoi Tran, in 2007 carried out a research oneliciting techniques used to teach speaking skill to grade 10 students in Hanoi Most

recently, Chu (2009) did research on “Techniques teachers use to elicit grade10

„students‟ talk in upper secondary schools in Hanoi.”

It is obvious that all three undergraduates put great efforts to investigate the application ofelicitation in both language competence and language skills in a broad scale of bigpopulation It can be seen that the above mentioned studies have left gaps for the presentresearch to continue exploring the teacher‟s use of eliciting techniques The two firststudies focused on elicitation in lessons of one English language skill and languagecomponent at high schools whereas the third one studied eliciting in lessons of all fourskills in high school context Therefore the researcher is aware of the essentiality to carryout the research in a particular context in order to find out the fact to improve the situation

of English teaching and learning in the context where the researcher is presently working

as a teacher of English

6 Summary

So far the researcher has discussed the definitions of elicitations, the types of eliciting,advantages of elicitation Some definitions of speaking, characteristics of a successfulspeaking activity, approaches to speaking, phrases to teach speaking as well as theimportance of employing eliciting techniques in speaking lessons have also been presented.Additionally, a review of some related studies in this chapter has detected a research gapwhich the researcher is pursuing to bridge by seeking the answers to the two researchquestions

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

With the major objective of seeking the eliciting techniques used by teachers of English in speaking lessons at Son Tay upper secondary school, this research employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches The present chapter offers detailed description of the research approaches, the sampling method, the context of the study, the participants, the specific methods of data collection, data analysis, as well as the specific procedure of the research Justification for the use of such approaches, procedures and methods is also presented.

2.1 Research Questions

The final aim of the research is to investigate the use of eliciting techniques by teachers ofEnglish in speaking lessons at Son Tay upper secondary school and recommend somesuggested solutions to increase students‟ involvement The study is implemented to answerthe following questions:

1 What eliciting techniques are used in English speaking lessons for Grade 10, 11 and 12 students at Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi?

2 How are these techniques used to elicit student talk?

2.2 Research Approach

In this study, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed to collect data to

serve the purpose of the research work

Burns and Grove (1991) assert that quantitative research is “a formal, objective, systematic

process in which numerical data are utilized to obtain information about the world” (as

cited in Cormack, 1991, p 140) The picture of data which emerges from quantitativeanalysis, hence, less rich than that obtained from qualitative analysis Instead of simplyanswering how well, how much or how accurately something is done, qualitative researchwould bring an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the phenomena (Bordens &Abbott, 1999) Hence, quantitative and qualitative methods could supplement each other.Therefore, in this research study, qualitative and quantitative method was employed inorder to triangulate the data collected from quantitative research and helps the researcher toget some insights into the issues With the multiple data collection procedures, hopefully,the findings would be of greater validity and reliability

2.3 Sampling Method

The researcher firstly decided that all of the 12 teachers were invited to answer theinterview However, due to the time allocation of the whole school, some English teachershave their lessons at the same time As a result, only six teachers were invited asrepresentatives from 12 to take part in the study to a deeper extent with observations andinterviews as the data collection instruments

Regarding the students, the researcher chose only six classes to observe because of tworeasons Firstly, these six English teachers are now in charge of these 6 classes Secondly,among these six classes, two of which are grade10, 11 and 12, respectively The researcheralso chose 120 students in three grades out of 1600 students This can represent thepopulation of the whole school

2.4 Research Setting

2.4.1 An Overview of Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi.

Son Tay Upper Secondary School, which used to belong to Ha Tay Department ofEducation and training service, is now under the management of Hanoi EducationDepartment There are 45 classes in my school, which specialize in many subjects,including English language There are three classes majoring in English language, thus,students in those classes have the first priority in learning the language, meanwhile theother classes focus on their major subjects, namely mathematics, literature, physics, etc.Like other schools in Vietnam, both kinds of English textbooks are officially used at myschool: English textbooks of the basic level for students majoring in natural sciencesubjects, and English textbooks of the advanced level for ones whose majors are socialscience subjects

Being considered to be one of the four best schools in the local area, the researcherschool‟s purpose and mission are to train rounded citizens for the country in general, andfor the capital city in particular, which means that the students are supposed to master aforeign language besides their majors by the time they leave school Nevertheless, due tothe exam oriented teaching and learning, almost non English major students fail to speakEnglish Moreover, most students do not pay proper attention to the English subjectbecause their purpose of studying English is to pass the final national exam

2.4.2 The Teachers

In terms of the teaching staff, there are 12 teachers of English working in the Englishlanguage group, consisting of one male and 11 females aged from 28 to 53 They take theresponsibility to teach English for all three grades (10, 11, and 12) Most of them areactive, hard-working, kind-hearted and enthusiastic in working Five of them graduatedfrom ULIS; seven others acquired their degrees in other school of languages like OpenUniversity, Hanoi University or finished their studies from distance learning educationprogrammes Therefore the teachers‟ proficiencies do not seem to be at the same level.Additionally, most English teachers at Son Tay Upper Secondary school go to work three

or four days a week for about 16 periods of English teaching Still, all the teachers haveextra classes to teach, and they are all occupied They give their private classes the firstpriorities It is really a common thing among school English teachers as no teachers believethey can live on their basic salary

2.4.3 The Students

In terms of students, there are about 1600 students coming from different districts of thewestern part of Hanoi Among them, there are a few students (those in the English giftedclasses) who are really interested in learning English and want to develop their ability incommunicating in English In contrast, the majority of the students are lowly motivated.They tend to consider English as less important than other subjects and they study Englishonly in order to pass the examinations

Most students are, to some extent, good at grammar, but have a number of limitations ofpracticing skills, especially speaking They can do written exercises on English grammarcorrectly but they can hardly communicate in English Communicating in English is a bigchallenge for most of them who think that learning a foreign language means learninggrammatical rules or a list of irregular verbs As a result, they either keep silence all thetime or do not participate in the speaking activities As Le (2009) reveals in his finding thatthrough classroom observation, it was noticed that there was scarce participation ofstudents in the classroom conversation Despite the teacher‟s asking numerous questions,they were responded by themselves When offered an opportunity to talk, studentsremained quiet Le & Barnard (2009, p 25)

Since the study examined the eliciting techniques in the real classroom settings, bothstudents and teachers were involved as participants The following part will bring a clearerdescription of the two groups of participants.

2.5 Participants

The target sample of the research consisted of 120 students from six classes among 10, 11,

12 grade at Son Tay upper secondary school Each grade consists of 40 students They arefrom 15 to 17 years of age, majoring in English and other subjects The main reason forchoosing those students was that they had various levels of proficiency of English;therefore, the results might reflect the real situations Particularly, many of them are nonEnglish majors, so they possess little experience with working with teachers and otherstudents in English Thus, investigating this population could be of great benefit to thestudents themselves and the teachers at the research site, where the researcher has beenworking as a teacher of English for 12 years Additionally, the number of 120 participantssuited the nature of the study Due to its aim at exploring teachers‟ use of elicitingtechniques, it required a big sample to ensure its objectivity

The participants were also six teachers of English at Son Tay upper secondary school whowere teaching those six classes This sample was selected in order to support datatriangulation Moreover, the issues could be seen from the teachers‟ viewpoints;accordingly, it would undoubtedly increase the research‟s credibility

In summary, the choice of the population supported to ensure the validity, reliability andobjectivity of the present study

2.6 Instruments

2.6.1 Classroom Observations

Naturalistic observations were ideally exploited since they could create “insight into howbehavior occurs in the real world”, and, therefore, “increase the research‟s externalvalidity” (Bordens & Abbott, 1999, p 107) Also, they would be effective to explore thetechniques teachers use inside the classroom (Brown & Rodgers, 2002) The researcherdecided that six lessons would be observed in order to collect the data for the study As aresult, the choice of observations was appropriate to examine the eliciting techniques thatwere employed by teachers in speaking lessons

In the study, an observation scheme (see Appendix 1) was applied for its convenience in

data coding and analysis It was designed to investigate teachers‟ use of eliciting

techniques and how they are used, basing on the frequencies of the techniques and the

ways the techniques are organized.

2.6.2 Semi – structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviews were employed for several reasons First, they could bring theinterviewer great flexibility to focus more on remarkable points (Nunan, 1992).Furthermore, interactions in a semi-structured interview were “incredibly rich”; thecollected data could be “extraordinary evidence about life” that might not be gained in astructured interview or questionnaire (Nunan, 1992, p 93) Accordingly, they could createrich, thick data for a valid and well-researched study

In the research, the interviews were used to triangulate and enrich the questionnaire data.The questionnaire included several questions for the researcher to base on to keep trackwith the objectives of the study during the interviews rather than asking random questions,which might lead her too far from the focus of the investigation However, as theinterviews went along, possible relevant questions would be added to generate more useful

details (See Appendix 2)

2.6.3 Questionnaires

Questionnaire research seems to be popular among educational researchers in general andEFL researchers in particular Employing questionnaire the researcher can benefit from anumber of good points:

The knowledge needed is controlled by the questions; therefore it affords a good deal of precision and clarity Data can be gathered in different time slots: all at once in a class, in the respondents‟ own time as long as it is easy to return, the questions are the same and the format is identical.

(McDonough & McDonough, 1997, p 5)Moreover, O‟Malley and Chamot (cited in Chu, 2009) also point out that: questionnaires

help “delimit the responses to information that is relevant” and “simplify data

manipulation” as computers can be used for coding and analysis.

However, questionnaires still bear some downsides They are assumed to be unreliable assometimes informants are careless in responding The students will possibly do notremember which techniques of elicitation are used by their teachers They may copy fromtheir classmates

Considering the advantages and the drawbacks, the researcher carried out the questionnairesurvey very carefully Hopefully, this could minimize the shortcomings of questionnairesand ensure the reliability and validity of the data.

This study involved 120 students of grade 10, 11and 12 of Son Tay upper secondary school

in answering the questionnaire Besides, since one of the aims of the study was to identifythe eliciting techniques used by teachers of Son Tay upper secondary school as well as theways they are employed in speaking lessons, thus questionnaires were such safe

“assurances of anonymity” (Brown, 2001, p.77) that helped the researcher deal withsensitive issues as well as get students‟ opinions on the asked issues The hard copies ofquestionnaire were delivered in class, which was easier for the researcher to contact the

participants (See Appendix 3)For the convenience of the respondents and the researcher‟s

purpose of acquiring the most accurate information about teachers‟ use of elicitingtechniques, the whole questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese

Piloting and revising the questionnaire

The questionnaire was piloted with another group of students of grade 10 to test whetherthe wordings used in the questionnaires were understandable to students or not Theresearcher also asked a pair of students to proof – read the questionnaires and highlight thepoints they did not understand Hopefully, the respondents felt comfortable with thequestionnaires to produce the most reliable answers

2.7 Procedure of Data Collection

The data were collected during the period of 4 weeks by the aforementioned instruments.The data collection procedures would be demonstrated as follows First, the first version ofthe questionnaire was piloted with five grade 10 students at Son Tay upper secondaryschool in order to gain constructive feedback Then, it was carefully revised to ensure itsaccuracy, conciseness, comprehensiveness and focus After being piloted and revised, thequestionnaires were directly delivered to 120 students in three classes at Son Tay uppersecondary school, in class A short introduction about the study was first made togetherwith the researcher‟s careful oral instructions to lessen any misunderstanding andambiguity

Afterwards, during the time of questionnaire filling, when any confusion emerged,essential help was provided by the researcher As a result, several serious limitations ofusing questionnaires such as the simplicity and superficiality of answers or respondents‟literacy problems could be minimized (Bordens & Abbott, 1999) Later, six teachers wereinvited to the interviews to yield more interesting points Semi-structured interviews,which based on schedule, were administered in Vietnamese with each individualparticipant In order to eliminate any misunderstanding, main questions were given out atthe beginning of the interviews Afterwards, the interviews took place in an informalatmosphere to minimize the participants‟ anxiety.

Next, observations were conducted to examine data reliability Six observations of sixdifferent classes were carried out in speaking lessons The researcher strictly followed theobservation schemes to take notes and focus on the points investigated Furthermore, thoseobservations were carefully tape-recorded for later reference and analysis if necessary.Immediately after each lesson, an informal interview was carried out in Vietnamese withone teacher in the observed group for data triangulation

All the interviews were tape-recorded to ensure covering all the essential details Certainly,tape-recording did not bear any threats to the data reliability due to two reasons First, itwas recorded only when the interviewees willingly agreed to do so Second, thoseinterviews were carried out in an open, relaxing setting Accordingly, the participantsinterviewed were under no pressure when giving out their answers

2.8 Data Analysis Procedure

During this data analysis process, content analysis was used as the key measurementemployed both to gather and investigate data After the data had been collected, they wereprocessed through two phases

Phase 1: Data classification

Based on the observation, the researcher analyzed the data to answer the research

questions: 1 what eliciting techniques are used in English speaking lessons for Grade 10,

11 and 12 students at Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi? 2 How are these techniques used to elicit student talk? Based on the result of 120 returned questionnaires

from the students the researcher began to classify the data according to two researchquestions To be specific, all data gathered from student questionnaire gave more detailed

to the answers to both research questions Moreover, the analysis of the interviews withteachers not only provided the data to answer the both questions, but also offered thereasons of the use those eliciting techniques in different grade as well as the ways theteachers exploited them in their English speaking lessons.

Phase 2: Data coding and decoding

Mechanical counting was performed to render specific statistics These numbers were put

in appropriate tables, charts and graphs for better illustration and explanations Also in thisstep, comparisons and contrasts of the use of eliciting technique between three grades wereput in charts and graphs to show the similarities as well as the differences Moreover,content analysis became helpful when the researcher analyzed data from the observationsand interviews The teachers‟ and students‟ facial expressions and reactions in class werealso taken into consideration It was difficult for the researcher to illustrate this type ofinformation into charts and graphs, instead, the researcher often quoted and interpreted theparticipants‟ ideas to support the point Consequently, results from these two datacollection instruments helped completely give answers to all research questions

2.9 Summary

So far, this chapter has justified the methodology applied in this paper by elaborating thesetting and two groups of participants involved in the process of data collection (120students of grade 10, 11 and 12 of Son Tay upper secondary school and their teachers).These justifications of the methodology would help make the way for the findings anddiscussion in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents, compares, and contrasts the data from the three different sources, namely questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observations under two main areas These include the use of eliciting techniques by teachers of English at Son Tay upper secondary school and the ways they are employed at English speaking lessons which strictly correspond to the two research questions In each section, the discussion of the findings is enclosed to highlight the similarities and differences among the choices of each eliciting technique.

3.1 Research Question 1:

Which Eliciting techniques are used by English teachers at Son Tay Upper secondary school?

The first research question: “What eliciting techniques are used in English speaking

lessons for Grade 10, 11 and 12 students at Son Tay Upper Secondary School, Hanoi?”

was raised as it would be worth investigating whether English teachers at Son Tay uppersecondary school employed any eliciting techniques in order to stimulate students to talk inspeaking lessons The data would be demonstrated as follows:

The use of eliciting techniques In English speaking lessons of grade 10(See Appendix

4, figure 1)

As can be seen from the figure, all students surveyed, accounting for 100%, admitted thatasking questions is the most favorable eliciting technique employed in grade 10 Englishspeaking lessons The interviewed teachers also claimed that they have used all kinds ofessential eliciting techniques in their teaching, specifically “asking questions” in order toencourage their students to get involved in the speaking activities It was followed byasking questions combined with games or activities, making up for 87.5 percent Askingquestions combined with pictures and asking questions combined with texts and dialoguesaccounted for 77.5% and 70% respectively Only 37.5 percent of the surveyed 10 gradersstated that asking questions combined with non verbal languages was used by their Englishteachers Through the survey, it was conveyed that all most all students feel reluctant tospeak in English in English speaking lessons and they believed that their teachers‟elicitation was of great essence to provoke their ideas