Using role play techiniques to motivate 2nd year accounting majored students at dainam univeristy to improve their speaking skill

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURESTable 1: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for teachers Table 2: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for students Figures illustrates data

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THỊ HẰNG NGA

YEAR ACCOUNTING- MAJORED STUDENTS AT DAINAM UNIVERSITY TO IMPROVE THEIR SPEAKING

SKILL

( Sử dụng thủ thuật đóng vai nhằm gây hứng thú trong các giờ học nói cho sinh viên năm thứ 2 chuyên ngành kế toán tại

trường ĐH Đại Nam)

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10

Hanoi, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

PHẠM THỊ HẰNG NGA

YEAR ACCOUNTING- MAJORED STUDENTS AT DAINAM UNIVERSITY TO IMPROVE THEIR SPEAKING

SKILL

( Sử dụng thủ thuật đóng vai nhằm gây hứng thú trong các giờ học nói cho sinh viên năm thứ 2 chuyên ngành kế toán tại

trường ĐH Đại Nam)

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60 14 10

Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Hồng Hải, M.A.

Hanoi, 2012

1.1 Rationale of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1.1 Hypothesis3.1.2 Setting of the study3.1.3 Subjects of the study

3.2.1 Method of data collection3.2.2 The data collection instruments3.2.2.1 The questionnaire3.2.2.2 Interviews

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for teachers

Table 2: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for students

Figures illustrates data collected from the survey questionnaire for teachers

Figure 1: The frequency of using role play activities

Figure 2: Teachers‟ opinion on role play

Figure 3: Students‟ attitude towards role play activities exploited by teachersFigure 4: Students‟ participation in role play activities

Figure 5: The effectiveness of role play in enhangcing students‟ participationFigure 6: Benefits of using role play

Figure 7: Frequency of difficulties faced by teachers

Figure 8: Factors causing difficulties

Figure 9: Suggestions to make role play more effective

Figures illustrates data collected from the survey questionnaire for students

Figure 10: Frequency of applying role play

Figure 11: Students‟ opinion on role play

Figure 12: Students‟ participation in role play

Figure 13: Benefits of role play

Figure 14: Frequency of difficulties faced by students

Figure 15: Factors causing difficulties

Figure 16: Suggestions to make role play more effective

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

.1 Rationale

The past few decades have witnessed a radical methodological change in English languageteaching Since its appearance in 1960s, the Communicative Approach has been widelyapplied in language teaching In the light of this approach, English is looked on as aninternational means of communication The context of international integration anddevelopment has attached increasing importance to communication in general and oralcommunication in particular That fact accounts for the need to educate communicativelycompetent students who after graduating from universities are able to take part in jobsconcerning the use of English as an effective tool of communication

Oral communication skills, therefore, have become the focus of language teaching as far as theobjectives of English courses of the English Department at Dainam University are concerned.Being put in a simple way, developing speaking skill among students is the focus of languageteaching

However, like many other universities in Vietnam, the teachers at Dainam University arefacing the problem of their students‟ low level of participation in speaking activities in theirclassrooms While there may be a variety of reasons for students‟ poor participations such asstudents‟ shyness when speaking in front of a crowd or their unwillingness to show weakness

in speaking English, I believe one such reason has been their lack of motivation In myopinion, it is the teachers‟ role to recognize the importance of motivation in English languagelearning and thereby try to seek ways to enhance their students‟ motivation in improving theirspeaking skills If motivated, even unmotivated learners will be likely to participate more inspeaking activities in the classroom as well as practice it more outside the classroom

Of all the methods used to motivate students‟ participation in speaking lessons, Role Playmethod is very effective in inducing students‟ motivation As Doff (1988) points out, RolePlay increases motivation Always talking about real life can become very dull, but the chance

to imagine different situations adds interest to a lesson In addition, Role Play gives a chance

to use language in new contexts and for new topics Role Play is also a technique that can

make the students work in pairs, support one another, make the class more interesting andreduce students‟ boredom Moreover, Role Play is fun and motivated, the students get thechance to speak more and it is useful to extend knowledge So Role Play can be seen as abridge to join the theory inside the classroom to the reality outside the classroom Role Playhas a lot of advantages It can increase learners‟ motivation, it gives chance to use language innew contexts and for new topics and it encourages learners to use natural expressions,intonation as well as gestures As a result, learners‟ ability communicate in the target languagewill be improved.

The idea of applying role play techniques in order to motivate students to speak English is not

a recent practice; however, in Vietnam this technique has not been fully exploited by teachers

in English classes due to some limitations in English Teaching This assumption has led me to

undertake a research titled “Using Role Play technique to motivate Second year

Accounting- majored students at Dainam University to improve their speaking skill.” I

am interested in analyzing the use of role play in teaching speaking for the students I alsowant to know the advantages and the problems encountered by learners and teachers in usingit

.2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed at investigating the use of Role Play technique in communicative Englishclasses at Dainam University To be specific, the aims of the study are:

- To explore the frequency of employing Role Play and difficulties that students and teachers encounter when applying this technique in Speaking lesson at Dainam University

- To prove the hypothesis Role Play technique will help teachers motivate students to speak more in English Speaking lessons

1.3 Research Questions

With the purposes mentioned above, the research questions will be:

1. How often is Role Play applied in speaking lessons at Dainam University?

2. Does using Role Play motivate students to participate more in speaking class?

3. What difficulties do teachers and students encounter when Role Play is used in

speaking lesson?

1.4 Method of the study

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to carry out the study The data were

collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and observation.

1.5.Scope of the study

The study focuses specifically on using Role Play in teaching speaking to the second yearstudents at Accounting Department, Dainam University So the study limits itself to theteaching and learning Speaking only

1.6 Significance of the study

- Theoretical significance of the study: The study supplies the English language teachers with

the understanding of Role Play techniques in terms of types, advantages when employingthem

- Practical significance of the study: The research provides the language teachers and learners

recommendations or suggestions for the successful exploitation of this technique

1.7.Organization of the thesis

This thesis consists of five chapters:

- Chapter 1, The Introduction, presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions,

the method of the study, the scope, the significance of the study

- Chapter 2, The Literature Review, deals with some theoretical background that is

relevant to the purpose of the study: Motivation and Role Play

- Chapter 3, The Methodology, reports the design of the study, the participants of the

study, the instruments used in the research and the statistical method to analyze thedata

- Chapter 4, The Data Analysis and Findings, provides an analysis of the data as well as

the interpretation of the results

- Chapter 5: The Conclusion and Recommendation draws pedagogical implications

including a number of recommendations for teachers of English to apply Role Play asmethod to motivate students to participate in classroom speaking activities Limitations

of the study and suggestions for further possible research are also given in this part

- The Appendices are the last part of the thesis, following the References.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will explore some theoretical background to the study Specifically, it firstlydiscusses the concept of motivation and later discusses how this concept relates to learningand teaching in several contexts In addition, the chapter will also review the concept of RolePlay and its role in motivating students to speak English in class

2.1 Conceptualization of Motivation

There have been so far many researches on the theory of motivation which havegenerally come to a conclusion that motivation is an abstract concept used to describe thewillingness of a person to expand effort to reach a particular goal

Some scholars and psychologists of the first half of the 20th century determined two

interior factors of motivation, instincts and drives, which are of great importance in our lives.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, researchers found that self- actualizing

tendencies are the central force in motivation in people Maslow(1970) analyses two

groupings of seven levels of basic needs They are deficiency needs including physiological,safety, belongingness and love, and being needs consisting of cognitive, aesthetic and self-actualization Williams and Burden (1997) point out

"Motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in

certain ways and what factors influence the choices they make It also involves decision as to the amount of effort people are prepared to expand in attempting

to achieve their goals" (p 119).

According to Dornyei (2001), the concept of motivation has been seen differently That ishow individual‟s conscious attitudes, beliefs, and interpretation of events influence theirbehavior He also adds that motivation explains the reason why people decide to do something,how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities

2.1.1 Definition of Motivation in Second Language Learning

Motivation is not only a vital but also a highly complex factor determining success or failure

in L2 learning Therefore, the concept of motivation in L2 learning has been studied by a

number of authors Keller (1984) defines "interest" as one of the major components of

motivation in foreign and second language learning Nonetheless, Gardner (1985) sees the

important role of effort and desire to achieve the learning goal “Motivation in the present

context refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favorable attitudes towards learning the language” (p 10).

Similarly, Ellis (1997) emphasizes the role of attitudes and effective states “Motivation

involves the attitudes and effective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make

a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perceives It is

a complex phenomenon and includes many components: the individual’s drive, need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience, and so on ( p 53 )

In addition, according to McKay and Tom (1992), it is the need and drive tocommunicate with others in a new language that provide strong motivation for most learners(p.2)

However, Gardner and Lambert (1972), two dominant researchers of the social

psychological approach, propose that the broad concept of the “integrative motive” consists of three main components: attitude, integrativeness and motivation.

There are some other new approaches the researchers of which wish to make close thegap between theories of motivation in educational psychology and in the L2 field The

researchers of this period added some new elements to the concept of L2 motivation In his

framework of motivation, Dornyei (1994) classifies three levels: language level, learner level

and learning situational level, and in each level there are some different elements Moreover,

Marion Williams and Bob Burden (1997), propose a detailed framework of L2 motivation with

the Internal and External motivational influence They analyze nine internal factors as follow:

intrinsic interest of activity, perceived value of activity, sense of agency, mastery, self-concept,attitudes, affective states such as confidence, anxiety and fear, developmental age and gender.The external factors consist of human factors such as parents, teachers, peers, feedback,rewards or punishments, the learning environment and the boarder context(Adapted fromDornyei, 2001)

In this study, I adopted Littlewood‟s definition, which sates that

Motivation is a complex phenomenon and includes many components: the individual’s drive and need for achievement and success, curiosity, desire for stimulation and new experience that make up her motivation In other words, motivation is both intrinsically and extrinsically- originated.” (1998)

In brief, there exist scores of definitions of motivation All definitions embody certainimplications for L2 teaching and learning One such implication is that motivation is animportant consideration in L2 teaching and learning When properly motivated in class,students will continue to make efforts to achieve their goals in learning the target language

2.1.2 Different kinds of motivation in language learning

Gardner and Lambert (1985) distinguish integrative and instrumental as two types of motivation Besides, researchers have added some other kinds such as resultative, intrinsic,

extrinsic, global, situational and task motivation.

* Integrative motivation This type of motivation occurs when learners wish to identify

with the culture of the L2 group When speaking the target language, learners admire theculture and have a desire to become familiar with the society in which the language is used(Falk, 1978) It is, therefore, the interest in the people and culture of the language that createsstudent motivation in L2 learning and this type of motivation lies in the realm of intrinsicneed

* Instrumental motivation This is characterized by the desire to obtain something

practical from the study of L2 (Hudson, 2000) Ellis (1994) states "Some functional reasons

such as to pass an examination, to get a better job or to get a university place motivate learners to learn an L2 because it opens up educational and economic opportunities for them." (p.75)

* Resultative motivation Motivation is not only the cause of achievement, it is also the

result of learning Learning success may encourage learners to learn better Ellis (1994) pointsout that the relationship between motivation and achievement is an interactive one and "A

high level of motivation does stimulate learning, but perceived success in achieving l2 goals can help to maintain existing motivation and even create new ones." (p 515)

*Intrinsic motivation This type of motivation plays a vital role in most learners' L2 learning success or failure For many learners, the reason for learning an L2 is the "interest in

the culture and the target language group" or the "positive attitudes towards the target language group" while for some others it is the interest in learning tasks Teaching methods

and learning activities may attract them, arouse and maintain their interest in doing the tasks

In short, intrinsic motivation "Involves the arousal and maintenance of curiosity and can ebb

and flow as a result of such factors as learners' particular interests and the extent to which they fell personality involved in learning activities." (Ellis, 1994, p 76)

*Extrinsic motivation derives from the influence of some kinds of external incentives,

including the influence of the teacher, the learner's desire to please significant people or theirwish to succeed in an external exam, or peer group influence, which are different from thewish to learn for its own sake or interest in learning tasks

* Global motivation Brown (1994) defines global motivation as a general orientation

to the goal of an L2 learning which may be affected by such factors as previous education,social factors as well as the teacher's attitudes

* Situational motivation refers to the learning context: classroom, total environment

assumed to be influenced by teacher action Brown (1994) distinguishes the difference insituational motivation according to the situation in which learning takes place Thus themotivation in the classroom setting differs from that in natural setting

* Task motivation This motivation occurs when learners are performing some

particular tasks in learning performance An attractive task designed by the teacher in classmay encourage learners to invest their effort and energy in

2. 2 Role Play technique as a motivating factor in speaking lesson

2.2.1 Definition of Role Play

In recent years, because of the fact that language teaching focuses much more on oral skills inorder to respond to the students‟ needs for effective communication in their L2, a largenumber of communicative activities such as Role Play, Simulation, Drama, and so on arebrought into language classes by teachers They provide learners with chances to practice thelanguage they learn, to convey meanings that are functionally effective and appropriate to thesocial situations Of all these activities, role-play seems to be the most appropriate to developcommunicative ability while their linguistic competence and cultural knowledge are limited

In order to understand Role Play, it is a good way to look at the differences betweenSimulation and Role-play Klippel (1991) claims that it is not easy to distinguish between roleplay and simulation because they both mirror the reality The main difference is thatsimulations are more structured and contain more diverse elements

Ladousse (1989) explains that simulations are complex, lengthy and relatively inflexibleevents which will always include an element of role play while role play can be a simple andbrief technique to organize He sums up that it is not possible and profitable to make finedistinctions between these two

Role-play is defined in many ways according to different linguists Byrne (1986) defines play by the phrase “Let‟s pretend”, added by “Role-play is a way of taking the students out ofthe classroom for a while and showing them how English can be used in certain situations.” (p.117) In role-play activities, students are not themselves any more, they are put in either realistic or imaginative situations to act

role-Similarly, Harmer (1998) considers role-play activities are those where students are asked toimagine that they are in different situations and act accordingly We may tell them to role play

being guests at a party, travel agents and answering customer questions or participants in apublic meeting about a road-building project.

Ur (1996) also states that Role-play is used to refer to all the activities where learners imaginethemselves in a situation outside the classroom, sometimes playing the role of someone otherthan themselves, and using language appropriate to this new context

Doff (1988) defines “Role-play is a way of bringing situations from real life into classroom.”(p.232) He pointed out the two characteristics of role-play: imagination of a role and/or asituation and improvisation They may pretend to be a different person, doing somethingdifferent The situation is fixed, but they make up the exact words to say as they go along.According to Cross (1991), Role-play is used a great deal in situations where the students‟future use of the language can be defined fairly clearly It is enjoyable; it offers a mentalescape from the classroom It can be tightly controlled, perhaps as a logical development of adialogue in the textbook, or it can be relatively free, with considerably scope for imaginationand creativity

Another definition stated by Wingate (1993) He said that in a Role-lay each student pretends

to be someone else and does something which has been set for them to do

So we can see that there are numerous definitions of role play The definition used for thisstudy is from Ladousse( 1987) He proposes that “When students assume a “role”, they play apart (either their own or somebody else‟s) in a specific situation “ Play” means that the role istaken on a safe environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible In therole, students are creating their own reality and, by doing so, are experimenting with theirknowledge of the real world and developing their ability to interact with other people.” Thisdefinition precisely describes what my students often do in their speaking lessons when roleplay is applied as the main technique

In short, it is clearly that each scholar has his own opinion of Role-play; however, they allagree that Role-play is a technique which involves fantasy or imaginative to be someone else

or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a realworld in scenario It aims at the students to encourage thinking and creativity, lets students

develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively non-threateningsetting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to ooocur.

2.2.2 Classification of Role-play

According to Littlewood (1981) Role-play can be divided into four types according to thenature of control exercised by the teacher The activities are part of a continuum ranging frompre-communicative activities The former is defined as activities that “…aim to equip thelearner with some of the skills required for communication, without actually requiring him toperform communicative acts” (p.8) The later consists activities in which “…the learner usesthe linguistic repertoire he has learnt in order to communicate specific meanings for specificpurposes” (p.17) Four types of Role-play are parts of this continuum: Role-play controlledthrough cued dialogues, Role-play controlled through cues and information, Role-playcontrolled through situation and goals and Role-play in the form of debate and discussion

Role-play controlled through cued dialogues

In role-plays controlled through cued dialogues, each learner receives cues on separate cards.According to Littlewood (1981), “Two sets of cues must interlock closely” so that cues canonly generate utterances that match cues that follow Even though learners‟ creativity is quitelimited, this kind of role play still presents a certain amount of uncertainty and spontaneityinherent to real communication Learners have to listen to their partner before providing anappropriate response

Role-play controlled through cues and information

This kind of framework is obviously best suited to those situations where there is a naturalinitiator, whose cues can control the interaction These are mostly situations where one personneeds to gather information or obtain a service For example, in a travel agency, where onelearner needs to find out train time and fares, and the other has timetable and brochures.Another example is in a bank, where the manager has to obtain personal information about aclient who wants to borrow money Because of the information-gathering element, this type ofrole-play may often be very similar to some of the functional communication activities.However, there is greater emphasis on the social context in which the information is obtained

Role-play controlled through situation and goals

All the activities in the previous sections provide a framework of specific cues for the learners.These enable the teacher to control the interaction and to ensure that learners express aparticular range of meaning (In addition to any variations they may introduce) This cue alsoprovides the learner with a supportive framework which relieves them of some of theresponsibilities for creating the interaction themselves.

As learners progress, teachers will not necessarily abandon the use of specific cues He willstill sometimes want to produce a particular kind of interaction and elicit a particular range offunctional meaning and forms There will also be increasing scope, however, for providing alooser structure, which gives learners greater responsibilities for creating the interactionthemselves The control now determines not so much the specific meaning that learnersexpress It is directed at the higher level of situation and the goals that learners have to achievethrough communication

In this role-play, learners are initially aware only of the overall situation and their own goals in

it They must negotiate the interaction itself as it unfolds, each partner respondingspontaneously to the other‟s communicative acts and strategies

Role-play in the form of debate and discussion

The last Role-play in Littlewood‟s continuum “… is debate or discussion about a real orsimulated issue” (p 57) The prerequisites for the activity are having adequate knowledgeabout the topic, and having opposite opinions or interests Learners can either get to a decision

or just put the issue to a vote at the end The interaction is a result of the conflict of opinions.The skill that learners need to practice is similar to those in the problem-solving activities Theactivity is also similar in nature to the discussion sessions Here, the simulated roles ensurethat there will be sufficient conflict of opinion to sustain the interaction phase because studentsare usually interested in comparing their decisions with those of other groups It also givesstudents an opportunity to talk about problems they had and it rounds off the activity Beware;however, of making this stage unduly long- to listen to fifteen groups of Ss reporting back inturn would clearly be tedious

In the view of the persons taking an actor, Laudousse (1997) explains that there are severaltypes of role The first is the roles which correspond to a real need in the students‟ lives Inthis category, it involves such roles as doctors dealing with patients, or salesman travelingabroad The second type of role is the students play themselves in a variety of situations whichmay or may not have direct experience The example which include in this category is acustomer complaining or a passenger asking for information The third type is the type thatfew students will ever experience directly themselves, but it is easy to play because theteachers have such vast indirect experience of them The television journalist is a goodexample of this type and it is very useful kind of role taken form real life The last type isfantasy roles, which are fictitious, imaginary and possible even absurd.

In case of role play activities, according to Donn Byrne (1986), role play can be grouped intotwo forms, scripted and unscripted role play In details, those types of role play activitiesdescribed as follows:

Scripted Role Play

This type involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text in the form ofspeech The main function of the text after all is to convey the meaning of language items in amemorably way

For more details, Doff (1988) gives example of scripted role play dialogue and reading textand how the process is:

Angela: Good morning I wan to send a letter to Singapore.

Clerk: Yes, do you want to send it by air mail or ordinary mail?

Angela: I think I’ll send it air mail I want it to get there quickly How much does it cost? Clerk: To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, please.

Angela: Here you are.

Clerk: Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change.

Angela: Thank you Where is the post box?

Clerk: you want the air mail box It is over there, by the door.

To demonstrate a role play activity based on the dialogue, the procedures given by AdrianDoff (1988) are as follows:

First, the teacher guides the role play by writing these prompts: (where?/ air mail/ how much?/post box?/ thanks) Talk as you write to show what the prompts mean.

Secondly, if necessary, go through the prompts one by one, and get students to give sentences

or questions for each one

Then, call two students to the front: one play the role as Angela and the other one is the postoffice clerk They should improvise the conversation using the prompts to help them Point outthat the conversation should be similar to the one in the textbook, but not exactly the same; theconversation can be shorter than the presentation dialogue It should just cover the main pointsindicated by the prompts

Finally, call out a few pairs in turn and ask them to have other conversation based on theprompts

Unscripted Role Play

In contrast to Scripted Role-play, the situations of Unscripted Role-play do not depend ontextbooks It is shown as a free role play or improvisation The students themselves have todecide what language to use and how the conversation should develop In order to do thisactivity, good preparation from teacher and students is necessary

The example and procedures of Unscripted Role- play which is adapted from Doff‟s book are

as follows:

One student has lost a bag.

He/She is at the police station.

The other student is the police officer, and ask for details.

To bring out this ideas:

1/The teacher could prepare the whole class, by:

Discussing what the speakers might say or writing prompt on the board to guide the role play, and any key vocabulary

2/ The teacher could divide the class into pairs, and:

Let them discuss together what they may say Or let them all try out the role play privately, before calling on one or two pairs to act out in front of the class

2.2.3 Advantages of role-play

There are many advantages that can be gained through role play method Ments ( 1999) states that there are thirteen advantages that can be gained through role play method, they are:

a. enables students to express hidden feelings

b. enables students to discuss private issues and problems

c. enables students to empathize with others and understand their motivations

d. gives practice in various types of behavior

e. portrays generalized social problems and dynamics of group interaction, formal and informal

f. gives life and immediacy to academics descriptive materials ( history, English,

economics, geography)

g. provides opportunity for articulate students and emphasizes importance of verbal, emotional responses

non-h. motivational and effective because it involves activity

i. provides rapid feedback for both students and tutor

j. is student-centered and addresses itself to the needs and concerns of the trainee; the group can control content and pace

k. closes gap between training and real life situations

l. changes attitudes

m. permits training in the control of feelings and emotions

According to Ladousse (1997) there are some advantages of using Role-play The advantages are below:

a. Through Role-play we can train students in speaking skills in any situation

b. Role-play is very useful dress rehearsal for real lives It enables them not just toacquire set phrases, but also to lean how interaction might take place in a varietysituation

c. Role-play may help may shy students by providing them with mask

d. Role-play is fun The students can enjoy their imagination trip

e. Role-play gives the students a chance to explore and play with the possibilities offered

by the new language, and provide situations where this new language can be related to thestudents‟ own experiences (p 6)

Cross (1991) also states some advantages of Role-play They are:

a. Role-play offers a mental scope from the classroom

b. Role-play can be contrived to make the students apply the same language in a new context

c. Role-play offers rehearsal for such later, genuine communication by engaging the students in simulated situations, forcing them to satisfy needs and express meanings

by use of their limited linguistic resources

d. Role-play can make the weaker students restrict themselves to a few simple exchanges, while more able learners profit from the freedom to be creative and take risks.(p 285)

Dougill (1994) also states that the main benefit Role-play from the point of view of

language teaching is that it enables a flow of language to be produced that might be

otherwise difficult or impossible to create Role play can also recreate the language used indifferent situations, the sort of language students are likely to need outside the classroom

It seems that there are many reasons why teachers should use role play in their lessons Most of all this activity develops learners‟ fluency in speaking; it supports interaction and increases motivation

In short, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning thetopic of the study First, it concerns the concepts and ideas relating to motivation in generaland in teaching second language in particular, the types and the importance of motivation.Then comes an overview on the nature of role play in which the definition, the types and theimportance of role play are discussed The following chapters will present the investigation,the findings and recommendations of the research under the light of the above discussedtheories

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

The third chapter presents the research site whose notable contextual feature is thatlearning English is compulsory and students tend to put their focus on communicativelanguage competence Besides, the subjects of study and the data collection methods will also

be discussed in this chapter

3.1 Background to the study

3.1.1 Hypothesis

As mentioned in the first part of the study, this study is aimed at testing the followinghypothesis: Using the activity of Role play is effective in arousing the University students‟motivation in speaking English

3.1.2 Setting of the study

The study was conducted at Accounting Department, Dainam University At our UniversityEnglish is taught as a compulsory subject for students Here, students have to study English as

a means of communication during 6 semesters By the end of the course, students are expected

to be able to communicate in English at intermediate level Therefore, developing oral skills isthe main focus of teaching and learning English at Dainam

The materials used during the courses are Market Leader from Elementary to Intermediate byDavid Cotton, David Falvey and Simon Kent Market Leader is the distinctive businessEnglish course that brings together the best in English language teaching with the best inbusiness resources Market Leader develops language skills, increases knowledge of keybusiness concepts and expands vocabulary The textbook put high emphasis on developingbusiness communication in English so it presents a lot of situations which students can role

play to sort out, especially, in Case studies that bring together the language and business skills

in challenging and motivating scenarios Not only do these case studies develop speaking skill,but they also strengthen important business skills such as team work, negotiation anddiscussion skills

3.1.3 Subjects of the study

The participants of the studies include teachers and students for the survey questionnaire, forthe further interview and classroom observation.

Subjects for the survey questionnaire

The research was carried out at Dainam University with the participation of 246 second yearstudents (from four groups) whose major is Accounting and 20 teachers who were at Division

2, English Department, Dainam University They were selected randomly by the researcher toensure the objectiveness of the survey

The students

All the participated students are from four Accounting classes Among them there are

194 females and 52 males They are from 19 to 21 years old To those students, English wasnot their majors but a compulsory subject in the courses All of the surveyed students havelearnt English for at least 6 years, especially some of them have learnt English for 10 years.Most of them can do grammar exercises very well but they have difficulties in mastering fourlanguage skills Of the four skills, as many of them revealed, they find speaking especiallyimportant yet challenging one That was the reason why most of students feel bored andunmotivated in speaking classes

The teachers

The 20 teachers teaching second-year students at Division 2, English Department were asked

to take part in the survey questionnaire for the teachers Among them, there were 4 males, and

16 females Their ages ranged from 22 to 41 Some of them have Master degree of English,some were studying post- graduate at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, or at HanoiUniversity

Subjects for the interview

The selection of informants for the interview was based on the survey data 20 students and 5teachers were interviewed for more information about the impact of role play in Englishspeaking lesson

Subjects for classroom observation

The classroom observation was conducted for five sessions that took forty five minutes foreach in which the researcher acted as a teacher, as a researcher and a participant observer

Several speaking lessons at Accounting 0401 Class will be observed by the teacher and

another teacher of English at English Department, Dainam University

3.2 Data collection

3.2.1 Method of data collection

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to carry out the study That is, the data serving the research analysis and discussion were collected by means of:

The questionnaire for students

The questionnaire for the students, with 10 questions including closed and open ones,was administered to 246 students They were written in Vietnamese to make sure that studentsunderstood all questionnaire items All the questionnaires were designed with reference to

“Questionnaire design” by Eric Potter and Peter Spratt from Dakin University, 1995 and “ Thepost- experimental intrinsic motivation inventory” By Ryan, Koestner & Deci, 1991

The survey questionnaire includes five main parts as follows:

 Part 1 (question 1) was to find out the frequency of recruiting activity of role play in English speaking class

 Part 2(question 2) was about students‟ preference in role playing used in speaking lessons

 Part 3 (question 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) was to investigate effectiveness of using role play to increase students‟ motivation to speak English

 Part 4 including 2 questions (question 8, 9) was about the difficulties students often

encounter when they took part in role play activities

 Part 5 (question 10) was given to collect students‟ recommendation for increasing the effectiveness of role play technique

The questionnaire for the teachers

The second questionnaire was given to 20 teachers at Division 2, English Department.The purpose of this questionnaire was to investigate the frequency of employing role play(question 1), the teachers‟ attitude toward role play( question 2), the impact of role playtechnique on students‟ participation (question3, 4, 5, 6, 7), difficulties in organizing role playactivities (question 8, 9), and teachers‟ recommendation for increasing the effectiveness ofrole play ( question 10)

The questionnaire also consists of 10 questions written in Vietnamese and it was withreference to “Questionnaire design” by Eric Poter and Peter Spratt from Deakin Univeristy,

1995 and “ The post- experimental instrinsic motivation inventory” By Ryan, Koestner &Deci, 1991

3.2.2.2 Interviews

A one- one interview was conducted after the administration of questionnaire and after theresearcher had finished reading all the responses in the questionnaire The interview wascarried out in Vietnamese in the form of informal conversation between the researcher and thestudents and in English between the researcher and the teachers 20 students and 5 teacherswere selected for the interview The questions in the interview were basically based on those

in the questionnaire, but they were extended to cover more open-ended questions to getthorough understanding of the reasons behind each choice Each conversation lasted for 5 to

10 minutes The data were recorded, transcribed for the analysis purpose, and then translatedinto English

interview and class observation First, all the collected information from the surveyquestionnaires were read through to obtain a sense of the overall data and the interviewtranscriptions were jotted down in the form of reflective notes and summaries of field notes.The information was then calculated into the percentage and it is expressed as a percentage inthe form of tables.

4.1 Data analysis

4 1.1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire and direct interview

The frequency of applying role play in teaching speaking skill( Question 1)

Question 1: How often do you use role play activities in your English speaking class?

A Very often

B Often

C Not often

D Never

Figure 1: The frequency of using role play activities

As can be seen from this chart, 55% of teachers often use role play as their teaching technique,and 7 out of 20 teachers said that they always asked their students to role play in pairs or ingroups

In brief, it is obvious that role play is used very often in English speaking classes at DainamUniversity

Teachers’ attitude towards role play activities( Question 2)

Question 2: What do you think of role play activities?

What do you think of role play activities?

A It is noisy and a waste of time

B It makes my students lazier

C Students have more opportunities to practice English

D Role play makes my teaching more interesting

because students involve more in my teaching

E Others

Figure 2: Teachers’ opinion on role play

Table 2 illustrates that all the teachers have a positive view about the usefulness ofapplying role play in teaching speaking skill 20 teachers agree that using role play techniqueenable their students to practice English more In other words, role play activities give studentsmore opportunities to practice the target language in the class This also proves that thistechnique could increase students‟ participation in the class Moreover, for 75% of teachers,role play not only raises students‟ interest in learning but also makes teachers moreenthusiastic in teaching More encouragingly, 6 out of 20 teachers also add other positivecomments on role-play activities In their views, role-play encourages the use of criticalthinking because it involves analyzing and problem solving Another reason supporting role-play is that it allows the interaction between classmates and peers, so it allows the exchange ofknowledge between students Below is what the teachers said

“In my view, role play is an effective tool because it gives chance to students to practice speaking English”

Role play activities give students practice communicating in authentic ways and situations This will give them more confidence when presented with those scenarios when they are outside of class

“My students speak English more when they take part in role play activity”.

“When asked to role play a situation, all my students even the passive ones practice English”.

scenarios by using role-playing activities will help build their confidence when they need to communicate in real-life

situations.

In short, we can come to conclusion that most of the teachers have positive attitude towardrole play For them, role play is a motivator, which helps their teaching as well as theirstudents learning process more effective

Teachers’ evaluation on the impact of role play on motivating the students’ participation in speaking lesson( Question 3, 4, 5,6, 7)

Question 3: How do most of your students respond to role-play activities?

How do most of your students respond to role-play activities?

Very interested

Interested

Not very interested

Bored

Figure 3: Students’ attitude to role play

When asked about their students‟ response to role play, all teachers (100%) said thattheir students were interested in these activities This shows that role play can increasestudents‟ interest in the lesson Most students find role play activities interesting, which makethem participate more in the class

Question 4: What do most of your students do when they are asked to role play?

What do your students do?

A Join with great interest

C Join only when being asked

D Do not play

E Others

Figure 4: Students’ participation

From table 4, it is clear that most of the teachers (75%) claim that their students work withgreat interest when they take part in role play activities Only 10 % of them think that theirstudents do not co-operate constantly, they only join when feeling interested Also 3 out of 20teachers think that the students only join in the activities when the teachers ask them to do so

In addition, when interviewed, some teachers add that apart from the majority of goodstudents, there are still some students do not join in role play, this is just a minor number andthis is one problem of every class, not just English speaking class Below is what teacherssaid:

“Students join actively in role play, because thank to role-play they can play and study at the same

When asking teachers to self-evaluate the effectiveness of using role play in speaking classes,most of the informants agree with the fact that role play is a motivating factor which makesstudents speak more.

To conclude, none of the teachers asked denied the role of role play in motivating students tolearn

Question 6: Why does role-play motivate students to participate more in speaking activities?

Why does role play motivate students to participate more in

speaking activities?

A Make speaking lessons more enjoyable

B Make speaking lessons less challenging

C Lower anxiety and develop confidence

D Create more chance to speak

E Others

Figure 6: Benefits of using role play

Firstly, it can be seen obviously that all teachers agree that role play makes the speaking lessonmore enjoyable and it creates more chances for students to speak 90 percent raise their voicethat role play makes speaking lesson less challenging Especially, 75 percent of teachersapprove that role play motivate the participation of students because the classes are no longercovered with the feeling of anxiety and they no longer feel shy when speaking in front of thecrowd This positive result reassures that role play does great help in raising students‟motivation in learning speaking skill

Here are some of the teachers‟ further explanations for their choice when being interviewed:

“When students role play, my class is like a small stage and my students are actors We are playing

a drama Studying at that time is so fun”

“Students work in pairs or group in role play activity so they can help each other a lot to complete the task As working in team, so the task will be much lighter and easier.”