The use of warm up activities in speaking lessons in yen lang high school a case study

Post-graduate Department---Hoàng Thị Dự The use of Warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: A case study Việc sử dụng các hoạt động tiền dạy nói trong giờ dạy nói

Post-graduate Department -

Hoàng Thị Dự

The use of Warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: A case study

(Việc sử dụng các hoạt động tiền dạy nói trong giờ dạy nói ở

THPT YêN lãNG, điển cứu)

MA Minor thesis

Hanoi- 2009

Vietnam national university, Hanoi

University of languages and international studies

Post-graduate Department -

Hoàng Thị Dự

The use of Warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: A case study

(Việc sử dụng các hoạt động tiền dạy nói trong giờ dạy nói ở

THPT YêN lãNG, điển cứu)

MA Minor thesis

Table of contents

Declaration i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations and tables vi

Introduction 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Methodology 2

5 Significance of the study 2

6 Structure of the study 3

Chapter 1: Literature Review 4

1.1 Aspects of speaking 4

1.1.1 Purpose of speaking 4

1.1.2 Participants in speaking 4

1.1.3 Medium of speaking 5

1.1.4 Differences between speaking and writing 5

1.2 Teaching of speaking in different approaches 6

1.2.1 Teaching of speaking in the Grammar translation method 6

1.2.2 Teaching of speaking in the Direct method 7

1.2.3 Teaching of speaking in the Audio-lingual method 8

1.2.4 Teaching of speaking in Communicative language teaching 9

1.3 Warm- up activities in speaking 11

1.3.1 Definitions of warm- up activities 11

1.3.2 Purposes of teaching warm-up activities 11

1.3.2.1 Motivating learners in learning 11 1.3.2.2 Introducing the topic of the lesson 11

1.3.2.3 Getting students’ attention 12 1.3.2.4 Providing some useful languages 12

1.3.3 Some common warm-up activities 12

1.3.4 Evaluation of warm- up activities in speaking lessons 14

Chapter 2: Methodology 17

2.1 Setting of the study 17

2.2 The sampling 18

2.2.1 The teachers 18

2.2.2 The students 18

2.3 Data collection 20

2.3.1 Data collection instrument 20

2.3.2 Data-collection procedure 21

2.4 Data analysis procedure 22

Chapter 3: Study results 23

3.1 Research question 1 23

3.1.1 Teachers’ frequency of using warm-up activities 23

3.1.2 Teachers’ frequent purposes of using warm-up activities 25

3.2 Research question 2: Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities 27 3.3 Research question 3: Teachers’ difficulties when employing warm-up activities 29

3.3.1 Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities 29

3.3.2 Teachers’ difficulties while practising warm-up activities 30

3.3.3 Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of warm-up activities 31

3.4 Research question 4: Teachers’ satisfaction of their employment of warm-up activities 32

3.5 Research question 5: Students’ satisfaction of their teachers’ employment of warm-up activities 32

Conclusion 34

1 Major findings 34

2 Pedagogical implications from the findings 36

3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 36

References 38

Appendices 40

List of abbreviations and tables

Table 1.1: Differences between speaking and writing

Table 1.2 : Common approaches to teaching speaking

Table 2.1: Number of students in each group

Table 3.1: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS and their years of teaching experienceTable 3.2: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS (Information from teachers)

Table 3.3: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS (Information from students)

Table 3.4: Teachers’ frequent purposes of using WAS

Table 3.5: Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities

Table 3.6: Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities

Table 3.7: Teachers’ difficulties while practising warm-up activities

Table 3.8: Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of WAS

Table 3.9: Teachers’ satisfaction with their used WAS

Table 3.10: Students’ satisfaction with teachers’ WAS

Actually, the teaching of speaking has undergone substantial changes due to thechanges in language teaching approach For Vietnamese learners, speaking skills have beenfostered through repeating after the teacher, the use of dictation, rote-learning of text, readingaloud and the like Consequently, although students know vocabulary and grammar, a lot ofthem cannot use the language they learn in oral communication Students of Yen Lang highschool (Me Linh, Ha Noi) encounter the same problem when they practise speaking Thesituation has been better since communicative language teaching was adopted.Communicative competence in speaking has been focused on in order to meet the demand ofthe society in the new context.

However, teaching speaking in a classroom environment faces certain difficulties Forexample, students often experience lack of knowledge, words and expressions needed forspeaking or motivation to speak They even suffer from shyness or lack of confidence Thus,arousing students’ interest as well as providing them some language preparation is an essentialpart to prepare for students to speak In spite of not being a main task warm-up activitiescontribute to the success of speaking lessons

The importance of warm-up activities in learning English has been confirmed in manystudies For example, it has been found out that pre-reading techniques have great impact onthe students’ motivation to read (To, 2007) and brainstorming before speaking tasksencourages better learning (Cullen, 2008) However, practicing warm up activities in a school

which has adopted communicative method for only four years like YL high school is still anew technique and requires great efforts from teachers To see how the teachers in YL highschool use warm-up activities in speaking lessons encourages the author to carry out thisstudy.

2 Aims of the study

The study aims at investigating the use of warm up activities in speaking lesson in YLhigh school The study is carried out to answer the following questions:

1 How are warm-up activities employed in term of frequency and purpose?

2 How do teachers perceive warm-up activities in term of importance?

3 What are the difficulties teachers often encounter when preparing and conducting warm-up activities?

4 How satisfied do teachers feel with their employment of warm-up activities?

5 How satisfied do students feel with the employed warm-up activities?

3 Scope of the study

The study focuses only on examining the use of warm-up activities in speakinglessons The participants are all teachers of English and 315 students among 1350 students in

YL high school The study was carried when the school students were studying the secondterm of the year 2008-2009

4 Methodology

This study is a primary research based mainly on survey questionnaires Two sets

of questionnaires were designed The first one was administered to all teachers of English andthe other was delivered to students of six classes in YL high school to examine the use ofwarm-up activities in speaking lessons Data collected from survey questionnaires wasanalyzed quantitavely

5 Significance of the study

The result of the study will be used for the author’s personal growth in teaching job Inaddition, the findings of the study can provide teachers with descriptive information about theuse of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in YL high school The information might beuseful for teachers who want to enhance their use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons inorder to encourage students to speak

6 Structure of the study

The study consists of five parts including introduction, chapter one, chapter two,chapter three and conclusion The first part introduces the rationale, the aim, the scope, themethodology, the significance and the structure of the study Chapter one presents aspects ofspeaking, the teaching of speaking in different approaches and warm-up activities in speakinglessons Chapter two presents the setting, the sampling, data collection and data analysisprocedure Chapter three presents the results of the study and discussion on the results Thelast part of the study offers major findings, pedagogical implication, limitations of the studyand suggestions for further research

Chapter 1: Literature review

1.1 Aspects of speaking

1.1.1 Purposes of speaking

Speaking is to interact with other people in expressing themselves and forming socialrelationships through speech (Bygate, 1987) The main purpose of speaking is to communicatewith other people By speaking we can express our thoughts, our ideas that we like otherpeople to understand (Fulcher, 2003) According to Nunan, communication in speaking can beexpressed into two ways: information routine and interaction routine In information routine,only speakers provide information For example, speakers tell a story, describe something orgive a set of instruction In interaction routine both speakers and listeners participate in theconversation (Nunan, 1999) For example, speakers and listeners interact at the party, in aninterview or in a discussion

1.1.2 Participants in speaking

Participants in spoken communication play roles as speakers and listeners The speakerhas to plan and organize the message and to control the language being used in thecommunication (Fulcher, 2003) When we speak, we usually need to be in the same place andtime as the listener Despite this restriction, speaking does have the advantage that the speakerreceives instant feedback from the listener The speaker can probably see immediately if thelistener is bored or does not understand something Then he can modify or correct himself orimprove what he has already said (Bygate, 1987)

On the other hand, the listener in oral communication can give immediate reaction towhat is spoken According to Bygate, the listener is “in front of us and able to put us right if

we make mistakes He can also generally show his agreement and understanding orincomprehension and disagreement” (Bygate, 1987:12)

Thus, the speaker and the listener are the people who can directly use spoken language

to communicate with each others They can adjust a message immediately so thatunderstanding can be improved

1.1.3 Medium of speaking

The spoken language is the medium of speaking and the outer manifestation of thespoken language is sound (Fulcher, 2003) The spoken language has to be planned andarticulated with considerable speech The speaker must decide what to say, be able toarticulate the words and create physical sounds that carry meaning

In addition to languages, speakers’ voices such as pitch, rhythm, stress and intonationcan also contribute to conveying messages Therefore, in order to speak a foreign language,learners need knowledge of the language they wish to speak, for example, pronunciation ofsound, rules of speech, rules of grammar and the like (Fulcher, 2003)

In speaking, the speaker can also use body languages or facial expressions to conveymessages or to express his feeling if he or she is in front of the listener This is the reason whythe speaker has more ways to convey messages than the writer who often use written language

to express meanings and ideas

1.1.4 Differences between speaking and writing

People can communicate with others by using a verbal language which can be in form

of speaking or writing However, there are differences between two types of communication

- Speakers can receive immediate - Writers cannot receive immediatefeedback from listeners feedback from readers

Interaction - Listeners have to request - Readers can reread if they do not

speakers for repetition if they do understand

not understanding

Language - Speakers can use voice (pitch, - Writers rely on words to expressused rhythm, stress,) and spoken meanings and ideas

language to convey messages.

- Speakers use less formal - Writers use more formal languagelanguage and may make mistakes with correct grammar

- Speakers use pause and - Writers use punctuation

Table 1.1: Differences between speaking and writing

(Fulcher (2003) and Bygate (1987))

It is obviously that writing is not speech written down on the paper and speaking is notspeaking out a book Each way of conveying messages has its own characteristics andadvantages based on which we can choose to communicate by speaking or by writing

1.2 Teaching of speaking in different approaches

Second language teaching and learning have undergone a lot of changes since grammartranslation method came to throne to time when CLT becomes a favorable method today Thechange of methods reflects the change of the concepts of what language proficiency is andpurposes for which we teach and learn a language The teaching of speaking has also beeninfluenced by the concept and practice of each method

1.2.1 Teaching of speaking in the Grammar translation method

In the Grammar translation method, there exists no form of speaking practice as thepurpose of language teaching is to teach reading and writing This approach mainly focuses ongrammatical rules and helps learners read and appreciate foreign language literature Thus,both teachers and learners do not pay attention to speaking or pronunciation The principlecharacteristics of this method according to Richard and Rodger (1986:13) are as follow:

- The goal of foreign language study is to read its literature It hence views languagelearning as memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology andsyntax of the foreign language

- Vocabulary is taught through bilingual word list, dictionary study and

memorization

- Accuracy is emphasized Grammar is taught inductively

- The students’ mother tongue is the medium of instruction

- Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to

speaking or listening

Learners who are taught in this way have no motivation or chance to practice speaking.They may not be able to pronounce a word even though they know the meaning Thus, a lot oflearners cannot use the foreign language they learn for speaking

1.2.2 Teaching of speaking in the Direct method

In the direct method, speaking is gradually formed Speaking is fostered throughrepeating after teachers and the use of target language in the classroom (Fulcher, 2003) Thisapproach was developed initially in reaction to the grammar translation method in an attempt

to integrate more use of the target language in instruction Richards and Rodger (1986:19)described the principles and procedure of the method as follows:

- Classroom instruction is conducted exclusively in the target language

- Oral communication skills are built up in graded progression organized aroundquestion and answer exchange between teachers and students in small, intensive classes

- New teaching point is introduced orally

- Both speech and listening comprehension are taught

- Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized

This method helps students to expose to the target language situation but their speakingabilities are not intentionally developed As the language used in teaching and learning is thetarget language, students who are taught in this way are presented and must present their

thought in the target language However, they are trying to express themselves in the targetlanguage with insufficient knowledge about the language because all statements they learnrelate to the classroom Thus, students’ can hardly use spoken language to communicate asspeaking outside the classroom is not considered.

1.2.3 Teaching of speaking in the Audio-lingual method

In the Audio-lingual method, speaking is intentionally developed; especially, like pronunciation is highly emphasized The process of learning speaking is formed by habitformation through repetition, imitation and drills in term of stimulus response (Stern, 1983).Followings are Rivers’ summarization of the principles of the method:

native The principle of language learning is habit formation New material is presented inform of a dialogue The method fosters dependence on imitation, memorization of set phrases andover-learning

- There is an abundant use of language laboratories, tapes and visual aids

- Great importance is given to precise native-like pronunciation The use of the mother tongue by the teacher is permitted, but discouraged among the students

- Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills

- Grammar is taught inductively Vocabularies are strictly limited and learned in context

- Skills are sequenced: Listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed in order

- Successful responses are reinforced; great care is taken to prevent learner errors.There is a tendency to focus on the manipulation of the target language and to disregard contentsand meanings (Rivers, 1981:19)

It is obvious that audio-lingual method emphasizes the importance of habit formation

in learning language Learning speaking is in form of repetition, role- play and drills; studentsare to repeat and insist on accurate reproduction of the items Thus, one of the most successfulpoints of this method is to develop students’ accurate pronunciation and fluency However,

one of the disadvantages of the method is “students’ master of sentence patterns rather thancreative or communicative use of the language” (Brumfit and Roberts, 1983:121) In otherwords, when speaking students only response automatically what they have learnt andremembered they cannot use the language communicatively

1.2.4 Teaching of speaking in Communicative language teaching

In CLT, teaching of speaking is paid more attention than ever as speaking is realized asthe most highly prized language skills in learning FL (Lado 1961, quoted in Fulcher 2003).Speaking is taught through doing communicative tasks and interaction The learner’s role is as

a negotiator and an integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator for communication process.Richards summarizes the principles of communicative language teaching as follows:

- The goal of language learning is communicative competence Learners learn it through using it to communicate

- Authentic and meaningful communication should be a goal of classroom activities

- Fluency and accuracy are important dimensions of communication

- Communication involves the integration of different language skills

- Learning is gradual process that involves trial and error (Richards, 1983)

Students who are taught in this way are exposed to a lot of target languages in use Indoing communicative activities, students interact in role playing, arguing and debating and uselanguage in different situations Although learning and teaching occur in classroomenvironment authentic materials, well- designed activities with real- life topics arouse studentsfeeling that they are performing social interaction (Byrne, 1987)

In summery, speaking is perceived differently due to the purposes of teaching andlearning languages at different times The table following summarizes how speaking is taught

Character- students students’ use of students’ native like integration of four

grammar and target language in pronunciation and language skills inistics of

- Little or no - Fluency and - Fluency and - Speaking is learnt

Speaking attention for accuracy in accuracy in meaningfully and

speaking use of the target role- play and tasks and

Teaching Tasks given in Use of various Drills and tasks Authentic and

Table 1.2 : Common approaches to teaching speaking

(Synthesized from Richards & Rodgers, 1986)

If in grammar translation method, there is no place for speaking, speaking in CLT isthe main focus People gradually realize that speaking is the first step to confirm who know or

does not know language and “people who know language are referred to as speakers of thatlanguage” (Ur, 1996) Thus, a lot of foreign language learners take up speaking Teachers are

also aware of their responsibility to stimulate students’ speaking abilities They have adoptedmany techniques in teaching and using warm- up activities is one of among these techniques.

1.3 Warm- up activities in speaking

1.3.1 Definitions of warm- up activities

Various definitions refer to warm- up activities as preparing activities Rankin (1989)defined warm- up activities as something to prepare for an activity or event Doff (1998)pointed out that warm-up activities involve activities organized before students do the maintasks of the lesson

Actually, warm-up activities are used to start many activities In learning foreignlanguage it is also used in speaking, reading, listening or writing Thus, warm-up activities forspeaking lesson are activities organized to prepare for students before they perform speakingtasks

1.3.2 Purposes of teaching warm-up activities

Warm-up activities prepare students to start new lessons straightforwardly Followingsare practical purposes of warm-up activities used in speaking lessons

1.3.2.1 Motivating learners in learning

The primary purpose of warm up activities in learning is to motivate learners(Saricoban, 2008) Many researchers and methodologists have come to the view thatmotivation is important for the success of the learners, especially for language learners Forexample, Brown concluded that “without motivation we certainly fail to make necessary effortbut a learner will be successful with proper motivation” (Brown, 1990:161) If learners arehighly motivated, they are eager to participate in classroom activities and volunteer to performthem

1.3.2.2 Introducing the topic of the lesson

Introducing the topic of the lesson is one of the most important activities since thetopic lets students know what they are going to learn and talk about afterward (Levis and Hill,

1992) Knowing the topic of the lesson also activates students’ existing knowledge ofvocabulary and knowledge of social situations about that topic (Moore, 1992) In fact, thetopic of the lesson is frequently introduced while students practise WAS and before they dothe main speaking tasks of the speaking lessons

1.3.2.3 Getting students’ attention

Another purpose of warm up activities is getting students’ attention At the beginning

of the lesson students tend to be distracted by unfinished activities at break time Gettingstudents’ attention at the first minute of the speaking lesson will help the lesson go onsmoothly It also saves waste time reminding students of the noise or stopping them fromdoing other activities (Moore, 1992) Therefore, an exciting warm-up activity will attractstudents’ attention and focus them on doing the tasks

1.3.2.4 Providing some useful languages

It is necessary to provide students with some useful words or expressions before askingthem to do speaking tasks (Doff, 1998) Words or expression may be new or known tostudents If they are new they will enrich students’ knowledge, and if they are known they willimprove students’ accuracy in speaking because input frequency creates output accuracy(Ellis, 1994) Therefore, providing some language for students before they practice speakingshould be included in warm-up activities

In short, warm-up activities are designed to motivate and get students' attention, to helpthem put aside distractive thoughts, and to focus them on activities follow Based on the topic

of the lesson and students’ levels teachers can organize a warm-up activity that is appropriatewith the topic of the speaking lesson and of students’ interest

1.3.3 Some common warm-up activities

Suggestions on techniques to start speaking lessons have been mentioned in manybooks by Levis and Hill (1986), Byrne (1986), Ur (1996) and the like Teachers can adoptamong various kinds of these activities or they can design the activities themselves

Followings are some common warm-up activities that can be used in speaking lessons.

1.3.3.1 Using games

Using games in warm-up activities can meet teacher’s purpose in attracting students’attentions and motivating them to learn (Dornyei, 2001) Students are always interested inplaying games and they are eager to take part in game activities In fact, since game is acontest of amusement there are a lot of activities which teachers can organize for students tocompete with each others Teachers can introduce the topic of the lesson using game likecrosswords or hangman, or making students more motivated with games in which a group ofstudents competes with others like nought and cross, or help (Rankin, 1989) Thus using agame in a warm-up activity helps teachers draw students’ great attention as well as motivatestudents to learn

1.3.3.2 Using story

Teachers can also use short story or anecdote to introduce the topic and to providesome necessary words or expressions By telling or having students read a story teachers canalso introduce the topic of the lesson as well as provide them some useful languages (Rankin,1989) Students will feel it easier while performing speaking tasks A strip story or anunfinished story is an example of this kind of activities

1.3.3.3 Using visual aids

Using visual aids are attractive way of drawing students’ attention Visual aids such aspictures, photographs, real objects or charts can also provide students with cues of the topic aswell as motivate them to speak (Byrne, 1986) Rankin pointed out some principles of usingvisual aids as follows Firstly, visual-aids should be big enough for all of the students to seewithout straining to see Secondly, it should be simple understand and relevant to students, forexample, instead of writing complete sentence teachers should write key words or phrase onaids Lastly, it should be interesting and attractive with balance color (Rankin, 1989)

1.3.3.4 Brainstorming words or expressions

Brainstorming can be used effectively as a warm- up activity in speaking lessonsalthough it is often used in teaching writing (Cullen, 2008) The purpose of brainstormingactivities is to generate as many ideas as possible within a specified length of time Each ideaproduced does not need to be usable Instead, initial ideas can be viewed as a starting point formore workable ideas since the principle of brainstorming is that you need lots of ideas to getgood ideas Activities such as free-association and word-mapping can be used to generatestudents’ ideas for speaking tasks (Dawson, 2006)

1.3.3.5 Using questions

Teachers can give questions leading students to the main points of the lesson Thequestions are related to and focus on the topic of the lesson By answering these questionsstudents understand what they are going to talk about afterward This technique requires nosupplementary materials but it should be well-repaired by teachers to avoid boredom andmotivate students to do speaking tasks (Levis and Hill, 1992)

1.3.3.6 Having students read a small passage

Giving students a small passage before asking them to present speaking tasks is alsoone kind of warm-up activities This kind of activity seems like giving students a story to read.The difference lies in the fact that the content of story is often thrilling enough to attractstudents’ curiosity but the content of the passage mentioned here aims at providing studentswith some information and some words and expressions that may be useful for speaking (Ur,1996) Actually, teachers can adopt WAS available in many books or they can design theactivities themselves The only things should be taken in consideration are the relevance of theactivity with students levels and the appropriateness of the activity with the topic of the lesson

1.3.4 Evaluation of warm- up activities in speaking lessons

Researchers, have shown positive effects of WAS on speaking lessons in their studies.Firstly, WAS could help to increase students’ motivation To (2004) pointed out in the last

part of her study that students often showed their interest in activities like games or visualaids Therefore, using these activities would arouse students’ interest as well as enhancestudents’ motivation in learning WAS like brainstorming was found out to be a motivationaltechnique in the way it offers students opportunities to activate their existing knowledge aswell as exchanging information with others (Cullen, 2008) When students are motivated theyare eager to participate in the tasks following that.

Secondly, WAS were used to focus students on the lessons (Dawson, 2006) Dawsonconcluded from his study that many teachers claimed their students for disturbing noise andneglecting attitude at the beginning of the lesson However, participating in an excitingactivity, the students paid closer attention and seemed to be more excited than before In thisway, a warm-up activity can play a role as an ice-breaking activity that eliminates boringatmosphere and focuses students on the lesson

Thirdly, using warm-up activities could help the whole pace of the tasks go on muchfaster (Cullen, 2008) Cullen concluded in his study on the use of brainstorming beforespeaking task that students who did a brainstorming warm-up activity followed by thespeaking task progressed faster compare to those did only the speaking task Because oforganization of knowledge and introduction of contextual cues of a brainstorming activity, ithelps students be familiar with words or expression in the speaking tasks Having knowledgeabout what they are going to speak students will get faster progression

Fourthly, warm-up activity has a strong positive effect on the atmosphere of theclassroom and behavior of the students (Dawson, 2006) Participating in warm-up activitiesstudents may have a feeling that they were playing not working Stress and tension amongstudents can be reduced Therefore, students do not feel being forced but feel more encouraged

to learn

It is obviously that that WAS play a crucial role in the whole process of teachingspeaking for the fact that good beginning make good ending If the lesson starts smoothly,both the teacher and his students can find it easy to progress along the speaking lesson.However, if students feel bored or too excited with the activity it will cause difficulties for theteacher to control the class Therefore, WAS should be well-designed and organized by the

teacher in order to activate positive effects as well as make the teacher and his students feel more comfortable to continue doing speaking tasks

Chapter 2: Methodology

This chapter is to present the methodology of the current research including theparticipants, the data collection instrument and procedure of the study

2.1 Setting of the study

The study was conducted in YL high school located in Me Linh district, Ha Noi Theschool has thirty one classes consisting of 1350 students English is a compulsory subject and

is the only foreign language being taught here

The English syllabus for high school students

The objectives of the English language teaching syllabus for high school students are

to provide students with knowledge of English language and to enable them to use English tocommunicate at a basic level The teaching approach which has been adopted and encouraged

to use is CLT Materials used for teaching and learning English are textbooks and listeningdisks The textbook for each school year consists of sixteen units and the order of languageteaching skills in each unit is reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus.Students often have three English classes a week Each class lasts 45 minutes Totally, thereare 105 teaching periods in a school year including revisions and tests In each speakinglesson, students often have to do three tasks The first two tasks are guided tasks and the lastone is a free task which is the speaking production of students Although course assessment isbased mainly on written tests, the teaching and learning of speaking have received greatattention from both teachers and students due to their awareness of the increasing demand fororal communication in foreign languages

The teachers

There are seven teachers of English in YL high school One teacher comes from Nghe

An province and the others are from different areas in Me Linh district, Ha Noi The teachers’ages range from 27 to 38 Six of the teachers are females and the other is a male All of the

teachers graduated from CFL and most of them have been teaching English in YL high schoolsince they graduated Although the teachers used to teach English using the Grammartranslation method, they have been much more concerned with CLT since it was adopted

The students

The school students are from different areas of Me Linh district Their ages range from

15 to 19 All of them have learnt English since they were at secondary school However, theirEnglish are at different levels Apart from being a compulsory subject, students learn Englishfor different purposes For example, some students learn English to take an entrance to theirfavorite Universities Some students learn English for amusement such as listening to music orreading newspapers and some students learn English for their interests

2.2.2 The students

The second group of participants was 315 students from seven groups of three classes

in the school Seven groups chosen were the groups taught by seven teachers The researcheremployed the purposive sampling procedure The first purpose for which the researcherselected these groups of students was that these groups were representative for all groups ofstudents in the school Secondly, the researcher could make comparison between the resultsobtained from the teachers and results gained from their students about the frequency of using

of WAS in speaking lessons Therefore, the researcher selected seven groups of participants

based on following criteria:

- For each teacher, one group is selected

- For each class, at least two groups are selected

- Teachers who teach more groups in one class will have a greater chance to be chosen

The procedure of selecting participants for the study is as follows: Firstly, the

researcher listed all the teachers and all the groups taught by them Secondly, the groups

taught by each teacher were arranged according to number from small to big Thirdly, she

chose two groups of class 12 first Two teachers who taught more groups were chosen For

example, teacher A teaches groups 12A3, 12A5, 12A8; teacher B teaches 12A7, 12A9, 12A11

so group 12A3 and 12A7 are chosen Then she continued choosing the groups in class 11 and

class 10 The teachers who were not selected in class 12 were chosen in the following classes

Two groups of class 12 and two groups of class 10 were chosen meanwhile three groups of the

class 11 were chosen to participate in the study The specific number of students from each

2.3 Data collection

2.3.1 Data collection instrument

The research instrument used in the study was survey questionnaires Two sets ofquestionnaires were designed and administered to two groups of participants Followings aredescription of the two sets of questionnaires

Description of survey questionnaires for teachers

At the beginning of the questionnaires participants were asked to give their backgroundinformation including their age, their years of teaching and their hometown No specificnames of the participants were required

The main part had twenty four items that belonged to five parts in the surveyquestionnaires

Part A had one question that aimed at examining the teachers’ frequency of usingWAS Five levels of use were designed correspond to five numbers from one to five, in whichnumber 1 for “never”, number 2 for “occasionally”, number 3 for “sometimes” , number 4 for

“usually” and number 5 for “always” Participants were divided into three groups: high level,moderate level and low level of using WAS To be specific the teacher who “usually” and

“always” used WAS belong to the high group of WAS use The teachers who “sometimes”used WAS belongs to the moderate group of WAS use The teachers who “occasionally” and

“never” used WAS belong to the low group of WAS use

Part B had one question consists of ten items that examined teachers’ frequentpurposes of using warm-up activities Five levels of use were also given similar to part A

Part C had five items that aimed at answering the second research question aboutteachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities In this part four levels ofimportance were given correspond to numbers from 1 to 4 In which number 1 is for “notimportant at all”, number 2 is for “not very important”, number 3 is for “important” andnumber 4 is for “very important”

Part D was designed to answer the third research question about teachers’ difficultieswhen practising WAS in speaking lessons This part was divided into sub-three parts

consisting of seven items The design of the answers for each item was similar to the part Aand part B of the questionnaires.

Part E aimed at examining teachers’ satisfaction with their employed warm-upactivities Four levels of satisfaction were given correspond to four number from one to four.Number 1 is for “not satisfied at all”, number 2 is for “not very satisfied”, number 3 is for

“satisfied” and number 4 for “completely satisfied”

Although the questionnaire was designed in English, the researcher has tried to usesimple words and edit its format so that the respondents would find it easy and comfortablewhile doing the questionnaires

Survey questionnaires for students

At the beginning of the questionnaires participants were asked to give backgroundinformation like their ages, their hometown and their years of leaning English The main parthad only two questions The first question aimed at answering the first research question andconfirming the result obtained from the questionnaires for teacher about the frequency ofusing WAS The second question aimed at answering the sixth research question aboutstudents’ satisfaction with WAS used in speaking lessons These two questions were designedbased on a scale similar to the questionnaires for teachers

2.3.2 Data-collection procedure

The questionnaires were administered to all teachers of English and seven classes ofstudents at different times The researcher delivered the questionnaire to teachers at break timemeanwhile the delivery of the questionnaires to students was when they were studying in theclassroom The researcher had to get previous permission of the teacher in charge atadministering time and the agreement of the whole class before she delivered thequestionnaires to the students Fortunately, none of the students were absent when theresearcher delivered the questionnaires to them On average, the administration of the surveyquestionnaires for teacher took thirty minutes and the survey questionnaires for students tookabout ten minutes The administration of the two sets of questionnaires lasted three weeks

2.4 Data analysis procedure

The researcher collected data and calculated them by using Microsoft Excel As all thedata were from questionnaires, they were rather easy to calculate due to their beingquantitative by nature The interpretation of the data was based mainly on the calculation ofthe frequency, the mean and the percentage The scores of each item were calculatedseparately to answer different research questions

Chapter 3: Study results

In the current chapter, the research questions are answered respectively based on the

data collected from interview and survey questionnaires

3.1 Research question 1

3.1.1 Teachers’ frequency of using warm-up activities

Information from two sources was collected to find out teachers’ frequency of using

WAS The first one was obtained from survey questionnaires for teachers and the other was

gained from survey questionnaires for students

Results obtained from survey questionnaires for teachers

Teachers’ frequency of using warm-up activities is shown in the following table:

YEARS OF

LEVELS OF

FREQUENCYENGLISH

Table 3.1: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS and their years of teaching experience

(pseudonym names)