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

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

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

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THAO PHUONG

THE APPLICATION OF “SCAFFOLDING METHOD” INTO PROMOTING ENGLISH LEARNERS' AUTONOMY AT AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN HANOI – AN ACTION RESEARCH

PROJECT

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

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: Language Teaching Methodology

Code: 8140231.01

HANOI 2019

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

GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THAO PHUONG

THE APPLICATION OF “SCAFFOLDING METHOD” INTO PROMOTING ENGLISH LEARNERS' AUTONOMY AT AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL IN HANOI – AN ACTION RESEARCH

PROJECT

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

MINOR MASTER THESIS

Major: Language Teaching Methodology

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

Supervisor: Dr Pham Lan Anh

HANOI 2019

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

Signature:

Date: 3/2019

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

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

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

me their best suggestions

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

to complete this research paper

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

Learner autonomy, a recurrent topic in language teaching over the last threedecades, has been advocated from a pedagogical point of view and from theperspective of philosophy Learner autonomy is one of the most important factorsleading to the success in second language learning as well as life-long learning Inview of the necessity of learner autonomy in the context of the foreign languageclassrooms, the aim of this study is to foster autonomy of EFL learners in speakingskill by encouraging them to take the responsibility in the learning process This is

an action research conducted with 28 grade 10 English gifted students from class10D at Global International School The goal was achieved by raising theirawareness, training them the necessary strategies, and applying proposed activities.After twelve lessons of implementing the action plan, questionnaire and wasadministered to discover the difference in the level of autonomy among the subjects.Other data collection instruments like follow-up interviews and classroomobservations were also exploited to validate the results The findings analyzedagainst a set of given criteria revealed that after having worked with this action plan,these learners were able to improve their autonomy as well as their spoken English.They became more aware of how certain aspects of language work and they wereable to develop their self-confidence and stimulate their motivation to continuelearning in class This suggests a way of gauging students‘ responsibility for theirown learning and that learner autonomy, as a life-long mode of learning, can only

be achieved with the efforts of both the teacher and the learner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1.Rationale for the study 1

2.Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Methods of study 3

4.Scope of the study 3

5.Structure of the study 4

PART B DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Learner autonomy 5

1.1.1 Definition of learner autonomy 5

1.1.2 Roles of learner autonomy 6

1.1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy 6

1.1.4 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy 7

1.2 Speaking skill 12

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

1.2.2 Autonomy in speaking skill 13

1.3 Scaffolding method 15

1.3.1 More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) 16

1.3.2 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) 16

1.3.3 Basic scaffolding strategies for English language learner 17

1.3.4 The application of scaffolding theory in oral English teaching 17

1.4 Review of previous studies on autonomy 18

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Research question 21

2.2 Subjects of the thesis 21

2.3 Setting 22

2.4 Research design 25

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 38

PART C CONCLUSION 52

1 Recapitulations 52

2 Recommendations 53

3 Limitations 54

4 Suggestions for further study 55

REFERENCES 56 APPENDICES I

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

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Characteristics of independent learning

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

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

Figure 1: The Learner Independence Continuum

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

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

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

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

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

For all the reasons above, I have decided to undertake a study on students‘autonomy in learning English speaking at Global International School (GIS), Hanoi.Despite the effort made to implant learner autonomy, it is still at a low level inupper secondary school setting in Vietnam, and the students in GIS are of noexception Even the students who are gifted at English exhibit low responsibility intheir English - learning process When asked to work in pairs and groups inspeaking lessons, they start to write down their own ideas as a long presentation orsome key points and revise their own work individually, and ready to communicateonly when they are perfectly sure of their part and their ideas Furthermore, they aregenerally reluctant to question the teacher or give their opinions

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

This situation urges the conduction of this research to aid students in their secondlanguage learning and life-long learning This is basically no easy task sinceautonomy does not blossom automatically Due to the highly complex nature oflanguage and language learning, augmenting autonomy in language learners oftenproves to be a doubly difficult objective Although few research have been done inVietnam to boost students‘ active engagement in speaking, a large number ofstudies in other countries have reported favorable results in developing theirstudents‘ autonomy Most of them use awareness-raising activities, portfolio, self-assessment, homework and assignment in their studies Regarding all thesepractices, the present paper is an attempt to search the current research then build anappropriate project of actions for the English gifted students in English, GIS whohave average level of learning autonomy The expectation is to help learnersgenerate a sense of autonomy in language learning, elevate the students speakingskill as well as render effective speaking lessons

2 Aims and objectives of the study This research aims at:

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

speaking skill

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Methods of the study

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

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

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

doing their home assignments and in-class activities to habituate their speakingpractice and active engagement After the intervention, questionnaires, interviewsand classroom observations were conducted to get the feedback The data aims atgetting the students evaluation on the activities and more remarkably, to examinewhether they become more autonomous

4 Scope of the study

Learner autonomy is undoubtedly vast issue in the second language learning

It borders different aspects However, this study touches upon only one researchableaspect of autonomy, i.e., developing autonomy in speaking skill In the literature,there is a range of actions to ensure students self-directed learning; however, severalpertinent activities are adopted in consideration of the context of GIS and the smallscale of this research for the sake of limited time and students‘ low level.Furthermore, the subjects of this study are the grade 10 students who are gifted inEnglish as these students often exhibit the least autonomy in learning

5 Structure of the study

This paper is organized into three main parts as follows:

3 deals with the actual procedures of the study: methodology, subjects and datacollection procedures Chapter 4 presents the finding and analysis of the datacollected

Part C: Conclusion

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

suggestions for improving students‘ autonomy in studying speaking skill In

addition, it also poses several directions for future research.

PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

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

1.1 Learner autonomy

1.1.1 Definition of learner autonomy

The term ―learner autonomy‖ was first introduced formally by Henri Holec in 1981when he wrote Autonomy and foreign language learning - his contribution to theCouncil of Europe‘s work in adult education The so-called ―father‖ of learnerautonomy, provides a broad definition which considers learner autonomy ―theability to take charge of one‘s own learning" Scharie and Szabo (2000), turningattention to the aspect of attitudes, seemed to share the same interest with Holec(1981) when they presented a persuasive analysis of the interrelationship betweenautonomy and responsibility According to the authors, autonomy is defined as

―the freedom and ability to manage one‘s own affairs, which entails the right tomake decisions as well‖ whereas responsibility is understood as ―being in charge

of something, but with the implication that one has to deal with the consequences ofone‘s own actions.‖ (Scharie&Szabo, 2000: 4) They argue that autonomy andresponsibility are interrelated and both require learners‘ active involvement

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

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

or ―responsibility.‖ In his definition, he indicated three levels of control that alearner should take in order to develop his/her learning autonomy: ―An adequatedescription of autonomy in language learning should at least recognize theimportance of three levels at which learner control may be exercised: learningmanagement, cognitive processes and learning content‖ (Benson, 2001: 50)

I am in favor of Henri Holec‘s definition of learner autonomy as learners‘ ―ability

to take charge of their own learning‖ This general but concise definition, from theresearcher‘s view, really touches upon the spirit of autonomy It is obvious fromHolec‘s definition that an autonomous learner not only possesses a sense ofresponsibility for his learning but he/she is also self-conscious of that responsibility.All in all, in second language learning, learner autonomy is a stimulating,multifaceted concept which can be interpreted from different viewpoints Learners‘autonomy encompasses not only their attitudes but also their behaviors It is both aprocess and a goal in language learning, in education and in living; therefore, todevelop learner autonomy, it is important to find a way to help students to be aware

of what they have done and further reflect on it so that they could achieve personalawareness, process and situational awareness, and task awareness

1.1.2 Roles of learner autonomy

Learner autonomy can be regarded as an offspring of learner-centeredapproach, which is an innovative and effective one in the literature of secondlanguage learning The benefits of cultivating autonomy in learners have beendisclosed by a variety of researchers and practitioners Learner autonomy can lead

to increase in motivation and cooperation as well as responsibilities in their studyingprocess, which means more effective learning (Deci, 1995, p.2) Furthermore, theconcept of autonomy is not restricted in school aspect Once students acquireautonomy in learning in the school curriculum, they slip easily into autonomy forother activities outside class In other words, autonomous learners evolve life-longlearning and hereby they are capable of authoring the world in which they live

1.1.3 Characteristics of learner autonomy

Many scholars agree on the hypothesis that learner autonomy entails reflectiveinvolvement in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating learning.However, different scholars may contribute additional attributes of learnerautonomy to these core features

According to Scharle and Szabo (2000), an autonomous student must have built fourblocks, such as: motivation and self-confidence, monitoring and evaluation, learningstrategies, and cooperation and group cohesion While motivation and self-confidence refer to the intrinsic motivation and willingness to take responsibility inlearning, cooperation and group cohesion indicates that learners should liaise witheach other in the learning process The second and third factors cover the samenotion as the core features Monitoring skills emphasize the need to focus on theprocess of learning rather than the product This step is followed by self-evaluation,which means learners judge their own works as objectively as they can,acknowledging their level of proficiency, their strong and weak points.

1.1.4 Teacher’s roles in learner autonomy

Autonomous learning must be the characteristic expected to nurture instudents with the aids from teachers Teachers take responsibility for managing andconsulting during the process It is not leaving students to fend by themselves orsitting students in front of computers and hoping they will learn

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

of a facilitator Relinquishing teacher‘s control is parallel with providing sufficientguidance to smooth learners‘ way into autonomous learning, and into developingpurposefulness and creativity in doing so (Dickinson, 1995) Teachers supervisestudents in their own learning- preference discovery and create opportunities fortheir experience

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

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

Furthermore, facilitating and counseling learners is not just a matter of pointingthem in the right direction - it is also to do with motivation, behaviors, and practicaland emotional support Teachers, therefore, should motivate students in acquiringlearning independence as well as language skills Beside stimulating factors,autonomy requires a conscious awareness of the learning process, strategies andstyles Learner strategies are a key to and ―prerequisite‖ for learner autonomy(Weden, 1998) Learners can take care of their own learning only when he hasbecome more mature and made use of the pertinent strategies Thus, teachers have

to expedite learners to know what learning strategy is and how imperative it is inenhancing autonomous learning

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

However, this change cannot occur effortlessly It is a process and it should

be characterized as ―a continuum‖ (Voller, 1997, p 100) In accordance with thisviewpoint, Sharle and Szabo (2000) illustrate a continuum of teacher attitudesranging from traditional to learner autonomy attitude and suggest that teachersshould move toward the right hand side of the continuum (teacher autonomyattitude) They further denote that this transition should be gradual rather thanabrupt and dramatic to allow time for the involved parties to adapt themselves to thenew practices It is worth noticing that however difficult and time- consuming thetransformation will be, it is the first priority for the teachers to modify themselvesfirst if they expect to change their students attitudes

1.1.5 Ways to develop autonomy

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

character in learners It is suggested that this transition must be taken through raising

awareness, changing attitudes, and transferring roles (Scharle&Szabo, 2000).

The starting stage in cultivating autonomy in learners is raising awareness ofpedagogical goals, contents and strategies (Nunan, 1997) This phase functions as

an impetus to initiate learning the second language and ―opening the learner‘s eyes

to new ways of thinking about their learning‖ (Scharle&Szabo, 2000, p 15) It isgrounded in the belief that even when teachers provide all the necessarycircumstances and input, learning cannot happen if learner is not willing tocontribute Thus, teachers must initially present new perspective and newexperience to learners and encourage them to think consciously in their innerlearning processes This is a tightly-teacher-controlled stage on the consumptionthat learner are not yet responsible in their learning

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

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

The last and simultaneously effort-intensive phase is transferring roles as theresult of a considerable change in classroom management Transferring roles isdecisive in that ‗‗For one, learners can only assume responsibility for their learning

if they have some control over the learning process For the other, increasingindependence may evoke and reinforce responsibility and autonomous attitudes‖

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

by themselves However, these loosely structured activities do not entail teacher‘sfreedom of charge Furthermore, peer support in this environment is weightierpushing learners in acquiring ―a capacity and willingness to act independently and

in cooperation with others, as a socially responsible person.‖ (Dam, 1995, p 1, cited

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

In short, there are three phases in culminating learner autonomy, namely raisingawareness, changing attitudes and transferring roles The activities in each part should

be adapted in line with students‘ level of self-direction and educational milieu Duringthe transition, motivation is necessaryas learning is usually most efficient and

rapid when the learner is motivated and attentive A range of current perspectives hasnow put motivation on a different footing, integrating psychological considerationswith social conditions The question is how to make students like what is required Theanswer lies in the students‘ investment in studying Even when students like thesubject, learning will not happen if they do not invest enough time, money and energy.

―Required motivation‖ is now said to be ―more important to acknowledge thediversity of motivations and reorient them in a more holistic and richer framework ofSLA‖ (Zuengler& Miller, 2006) Bony Norton Peirce (1995) used the term

‗investment‘ to emphasis on the commitment to target language study, students‘

Whereas other researchers often focus on one of these three steps to promotestudents‘ learning responsibility (only raising students‘ awareness of the matter, orasking students to keep portfolio and assignment, or letting them to self-assess, theresearcher decided to take the first and the second stage, bearing in mind the lowlevel of autonomy and little speaking lesson experience of her students as well asthe time constraint of the study As there is not enough time and the students are notmature enough to reach the other end of the autonomy continuum, the final stage isleft to maybe the next terms

Consequently, the author of this research decided to adopt selective activities inthe first two stages suggested by Scharle and Szabo (2000) and her tailored assignmentsetting for the students to make ensure that they invest adequate time, effort and money

in their learning Also, students‘ signing a learner contract is used to ascertain theircommitment to what they are required to do Like other researchers investigating therealm of learner autonomy, the researcher also uses assignments to boost learnerresponsibility, but in other forms to suit her own teaching As they have never learnedspeaking before, they must be well-equipped by having chances to practice functionallanguage and speaking techniques Thus, the intervention started first with raisingmatter awareness and subject awareness then and regular assignment to implant theindependent learning style in the students

1.2 Speaking skill

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

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

Moreover, only by speaking a language can we ever hope to learn it In order toacquire the skills, communicative activities must be applied in class to aid students

to obtain not only accuracy but also fluency in their speech

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

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

❖ Participation is evenly distributed among learners

❖ All group members are motivated in the activities thanks to an interesting topic or their desire to achieve the task objective

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

The focal point in assessing a speaking lesson is students‘ active participation It cannot

be a speaking lesson if the students do not speak the target language, let alonemanaging effective lesson Deci (1995) is correct in claiming that autonomy mustinclude language use Using language or speaking the language is the prerequisite toattain the objective Students‘ involvement is significant but must be equal amongst theparticipants While working in pairs or groups, one student dominating the situationand speaking most of the time may give rise to the breakdown of the

communication and it cannot be an effective lesson Hence, all of the studentsshould be motivated to contribute to the activities.

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

❖ Active and equal participation

❖ Learner-centeredness

❖ Message oriented communication

❖ Acceptable level of accuracy

1.2.2 Autonomy in speaking skill

The principle issues relating learner autonomy and speaking skill have so far beenconsidered It is vital to investigate how autonomy is revealed and manifested inspeaking skill To put it another way, this part deals with the characteristics oflearner autonomy in speaking and the practice to foster their autonomy in this skill.Thombury (2006, pp 87-92) puts forward five characteristics of an autonomousspeaker:

❖ Speed: working fast, spontaneously and coping with unpredictability

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

❖ Accuracy: being quick at detecting and rejecting errors

❖ Anticipation: thinking and planning ahead

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

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

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

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

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

 Paraphrasing: trying to say something in another way

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

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

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

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

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

To sum up, learner autonomy improving process encompasses three phrases (raisingawareness, changing roles and transferring roles) In any event, it requires students‘investment in internalizing the target language, and it correlates with students‘achievement in learning the language skill Besides, teachers‘ roles are crucial in thisprocess as awareness raisers, facilitators, counselors, motivators and resources Rooted

in this literature, it is investment in internalizing the target language, and it correlateswith students‘ achievement in learning the language skill Besides, teachers‘ roles arecrucial in this process as awareness raisers, facilitators, counselors, motivators andresources It is pertinent to carry out the action research as a project which encompassestwo different phases The first one deals with raising student‘s awareness of autonomyand nature of second language acquisition This is succeeded by assignment to form thehabit of learning autonomously for the students

1.3 Scaffolding method

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

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

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

of making meaning According to Bruner, social learning tends to come beforedevelopment He believes that young children are curious and actively involved intheir own learning and the discovery and development of new understandings Inorder to develop kids‘ cognition, teachers need to comprehend two of the mainprinciples of Bruner's work: the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone

of Proximal Development (ZPD)

1.3.1 More Knowledgeable Other (MKO)

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

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

1.3.2 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

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

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

1.3.3 Basic scaffolding strategies for English language learner

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

 Demonstrating the requirements that they need to follow

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

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

 Helping students see the relationship between different concepts

 Checking students‘ understanding of texts by asking them to present the text

in various ways (i.e: presentations, games, conversations)

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

1.3.4 The application of scaffolding theory in oral English teaching

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

give full play to its ―scaffolds‖ effect, help students avoid some problems (theirtension, poor vocabulary and grammatical structure is simple, spoken time is short, take

a long time to organize their thoughts or searching words, repeated use the same word

or sentence structure, etc.) arise when doing oral English training Except for a series oforal English training, teachers should try their best to choose a lot of topics that arecloser to their lives, leave necessary time as far as possible for students to think about

or discuss, then use what they have learned to express their views In order to arousestudents‘ enthusiasm of speaking, teachers can select interesting topic for the students

to discuss and voice their ideas The teacher may guide students adopt the strategy ofavoidance, circuitous transfer the topic to others, then expounds his views, they canagree with the above mentioned view, and also they can oppose Through thecommunication strategy training, the students gradually developed the abilities to learnindependently and solve problem skillfully, the debate in cooperation can help cultivatestudents‘ critical thinking This strategy is important, however, the content of thelanguage itself, fluency, accuracy are all equally important, and cooperative learning inoral practice after the strategy training also plays a crucial role At this point, teachersshould pay more attention to fluency, under this circumstance of form error that doesnot affect the meaning expression can be ignored, after students overcoming anxiety,they can put up accurate demand

Within the limitation of this paper, there wasapplication of no separated strategies

In the two following projects, there were lots of activities which are based on thecombination of such strategies as giving students specific instructions orrequirements; linking students‘ new knowledge to the previous one that they havealready known; helping student‘s to be aware of choosing the most appropriatestrategy for particular activity

1.4 Review of previous studies on autonomy

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

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

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

In that regard, classroom teachers who attempt to integrate autonomous learninginto the curriculum have an important role to play in fostering learners‘ autonomyand ―in launching learners into self-access and in lending them a regular helpinghand to ‗stay afloat‘‖ (Sheerin, 1997) According to Voller (1997), teachers havethree major roles in autonomy-supportive classrooms: facilitator, counselor,andresource Sheerin (1997), however, warns the teachers of the danger of over-advising and under-advising if they are ―ill-prepared‖ and ―ill-equipped‖ for suchroles To help teachers prepare better for their new roles in the autonomous learning

is an integral part of the curriculum, it is essential for them to understand theirlearners‘ motivation to engage in autonomous learning and how far the integration

of autonomous learning into the curriculum affects learners‘ motivation to developtheir capacity for taking control of their own learning

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

some attempts to explore how scaffolding strategiesinfluenced language learning,those studies were not specific to the autonomous learning context where learningtakes place outside the classroom Therefore, the goals of this research paper is toidentify strategies that can be used to develop students‘ autonomy in speakinglessons,the attitudes of the students towards autonomy in learning English speakingand how the students improved throughout the application of scaffolding in teachingspeaking.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

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

2.2 Subjects of the study

The subjects are 28 students aged 16, with 26 female and two males in my own class.'Their negative attitudes towards state-of-the-art approaches and the unsatisfactorystudy results compel several actions to renovate the situation In reality, they appear tohave experience undue stress when expected to participate actively and becomedependent in the learning process This stress is often caused by their extensiveteaching culture at primary and secondary schools where students raising their voiceswithout any permission from teachers are considered to be discourteous Furthermore,they are prone to the environments in which the teacher gives them each direction withcorresponding available materials to accomplish each step This may account for thefact that students misunderstand or even lose respect for a teacher who expects them towork collaboratively with other students and study independently rather than takes onthe traditional role of teacher as the main source of knowledge Thus, givingempowerment to students must be parallel with changing their attitudes

towards this process The newcomers making the transition from secondary school

to university need help in organizing themselves as autonomous students Thesefreshmen should be properly primed for directing their own learning process, setting

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

2.3 Setting

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

2.3.1 English devision at GIS

With the increasing demand of English-competent workforce, English group wasestablished at GIS in 2007 in order to prepare the best human resources for theuniversities as well as the demand for high quality labor force of the market Theobjective of this institution is to provide students with a good command of English

to use it productively in their future workplace The English major students aged 16come from different parts of Vietnam They must take examinations in English,literature and math to get entrance to GIS The model of English examination ismultiple-choice questions (MCQ) with the focus on grammar and readingproficiency Each year, nearly 100 students enroll in the devision

There are 8 teachers aged 25-57 at the English devision of GIS Young teachers takelarge percentage (80%) and the number is always on the rise The majority of youngteachers possess a bachelor degree in English language teaching and the rest aretaking an MA courses A small percentage of the senior teachers (aged 40-57) weretrained in in-service program In general, the teaching staff is always eager forknowledge, energetic and willing to apply better ways to fortify their teachingquality

2.3.2 The teaching syllabus for speaking skill

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

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

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

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

3 Friends and relation Presentations - signposts and

stepping stones

5 Inventions and discoveries Negotiating

6 Sending and receiving Interrupting in meetings

7 People in daily life Making small talk

8 Woring and earning Presentations - handling

agreeing deadlines

10 Creating and building Expressing emotions

11 Nature and the universe Talk about plans in future

12 Problems and solutions Telephoning-handling

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

is in 6 weeks (12 periods a week) Therefore, this action research is launched whenstudents is on stage two of the syllabus, learning unit 4,5 and 6 As revealed above,there are limited speaking techniques taught In reality, this problem is exaggeratedwhen the students‘ level of speaking is mostly elementary; more extra materialsneed to be designed by teachers to ease students‘ hardships in the learning process

2.3.3 The opportunities and constraints of the context

a The opportunities of the context

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

b The constraints of the context

Constraints come from all people of concern in the program Firstly, although almoststudents are both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, their investment appears not

to suffice for the subject Their fast satisfaction of their success in winning a position at

a university and the deeply-rooted dependent attitudes deprive them of time and effortsfor English learning To put it another way, good result cannot be expected with lowcommitment to the target language study Secondly, since the students used to strive forthe discrete-oriented entrance examination with reading and grammar competencyonly, their communicative competence are mainly at low level Although they can doMCQ grammar tests well, most of them are incapable of writing correct andcomprehensible sentences, i.e the ability to negotiate meaning is not satisfactory Tomake it worse, the opportunities for them to negotiate with the native speakers aremeager Besides, the cultural aspect counteracts the application of

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

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

2.4 Research design

2.4.1 Review on action research

Action research involves the researcher in questioning their own practice to findways to improve that practice (McNiff, 2002) It furnishes the researcher andparticipants with the opportunity to scrutinize existing practices, and modify them inthe search for refinement of those practices Action research has the potential tobring benefits for all stakeholders involved in the process It not only provides theteacher with a means to better their teaching practice but also trains learners tobecome more efficient in their learning It can be argued that practitioners alreadyreflect upon their practice, but the difference in using action research is that it issystematic, and any intervention is informed by theory (O‘Brien, 1998) Up topresent, there are a lot of action research models applied by researchers all over the

world, among which Kurt Lewin’s Model (1946)and Kemmis and McTaggart’s Model (1988)seemto be the most popular ones.

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

Aterwards, it is extended into ongoing action-reflection cycles.

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

Kemmis and McTaggart’s Model (1988) shares some similarities with Lewin‘s of the cyclical nature of the typical action research process, as this model of action

research Each cycle also has four steps: plan, act, observe, and reflect

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

commitment of those affected by it This is achieved by involving them directly inthe research process.

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

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

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

2.4.2 Research procedure

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

a Identifying the problem

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

b Carrying out the real action research

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

She first investigated the reasons for the problems then solved the problem in thelight of learner autonomy The lessons learnt from the literature helped her to make

an informed choice She decided to apply the students‘ raising awareness andchanging attitude activities suggested by Scharle and Szabo (2000) and a series ofactivities designed by herself basing on six strategies mentiond above, which are allcalled the project in this research

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

In this step, the researcher implements the activities and assignments written in herlesson plan The whole process of the research implementation can be seen in tablebelow:

No.

1 1 - Introduce the course schedule and -Subject matter awareness

- Discuss autonomy and nature of -Awareness-raisingspeaking, nature of group work -Learning strategy awarenessexplicitly (Activity 1+2)

- Have students complete a questionnaire

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

2 - Discuss and practice strategies, and- Awareness-raising

solutions in speaking English (Activity confidence raising5) Introduce the learner-Learning process awarenessautonomy-fostering project -Commitment raising

- Have students sign a contract ofcommitment

2 3-5 - Home assignment and information- changing attitudes

6-9 - Home assignment and report 1 -changing attitudes10-12 - Home assignment and report 2 -changing attitudes

13 - Implement Evaluation questionnaires -Self-evaluation

and interviews

In this step, the researcher records the important occurrences during the

teaching-learning process after the lesson She is also helped by her two collaborators to

observe students‘ activities while teaching learning process Therefore, she can give

some inputs or suggestion She notes the excesses and weaknesses of the

implementation of lesson plan using designed activities

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

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

2.4.3 Description of data collection instruments

The questionnaire

It was undoubted that questionnaires were beneficial for obtaining quantitativeinformation and thanks to their time and energy efficiency for collecting andanalyzing Thus, the researcher used questionnaires (see Appendix 4) with the aim

of tracking students‘ development in autonomy in learning speaking skill

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

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

fact that the changes could have both positive and negative, consequently the total ofcalculation, whether equal or not, would not truly reflect the students‘ progress making.For example, if five students becomed more autonomous and other five become lessautonomous, the result would be the same In this case, it was misleading to concludethat the project didn‘t take any effect Actually, it signaled that something should beinvestigated more Thus, by letting the students self-evaluate the level of autonomy, itwas possible to see the real impact of the project

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

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

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

literature review part (part 2.2.3) The data could not only show the level ofstudents‘ proficiency but also operate as an indication of their improvement of theirautonomy in learning speaking skill.

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

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

The interview

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

All the questions were open-ended questions which start with ―how‖, ―what‖ or

―do you‖ The most important benefit of this type of question was that they allowresearcher to find more than she anticipated: students might share motivations thatshe didn‘t expect and mention behaviors and concerns that she knew nothing about.When the researcher asked the students to explain things to her, they often revealedsurprising mental models, problem-solving strategies, hopes, fears, and much more

The observation

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