The use of language games to motivate 10th form students to learn writing at kim anh high school

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURESTable 1 The benefits of using language games to motivate students to learn writingTable 2 Teachers' preparation for the use of language games in writing lessons

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

HỨA THỊ THANH HÀ

FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN WRITING AT KIM ANH

HIGH SCHOOL

VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH LỚP 10 HỌC VIẾT TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG KIM ANH

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 60.140.111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

HỨA THỊ THANH HÀ

FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN WRITING AT KIM ANH

HIGH SCHOOL

VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH LỚP 10 HỌC VIẾT TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG KIM ANH)

M.A Minor Thesis

Field: English Methodology Code: 60.140.111

Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Dr.

HANOI – 2013

I, Hứa Thị Thanh Hà , declare that the thesis entitled “The use of language games tomotivate 10th form students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school” reports theresult of the study conducted by myself The minor thesis is submitted to theFaculty of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for Degree of Master in TESOL Ithas not been published anywhere

Hứa Thị Thanh Hà

In the first place, I would like to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor – Dr.Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Vice - Director of Institute for Education Quality Assurance,Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for all her valuable guidance, helpful advices,recommendation, and encouragement during the time I tried to complete this minorthesis Without her, I would not have followed the right direction for theaccomplishment of this research

Second, my deepest thanks go to ten teachers of English and 89 tenth form students

at Kim Anh High school who were so generous and willing to help me with thequestionnaires and interviews

Third, I would like to thank all the teachers of the Faculty of Post-Graduate studiesfor their valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation

Last but not least, I would like to express my biggest love and thankfulness to myfamily for their unconditional contributions during my thesis

Hứa Thị Thanh Hà

In ELT, language games have long been proved to be a valuable source ofmotivation, one of the keys to success of language acquisition Aiming atinvestigating the use of language games as a motivator to students' learning writing,this study was conducted with two sets of survey questionnaires and interviews asthe main instruments The study looked at the current situation and difficulties whenteachers applied language games to stimulate students to learn writing Ten teachersand 89 tenth form students at Kim Anh High school took part in the study Theresult reveals positive attitudes from the participants toward the use of languagegames to motivate students to learn writing Language games are applied frequently

to motivate students, mostly in warm up stage within 6 to 10 minutes Studentsoften play games in two teams or groups with the common ones such as crossword,hangman and matching Most of the teachers are pleased with their use of languagegames and most of the students take part in the activities enthusiastically However,there remain some difficulties facing the teachers and students while languagegames are used as a motivator in writing lessons Based on the findings, somepedagogical implications are provided for the improvement of writing teaching bymotivating students via language games

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1 The benefits of using language games to motivate students to learn

writingTable 2 Teachers' preparation for the use of language games in writing lessonsTable 3 Students' performance in the games according to the teachers'

viewpointTable 4 The difficulties facing teachers when using language games to

motivate students to learn writingTable 5 Teachers' suggestions on how to use language games to motivate

students to learn writingTable 6 The benefits of using language games as a motivator in writing lessons

according to students' viewpointTable 7 The difficulties students meet when playing language games in writing

lessonsTable 8 Students' suggestions for teachers' using language games to motivate

students to learn writingFigure 1 Teachers‟ keenness on using language games to motivate students to

learn writingFigure 2 The usefulness of using language games to motivate students to learn

writing in teachers' viewpointFigure 3 The frequency of using language games to motivate students to learn

writingFigure 4 Stages at which language games are used in writing lessons

Figure 5 Time for using language games to motivate students to learn writingFigure 6 Kinds of language games to stimulate students to learn writing

Figure 7 Class organization when language games are used to motivate

students to learn writingFigure 8 Teachers‟ activities before conducting the games

Figure 9 Teachers‟ activities while students are playing the games

Figure 10 Teachers‟ activities in the post playing stage

Figure 11 Teachers‟ feeling pleased with their use of language games to

motivate students to learn writingFigure 12 Students' interest in teachers' using language games in writing lessonsFigure 13 Students' attitudes towards the usefulness of language games in

motivating students to learn writingFigure 14 Teachers' frequency of using language games to motivate students to

learn writing according to the studentsFigure 15 Students' participation in language games in writing lessons

Figure 16 Stages at which language games are used in writing lessons according

to the studentsFigure 17 Time for using language games to motivate students to learn writing

according to the studentsFigure 28 Class organization when language games are used to motivate

students to learn writing according to the studentsFigure 19 The teachers' using other teaching aids when they apply language

games in writing lessons

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

ULIS University of Language and International Studies

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

List of tables and figures iv

List of abbreviations vi

Tablle of content vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research question of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Writing and writing teaching 4

1.1.1 Definitions 4

1.1.2 Approaches to writing teaching 5

1.1.3 Processes in teaching writing 6

1.1.4 Factors affecting students' performance in writing lessons 8

1.1.4.1 Student factors 8

1.1.4.2 Teacher factors 9

1.1.4.3 External factors 10

1.2 Language games 11

1.2.1 Definitions 11

1.2.2 Roles of language games 12

1.2.3 Types of language games 13

1.2.4 Methods of using language games 14

1.2.4.1 When to use a game? 14

1.2.4.2 Which games to use? 15

1.2.4.3 How to run a game? 16

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 The context of the study 18

2.2 Participants of the study 18

2.3 Data collection instruments 19

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires for teachers and students 19

2.3.2 Interviews with teachers and students 19

2.4 Data collection procedure 20

2.5 Data analysis methods 20

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Survey questionnaires 21

3.1.1 Survey questionnaire for the teachers 21

3.1.1.1 The attitudes of the teachers towards using language games to motivate students to learn writing 21

3.1.1.2 The current situation of teachers‟ using languagegames to motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school 22

3.1.1.3 Teachers‟ difficulties when using language games to motivate students to learn writing 28

3.1.1.4 Teachers‟ suggestions on using language games to motivate students

to learn writing 29

3.1.2 Survey questionnaire for the students 30

3.1.2.1 The attitudes of the students towards their teachers' use of language games to motivate them to learn writing 30

3.1.2.2 Students' viewpoint on the current situation of using language games to motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school 33

3.1.2.3 The difficulties students meet when teachers use language games to motivate them to learn writing 36

3.1.2.4 Students' suggestions for teachers' using language games to motivate students to learn writing 37

3.2 Interviews 38

3.2.1 Interview with the teachers 38

3.2.2 Interview with the students 40

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of findings 41

2 Pedagogical Implications 42

3 Limitations and recommendations for further studies 43

REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students VII Appendix 3: Interview questions for the teachers and the students XV Appendix 4: Interview with the teachers XVI Appendix 5: Interview with the students XIX Appendix 6: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for the teachers XXI Appendix 7: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for the students XXVI

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

In second language learning, language games have long been proved to benot just time-filling activities but have a great educational value "Games can loweranxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely." (Richard-Amato, 1988,p.147) They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy studentsmore opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen, 1994, p.118).They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign languagewhich are not always possible during a typical lesson In the easy, relaxedatmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster andbetter (Wierus and Wierus, 1994, p.218) Further support comes from Zdybiewska,who believes games to provide a model of what learners will use the language for inreal life in the future (1994, p.6) In short, games are used not only for mere fun, butmore importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thusleading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence.' Gamesought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages

In Vietnam, there have been many studies on using language games inteaching and learning English However, few researchers investigated theapplication of language games to motivate students to learn writing Writing, by itsnature, may not make it attractive to students or teachers as a classroom activity Inreality, most teachers follow what the tasks in the textbook require, and do nothingmore about it They just ask students to do the written exercises after giving simplesuggestions or encourage them to mimic model texts For students, most of themfind no reason to learn writing as it is not included in the national examinationformat and they may have rare opportunities to write in English in real life Because

of limited background knowledge, they often feel bored when doing written work,especially when lacking support and motivation from teachers

The situation is even worse at Kim Anh High school where students havelow English proficiency Except for some good students, the rest are not interested

in learning English in general and writing in particular They find writing difficultand boring so they do not try to learn this important language skill For the teachers,teaching writing appears to be a challenge Sometimes this important skill isneglected as teachers find writing quite a daunting prospect in their classes.

It is obvious that stimulating students to learn writing is absolutely vital asmotivation is one of the keys to success of second language acquisition Languagegames have not successfully applied to writing lessons at Kim Anh High school yet

All the above- mention reasons have inspired the author to conduct the study

" The use of language games to motivate 10 th form students to learn writing at Kim Anh High School"

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at investigating the situation of using language games tomotivate 10th form students to learn writing at Kim Anh High School Followingare the specific objectives:

 The attitudes of the teachers and students towards using language games to motivate students to learn writing

 The use of language games to motivate students' learning writing

 The difficulties that the teachers and students meet when language games are used to motivate students to learn writing

Based on the findings, some suggestions and implications are provided forthe improvement of writing teaching by using language games as a motivator

3 Research question of the study

To achieve the aim, the study plans to answer the following question:

What is the situation of using language games to motivate 10 th form students

to learn writing at Kim Anh High School?

To answer this question, the answers to the minor questions were sought for:

 What are the attitudes of the teachers and students towards using language games to motivate students to learn writing?

 What games are used to motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school? And how are they used?

 What are the difficulties the teachers and students cope with during stimulating student to learn writing via language games?

4 Scope of the study

The study focuses specifically on using language games to teach writing to

10th students at Kim Anh High school So the study limits itself to the teaching andlearning writing only, and the subjects of the study are non- English majors studyingEnglish 10 at Kim Anh High school

5 Methods of the study

The major methods employed in this study include:

 survey questionnaires were answered by teachers and students to find out the situation of using language games as a motivator in writing lessons

 interviews were conducted to get better insights into their ideas towards the use

of language games

6 Design of the study

This paper is divided into three main parts:

PART A is the INTRODUCTION which presents the rationale, the aims, theresearch question, the scope, the methods and the design of the study

PART B is the DEVELOPMENT which includes three chapters Chapter 1,LITERATURE REVIEW, deals with some theoretical background that is relevant tothe purposes of the study: teaching writing and language games Chapter 2,METHODOLOGY, investigates the situation of using language games at Kim AnhHigh school through the analysis of collected data Chapter 3 is the FINDINGSAND DISCUSSIONS which are concluded from the data analysis

PART C is the CONCLUSION which includes the summary of findings,pedagogical implications as well as limitations of the study and recommendationsfor further research

REFERENCES and APPENDICES are provided in the last pages of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Writing and writing teaching

1.1.1 Definitions

In language teaching, writing is one of the four language skills (reading,speaking, listening and writing) that a learners is expected to master Many linguistshave tried to give definitions of writing

Byrnes (1991, p.1) sees writing from the lowest level - letters to the higherand higher levels of performance - words, sentences and discourses and as strategies

to obtain a final product of " making marks on the flat surface of some kinds."

Candlin and Hyland ( 1999, p.107) define writing as " an engagement in asocial process, where the production of texts reflects methodologies, arguments andrhetorical strategies constructed to engage colleagues and persuade them of theclaims that are made." In the opinions of Murray (1978,p.29) and Perl (1979, p.43),writing is " a creative discovery procedure characterized by the dynamic interplay

of content and language: the use of language to explore beyond the known content"

However, cognitive view considers writing as decision-making process(Flower and Hayes,1981) When writing something, the writer has to decide what tobegin with, whether to include or leave out an idea, what information to place, etc

Writing is essential for language learners to acquire a language It is used asassessment; as an aid to critical thinking, understanding and memory; to extendstudents‟ learning beyond lectures and other formal meetings; to improve students‟communication skills; and to train students as future professionals in particulardisciplines Raimes (1983) states three ways in which students can learn betterthrough writing First, writing reinforces their grammatical structures, idioms andvocabulary Second, writing gives them a chance to try the language learnt Last butnot least, writing can help motivating learners to learn new languages

Nevertheless, writing is not a simple skill to master from the languageteachers' point of view Tribble (1996, p.11) stresses that writing "normally requires

some forms of instruction" and that "it is not a skill that is readily picked up byexposure." Ur (1996, p 161) said that most people acquire spoken languageintuitively whereas written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned.Writing is "a process that occurs over a period of time, particularly if we take intoaccount the sometimes extended period of thinking that precedes creating an initialdraft" (Ferris, 1993, p.10)

In brief, writing is a difficult but important productive skill for languagelearners to acquire Writing teaching, thus, needs to be taken into consideration

1.1.2 Approaches to writing teaching

Raimes (1983 presented various approaches to teaching writing as follows:

a) The Controlled to Free Approach:

In 1950s and early 1960, the audio- lingual method dominated secondlanguage learning which emphasized on speech and writing through masteringgrammatical and syntactic forms

Here, the students are given sentence exercises, and then paragraphs to copy

or manipulate grammatically These controlled compositions then followed bycorrection of errors, so that it can lead to the free composition Overall, thisapproach focuses on accuracy rather than fluency

b) The Free Writing Approach:

This approach stresses writing quantity rather than quality This focuses onfluency rather than accuracy It is based on the principle that if once ideas are there,the organization follows

c) The Paragraph Pattern Approach:

This approach focuses on organization by copying the paragraphs or model passages It is based on the principle that in different culture or situations, people construct and organize communication with each other in different ways

d) The Grammar-Syntax Organization Approach:

This approach stresses on simultaneous work on more than one composition feature It is inclusive here that writing cannot be seen as composed of separate

skills which are learned sequentially So, students must be trained to pay attention

to organization while they also work on the necessary grammar and syntax

e) The Communicative Approach:

This approach focuses 'on the purpose of writing and the audience for it.They are given some tasks where they have to behave as writers so that they canlearn by doing it Why am I writing this? Who will read it?

Thus, this approach is quite functional in nature, which can provide theactual experience to the learners

f) The Process Approach:

This approach shows the shift from product to process which shows: How do

I write this? How do I get started?

Here, the students are trained to generate ideas for writing, to think of thepurpose, audience, and ways of communication and so on

In fact, it is a developmental process from generating ideas to expressingthem, drafting, redrafting, organizing and so on This process of writing can havethree stages like: Prewriting, Writing and Post-writing (Revising or Redrafting)

As 'there is no one way to teach writing, but many ways" (Raimes, 1983, p.6-11), teachers should find an appropriate method or integrated ones to teachwriting for specific students

1.1.3 Processes in teaching writing

During the seventies of the 20th century, while the product approach received

a lot of criticism, many teachers at the forefront of the development of the processapproach have proposed methodologies emphasizing the creatively andunpredictability of writing (Tribble, 1996, p.37) In the process approach, theteaching of writing has begun to move away from a concentration on the writtenproduct to an emphasis on the process of writing All writers make decisions on how

to begin and how to organize the task Therefore, they do not write on a given topic

in a restricted time and hand in the composition for the teacher to correct The role

of teachers, therefore, is as education facilitators

As described in Zamel (1983, p.147) and Raimes (1985, p.231), in theprocess approach, the process of writing is seen as a recursive and complex process.

In other words, although there are identifiable stages in the process of writing,writers can still revisit any of these stages many times before a text is completed

According to Graham Stanley (2007, p.16), although there are many ways ofapproaching process writing, it can be broken down into three stages:

The teacher needs to stimulate students' creativity, to get them thinking how toapproach a writing topic In this stage, the most important thing is the flow of ideas,and it is not always necessary that students actually produce much (if any) writtenwork If they do, then the teacher can contribute with advice on how to improvetheir initial ideas

During this stage, students write without much attention to the accuracy of theirwork or the organization The most important feature is meaning Here, the teacher(or other students) should concentrate on the content of the writing He or she canraise the questions “Is it coherent? Is there anything missing? Anything extra?”

 Evaluating, structuring and editing

Now the writing is adapted to a readership Students should focus more on formand on producing a finished piece of work The teacher can help with errorcorrection and give organizational advice

Obviously, the process approach has made great improvement in practical teaching

in comparison with the product approach A teacher who adopts the approach willtry to respect the learners‟ cultural background and avoid the imposition of ideas orlanguage behavior The teaching and learning materials which make use of theseapproaches typically attempt to encourage creativity in very practical ways

It is necessary to provide a supportive environment for the students and bepatient In the long term, teachers and students will start to recognize the value of aprocess writing approach as their written work improves (Stanley, 2007: 9)

1.1.4 Factors affecting students' performance in writing lessons

Students „performance in writing lesson can be affected by a variety offactors originating from students, teachers and other external factors In thefollowing sections, some of the major factors will be discussed

1 1.4.1 Student factors

The main factors originating from students‟ side that may affect students‟participation in classroom activities include students‟ learning styles, students‟motivation and students‟ language levels

Students’ learning styles

Different individuals may have different learning styles, prefer differentkinds of work, and expect different degrees of care and attention from the teacher It

is obvious that if teacher realizes the differences among the individuals in the class,

he can plan appropriate activities and the students will join in the lesson actively

Students’ motivation

Regarding the issue, Lightbrown and Spada (1999) consider motivation acomplex phenomenon and define it in terms of two factors: learners‟communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community

According to Harmer, the sources of motivation are diversified They mayderive from the society we live in, significant others like parents or old siblings, theteacher and the method Among these sources, the teacher and the method may be

of the most importance For the teacher, his or her attitudes and enthusiasm helpcreate a positive classroom atmosphere For the method, it means involving bothteacher and students‟ confidence shown in the way of teaching and learning Ifeither loses this confident motivation, the chance of success in learning a languagewill be very small

Downs (2000) also points out some conditions that help increase students‟motivation He says that motivation increases when students feel acknowledged andunderstood, when students are confident they can succeed, when language has acommunicative purpose, and when students take responsibility for their learning

Clearly, motivation plays an important role in the success of languagelearning It can be concluded with certainty that the degree of motivation is directlyproportional to the level of involvement in common and particularly in students‟performance in writing lesson To be more concrete, the more motivated studentsare, the more actively they will participate in the lesson.

Students’ language levels

Harmer (2001) claims that in a class where students‟ language levels aredifferent, teacher may have some difficulties choosing a suitable teaching method,language and activities used in class Some techniques and exercises are suitable forsome students but less appropriate for others The limitation in the students‟language levels can directly affect their participation however much they like theactivities Teachers, therefore, should take some issues into consideration such aschoosing interesting topics, creating interest in the topic, activating schemata,varying topics and genre and providing necessary information

1.1.4.2 Teacher factors

Students‟ writing performance can be affected by teachers‟ factors includingteaching methods, teachers‟ knowledge and teachers‟ instructions

Teachers’ teaching methods

There have been many teaching methods in teaching writing through out thehistory of ELT In writing lessons, teachers‟ teaching methods are focused on theways teachers design appropriate activities to motivate students to write as well asthe ways that the teachers elicit writing tasks In order to have a suitable method, theteacher should bear in mind the factors such as learners' learning styles, teachingpurposes and other available classroom conditions Choosing an inappropriate or notbeing flexible in applying methods to a certain class may have negative effects onstudents‟ participation

Teachers’ knowledge

In the study What makes a good teacher, Breach (2005) points out that most

students believe that the teacher is a fountain of knowledge and their main

responsibility is to pass on that knowledge to students Knowledgeable teachers arethose with high language ability and general knowledge of the field expertise Notonly should teachers be fluent, accurate English speakers but they should also becertain of the topic they are going to conduct According to Underwood (1987), themore knowledge a teacher can apply to his lesson, the more interested his studentswill feel in the learning activities.

Teachers’ instructions

Complicated instructions are another major problem that often makes givinginstructions very time – consuming In the class, if the students do not understandthe teachers‟ instructions, they do not react anything Ur(1996) provides severalvery useful recommendations: The first step is to prepare what you are going to say,and if possible, even to write it down Then the teacher needs to ensure the class‟sattention Next, he should give the information more than once Make sure that thelanguage is brief and clear, and then follow it up with demonstrations Givingeffective instructions is not easy as it is a skill that can only be gained with properlearning and frequent practice

1.1.4.3 External factors.

Time limitations

Clearly, time limitation is an external factor affecting students' performance

in writing If teachers, for some reasons, do not prepare the materials well enough,they will realize the failure of not having appropriate time for writing activities Insome large classes with a number of students whose English knowledge are limited,

it often takes much more time to conduct these activities This leads to theconfirmation of the teachers‟ role in planning the lessons and assume suitable timeprocedure for writing tasks

Classroom and materials restraints

According to Williams and Burden (1997), we can not underestimate theimportance of appropriate environmental conditions for learning to take place as an

understanding of the ways in which aspects of the environment affect learning isvitally important for language teachers and learners.

Underwood (1987) claims that both the teacher and students are responsiblefor creating a good learning atmosphere which consists of some characteristics such

as giving a sense of purpose or the teachers should ensure that English is spoken.Balancing fluency and accuracy or using appropriate language are the two necessaryelements in creating a good classroom atmosphere Underwood also mentions theeffects of encouragement as well as students‟ involvement on the improvement ofstudents‟ English learning Finally, tests and extracurricular activities are alsoconsidered as important parts of increasing learning atmosphere in the classroom

1.2 Language games

1.2.1 Definitions

The term 'game' is defined briefly by Hadfield (1984) as "an activity withrules, a goal and an element of fun." And according to Gibbs (1978), "a game is anactivity carried out by cooperating or competing decision markers, seeking toachieve, within a set of rules, their objectives." This means games are forms ofentertainment derived from a set of rules, typically with a known goal to be reached.Games can be in the form of physical activities, mental or a mixture of the two.Games can be classified as cooperative, solitaire or competitive

A language game also shares the similar characteristics with the ordinarygame However, language games means games related to language If ordinarygames help to improve different aspects such as intellectual ability and patience,language games help to develop language skills When playing language games,learners not only have fun but can also practice English enjoyably, which helps tomotivate students Greenal(1984) gives his opinion of language game as " one kind

of activity which is used to consolidate language already taught or acquired andoccurs during the free stage of a lesson or during occasions such as English clubmeetings He states that a language game "is used whenever there is an element ofcompetition between individual students or teams in a language activity."

To sum up, a language game is not just for fun but the skills needed areheavily weighed on the language side So, language games must be carefullyselected by teachers to serve the purpose.

1.2.2 Roles of language games

According to many researchers and educators, motivation is one of the keys

to success of language learning Motivation, as pointed out by Gardner (1985),involves desire to learn a language, intensity of effort to achieve this, and attitudestoward learning the language It is obvious that motivation to learn a secondlanguage refers to the extent to which the individual tries to learn the languagebecause of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity Thus,those motivated to participate actively in class usually get good study results

Developing motivation is not easy because it is something very personal.However, Lightbrown and Spada( 1999) state that: " If we can make our classroomsplaces where students enjoy coming because the atmosphere is supportive and non -threatening, we can make a positive contribution to students' motivation to learn."

And language game is an important source of motivation and it is oftenconsidered as the first step to draw learners' attention to an EFL environment (Vale,1995) In most of the games, en element of competition between individuals orteams is a strongly motivating factor It is the most important reason why alllearners are immensely happy or absorbed in playing games Greenal(1984) saysthat language games provide free and spontaneous practice of the language inconditions lying halfway between the controlled content of the formal lesson andthe real life situations outside classroom

With a view to creating an enjoyable learning environment, language gamesshould be used to motivate students in writing classes for the following reasons:

 Games provide interest to what students may not find interesting

 Games may lower anxiety and stimulate students to join in the games positively

 Games can be used to change the pace of a lesson and so maintain motivation

 Games add variety to the range of learning situations

 Games help teachers to create contexts in which the language is meaningful and useful so that students have chances to communicate to each other freely.

 Games can give 'hidden' practice of specific language points without students being aware of this

 Games provide active learner-centered learning so that students are active in the games While students have the leading roles, teachers work as facilitators

1.2.3 Types of language games

Each linguist has his own way to classify language games Hadfield(1987)divides language games into linguistic games and communicative games Whilelinguistic games focus on accuracy, communicative games focus on successfulexchange of information and ideas He also classifies them language games intomany more categories as follows:

 Sorting, ordering or arranging games For instance, the students have a set of pictures and they number the pictures to make a complete story

 Information gap game: In such games, one student has access to the informationwhich is not held by the other student, and this student must acquire the information tocomplete the task successfully Information gap games can involve a one-wayinformation gap or a two-way information gap

 Guessing games: In these games, someone knows something and the others have

to find out what it is

 Matching games: Participants need to find a match for a word, picture or card

 Puzzle- solving games: The participants in the game share or pool information inorder to solve a problem or a mystery

 Role play games: Role play can involve students playing roles that they already play in real life or roles that they do not play in real life

In short, there are many types of language games for teachers to apply inteaching language but choosing the most useful in certain lessons in order tostimulate students and develop their skills depends on the wise use of the teachers

1.2.4 Methods of using language games

To students, language games may be used purely for fun However, teachers have toconsider when to play a game, which game to play and how to run a game in order

to make the best use of the game and connect them with the target language

1.2.4.1 When to use a game?

According to Wright, Betteridge & Buckly (2005), " games can be found togive students practice in all the skills: reading, writing, listening or speaking in allstages of the teaching/ learning sequence and for many types of communication."Hadfield (1987) also stated that "games can be used at any stage of the lesson oncethe target language has been introduced and explained They serve both as amemory aid and repetition drill and as a chance to use language freely."

In short, "a game should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in oddmoments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do" as Lee (1979)observed Games should be "an integral part of the language system" (Hadfield,1990) and they can be used "at any stages of the lesson, provided that they aresuitable and carefully chosen" (Rixon, 1981.)

As in writing lessons, the post stage is usually for giving feedback, languagegames are likely to be used as warm up activities when not only students have arelaxed atmosphere to refresh themselves but they are also provided with necessaryexpressions and structures as well as ideas for the writing lessons

1.2.4.2 Which games to use?

Not all kinds of games can be applied in writing lessons Therefore, the firstthing teachers need to decide is the main aim of having a game Which languageitems will be taught? Which game is the most appropriate for delivering theseitems? Language games should be chosen when they can give students both fun andeducational meaning The adapted should be relevant to the content of the lesson

Level of the games is another factor that the teachers should take intoconsideration Part of the appeal of games lies in the challenge, but if the challenge

is too great, some students may become discouraged Teachers also need to makesure the games should allow chances for both bright and not-very-bright students

Timing should be assumed in advance Lewis and Bedson (1999) suggestthat games should last from 5 to 20 minutes including preparation, presentation,game playing and post playing Playing a game too long may lose students' interest.

One more thing teachers should bear in mind is to ensure that the aids andmaterials for the games are available so that the learners can encounter the game'srequirements Teachers may supply enough facility for the class or they may askstudents to prepare at home

Last but not least, teachers are advised to exploit a wide variety of languagegames as even interesting games may bore students if they are played repeatedly

1.2 4.3 How to run a game?

Introducing games is an important step to the success of the game To start agame, the rules of the game should be given Each game will need a properintroduction, which means an explanation - not just a reading - of the rules Theinstruction must be clear, simple, precise and explicit enough for students, who inany case have language difficulties, to understand When giving instructions, a fewwords in mother tongue may be help as it would be the quickest way to makeeverything clear In addition, the scoring system and the time limit for the gameshould also be provided in order to avoid students' confusion and trouble later

Organizing class must be decided beforehand in order to make "the setting up

of the game be carried out as quickly and smoothly as possible" (Carrier, 1985.) Theway in which games are organized varies a great deal basing on specific purposes,particular games and characteristics of students Some games may be conductedindividually, in pairs, in groups, in teams and some with the whole class playingagainst the teacher However, the division of class should not be changed andredone on every occasion as learners will fell safe and confident when they aresitting in pair or group work, according to W.R.Lee

As language games are used not only for fun but also for language teachingpurposes, the teacher must control the class to make sure that after performinggames, students can get the language points The teacher's role in game, especially

in the playing stage, should be an informant, a consultant, a monitor ( Rixon,1988)whereas the students become the masters of the game The teacher should goquickly from group to group, listen and observe students' performance It would bebetter for the teacher not to jump in the game but to wait until he is asked for help.Therefore, he had better try to elicit from students themselves rather than simplyproviding what they need, which makes students more self- confident.

In the post playing stage, it is of central vital to give remarks and summarizethe language points Whatever a game is, students like to hear how well they aredoing to receive encouragement commented on as well as having errors corrected(Rixon, 1998.) It is preferable for the teacher to give good remarks so as to motivatestudents to join game activities According to Wright ( 1983, p.6) , the following

praise should be used such as good, very good, fine, excellent, well done, etc The negative ones should be kept more general, for example: not quite right, not very

good, I don’t think this one is as good as that one It is necessary for teachers to

summarize what language points or skills the language games focus on The mainpoint of this is to show the students that what they do with language is interesting

To do this, the teacher can ask some students to repeat the main language points inthe games This helps them to connect the game with the content of the lesson

To sum up, in this chapter, the author discussed issues and aspectsconcerning to the topics of the study, which include the concepts and ideas relating

to writing skill and an overview of language games Different definitions and types

of language games have been mentioned along with their roles in language learning

as a beneficial tool to develop students' motivation Though language games arevarious, they should be carefully chosen to suit certain groups of students Theyshould not only make writing lessons more interesting and enjoyable but also carrywith them the language items of the lessons The success lies on teachers' properpreparation and activities in the pre, while and post playing stages when usinglanguage games as a motivator to students' learning writing

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 The context of the study

This study was conducted at Kim Anh High school in the suburb of Hanoi It

is a public school with thirty-three classes of three grades 10th, 11th and 12th Eachgrade has 4 gifted classes for the students of different majors The textbook used forteaching is the new Tieng Anh 10, 11, 12 at basic level promulgated by MOET ofVietnam Students are having four forty-five-minute periods of English study aweek with a writing lesson per unit

There are 11 teachers of English at Kim Anh High school with 8 females and

2 males ranging from 27 to 38 years old The youngest one has been teachingEnglish for 3 years while nine others have over five-year experience Most of themhave University Bachelor's Degree, one Master's Degree and they often takeretraining courses to improve their teaching methods They are enthusiastic inteaching and eager to enhance the teaching skills and their students‟ performance

About the students at Kim Anh High school, most of them have beenlearning English since grade 3 Despite having a long time learning English, theirlanguage proficiency still remain low and few of them are good at language skills ingeneral and writing in particular However, the majority of the students are aware ofthe importance of learning writing skill and would like to improve the situation

2.2 Participants of the study

The participants of this study include both teachers and students at Kim AnhHigh school

There are ten teachers taking part in the research All of them have been incharge of teaching English in grade 10 classes

The 89 participant students of this study are from 5 regular grade 10 classes,including 22 male and 67 female aged 16 to 17 These students were chosen as theywere non - gifted students of English, they were better representatives of thestudents population Thus the findings of the study can be of great help to students

of English in general

2.3 Data collection instruments

2.3.1 Survey questionnaires for teachers and students

The instruments for gathering data in this study are questionnaires andinterviews Of which the questionnaire is the main one with two sets of questions:one for the teachers and the other for the learners

The teachers were asked to put a tick or write down the answers for 17 questionswhich are divided into four sections The following table details the content of thosequestions:

I The attitudes of the teachers towards using language games Q.2-4

to motivate students to learn writing

II The current situation of teachers‟ using language games to Q.5-14

motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school

motivate students to learn writing

students to learn writing

For the students, all of the questions are written in Vietnamese to make surethat the participants can fully understand the questions The questionnaire is dividedinto four sections as follows:

I The attitudes of the students towards using language Q.2-4

games to motivate 10th grade students to learn writing

using language games to motivate students to learn

writing at Kim Anh High school

III The difficulties the students meet when playing language Q.11

games in writing lessons

as motivators in writing lessons

2.3.2 Interviews with teachers and students

After having done the survey questionnaire, there remain some parts that the researcher is not clear Therefore, the follow-up interviews are conducted with four

teachers and eight students, which is to search for further explanation of theiranswers.

The teachers were asked to give more information about the difficulties theyencounter and their solutions For the students, their evaluations on the effectiveness

of teachers' motivating students to learn writing via language games were elicited.They also had chance to express more clearly their preferences to contribute to thesuccess of using language games as motivators in writing lessons The face - to -face interviews were carried out informally so that the teachers and students couldgive out the answers in a freely and relaxed way

2 4 Data collection procedure

In the first place, a questionnaire was handed out to ten teachers with short andclear explanations about its aims and requirements are provided beforehand Then,the author delivered another questionnaire to the 89 students To help themunderstand and be able to decide what and how to respond in a relevant way to acertain question, the researcher spent time to give a clear instruction at thebeginning of the survey session After that, they were instructed to complete thequestionnaire The researcher was willing to answer any more questions from theinformants

In the next step, the researcher interviewed four teachers and eight students forclarification The chosen were those with different answers from the rest or whoenthusiastically contributed to the study by adding more personal ideas in the surveyquestionnaires

2.5 Data analysis methods

When data collection was accomplished, the data analysis was conducted Theresults of the survey questionnaire and interview were analyzed by means ofdescriptive statistics All these statistics were processed in Excel application andthen presented in the forms of tables and charts

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 Survey questionnaires

3.1.1 Survey questionnaire for the teachers

The first question was polled to investigate teachers‟ experience in usinglanguage games to motivate students to learn writing and the result revealed that allten teachers have applied language games in their writing teaching They alsoshowed their interest in this topic by giving many other ideas to the author

3.1.1.1 The attitudes of the teachers towards using language games to motivate students to learn writing

Question 2: Teachers’ keenness on using language games to motivate students

to learn writing

It can be seen from Figure 1 that

100% of the teachers at Kim Anh High

school were fond of using language

games to motivate students to learn

writing Specifically, 10% said they liked

using language games very much,

0% 10%

very much

20%

much quite much

30% not very much

Question 3: The usefulness of using language games to motivate students to

learn writing in teachers' viewpoint

The Figure 2 indicates that using

10% 0% very useful

20%

quite useful

attitude towards its usefulness That is, one out

of ten teachers found language games very 60%

20

Giving no choice for uselessness of language games in motivating students'learning, but the teachers haven't highly appreciated the usefulness of languagegames as a motivator to students' learning writing yet.

Question 4: The benefits of using language games to motivate student's learning

writing

The data in Table 1 revealed that the most benefit of using language games to

motivate students was “get the students involved easily” with 90% of the teachers.50% indicated that language games could not only help the students learn whileplaying but also introduce and consolidate the content of the writing lesson Makingthe students feel comfortable ranked the second by 70% of the respondents 30%thought this technique would build up students' self-confidence and only 20% foundlanguage games beneficial to students as they would be encouraged to use English

to communicate during the games Another benefit was presented that playinggames can narrow the gap between the teachers and students and among studentsthemselves so they can freely “show off” and achieved their best performance

teachers age

Table 1

3.1.1.2 The current situation of teachers’ using language games to motivate

students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school

Question 5: The frequency of using language games to motivate students to

learn writing

From Figure 3, it can be seen that most of the teachers recognized the

benefits of language games, thus 40% used this technique frequently and half of theteachers applied language games in few lessons One out of ten didn‟t exploit much

from language games to motivate

students to learn writing and used them in

only a few lessons No one has ever tried

to conduct language games as a stimulant

to students in every lesson

Question 6: Stages at which language

games are used in writing lessons

after finishing their writing

tasks Only 10% used language games to wrap up the lesson

Question 7: Time for using language games to motivate students to learn writing

The result collected form Figure 5

10% 0%

10%

1-5 minutes

within 5 minutes 10% of them ticked

“11-15 minutes” and time consumption for another 10% even reached 16 to 20

22

minutes To avoid students‟ feeling bored and not concentrating on the lesson, no teacher spent more than 20 minutes on language games.

Question 8: Kinds of language games to stimulate students to learn

writing In terms of kinds of

language games used to

motivate students to learn

appeared to be the most

favorite one by 70% of

the teachers Jumbled

words or sentences were

the second choice of

Question 9: Class organization when language games are used to

motivate students to learn writing

teachers‟ preference in

organizing class into 2 teams to

play the games (70%) and 50%

of them are favor of arranging

the class in groups Sometimes

the games might be conducted

work wor k team s clas s individual

s group pai r 2 whol e

Figure 7

23

and the same were for individual participation in the games They did not oftenhave the whole class play against the teachers (only 10%) as this may cause muchchallenge and harm the friendly atmosphere.

Question 10: Teachers’ preparation for using language games in writing lessons

The statistics of Table 2 proved that not many teachers spent time on preparing for

using language games in writing lessons Although 40% said they decided thelanguage items to be used in the game and 50% designed the suitable languagegame to practice the items, only 2 teachers assumed anticipated problems whileplaying the game and 3 prepared the aids and materials for the game One of theteachers admitted that there was no preparation at all This is an alarming fact aslanguage games are not just a time-filler and a mere fun activity Therefore, teacherswho do not put language games into the centre of their teaching cannot attain thehighest educational effectiveness

Teachers’ preparation for using language games in No of Percent

Organize the class Explain the rule and make examples

Read out the rule of the game

Being asked about their activities before conducting the games, 80% of therespondents gave the answers of “organize the class” and “read out the rule of thegame” Announcing the scoring system was done by 60% And only three out of tenteachers explained the rule and made examples to clarify what the students had to

do in the games One teacher shared that she often appoints leaders and a secretary

to help conducting the games

Question 12: Teachers’ activities while students are playing the games

It can be seen from Figure 9 below that teachers play a role of a monitor and

consultant in the playing stage 90% of them walked around the class to observestudents‟ performance and to control their activities They usually help studentswith new words (60%) and provide students with suggestions (50%) Only 10% ofthem pay attention to students‟ mistakes A respondent said that he encouragesstudents to try

Question 13: Teachers’ activities in the post playing stage

The data in Figure 10 show teachers‟ well-done activities when the games

have finished All teachers announced and congratulated the winner 80% gavecomments on how well the students have played and 20% of them gave marks orpresents to encourage students to try better next time A great number of 70% of theteachers summarize the language items used in the game, which is a good thing to

do as it points out for students to know that language games are not just for pleasure